Salvation is sometimes pictured as a great reversal. It looks to the day when God will act to turn the existing social and political order upside down, when the wealthy and powerful will no longer tower above the honest and god-fearing.
Internally, it brings the insight that the way to God is the reverse of the way of the world.
An enlightened person recognizes that he should reverse his or her orientation one hundred and eighty degrees. Scripture speaks of this inner reversal as dying to self in order to live, seeking darkness in order to find the light, and abasing the self in order to become prominent.
This leads to the concept of salvation as restoration. Restoration refers to the undoing of bad habits, modes of thinking, ways of behaving, and social relations that have grown corrupt and deviated from the proper way.
It is a return to the origin, aimed at restoring the original way of life according to the true principles and purposes of God. An important expression of this theme of reversion to the origin is the Buddhist doctrine of Dependent Origination (Paticcasamuppada), which is not just a law of causality but more properly the insight that all causes leading to downfall must be reversed.
Father Moon discusses this topic at length under the teaching of Restoration through Indemnity. Indemnity, broadly speaking, means to restore mistakes by taking the opposite course. It begins with a reversal of character—from self-centeredness to other-centeredness.
It extends to relationships—paying restitution for a crime to making amends for a breach of trust, from the standpoint that it is my responsibility to restore harmony with my brother, even when the original problem was not my fault.
It concludes with complete restoration, the reversal of the Original Sin that happened at the Human Fall.
Sun Myung Moon
The Great Reversal
The last will be first, and the first last. Matthew 20.16
Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. Matthew 23.12
Him who humbles himself, God exalts; him who exalts himself, God humbles; from him who searches for greatness, greatness flies; him who flies from greatness, greatness searches out: with him who is importunate with circumstances, circumstance is importunate; by him who gives way to circumstance, circumstance stands. Talmud, Erubin 13b (Judaism)
The way of Heaven, Is it not like stretching a bow? What is high up is pressed down, What is low down is lifted up; What has surplus is reduced, What is deficient is supplemented. The way of Heaven It reduces those who have surpluses, To supplement those who are deficient. The way of man is just not so: It reduces those who are deficient, To offer to those who have surpluses. Who can offer his surpluses to the world? Only a person of Tao. Tao Te Ching 77 (Taoism)
The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble gird on strength. Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger. The barren has borne seven, but she who has many children is forlorn.
The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up. The Lord makes poor and makes rich; he brings low, he also exalts. He raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, and on them he has set the world. He will guard the feet of his faithful ones; but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness; for not by might shall a man prevail.33 1 Samuel 2.4-9
Sun Myung Moon
Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
The path of the providence of salvation is the path of restoration. The path of restoration is the path of recreation… When God created the world, He had only one concept—the concept of the zero-point. Hence, we have to return to the zero-point when walking the path of restoration and recreating God’s world.
We should return to the state prior to God’s creation; otherwise, nothing is possible. That is why the Bible teaches, “Whoever seeks to gain his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve it.” To lose your life means to cut off Satan’s life [by returning to the zero-point].
Otherwise, we have no way to connect with God at the origin. Historically, evil people have lived better than good people. Originally, good people should prosper while evil people should decline.
These positions should be switched. The zero-point is the time of transition when good people go up while evil people decline. Now is the time when this transition is taking place. (218:187-88, July 28, 1991)
In America, quite a few people live perverted lives. Grandfathers have sex with their granddaughters and fathers with their daughters—even while they live with their wives. This is the fruit of Satan, who in the beginning reversed the direction of human life 180 degrees from the plan of God. In a world that abides by Heaven’s principles, could homosexuality exist?
