[285] World Scripture - Perseverance and Patience - 1

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Part Three The Path of Life

Chapter 11 Growth, Responsibility and Destiny

10) Perseverance and Patience

To accomplish anything truly Worth while requires perseverance and patience. patience is not merely to wait for fate to intervene; rather it means to continue on one’s path until the goal is achieved. once the resolution is made and the task is begun, it should not be abandoned, for the result is often not decided until the very end. perseverance requires long-suffering endurance of opposition, setbacks and delays, while maintaining steadfastly to one’s original commitment. it requires forbearance, resisting the temptation to change course or take a shortcut that would violate one’s principles. the scriptures express the virtue of perseverance through various metaphors: digging a well, boring to the pith of a tree, and water slowly but inexorably carving a hole in solid rock.

In this light, Father Moon speaks of God’s forbearance as he has endured millennia of evils and sorrows, putting up with his fallen children’s sins and rebellions out of love and hope for their ultimate liberation. therefore, by demonstrating perseverance and patience, we take after God’s perseverance and patience on our way to becoming God’s sons and daughters. For the story of Job’s patience in the midst of suffering, see chapter 15: Testing.

1. Perseverance, Endurance and Forbearance

World Scripture

Though he be ever so tired by repeated failure, let him begin his operations again and again; for fortune greatly favors the man who perseveres in his undertakings. Laws of Manu 9.300 (Hinduism)

Perseverance prevails even against Heaven. Talmud, Sanhedrin 105a (Judaism)

Prosperity forsakes those who always dream of fate and favors those who persevere. One should therefore always be active and alert. Matsya Purana 221.2 (Hinduism)

Once when the Master was standing by a stream, he said, “Could one but go on and on like this, never ceasing day or night!” Analects 9.16 (Confucianism)

If fishermen, hunters, and farmers, Thinking merely of their own livelihood, Endure the sufferings of heat and cold, Why am I not patient for the sake of the world’s joy? Shantideva, Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life 4.40 (Buddhism)

In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider; God made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him. Ecclesiastes 7.14

You who believe, seek help through patience and prayer; God stands alongside the patient! We will test you with a bit of fear and hunger, and a shortage of wealth and souls and produce. Proclaim such to patient people who say, whenever disaster strikes them, “We are God’s, and are returning to Him!” Such will be granted their prayers by their Lord as well as mercy. Those are guided! Qur’an 2.153-57

Nanak, for man it is idle to ask for pleasure when suffering comes; Pleasure and suffering are like robes which man must wear as they come. Where arguing is of no avail, it is best to be contented. Adi Granth, Var Majh, M.1, p. 149 (Sikhism)

Obstacles cannot crush me. Every obstacle yields to stern resolve. He who is fixed to a star does not change his mind. Leonardo Da Vinci, Notebooks (Humanism)

One should preserve, without the slightest diminution, the faith which one had at the time of renunciation. One should not be swept away by the eddies of a mercurial mind. Acarangasutra 1.36-37 (Jainism)
Rabbi Akiba, illiterate at forty, saw one day a stone’s perforation where water fell from a spring, and having heard people say, “Waters wear stones,” he thought, “If soft water can bore through a rock, surely iron-clad Torah should, by sheer persistence, penetrate a tender mind”; and he turned to study. Talmud, Avot de Rabbi Nathan 6 (Judaism)

It matters not what you learn; but when you once learn a thing, you must never give it up until you have mastered it. It matters not what you inquire into, but when you inquire into a thing, you must never give it up until you have thoroughly understood it. It matters not what you try to think out, but when you once try to think out a thing you must never give it up until you have got what you want. It matters not what you try to sift out, but when you once try to sift out a thing, you must never give it up until you have sifted it out clearly and distinctly. It matters not what you try to carry out, but when you once try to carry out a thing you must never give it up until you have done it thoroughly and well. If another man succeed by one effort, you will use a hundred efforts. If another man succeed by ten efforts, you will use a thousand efforts. Let a man really proceed in this manner, and though dull, he will surely become intelligent; though weak, he will surely become strong. Doctrine of the Mean 20 (Confucianism)

The lord waits to be gracious to you; therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him. Isaiah 30.18

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon

Look at the Chinese character meaning ‘patience’ or ‘forbearance.’ The top half is the character for sword, and the bottom half the character for heart.20 From this, you can see that ‘patience’ means ‘to set a sword over your heart.’ If you are going to shoulder a large burden and accomplish a great task, your patience must be a hundredfold, a thousandfold, even infinite. (124:155-56, February 6, 1983)

The Chinese character for patience indicates that one should endure even under the threat of a knife to the heart. It is painful to have a knife stuck in your heart. Yet a person who endures that a thousand times can hope to triumph in a thousand battles. (93:320, June 12, 1977)

On your quest you will be hampered by innumerable foes, but you must fight them and fight them again, advance and advance again, clash and clash again. Thus supporting the altar of patience with your shoulders, feet, hands, torso and head, you must become a living offering who can climb over the hill of perseverance. (6:92, March 29, 1959)

A mature person makes effort to discover the sweet taste in all things bitter. That way, he knows their real taste. It is a law that things are sometimes up, sometimes down, as they go through their cycles. Likewise, sweet things leave a bitter taste, while bitter things have some sweetness in them. (98:205, August 1, 1978)

No matter how tired I may feel, once I think of the responsibility I have yet to fulfill, all that feeling of fatigue dissipates. (Way of God’s Will 1.5)

The way of religion is prolonged endurance; the way of religion is continual sacrifice. When in faith we endure and sacrifice, we can find the world of great love that God has been working towards. This is definitely true. Therefore, when we say that God is love, we should understand that sacrifice and endurance dwell in it. (112:51, March 29, 1981)

Which is the good side? The good side waits for a long time, keeps patience for a long time and keeps hope for a long time. The evil side has no patience. If it is at a disadvantage, it will try to punch the other and jump to action at once. The good stays patient and endures even through struggle and frustration. Whatever comes, it maintains hope and does not fall into despair. A good person is patient and enduring not only for himself; he is also patient and enduring for those who are not patient. (93:112, May 21, 1977)

What was the secret of Jesus’ victory over death? He lived for the sake of others and established a path of endurance through his own example. If in the Garden of Gethsemane he had said, “Father! Take this cup away from me! Please, I insist on it!” he would have lost everything. Yet instead he said, “Nevertheless, not my will, but Thy will be done.” Because he endured and went on, he was victorious. That is his greatness. (76:227, March 2, 1975)

No torture or punishment could make me deviate from the heavenly path. Nor could six imprisonments stand in the way of the True Parent’s search for His children. As I sat in a cold prison cell and watched drops of water fall from an eave, I pledged to myself, “Just as those droplets will eventually bore a hole through a boulder, the day will certainly come when these hot tears that fall from my eyes will melt God’s heart that is frozen in grief and bring Him liberation and release.” (May 1, 2004)

God has the mind to forbear with patience, in order to one day embrace the satanic world and even hell. That is why even the demons in hell will bow their heads before His presence. Therefore, if you desire to become champions at the last, the Father’s sons and daughters at the last, then in your minds and bodies you must feel God’s patience as your patience and God’s endurance as your endurance. (4:243, May 18, 1958)

Father, what Thou doest, we Thy children should do, and on the path Thou goest, we too must go—it is a destined way. Therefore, please do not allow us to become exhausted on the way, and give us unwavering hearts… to persevere and endure until the day we can receive the blessing, the day of Sabbath when Thou canst say, “You have won the victory, and you are Mine; all heaven and earth belong to you, My sons and daughters.” (13:236, March 22, 1964)