[319] World Scripture - Universal Love - 1. A Heart to Love All People

[대태양/김현수]

Part Three - The Path of Life

Chapter 13. Love

4) Universal Love

True Love is universal. It has no limits. When we are immersed in the love of God, we can experience that everyone is our brother or sister. here is a major distinction between absolute, true love and the relative love of fallen people: true love is impartial and universal, while fallen love is partial to kith and kin, to friends and compatriots. in the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., “an individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.”

yet is love for humanity enough? not if we mean only a general sentiment that can be satisfied by acts of charity and political efforts to benefit the downtrodden. the real stage of love is actual relationships. how can we love strangers and people of faraway nations with the same intensity and concreteness as we love members of our own family? here scripture speaks of extending to strangers the way we treat members of our own family. Father Moon is very clear on this score. to demonstrate universal love that transcends race, he recommends that we give one of our children in marriage to someone of another race. by digesting every difficulty in relating to our in-laws, we become people whose love truly goes beyond the racial barrier.

1. A Heart to Love All People

World Scripture

May good befall all, May there be peace for all, May all be fit for perfection, and May all experience that which is auspicious. Om, May all be happy. May all be healthy. May we all experience what is good and let no one suffer. Om, Peace, Peace, Peace! The Universal Prayer (Hinduism)

He lets his mind pervade one quarter of the world with thoughts of love, and so the second, and so the third, and so the fourth. And thus the whole wide world, above, below, around, and everywhere, does he continue to pervade with the heart of love, far-reaching, exalted, beyond measure. Just as a mighty trumpeter makes himself heard—and that without difficulty—in all the four directions; even so of all things that have the shape of life there is not one that he passes by or leaves aside, but regards them all with mind set free, and deep-felt love. Verily this is the way to a state of union with Brahma. Digha Nikaya 13.76-77, Tevigga Sutta (Buddhism)

A man once asked the Prophet what was the best thing in Islam. He replied, “It is to feed the hungry and to give the greeting of peace both to those one knows and to those one does not know.” Hadith of Bukhari (Islam)

Of the adage, Only a good man knows how to like people, knows how to dislike them, Confucius said, “He whose heart is in the smallest degree set upon Goodness will dislike no one.” Analects 4.3-4 (Confucianism)

The sage has no fixed [personal] ideas. He regards the people’s ideas as his own. I treat those who are good with goodness, And I also treat those who are not good with goodness. Thus goodness is attained.
I am honest with those who are honest, And I am also honest with those who are dishonest. Thus honesty is attained. Tao Te Ching 49 (Taoism)

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon

The sages of old… taught us to love Heaven, to love the earth, and to love humankind. (19:285, March 10, 1968)

God’s love is the original source of the universe, and it embraces the world. If such love had reached each and every person, wouldn’t this world be a realm where love is everywhere, whether we go up or down? In such a world, what would we value in a person? It would not be eloquence or good looks. We would value people of character, those who are faultless from any angle. Their fragrance would spread to everyone who knew them. Shouldn’t you be like that? When you relate to others with the heart that each is a part of God and no one is unrelated to God, then everyone becomes your friend. (33:89-90, August 9, 1970)

A loving heart is the same whether it is for an enemy or a friend. It is universal. The whole is the same as one cell. The universe is formed like a human being, each composed of 400 trillion cells living in oneness. You can become one with God when you become the embodiment of love that can connect to all of these cells. (225:132, January 5, 1992)

God’s love has no boundaries. Love transcends national borders. Love transcends race. In love there is no discrimination between black, white, and yellow. Love is the greatest thing. Wherever love flows freely and without fear, the environment adapts to it; who or what would want to rebel? This way of thinking is pleasing to God. Distributing love everywhere is the only way to win God’s favor. (164:93, April 26, 1987)

What is the character of God? God is a being who loves His object partner more than He loves Himself. God’s activity of loving the object partner more than self brings unity; then together they can love an object partner of greater scope. Since this is the core of God’s practice, God sends the person closest to Himself to the evil world, offering him as a sacrifice for humankind. This is God’s way of thinking.

That is why the sages, saints and great men of history invariably taught, “Love all humankind.” They did not restrict their love to only their family, but loved their country. They went beyond their country to love the world. They loved this way even though they were not welcomed, but rejected and sacrificed. (100:81, August 8, 1978)