Cheon Seong Gyeong (Ⅱ) - 6 - 3 - 3. True Dominion over the Creation

[대태양/김현수]

BOOK 6. TRUE CREATION

CHAPTER 3. The Creation's Lament and True Stewardship

Section 3. True Dominion over the Creation

1 God is the owner of the world. So who should control this earth? Naturally God, the owner of the world, should rule over it. If not God, then those who represent the owner and receive His love should rule the earth. Since God is the owner of this world, those who follow the way of loyalty to God must rule the world. To sustain humankind forever on earth, we need an ideology that teaches us to accept God as the owner of the world and build a world of greater value, the eternal world. What is that ideology? It is Godism. When we become the sons and daughters who receive God's love, we can say, "This world is mine."( 031-250,19700604)

All things should be publicly managed

2 All things of creation should be governed by public law. Creation is in the domain of public law. People, as well as all things of creation, are in the domain of public law. A nation also exists only within this domain. When people put self-interest before the greater good, the nation cannot endure.( 031-238,19700604)

3 A public person can manage and rule all things of creation according to the public law that governs the universe. That law is heavenly law. Once you master these heavenly principles, your actions will not be sinful even if you need to be forceful. It is not a sin to take action against evil. If someone doing evil refuses to listen to your admonition three times, it is not unlawful to use the force necessary to stop him. Therefore, you need to live for the greater purpose, always distinguishing between good and evil. No one is more fearsome than one who lives for heaven and earth.( 031-240,19700604)

4 If you ask all things of creation, "Do you want to be governed by public or private law?" they will answer, "We want to be governed by public law." Why is this so? Just as people want to rise to the highest realm of goodness, created things long for this also. Then by whom do the world and all things of creation want to be governed? They want to be ruled by the more public-minded being.( 031-244,19700604)

5 You must become a person who can manage all things of creation in a public-minded way. When you eat, you need to know the value of the food you are eating. As you eat, you should ask the food, "What kind of person's mouth do you want to enter? What kind of face should I have for you to become my flesh, my bones and energy, and what do you want to leave behind for the sake of the world?" Even though when rice is eaten it ends up inside someone's stomach, every grain of rice wants to be eaten by a good person. It wants to be consumed by the more public-minded person.( 031-248,19700604)

6 That which is public should never be considered lightly. That which is public can even kill someone. Today people are trying to stop air pollution in the cities. This is natural, since an unclean environment is harmful. Water should be kept clean, too. Like air and water, all of creation is public. The sun, for example, is the prerequisite for life on earth; its value is infinite. Yet we receive the suns priceless light for free. Have you ever seen anyone with money in his hand, trying to buy the light of the sun or eat the light of the sun? Have you ever seen anyone pay a single cent to receive the suns light? If somebody sold the sunlight, would you buy it, yes or no? Water, air and light — none of these natural things belongs to the individual.( 031-249,19700604)

7 Your management of the things you have owned so far, your material possessions, is only temporary. You are just the manager. In order to manage things properly, all your things should be dedicated to God by offering them to Him through the True Parents. In other words, only after going through the process of belonging to God and True Parents can everything become truly yours. You should clearly understand this concept. Through historical experience, we may be used to the concept that certain things belong to certain people, but things cannot remain like that. All material things must go through the name of True Parents, and go through God's name. By going through this process, all material things can be re* stored for the first time. You are not the real owner of things until they are restored; you are merely the manager of your possessions. Until the time come when all material things are returned to their true owner, you need to be responsible as a manager. From this point of view, we must distinguish clearly between public and private things.( 023-334,19690615)

8 We must distinguish between public and private things according to a clear hierarchy. Through the process of establishing a hierarchy of public to private things, we should then clarify the standard of public and private things, and lead our lives based on firm principles. However, in this world everything is usually upside down. Commonly, private things are treated as valuable while public things are neglected. This is absolutely not acceptable. We must treat public things as precious. If we want to complete the restoration of material things into private possessions, we first need to make them public by changing them into church possessions, then national possessions and finally, world possessions. In this manner we should treat public things with greater care. Using this paradigm, people are higher than all created things, while God is higher than people. People often say, "I am first," centering on themselves. However, the restoration of the world is unthinkable centered on the individual. Although people are higher than their possessions, God is higher than people. We must be able to relate with all things of the material world focused on God's love.( 023-335,19690615)

