[463] World Scripture - Labor - 1. All Work Is Sacred and in the Service

[대태양/김현수]

Part Four - Family and Society

Chapter 20. Society

4) Labor

The Primary Way That Most People Contribute to society is through their labor. We spend our adult lives working to provide for our families and ourselves; yet before we receive any benefit, our labor adds to the overall wealth of the nation. Furthermore, labor is one way by which we take after God, the Maker of heaven and earth. God created us to find satisfaction in our labor and to enjoy its fruits. By our work we become cocreators with Him.

No society can be prosperous unless its members are educated to have a work ethic and have the opportunity to better themselves through their labor. A practical function of religion is to encourage the virtues that make for economic success: industry, thrift, dependability, responsibility and integrity in the workplace, and the love of one’s job.

Although certain religious traditions exalt a life of poverty and mendicancy above a productive life of work, most traditions promote honest work and self-sufficiency, even for members of the clergy. Although most religions reject a life devoted solely to worldly profit, they value work as having divine approval when its gains are spent appropriately—in serving others, charity and proper worship.

1. All Work Is Sacred and in the Service of Heaven

World Scripture

Work is worship. Virashaiva Proverb (Hinduism)

Great is labor; it confers honor on the laborer. Talmud, Nedarim 49b (Judaism) Abu Hurayrah said, “While we were with the Prophet a young man appeared. We said, ‘This young man should sacrifice his youth, energy and strength to worship Allah.’ The Prophet heard what we had said and replied, ‘Nothing is in the way of Allah except that a man be slain in the way of Allah, or a man feed his parents, or a man feed his family, or a man strive to support himself. These are in the way of Allah.’” Hadith of al-Soyouti (Islam)

How can he become wise who handles the plow… the smith sitting by the anvil… [or] the potter sitting at his work?… All these rely upon their hands, and each is skillful in his own work. Without them a city cannot be established, and men can neither sojourn or live there. Although they are not sought out for the council of the people, nor attain eminence in the public assembly… They keep stable the fabric of the world, and their prayer is in the practice of their trade. Ecclesiasticus 38.25-34 (Christianity)

A favorite saying of the rabbis of Yavneh was: I am God’s creature and my peasant neighbor is God’s creature. My work is in the town and his work is in the country. I rise early for my work and he rises early for his work. Just as he does not presume to do my work, so I do not presume to do his work. Will you say, I do much and he does little? We have learned, “One may do much or one may do little; it is all the same, provided he directs his heart to Heaven.” Talmud, Berakot 17a (Judaism)

All appointments are from Heaven, even that of a janitor. Talmud, Baba Batra 91b (Judaism)

Love work and hate lordship. Mishnah, Avot 1.10 (Judaism)

The Lord said to Moses, “See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah: and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship, to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze, in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, for work in every craft… And I have given to all able men ability, that they may make all that I have commanded you: the tent of meeting, and the ark of the testimony, and the mercy seat that is thereon, and all the furnishings of the tent.” Exodus 31.1-8

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon

Whatever I do on earth, even working in a factory, is material to enrich my eternal life. (216:127-28, March 9, 1991)

You should not be halfhearted about your work. If you are, you will never amount to more than an errand boy, and an errand boy can never establish himself. So, when you work, you should invest all of your heart in it. Think that you were born for the work, as if it were your eternal spouse. In order to make the relationship with your spouse absolute and eternal, it requires investing and forgetting, investing and forgetting. Likewise, only by your investment will you form an absolute relationship with your work. (330:117-18, August 14, 2000)

Economic activity sets up a relationship between the worker and the materials he works with. You should love the things you make and sell; they are your object partners. By doing business with them and loving them, you impute to them a value equal to yourself. Thus, if you are worth 100, then each product of your business will also be worth 100. If you are worth 1,000, then your product—even a small, inexpensive pocketbook—will be worth 1,000. Why does a fountain pen that once belonged to a famous person sell for thousands of dollars at auction? Even though it was for his casual use, it holds that person’s love as his object partner, which imputes to it his great value. (102:126, November 27, 1978)

Rather than regarding an industry as important, we should place greater value on the people who work in that industry. Rather than regarding science as important, we should place greater value on the scientists. Rather than regarding art as important, we should place greater value on the artists.

But, what is the current trend? An industry is valued, but not its workers; science is valued, but not its scientists; art is valued, but not artists; diplomacy is valued, but not diplomats. The human beings in each field are deval‎‎ued. What happened to the people? They have been deval‎‎ued. (99:116; September 10, 1978)

This morning at the opening of the Washington, D.C. church, [its director] Col. Bo Hi Pak was probably happy, but I was not. Why? It is because we purchased a church building that had been built by others. It would have been better if we ourselves had built this church from scratch. The Mormons who built this church cut slabs of marble from mountains more than 9,000 feet high and carried them here. You worked for about two months repairing and painting the building, but it took the Mormons three years when they first built it. I wish that you would have invested greater love and effort than the Mormons, but as it is, how can you compare your devotion to this building to theirs? You who worked refurbishing the building, do you think you are better than them? You say yes, but are you confident that God, who knows the building’s history, would agree with you? 

I had another thought when I walked into the building. The Mormons built this building with lots of energy and hard work, but then they sold it. They abandoned it and then went out and built a new temple. The important question is: did they put more heart, tears and sweat into building their new and bigger temple than their forbearers did for this church long ago, or did they just put up money and give the plans to a contractor to build it? Did they build it with their money, or with their heart, sweat and labor? That is an important question, though they do not know it.

Put yourself in the position of God. Would He rather dwell in a big new marble temple or in a small and humble temple that was built by the members’ labor and devotion? To God, the size of the building means nothing. Whether it is beautiful or plain means nothing. From this perspective, God would rather be in this building than in the newly built Mormon Temple. If you Unification Church members are more sincere and dedicated than the present-day Mormons, if you are actively taking responsibility to save this city, then surely God will continue dwelling in this place that has a tradition of dedicated believers—the Mormons of old—who worshiped Him here with rejoicing. With this in mind, I entered this building. (95:254-55, December 4, 1977)