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1. From now on, you must live with True Parents. God is in the position of the grandparents. True Parents are in the position of the mother and the father, and you are in the position of the first son.
The lesson is that three generations should live together. You should live with the feeling resounding in your heart that God is with you and True Parents are with you. (131-097, 1984.04.16)
A life of attending True Parents
2. Are you True Parents' true sons and daughters? What are true sons and daughters? Being true children means a connection based on the true lineage. Of course, a relationship with true children is formed through true love, but we should be connected through true lineage.
If you are connected through lineage, you must take after your mother and father. Do you resemble me? Your eyes are blue, mine are black, and our hair color is different. I have a round, Oriental face.
So for you to take after True Parents, what matters is how much you resemble our essence. You should be able to say, I resemble you in defeating Satan and in loving God absolutely That is how you should resemble me.
(170-237, 1987.11.21)
3. How much should you love me? You should not love me from a position that has traces of Satan's world and is tainted with love from that world. Go beyond that by loving me more than you love your parents, spouse, and children who were born in Satan's world.
That is why in the Bible, Jesus said, "Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me." (Matt. 10:37) This conclusion applies to all of us. He also said, "Take up your cross and follow me." (Luke 9:23)
Each of us carries our cross. To carry the cross means to resist and overcome the power that pulls us in the opposite direction. When we reach this point we shed bitter tears. (178-098, 1988.06.01)
4. The Blessing is the culmination of everything. So, at that moment, with whom should you establish your relationship? Your couple cannot move forward to perfection on their own. You can do so only through True Parents' love. Everyone, whether good-looking or not, takes after their parents.
In the Unification Church, I am teaching the way of the True Parents. This is your blessing of all blessings. Humankind hopes to meet the True Parents. Even at the cost of your life, you must meet the True Parents.
Even if you lose all the history, all the present age, and all your descendants, when you meet the True Parents you will regain history, the present age, and the future. Meeting the True Parents is a blessing. (35-236, 1970.10.19)
5. Everything comes down to meeting the True Parents. The coming of the True Parents of humankind is the desire of history, the desire of all nations, the desire of all ideologies, and the desire of the entire providence.
Their appearance is unprecedented and will never happen again. It is the turning point of history and comes only once. From the perspective of eternity, a person's lifespan is just one breath. (51-355, 1971.12.05)
6. Carry my picture at all times. It will protect you and empower you to withstand any hardship. Moses performed miracles and signs to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, away from the Pharaoh, and guide them to Canaan.
When the Egyptians' firstborn suffered afflictions and were killed, the Israelites marked their doorposts with the blood of a lamb for protection. Likewise, when you carry my picture with you, the spirit world will watch over you and protect you. (130-290, 1984.02.07)
7. When the Israelites were about to leave Egypt, they were able to avoid calamity by marking their doorposts with the blood of a lamb. In the same way, carrying my picture can protect you.
The spirit world can recognize it even if it is in your pocket. It serves as a mediator by which your ancestors can connect to you. They understand that it is a good channel by which they can do this. If you carry this picture with you, you will not have accidents or trouble.
Without it, you are more likely to run into problems. Such incidents will constantly occur, and by that, you will recognize the value of my picture.
(132-191, 1984.06.01)
Human morality and filial piety
8. Ethical and moral teachings have always held that parents have to love their children, that children have to be filial to their parents, and that there must be a distinction between husband and wife.
These virtues, transmitted down to the present day, are the cornerstone of the Three Principles and the Five Moral Disciplines of human relationships as viewed in Confucianism.
These days, however, such traditional customs and norms are changing. When we see the changes that are penetrating daily life and the social environment, we know that we are in the Last Days. The Messiah, a global leader, must appear to deal with these concerns. (11-019, 1960.12.11)
9. According to Korean etiquette, you have to receive something from someone older than you with both hands. This signifies that Heaven's love is received only when both parties, symbolized by the two hands, have a perfectly balanced relationship.
