Restoration of the Original Eden

1. Whenever we think about the original Garden of Eden before the Fall, we immediately think about God. Then we associate it with Adam and Eve, whom God blessed after He finished His six days of creation.

The Garden of Eden was home to our original, sinless ancestors and all things of creation, which had not been invaded by evil or sin. All things were created for human beings and human beings were created for God.

Sadly, human beings have not lived for God and, as a consequence, all things of creation have been unable to harmonize with us.

Because of this, when we think of the Garden of Eden we feel profoundly sad; our mind and body are pervaded with the feeling of how everything has been mistreated. (006-334, 1959.06.28)

God's heart dwells in all created things

2. We should not look at the things of creation with a hollow heart. Since every being in this world of God's great creation lives and moves based on the purpose of one love, God's energy indwells even the tiniest, most insignificant being.

God created all things in six biblical days. Yet even the beings He created on the first and second days were related to God's larger vision of the great universe that would appear after the six days of His creation were completed.

From this, we can firmly conclude that nothing was created without being deeply rooted in God's heart. (009-167, 1960.05.08)

3. We value the relics left behind by famous people in history. We value the items they cherished during their lifetimes. But if a single grain of sand falls in front of you, you should realize that it is connected to God's heart.

It is the work of the Creator, who is higher and greater than anyone else, made lovingly with His own hands. It is the fruit of His heart. Anyone who understands its worth and treats a grain of sand as if it were as valuable as the entire universe is certainly a son or daughter of God. (009-167, 1960.05.08)

4. In a field, no single blade of grass is untouched by the hand of God. When we look at a tree, we can see God's unlimited inner heart growing and flowing through that tree.

Not only the grass and trees, but also the animals playing in the fields, the insects, and every kind of bird were all created by the hands of God who invested His inner heart completely. (006-338, 1959.06.28)

5. How should we think about all the things that God created and loved so much? God created all things and said, “This is good to behold!” But we should consider, if God loved a blade of grass the most, which kind of grass would He love best?

If you could think about this without any time constraints, you would feel the grace of God's heart as He created all things, before the creation of human beings.

Holding a single blade of grass, you would feel joy in your heart, realizing that it was an object of hope and that it had been created by God's hand. If there were someone like that, even a fallen person, who shared God's heart at the time of creation, he or she could be God's friend. (006-338, 1959.06.28)

6. From among the people who revere God's heart, await God's idea,l and seek His restored garden, many people of true heart sing God's praises and strive to attain divine joy.

Yet few remember that God's inner heart is connected to every blade of grass, every insect, and all things of creation and that He feels joy through them. If someone invested all their energy into making an insect, and someone else loved and appreciated it with all his heart and mind, more highly than even its creator, nothing would delight the creator more. (006-339, 1959.06.28)

7. Science attempts to explain the formulas, axioms, principles, and laws of the created world and all things in nature, Literature attempts to express the inner lyrical sentiment of nature, while the arts in their various forms express the apparent or hidden beauty of nature.

Philosophy also tries to explain the basic principles of nature. Religion, however, is on a higher level than all of these. Then what is it that true religion should explain? It should explain the deep emotional feeling that flows through the heart of nature. This is religion's responsibility. (006-340, 1959.06.28)

8. It is unimaginable that human culture would exist separate from nature. We cannot speak about human culture apart from nature. No matter how much people boast of their influence or assert their power, if they ignore nature, it is all of no use. Nature not only enriches our lives, it is indispensable to our earthly lives.

Therefore, if you cannot feel the heart that flows within all natural things, you cannot enjoy true happiness in your life, and you cannot rise to a position of glory where you can relate to God. (006-340, 1959.06.28)

9. Even when you contemplate a blade of grass, you should be able to do so from God's perspective. When you look at a flower, you should do so with the heart of God. When you look at insects, birds, or all other animals, your feelings should connect with the heart of God.

If there were a person like this who could connect with the heart of God, even one who could not explain nature through the logic of science using formulas and definitions, could not express feelings through literature, could not display the beauty of nature through art, or had no energy to feeling the love of nature, still that person would be a great scientist, writer, artist, philosopher, and religious leader. (006-341, 1959.06.28)

The qualifications for us to become lords of creation

10. Every day our eyes are stimulated by the things of creation. However, we often take these things for granted, as if they were commonplace. If we human beings had not fallen, all the nature would have conformed to God's original ideal of nature based on goodness.

