Family Harmony Makes All Go Well

1. A family should consist of parents, a husband and wife, and children. Only then can there be a foundation for happiness. God's purpose in seeking to dwell with humanity is as well for His happiness.

God's venturing forth to find a foundation of happiness, fulfilling His ideal, cannot take place apart from human beings. That point of connection can be found only through His relationship with us.

Just as we feel happy when everything we need for our emotional well-being is present in our family, God likewise longs to feel happy in such a setting.
(32-198, 1970.07.15)

The family principle of three generations living together

2. The love of God is manifested as parental love, conjugal love, and filial love. These three great loves to make it possible for people to exist forever, transcending even the most elevated human view of love.

This is why people feel joy when these three great loves are united. When they are fulfilled, happiness is also realized. When they are lacking, misfortune sets in. Are motherless people happy?

The emptiness they feel translates into misery. Are fatherless people happy? Fatherless people envy those who have a father. Happiness, like love, has no room for envy. If you envy someone or something, you cannot say you are happy.
(20-040, 1968.03.31)

3. The grandfather, grandmother, mother-in-law, father-in-law, sisters-in-law, and grandchildren should all live together. Living together with God, the three generations corresponding to the formation, growth, and completion stages will settle down.

You can love God if you know how to love not only your father and mother but also your grandparents. You will be able to love God only when you place your grandparents above your father and mother and know how to love them in that position.

So, why are spouses, parents, and sons and daughters indispensable? It is because you can attend to God completely only when you have all the members of the family. It is a fundamental principle that you should have parents and sons and daughters. (128-018, 1983.05.29)

4. The grandfather and grandmother are the most experienced people in the world. They are the ones who resemble God the most. Because they are old, they do not sleep very long. So you should think, “Oh, my grandfather is like God, who protects my family without sleeping!

My grandfather has become old by protecting us! I can see his age reflected in the wrinkles on his face.” This means you should obey your grandparents. Isn't this beautiful? When the grandparents are not sleeping, they are praying, “God, bless my sons and daughters.

Please bless them.” While praying, they will guide you, saying, “My love, it is dangerous to go out today. Please listen to me.” The universe protects those who try to live in the original, ideal way.

When they love each other, the grandmother and grandfather dance, the mother and father dance, and the brothers and sisters dance. The universe protects those who live by this model. If someone were about to kill such a person, the universe would automatically prevent it. (107-327, 1980.06.08)

5. You must complete the four-position foundation by attaining perfect maturity as an individual, perfect unity as a couple, and the growth of your children to adulthood.

Otherwise, what was meant to be achieved through the three generations of your family will be lost. Like a tree that buds in the spring, grows through the summer, and bears fruit in the autumn, we live our lives as children, couples, and parents.

When you have your sons and daughters, you stand in a position equal to that of God. You can participate in His work; you can even kiss Him. He will then bestow everything upon you, saying, “All that I have is yours.”

Whoever achieves the standard of the ideal that God desires to see can immediately inherit everything from Him. (393-206, 2002.10.04)

6. The place where the invisible God and substantial human beings unite is the origin. This origin begins with the family — God's family and the True Parents' family.

This family has to complete the four-position foundation. It should go through three generations—the grandfather's generation, the father's generation, and the grandson's generation. Because of the Fall, God was unable to experience a family of three generations.

We should establish a standard through three generations. When we find the standard centering on one mind, one body, and one heart, which is the most vertical standard in the world, we need to connect it through three generations. (396-277, 2002.11.11)

7. Your family is the fruit of all the sacrifices of history. With material things representing the Old Testament Age, sons and daughters representing the New Testament Age, and you yourselves representing the Completed Testament Age, we have to repay the debts of these three ages.

Since you are in the position to pay indemnity for these historical ages, do not treat your belongings, sons and daughters, or spouse as your own.

Following this type of public law, this principle of Heaven, you should become men and women, grandfathers and grandmothers, fathers and mothers, husbands and wives, and sons and daughters who can adopt, evaluate, and live according to a fundamental attitude that will lead you to complete oneness with the ideal. When these positions unite together, the family is formed.

Unless we build a foundation of love upon which to inherit this ownership and right of dominion, our families cannot form the initial foundation for the kingdom of heaven on earth. (168-217, 1987.09.20)

Family harmony makes all go well

8. In the expression Ga hwa manse song, which means “Family harmony makes all go well,” the character Hwa (和) means “to harmonize.” On the other hand, in hwahak (chemistry), the character Hwa ( 化 ) indicates substances harmonizing as their original essence changes.

