Filial piety is the duty of true children 13 What is a filial son? The filial son is the person who, throughout his life, sacrifices everything for his parents and does not assert his subjectivity. Then his parents’ true love remains. Filial piety preserves and protects the realm of true love. Because of filial piety, we can build a bridge to the universe. (112-151, 1981.04.12)
14 Fulfill your filial duty to your parents; become a filial son or daughter and a patriot. It is your parents who have led the nation and the world. Before becoming a patriot, become a filial child, and before becoming a filial child, become a proud family member who truly loves your brothers and sisters. “Family member” is the name by which siblings can praise each other. You have to show filial piety to a degree greater than when men and women married and had children, created a family, and fulfilled their filial duty to their parents in ages past. You cannot be a truly devoted son or daughter before you get married. You can become a truly filial son or daughter only after getting married. You can establish the realm of true filial piety only after you have married and the wife’s filial piety is added to the husband’s in front of his parents. Only through this foundation of devoted attendance to the parents can a true realm of filial piety be established. (30-220, 1970.03.23)
15 In order to become a filial son or daughter, you have to align yourself always with the direction of your parents’ heart. To walk the path of filial piety, you should not do things separately from your parents. When your parents go east, you go east, and when they go west, you also go west. If you are going one way and your parents say, “Turn around,” you turn around. There should be no question about it. Even if you are told to go a certain way and then to turn back ten times, you should turn back again and follow your parents. (62-032, 1972.09.10)
16 In your family you have heard of filial piety. It means to attend your parents on the path of love they walk. The parents’ path of true love follows heavenly principles. The parents are not walking alone; they are guided by vertical heavenly principles that move with them. Thus, becoming one with your parents means you are going the way that connects the horizontal and vertical realms of the historical heart. This is the reason to fulfill your filial duty toward your parents. (136-203, 1985.12.29)
17 You have many gifts to offer your Father. Even though you may not have many possessions, there is one present you have that you can give to God, something other than things of which worldly people are fond. You must prepare yourself in front of God by shedding blood, sweat and tears for Him. This is the best gift for our Heavenly Father, who is suffering in pain and bitter sorrow. (11-102, 1961.02.12)
18 In the family, you as sons and daughters are responsible to fulfill your filial duty toward your parents. Why do you have to fulfill filial duty? The path of filial piety is connected to the path of patriotism, and a person who is loyal to his country should then walk the way of a saint for the sake of the world. There has to be one straight line. From this viewpoint, if you were unable to fulfill your filial duty and yet became a patriot, your parents would not say you had not fulfilled your filial duty. They would say, “You have done so well.” Even if you did not accomplish your filial duty but instead had abandoned your parents and left home, if you then became a patriot in your nation, your mother and father, even though they might have died and gone to the spirit world, would praise you, saying, “You did really well!” (100-155, 1978.10.09)
19 Even though parents and children are unworthy, they at least have to communicate. If they don’t, parents are not really parents and children are not really children. A filial son is not one who receives his parents’ love because he accomplished something easy or something beneficial to himself. He is one who, in order to take responsibility for his parents’ sorrow, seeks out the difficult tasks and fulfills his responsibility. This brings joy to his parents. If the parents have done ten units of work and the child has made the effort to do fifteen units, the five-unit surplus will translate into that much joy for the parents. The one who makes effort to serve his parents and thinks how to take on some of their work is a child of filial piety. (24-261, 1969.08.24) |