We should reflect upon how our original ancestors looked at and felt about nature, and upon God's original feeling toward nature. (006-337 1959.06.28)

11. Have you ever wished you could enter into a mystical state or the realm of God's grace and look at a flower from that perspective? Have you ever regarded a flower with the same sincere heart you would express toward an ancestor you longed to meet?

Have you ever looked at the mountains and rivers and felt such incredible inspiration from nature that you spontaneously burst forth praising God? If you have never had this kind of experience, I can only conclude that you are not qualified to be a lord of creation. (006-344, 1959.06.28)

12. When you open your eyes in the morning and look at the natural world, your original nature is stirred, and you are inspired by a fresh ideal. As for the human world, the more you see of it, the more despair and sorrow it arouses in your heart.

If original people who had not fallen populated the world, the value of human beings would not bestir sorrow in the heart of the beholder. Human beings were not created with the same value as a blade of grass, a flower, or a tree.

We were meant to be noble beings who could not be exchanged for anything in the created world. Human beings were supposed to be born with incomparable value, representing the glory of heaven. (009-097, 1960.04.24)

13. We should not frown on or lament the environment we see around us, and we should not despair at social injustice. Instead, we should become people who can forget our sorrowful hearts with the joy of looking at a single blade of grass growing. Such a person will remain in the new age.

A person who seeks a relationship with God seeks the ideal and the world of heart. When you look at a blade of grass, try to feel the wonderful heart behind it. God is there, and eternal life is there.

You should not look at a mountain peak with the same feeling from one day to the next. If we could experience a different feeling in each season – spring, summer, autumn, and winter – and could sing of each unique feeling, wouldn't it be incredible? Such a person can harmonize with all the nature.
(006-342, 1959.06.28)

14. What kind of nature are we looking at; what kind of land are we standing on? Sadly, this land is fallen land. Instead of a land of happiness, it has become a land of sorrow. When we look at the creation, rather than feeling that it is good, we should feel the sad situation of all things of creation, which remain in the realm of lamentation.

Even as we enjoy gazing at a place of scenic beauty – the mountains and rivers, for example – we should also be able to feel deep sorrow and connect to our Heavenly Father's heart. (006-345, 1959.06.28)

15. While holding a blade of grass, rather than feeling happy we should be weeping in sorrow. Even though we feel inner joy hugging a tree, we should be able to shed tears.

While gazing at mountains and rivers, we should be sighing deeply. We feel such emotion because deep in our hearts we miss the original Garden of Eden. God, as the Creator, is the one who feels this most deeply. A person who looks at nature with such a heart cannot help but long for the Garden of Eden.

If we long for the original Eden, we should also long for the original person who can govern all things of creation in that garden. (006-346, 1959.06.28)

16. If we ask God if He had even one hour in the original garden of Eden together with Adam and Eve, singing and sharing their feelings about nature, the answer would be “No.” I'm sure that God wanted to say, “My son, look at that mountain! I made it in such-and-such a way.

Look at the grass and the trees. I made them like this and like that. See, I made all of this for you, for your happiness.” The fact is God never had a chance to speak such words to Adam. Why not?

It is because Adam was not yet mature. We should understand God's deep desire to say such things to His children. We need to understand God's heart and situation. Since Adam was emotionally immature, God was unable to speak like this.
(006-343, 1959.06.28)

17. Our hearts should long for the original garden of Eden. We should become people who long for the world that God has loved with boundless love, the world in which God's love continues forever, the world in which we can sing and become forever intoxicated in song, the world in which we leap and want to keep leaping forever with God, the world in which, once we act and take responsibility, our deeds have eternal value and our responsibility endures forever.

God's sorrow is that he could not find people with such a heart. God, who is leading the providence on this earth, must eventually find such a person. By loving nature, we can elevate our emotions; this is why we often sing about mountains and rivers. (006-343, 1959.06.28)

18. If there were a person who could stand up for and call out to God, with a deep heart and a sense of mission to restore all things and people, our Father, God, would surely acknowledge that person.

If a person were looking for the original Garden of Eden with such a sincere heart, he or she would be the original, true person whom God, humankind, and all things of creation would be proud of.

Then all created things in the original Garden of Eden, the people living there, and God, who would visit there, would not be separate. Instead, centered on this one person, with God above and all things below, they would all live together harmoniously in one home.

This person would be the one whom God could love, the one for whom all people could live, and the true owner whom all created things would respect.
(006-351, 1959.06.28)