The Essence of Religious Life
God’s Will and the World
Three Spiritual Children as a Foundation for a Family
May 13, 1983
One thing I am most concerned about you today is that your commitment to a religious life may fade. This is very fearful. You have a tendency to fade away from religious life when your life is inundated with having to deal with ever increasing loads of practical matters. I worry very much about that. Properly speaking, when you are meeting with me like today, it should follow the proper order—it should begin with prayer and singing holy songs. But, under a different circumstance, we started without them.
So when you conduct a conference, you should not just start (without preparing the spiritual environment first). You need always to follow the proper liturgical order of our church. Do you follow? If you focus only on external activities, your religious thought and attitude will fades away. If your commitment to religious life declines, then you will be completely disconnected from the assistance of the spirit world, and eventually, you will have no relationship with the spirit world. It is essential for you to seek spiritual assistance whenever you gather together. This is the Principle of Creation. The relationship between the spirit world and the physical world is like the relationship between parents and children. You must know this clearly.
This is true of me, also. Living such a hectic life like mine, I always go to a quiet place in order to maintain my religious life. In this way, it is necessary to train yourself to return to the course of the original mind at some time during a 24-hour day. For example, when I am fishing, if I catch a big fish, I immediately offer it first to God as a Heavenly sacrifice, saying to the fish, “You are great fish. You must be the first fish to be caught by Rev. Moon in the history of all fishes.” I think in such a way and conduct a special ceremony for it.
Another instance, when I caught a boar in the mountain, I conducted such a condition. This is the essence of the religious life. We are fighting against Satan now. If you are in a fighting environment in the frontline, you must maintain your religious life by checking always the original motivation in your heart. This exercise is always necessary. You must think how to return to your original mind every single day, as this is what I do, constantly. Without making such efforts, you may develop bad habits (that underestimate and fade from religious life). This is a grave mistake. You must find a time to pray by yourself and maintain your religious life, correcting your motivation back to your original mind.
From the standpoint of the Principle, mankind originally was supposed to stand at the center of God's heart, with' absolute unity between mind and body. Once you are in the core' of God's heart there can be no deviation' or disunity between mind and body. Therefore, you need to remember the concept of the fall, and you have to realize that you are living in the midst of the fallen realm. Then, when the time is right, you have to separate from the fallen realm, starting at the individual level, advancing to the level of the family, the clan, the race, the nation, and eventually the world. By separating from the fallen world at each level, each one of you must establish this absolute foundation as a tradition. Otherwise, you will encounter big problems in the future.
Because this world is the fallen realm, we cannot reach God through a worldly lifestyle. More than 80 percent of our lives is a reflection of the satanic way of life. In order to return to the original position, we must realize what our nature is and examine to what degree we have become accustomed to that fallen way of life. Then, we must deny the fallen way of life. Otherwise, we may face the destruction of our own life. Do you follow me?