Yet, the character hwa (和), as in the word il-hwa (one harmony), does not indicate a change in one's essence when harmony is made. So, whether you are a man or woman, you should harmonize with your partner without changing your essential self.

Which is more valuable? Of the two, harmony without changing your original essence is better than harmony at the cost of changing your essence. The union of man and woman is a form of harmony. The unity between adults and children is a form of harmony.

The unity between man and woman, old and young, not to mention front and back, right and left, and above and below, are all examples of harmony. All forms of harmony lead to prosperity.

This is because harmony is the standard of ideal existence. Everything supports harmony and wants to attach itself to that which is in harmony. You can say that harmony leads to prosperity because it draws everything to unite with it.
(173-243, 1988.02.21)

9. It is said that “Family harmony makes all go well.” Ideal relationships between the grandfather and grandmother, husband and wife, and brothers and sisters lead to success and prosperity. Nonetheless, the grandmother and grandfather should not love only each other; husband and wife should not love only each other, and brothers and sisters should not love only each other.

Grandmother and son, son and son, daughter-in-law, and son, vertically and horizontally, front and back, right and left — everyone should be in harmony. The character hwa means “to level.” In hwahak (chemistry), hwa refers to the unity of substances that change when they combine.

But the hwa in the word for harmony implies no change in the essence of those who have achieved harmony. (196-303, 1990.01.12)

10. In the Orient we have the expression, “Family harmony makes all go well.” It means that if you want peace, you have to base it on love. This principle applies to the universe, to the East and West, and everywhere. Would you like to live in a home for the elderly? I do not like such places.

Anywhere the parents go, the children should follow; the whole family needs to follow. I am concerned, however, that reality is not like this. If a family cannot live together, where can we find harmony in the world, and how can we live together in the kingdom of heaven? (167-125, 1987.07.01)

11. If someone who loves you very much helped you by giving you $1,000, you would not want to repay a reduced amount, such as $900. Rather, you would want to repay it many times over.

The original mind is like that. What does this reveal? It explains that actions based on original love produce an output that is greater than the input. This logic is viable. Since we say, “Family harmony makes all go well,” we need to act on that principle.

Action reduces the amount of available energy, so why does family harmony lead to an increase? The more you harmonize in love, and the more you invest in love, nothing gets smaller; everything becomes bigger. (212-279, 1991.01.08)

12. When we say that family harmony makes all go well, we need to realize that harmony requires patience. We will likely go through many difficulties. The one who can deal well with such difficulties will become the central figure and responsible person.

A true man does not change, and a true woman does not change either. When an unchanging man and woman appear, focused on true love, the whole universe will bow down to this couple. (142-335, 1986.03.14)

13. “When we say, “Family harmony makes all go well,” do you think we are talking about harmony coming about based on nuggets of gold? If you simply look at the gold nuggets and keep them locked up, family harmony may be possible. If you dispense them based on your viewpoint, brawls will break out.

However, if you dispense them with love, the more you dispense them, the more you will prosper. But the more you dispense things based on economic motives, the more people will fight over them. Unending divisions will result.

But the more you dispense things based on love, the greater will be the unity, harmony, and peace that will follow. In love, “Family harmony makes all go well,” as the saying goes.

The father loves the mother, the mother loves the father, parents love their children, and children love their parents—in this way, through harmony in love, everything prospers. (115-254, 1981.11.22)”

14. Looking at the world of life and the world of spiritual death reveals that although the origin of death is Satan, the origin of life is God. The world centered on Satan is accurately the opposite of the world centered on God. Are families in the fallen world peaceful or are they in conflict?

Because families in the fallen world began in conflict, families everywhere conflict. The world that began with conflict in the family, and is composed of families that are in conflict, is not the heavenly world. (44-135, 1971.05.06)

15. The saying “Family harmony makes all go well” is an excellent expression. If a husband goes to work after fighting with his wife at home, he will almost surely get into a fight at work.

This is because he will feel the need to vent his anger. If the head of a company goes to the office after a fight at home, he or she will not feel good about the company's employees. Bad feelings that originate in the home certainly spread to society. (44-134, 1971.05.06)

16. What is the most unbearable thing? It is resentment between loved ones. There is nothing harder to bear than that. Since the seed of conflict was sown in Adam's family, families that quarrel live in the fallen realm, while peaceful, harmonious families dwell in the heavenly realm.

