[328] World Scripture - Giving and Receiving - 2. The Virtuous Cycle

[대태양/김현수]

Part Three - The Path of Life

Chapter 13. Love

9) Giving and Receiving

2. The Virtuous Cycle of Giving and Receiving

World Scripture

Give, and it will be given to you… for the measure you give will be the measure you get back. Luke 6.38

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Matthew 5.7

Those who act kindly in this world will have kindness. Qur’an 39.10

Who is honored? He who honors his fellowman. Avot 4.1 (Judaism)

When a greeting is offered you, meet it with a greeting still more courteous, or at least of equal courtesy. Qur’an 4.86

There was presented to me a papaya, And I returned for it a beautiful keu gem; Not as a return for it, But that our friendship might be lasting. There was presented to me a peach, And I returned for it a beautiful yaou gem; Not as a return for it, But that our friendship might be lasting. There was presented to me a plum, And I returned for it a beautiful kew stone; Not as a return for it, But that our friendship might be lasting. Book of Songs, Ode 64 (Confucianism)

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon

The more you love God, the more of God’s love you will receive. This is the principle for expanding the love of God in your life. You will receive God’s love because you have loved God. (40:244, February 6, 1971)

The more you love, the more you receive love—not only from God but also from the people you love. Hence your investment yields a two-fold return, and even more. Your one effort at giving love yields a many-fold return, because it connects with multiple dimensions. (90:21, December 5, 1976)

A good person is someone who adds to what he receives and passes it on to others. For that reason, parents want their children to grow to be better than them. Likewise, a husband wants his wife to be better than him; a wife wants her husband to be better than her; an elder brother wants his younger brother to grow up to be better than him, and so on. (315:211, February 2, 2000)

Which is more joyful, the joy of owning something precious or the joy of giving your prized possession to someone else? Giving leads to multiplication. What you give with a sincere heart will be returned to you many-fold. You have initiated give-and-take action, a virtuous cycle of everincreasing giving. It comes back to you, and the next time you want to give more. That is how giving expands. (248:96, August 1, 1993)

Look! When there is air at low pressure, a corresponding region of high pressure is created and circulation necessarily occurs. God is the king of wisdom. Why do you have to give and give and forget what you have given? It is because it guarantees circulation, which becomes an eternal circulation. This is the logic of the theory of eternal life. When you invest, invest, and invest more, the principle of eternal life operates. When you live for others, you do not perish. (204:107, July 1, 1990)

When flowing water comes to a depression, it must fill that depression before moving on. The same is true with air. Loves also flows, and if there is a depression, it works to fill that depression before moving on. (241:306, January 1, 1993)

The power of true love comes from investing. It is the power of giving, not just receiving. When we give totally, we ultimately reach a point where there is nothing left to give. That is the ‘zero point,’ where we become completely empty. Then we have the capacity to receive anything that comes to us. Whenever we give even more returns. By continuing in this way we generate a never-ending process of giving and receiving. This forms an eternal balance. A world where everyone lives for the sake of others centering on true love is perfected through countless such relationships of giving and receiving. (315:210, February 2, 2000)

Why does the person who gives flourish? Why do you grow larger when you give? It is because giving connects you with the origin—with God’s principle by which He created the universe. God created by giving, and what was given kept on growing.

You Americans will continue to prosper only if you change your concept of life to the way of giving. Then the universe will help you, since you will be living in accord with the Principle of Creation. But if you continue to take and take, your life will shrink.

The root of true love is the eternal cycle of giving. The power of giving multiplies; taking only makes things get smaller. It is a mysterious fact. In ordinary physics, energy dissipates when it is put to work, but the principle of love is that giving leads to increase. Everything you give moves in a cycle and ultimately comes back to you—with interest! For example, Abraham left his home as one man carrying a blessing, but after thousands or years it has multiplied to touch billions of people. (183:324, November 9, 1988)

Your partner is the foundation for your hopes, the foundation of your happiness, and the foundation for your everything. When God created heaven and earth, He created all things and human beings as His object partners. The principle of give-and-take action governs action, movement, and law in the universe. It states that nothing comes back until it has been given completely. Isn’t that so? For a wife to love her husband completely, she first must feel that he loves her completely. Only then will she say, “I’m going to really love him.” You begin to give back completely when you receive completely. That is the principle of heaven and earth… If you begin to return before you have received, then it will not come back to you in its entirety. (60:232, August 17, 1972)