Cheon Seong Gyeong Ⅱ - 202. Coming of Age and the Love between Man and Woman
1 God placed Adam and Eve in the center of the created universe, and gave them a purpose to fulfill. During the time of adolescence, when a person explores the things of creation, he feels their mystery. God hoped that the emotions of His love would become part of Adam and Eve, and that the emotions He felt as He created the entire universe would also be shared by them. When your passion reaches its climax, you can write an amazing poem. In the same way, God created human beings with the purpose of attaining perfection and possessing the same great universal heart. God waited impatiently until the time was right for them to mature according to His goal. As Adam and Eve matured, God longed for them to relate to each other as substantial manifestations of the entire universe. When a man relates to a woman and a woman to a man, God wants them to see each other in that way. He wants people to mature to the level that allows not only God, but also all the things of the creation, to enter the world of human emotions. (9-171, 1960.05.08)
The changes during our youth
2 The time of our youth is when we feel as though we are the princes and princesses of the world. It is a time when we think of everything with ourselves as the center. At the same time, the time of adolescence is a time of rebellion, so if others do not recognize us, it is very easy to go a different path. That is why the problems of today’s adolescents are global problems. In the time of our youth, we dislike anything that doesn’t revolve around us. However, when something is connected to us, no matter how insignificant it may be, we become elated. If you stop and watch young women in their late teens and early twenties, you will see that they sometimes laugh for no apparent reason. A young woman may laugh when she sees a ripe persimmon suddenly fall from a persimmon tree that has lost all its leaves. This is because these young women can somehow connect to what is going on around them and thus experience the deepest emotions. Our youth is the transition time when we can encounter and make a connection with all things. This is due to the fact that God gave us an original nature, which allows a man and a woman to be completely united through His love. (33-333, 1970.08.23)
3 When young men and women meet as young adults, their hearts leap. When these feelings arise, their hearts go through a change. However, if their minds are not fixed on God and they stand on the opposite side, they fall into evil. Our mind must be fixed on God. Love is what allows our mind and heart, when focused on God, to rise to the position of oneness with God’s heart. Since people have to go through their lives in that position, they absolutely must have dreams and hopes, with love as their center. (26-159, 1969.10.25)
4 In terms of perfecting a man and a woman, the power of love builds a relationship between a subject partner and an object partner. The power of love emerges after adolescence, at the time men and women attain perfection. The power of love is greater than both man and woman, so it can unite them. A man and a woman inevitably become husband and wife. On the path of love, one can even discard one’s own life. Love is stronger than life. As men and women grow into young adulthood, this powerful force makes them long for a partner. (61-332, 1972.09.03)
5 The place of greatest happiness for people is the place in which human morality and compassion conform in oneness to heavenly morality and heavenly compassion. God created human beings as His object partners. The time that God as the subject partner recognizes the perfect value of people as His object partners is when they become mature. It is the time when we can give and receive based on God’s love. I am saying that when an object partner comes to recognize his or her subject partner, that person has reached maturity. This is when a man or woman becomes a young adult. (65-025, 1972.11.13)
6 When women think about a man during their youth, they want to think of that man as someone who represents the world. During our youth, we want to pull the entire world to us and drive it into our hearts, and we want to walk with the great ocean in our embrace. This is why the time of youth is a wonderful one. It is wonderful because from a horizontal perspective it is when the subject and object partners meet and thus become closer; and from a vertical perspective it is when God and human beings become closer. When a mature man and woman are bound together through genuine love, everything that was invested by God at the time of the Creation ripens and returns back to God for the first time. At such times, everyone becomes a poet and lyrical writer. (65-026, 1972.11.13)
7 No matter how pretty a young lady may be, she will have her youth only once. It is like the blooming of the most beautiful flower, a most precious time in her life. Is there any woman who, when reaching young adulthood, would rather live alone? Such a person is not a woman. Is there any man who, possessing a fine figure and being in the middle of his energetic days of youth, wants to live by himself? At such a time, men or women always seek their partner. Who do they resemble by doing that? They resemble God. How could such a person seek partnership if God were not like that Himself? God is like that. It is the same for both men and women, in that they seek out their eternal partner during their energetic youth. That’s the most precious time of life. (32-248, 1970.07.19)
8 Are you able to love freely or not? Just because a man calls to you on the street does not mean you should follow him. You must protect your body well until the proper time. I am saying that you must not entrust your pure heart to troll-like men. Men who strut around the streets frivolously are all little devils. Would you place your destiny in the hands of such a man? This is not an issue to take lightly. Finding your spouse is something that occurs only once in your lifetime. On the day you make one misstep, you put your entire life at risk. It’s the same for men. Until now, women were told to protect their chastity, but men must also protect their chastity. No matter how evil or heartless the world may be, you must not commit an act that deviates from the proper way. (26-161, 1969.10.25)
9 Your youth is a precious time in your life when you can take the grief of Adam and Eve, who lost their purity in their adolescence, and indemnify it. So you should protect and preserve your purity during your youth. You need to have the resolve that you will preserve your purity as something clean and precious. You should say, “Even if I may have to live alone for all time, I will absolutely never allow my love to be violated.” Unless we love our people and our nation, we cannot meet the person whom we can love. Unless we love the world, we cannot have a person to love. This thought is the tradition of the Unification Church. Therefore you can love your wife and love your husband after you have loved God, loved the world and loved your people. This is a matter of principle. (37-108, 1970.12.22)
10 It is said that human beings are the most precious of all created things, and that they go through a spring season and an autumn season in their life. From this viewpoint, it can be said that young men and women who are in the growing period lasting until their marriage are in their spring season. In the spring season, the cold weather gradually warms and a green garden forms in which flowers bloom and spread their fragrance. Thus all things are prepared for welcoming the abundant summer. After passing through such a summer season, we welcome the autumn and the time for harvest. For people, the time of spring is adolescence, when we are at the height of our growth. (221-266, 1991.10.26) |