They are opposites. Discordant families are at the center of the fallen world. The center of the fallen world is evil. Disharmonious families fight every day. In such families, the father and mother are always in conflict. The husband and wife conflict. (44-134, 1971.05.06)

17. We need to be careful that our children do not say, “Mother and father fought.” If your children say, “Mother and father fight all the time,” you will surely go to hell, no matter how well you do otherwise. Our children should say, “My father is like God. He is God in our home.

My father is the president of our family. He is the saint in our family and so is my mother.” Long ago, the saints said that family harmony makes everything go well, but today the Unification Church advocates harmony with Heaven centering on the cosmos. Heavenly harmony makes everything go well. (101-041, 1978.10.28)

18. We say that family harmony makes all go well, but the Bible says, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God.” (Matt. 5:9)

It means that those who bring peace will be sons and daughters of God. If there were a messenger of peace in this world who was eliminating the causes of conflict, providing a base for unification, and leading a movement toward the one Lord, God would be compelled to pay attention to that person.

Since God is the King of peace and the Owner of peace, He watches for the one who has a heart of peace. God has patiently borne tens of thousands of years of sorrow all alone, traveling a painful path by Himself.

God has overcome everything alone from His difficult position, but He is not boastful and does not want to make this known, so He continues to endure everything alone. If anyone were bravely walking the same way in front of God, God would surely notice. It would be impossible for Him to ignore such a person. (101-185, 1978.10.29)

19. There is an old saying, “Family harmony makes all go well,” but do you think family harmony is possible without harmony within the individual? If our integrity is on the verge of collapse, can we foster harmony in our family?

If individuals had carried conflict within themselves from the very outset, those who would deny God's existence would be right. But our inner conflict came about because something went wrong. Ideologies such as materialism developed, with the wrong diagnosis of reality.

The Absolute Being could not have designed people with conflicting purposes. There can be only a single purpose. However, we are incomplete. Since we have remained an incomplete product until now, the Absolute Being is exerting His power of re-creation to bring us to full maturity.

Therefore, throughout history, God has invested in factories that remake people into completed products. Thus, whether people like it or not, new assembly lines need to appear. These are none other than religious organizations.
(39-019, 1971.01.09)

20. “Before you try to master the universe, you must first master yourself.' This was my motto at the time I was pioneering the path of truth. I told everyone, “Before you try to gain dominion over the universe or connect with everything in the world, you must gain dominion over yourself.”

Our mind can become the true owner, true teacher, and true parent. When our body discovers such a mind and feels inadequate to attend to this mind, even for tens of thousands of years, heavenly fortune will come to us.

Our mind wants to live for the sake of our body, but our body doesn't want to serve our mind. That is the problem. (201-154, 1990.03.30)

21. The issue lies within the self, not within society. If there is a concern in my family, it is not because my elder brother is bad, my elder sister is bad, or my father is bad; it is because I am bad. I must first attain a certain standard before I can be in a position to criticize the standard of others.

Only after attaining unity between my original mind and my body can I proudly enter the one unified world. If my original mind and body are divided, how can I participate in a world where everything is harmonized? I would automatically retreat from it.

Therefore, I should not allow my body to become my master. I should not allow my body to suppress or ignore my mind, to exhaust or distress it. I can be happy only when I control my body and direct it to serve my mind; then God will come and dwell within me. It is said that “Family harmony makes all go well.”

If I want peace in my family and within myself, I need to unite my mind and body. (201-154, 1990.03.30)

22. The universe resembles a sphere. In the solar system, the planets follow cyclical orbits. The enormous cosmos is also spherical, containing hundreds of millions of solar systems.

That's why we say everything moves around and around. When we say, “Family harmony makes all go well,” it means we need to move around and around in harmony.

There should be harmony not just between the grandfather and grandmother; the grandfather and grandson also have to be in harmony, children, and parents have to be in harmony, and husband and wife need to be in harmony; everyone should live in harmony.

When we live like that, everything will be fulfilled. When our lives move in a cyclical motion, we create a sphere. We have to become well-rounded people. Sharp-edged people cause problems. That is because the universe is in motion. (198-291, 1990.02.05)