There is an expression, “A person's mind is Heaven's mind.” The purpose of all the rules in human societies is to form relationships based on the way of the conscience. These rules serve to bring balance to relationships. They place man and woman on the same plane, with love as their axis.
Therefore, we should always balance our relationships, with the hearts of saints who love the world and the hearts of divine sons and daughters who love God. This calls us to be humble before others. (171-237, 1988.01.01)
10. According to the Eastern way of thinking, the older person should walk in front of the younger. This is because the older person was born earlier. This is how we create an orderly environment.
The person born later should stand behind. Right or left, front or back, above or below; each should take their appropriate position. These views on keeping the proper order in relationships are eternal and do not change.
(168-252, 1987.09.27)
11. In a Korean family, when the parents rise in the morning, their daughter-in-law, who is already awake, goes to them and pays her respects. Then she folds up their bedding, cleans their room, and prepares their meal.
This is a norm in Korea. To indemnify fallen history, we must establish the law of filial piety as the highest among all laws. In the nation, filial piety should be the highest of all laws. (31-275, 1970.06.04)
12. In certain cultures of the world, people observe a three-year mourning period after a parent has passed away. The children offer meals to the spirit of their departed parents every morning and evening.
Whenever they leave or return home, they pause before the altar set up for their departed parent and greet them. This is a law. You have to do even more than that.
From the viewpoint of the Will, your behavior does not meet the standard of Heaven's expectations for propriety. Far from it! A husband and wife should report their daily schedule to God together before they go out to work.
Upon returning home from work, they should again report to God together. Only then should they eat dinner. You need to understand this God-centered standard of life. It regulates all these things very strictly.
There are distinct rules of family life for women and men. You should systematize these incredibly important heavenly norms and live by them. They outline the path you must walk. (31-275, 1970.06.04)
13. The more difficult your life is, the more valuable your achievements. Younger people naturally look up to the oldest family members as if they were God; so you must demonstrate something different when you get older.
The difference should be a deep heart that penetrates the bone marrow. So too, blessed couples should inspire adoration, such that people can't help but think, “How happy the wife of that kind of husband must be! How happy the husband of such a wife must be!” (021-088, 1968.11.03)
14. You have heard about human moral norms, but not about heavenly moral norms. What is the origin of human moral norms? If you dig into their origin, you will find that they are based on the conscience.
Most laws have their basis in Roman law, which may be considered the foundation for the current world civilization. However, moral norms arise from the conscience, not from laws. The foundation of the conscience is goodness itself, so the standard of goodness is the standard of the conscience.
When we do something wrong, we are deviating from goodness and our conscience tries to correct us. Of course, we cannot form a universal social system that is in accord with the pure conscience without laws and regulations. But, in the end, human norms are fundamentally rooted in heavenly principles.
(033-044, 1970.08.02)
15. To establish human norms for relationships, we need the original principled way. To establish the original principled way, we require the heavenly norms of relationships. Centering on what do they emerge? They emerge centering on absolute love.
Centering on what does the original principled way emerge? It emerges centering on the authority of life. Today, loyalty is the representative norm of human relationships. Centering on what does it emerge? It must emerge centering on eternal fidelity.
Today, do you have a heart to relate with others according to the norms of heavenly relationships? If you have such a desire, you should have friends whom you can trust from the bottom of your heart, just as you would trust God.
One step further, you should have at least one sibling, parent, or spouse whom you can trust as you would trust God. With this in place, you need to transcend the family and expand your relationships with society, nation, and world. This has always been God's hope. (4-146, 1958.03.30)
16. We are told that there is no greater love than loving your neighbor as yourself. That is the greatest love.
If you are pierced by bitter sorrow because you were unable to love your parents, then love your neighbors instead with greater love. If you do, a situation will arise when you will be able to demonstrate filial piety to your neighbors as if they were your parents.
Even if you are unable to serve your parents with filial piety, Heaven will recognize your investment of filial piety toward your neighbors as having greater value than filial piety to your parents. (085-130, 1976.03.02)
Sun Myung Moon