9 What you have now is not yours. The house you live in is not yours, the food you eat is not yours, the daily necessities you use are not yours. You should not forget that all of these are public things and have a permanent relationship with the world centered on a public figure, God, our Father, and should be bequeathed generation after generation, eternally. You should think to yourself, "The clothes I am wearing, my lifelong foundation, and even my own body, are not mine"(152-296,19630726)

10 Misuse of public things is a sin. Unification Church members must be absolutely clear regarding public things. The Fathers things are holy. If all created things are holy, then your body, which consumes these things, is holy. If all created things have unlimited value, then your body, which lives by consuming those things, has unlimited value. When you recognize your value as a public being, you can create a unified family with great public value. Based on this family we can move on to the tribal level; based on the tribe, we move on to a people; based on a people we can build a nation; and based on that nation, we march toward the world level. Smaller things are absorbed into the bigger field. We should move forward through sacrificing lesser things.( 152-296,19630726)

11 We should strive day and night to make the Fathers country our country, the Father's people our people, and the Father's possessions our own. This means you are meant to act, live and exist harmonizing two reciprocal bases while experiencing God's heart. Because this is God's act of creation, relationship without heart is a sin; being separated from heart is a sin. Whenever we meet our brothers and sisters, we should invite God to be present with us and connect with His heart. Whenever we deal with material things we must also relate to them with God's heart.( 152-297,19630726)

12 Are my possessions public or private? This is the problem. All of us must go beyond the concept that things belong to us. This is one of the greatest lessons we must teach humankind from now on. We should reject the concept that things are "mine" and replace it with the realization that things are "public." Nothing in the created world belongs to a certain individual as his own possession. If you boast, "This is my land," you will be ruined, because it is public land. You are just the manager. If you care for it as a public manager according to the universal principles of governance, you will be able to manage it forever. Otherwise, you will lose it.( 031-247,19700604)

13 Nobody understands the law of public management of the created world. We will finally reach the era of liberation of all things that the Bible talks about when we establish the true value of all things of the created world. Unless we know their value, our use of things is not management; it is abuse. Therefore, all things of creation need a true owner. Until today, the things of creation have never had public value or authority. All things want to be governed from that position. This means that they should be ruled by true love. That which is true is not self-centered.( 031-247,19700604)

14 A wife lives for her husband, children live for their parents, parents, grandparents and grandchildren all live for the family. Living in love like this, for the sake of others, is happiness. When everyone in a family tries to make everything "ours" rather than "mine," the family will prosper. When the grandfather conserves everything without wasting anything, and the father, mother and children do the same to expand what belongs to all of them, the family will prosper. Thus when family members use money and save it for the sake of the whole, the environment of love in that family will expand. That ideal becomes real when we expand it to the society and world on the foundation of such families. We must not center on ourselves.( 167-215,19870719)

15 Unification Church missionaries are trained to live without the luxuries of Western civilized society. We have a new culture called "the sleeping bag culture." Wherever they go, our young people do not feel they are strangers. Our Unification Church missionaries live without luxurious furnishings and use only the most basic household goods. When you become a missionary, as you witness to sorrowful people, you must have a tearful heart. You should allow them to recognize that God is a God of sorrow. God is yearning to cry with people who suffer in sorrow. (130-280,19840207)

16 I have seen you throw away things you should not throw away and consume things that you should not consume. By every possible means, we have to find a way to save even a single cent for the sake of the world, for the sake of God's Will, and for the restoration of this country. We need to develop a way to save and become more efficient in financial management.( 077-032,19750323)

17 From the viewpoint of the Principle, wasting is a sin. From the time we are born, we are supposed to consume a certain quantity of things. If we consume more than we should it is considered a sin. When we die, there should be something left over. If not, our descendants will be indebted. Is there anybody who can speak and teach about this? Before our schooling, the Divine Principle is our teacher. Nature is our teacher; even the ocean is our teacher.( 193-103,19890831)

18 What are we striving to do by saving, economizing and suffering? We are trying to do something good for the next generation. Consequently, we are striving for a system of thought that can create a foundation we can be proud of in front of the world. After ten years, a hundred years, or a thousand years of bequeathing a tradition based on thought, Koreans will surely become a venerated people throughout the world. Therefore, I ponder how to guide people based on this principle. Although this approach may seem to be the worst one at this particular moment while we are being persecuted, I predict that this thought system alone will remain and prevail as time goes by. For this reason, I embarked on this path.( 109-105,19801026)

Dominion over all things and health

19 When you are fasting, you realize how much time you really have. You realize just how much time you spend eating three meals a day. How much effort is wasted just thinking about what to eat, constantly going back and forth opening the refrigerator door to eat an apple or drink a Coke? It is important to get accustomed to eating only at mealtimes. If you do this, you will not get sick; rather, you will become healthier.( 131-289,19840504)

20 Even when hungry, you should not completely fill your plate with food. You should be satisfied eating three-fifths of your plateful. Only then are you a wise person. You should learn how to be frugal in everything. You should save the maximum and then find out the minimum you can live with. Train yourself to use only the minimum for at least three months until you reach your limit. After you do this, you will see what happens.( 057-198,19720531)

21 Before loving God you must love everything in front of you—the food you eat, all different types of material things, the creation, and your own body. You love your body by absorbing the creation into your body with love. Your first parents are the parents who gave birth to you; your second parent is the earth. Because you receive all the elements your body needs from the land, you should love the land.( 290-054,19980202)

22 You have heard the saying that if you release animals and fish with love, your descendants will prosper. This is correct. If you live in your homeland you don't catch local diseases. The saying, "A body and the soil are not separable," means you walk on the land, breathe the air, eat the grains and vegetables, and drink the water. If you find one, two, three, four, five, six, seven or even several hundred places just like your homeland, you can travel to those places during your life. The time will come to make the whole world your own liberated homeland. In the ocean, water currents flow to balance east and west, so fish grow well. Air also does not flow randomly; it flows according to differences in temperature to achieve equilibrium. We too need to learn how to attain balance. For example, starting in primary school we should learn how to care for plants and animals so they do not become extinct. When we learn this kind of balance and care for the natural world, it will be possible to achieve one unified world.( 491-294,20050327)

23 According to the Principle, a completely mature person must be healthy, united in mind and body, and in harmony with God's heart and absolute value. No matter how strong your spirit, if your body is not healthy you cannot be a sound person. Conversely, no matter how strong your body is, if your spirit is not correct you cannot embody a completely mature person. Realizing this, you need to make constant effort to maintain proper unity between your mind and body.( 271-150,19950827)

24 All creation is precious, like Gods fine, soft hair. Even those particles we pick up from touching objects or petting animals, which mix with our bodies' sweat and fall off, were once part of God. Likewise, if we love everything that we eat, we will not get sick. God created all things in the universe as object partners of His love. If we love the things God created just as God loves them, consume them on behalf of God, and become people who reflect God's personality, then they will provide us with nutrition and keep us healthy. We are not meant to get sick and die. To avoid this, we must become one with God's love, life and lineage. We need to become Gods representatives.( 384-182,20020703)

25 How fortunate human beings are! We conduct an orchestra of love, and in accord with the rhythm of love, we live eating the animals and plants that maintain life in the universe. This means that we live off the fruits of love. Flowers and leaves are the fruits of love. How happy are we who eat these fruits! Those who eat the fruits of love suffer no disease. They know no illness. Even if there were just one piece of bread remaining in the cafeteria when you got there, you would think, "This bread passed through countless hands throughout the world, many means of transportation, and prevailed over great hardships to get here. This bread has been made and given to me as the fruit of the efforts of many people, as the fruit of their love. As the owner of love, I shall eat this bread thinking of it as my partner." Those who have no such appreciation are bound to fall ill, while those who eat with appreciation can resist all illness. People who eat the fruits of a world filled with love possess miraculous energy.( 217-307,19910612)

26 If you eat with a heart of appreciation and love, the food that enters your mouth will say, "I deeply appreciate being absorbed into your body, becoming your flesh and blood and giving you energy to love God." When you eat beef you must think, "This beef has come to me as the fruit of love, after being raised from a calf with its mother's love, and raised by its owner with love." You will never know illness if you consume the fruit of love while appreciating it in oneness with God’s original love.( 217-308,19910612)

27 All the foods we eat are fruits. We are eating the fruits of the creation, the original bodies containing the seeds of beauty, the microcosms of all living things of beauty. We need to be mindful of their value as we eat them, and that we are doing so in order to grow and become complete through this valuable love. If we eat with this attitude, there is no reason that we should fall ill. In fact, we will surely grow in good health.( 146-109,19860617)