Lesbianism, alcoholism, drug addiction and such came to exist because human beings suffer from emotional misalignment. They suffer in this world, which is hell on earth. We, on the other hand, are living 180 degrees different from them, as we strive to live in God’s Kingdom. (243:192, January 10, 1993)
Restoration by Going in the Opposite Direction
Whoever seeks to gain his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve it. Luke 17.33
To yield is to be preserved whole. To be bent is to become straight To be empty is to be full. To be worn out is to be renewed. To have little is to possess. To have plenty is to be perplexed. Therefore, the sage embraces the One And becomes the model of the world. Tao Te Ching 22 (Taoism)
I will teach you Dhamma: If this is, that comes to be; from the arising of this, that arises; if this is not, that does not come to be; from the stopping of this, that is stopped. Majjhima Nikaya 2.32 (Buddhism)
The world, O Kaccana, is for the most part bound up in a seeking, attachment, and proclivity, but a monk does not sympathize with this seeking and attachment, nor with the mental affirmation, proclivity, and prejudice which affirms an Ego. He does not doubt or question that it is only evil that springs into existence, and only evil that ceases from existence, and his conviction of this fact is dependent on no one besides himself. This, O Kaccana, is what constitutes Right Belief. That things have being, O Kaccana, constitutes one extreme of doctrine; that things have no being is the other extreme. These extremes have been avoided by the Tathagata, and it is a Middle doctrine he teaches: On ignorance depends karma; On karma depends consciousness; On consciousness depends name and form; On name and form depend the six organs of sense; On the six organs of sense depends contact; On contact depends sensation; On sensation depends desire; On desire depends attachment; On attachment depends existence; On existence depends birth; On birth depend old age and death, sorrow, lamentation, misery, grief, and despair. Thus does this entire aggregation of misery arise. But on the complete fading out and cessation of ignorance ceases karma; On the cessation of karma ceases consciousness; On the cessation of consciousness ceases name and form; On the cessation of name and form cease the six organs of sense; On the cessation of the six organs of sense ceases contact; On the cessation of contact ceases sensation; On the cessation of sensation ceases desire; On the cessation of desire ceases attachment; On the cessation of attachment ceases existence; On the cessation of existence ceases birth; On the cessation of birth cease old age and death, sorrow, lamentation, misery, grief, and despair. Thus does this entire aggregation of misery cease.35 Samyutta Nikaya 22.90 (Buddhism)
The sage awakes to light in the night of all creatures. That which the world calls day is the night of ignorance to the wise. Bhagavad-Gita 2.69 (Hinduism)
The Way out into the light often looks dark, The way that goes ahead often looks as if it went back. The way that is least hilly often looks as if it went up and down, The virtue that is really loftiest looks like an abyss, What is sheerest white looks sullied. 36 Tao Te Ching 41 (Taoism)
Sights, sounds, tastes, odors, things touched and objects of mind are, without exception, pleasing, delightful, and charming—so long as one can say, “They are.” These are considered a source of happiness by the world with its gods, and when they cease, this is by them considered suffering.
The cessation of phenomenal existence is seen as a source of happiness by us Aryans—this insight of those who can see is the reverse of that of the whole world: What others say is a source of happiness—that, we say, is suffering; what others say is suffering— that, we know, as a source of happiness. Behold this doctrine, hard to understand, wherein the ignorant are bewildered. Samyutta Nikaya 4.127-28 (Buddhism)
Sun Myung Moon
Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
The path of indemnity is to deny oneself and go opposite the way of the world. In the beginning in the Garden of Eden, Adam fell because he rejected God and followed Satan. Now in reverse we must reject Satan and return to God. (73:93, August 4, 1974)
When someone has lost his original position or state, he must make some condition to be restored to it. The making of such conditions of restitution is called indemnity. For example, to recover lost reputation, position or health, one must make the necessary effort or pay the due price.
Suppose two people who once loved each other come to be on bad terms; they must make some condition of reconciliation before the love they previously enjoyed can be revived.
In like manner, it is necessary for human beings who have fallen from God’s grace into corruption to fulfill some condition before they can be restored to their true standing. (Exposition of the Divine Principle, Restoration 1.1)
A snake cannot grow without shedding its skin. To shed it, the snake crawls between narrow rocks. It needs an opposing force to push off the old skin. Likewise, the force of darkness has soaked through our body and blood. We cannot just go along with it; how do we get rid of it? We need the wisdom to go the opposite way entirely. (46:83, July 25, 1971)
Humanity went astray from the very beginning when Adam and Eve went in the wrong direction. Now we have to turn it completely around. Our conventional attitudes, our ways of thinking, and our desires in all areas of life must be changed into their opposites. What, then, should be our way of thinking?
Thus far we have been thinking about our family for how it can benefit ourselves, and we have been dealing with our nation in ways that advance our self-interest.
However, from now on we should think, “I exist for the greater whole—for my family, not for me; for my nation, not for me; for the world, not for me.”
Do you understand what I am saying? We must change fundamentally. White people should live for black people and yellow people, and yellow people should live for white people and black people. Likewise, Christianity should live for Islam, and Islam for Christianity. (May 1, 1978)
The Human Fall took place because the first human ancestors were caught up with the consciousness of self. Conversely, restoration requires that our awareness be reoriented away from the self and toward the cosmos and its ideal purpose.
Therefore, the path to liberation requires that we willingly bear other people’s burdens and take responsibility for the common good. (396:178, November 7, 2002)
Restoration by Returning to the Original State
If you wish to untie a knot, you must first understand how it was tied. Surangama Sutra (Buddhism)
Sentient beings wish to return to their origin where their nature will be in perfect unity. Surangama Sutra (Buddhism)
Confucius said, “To subdue one’s self and return to propriety is perfect virtue. If a man can for one day subdue himself and return to propriety, all under heaven will ascribe perfect virtue to him.” Analects 12.1.1 (Confucianism)
Always to know the standard is called profound and secret virtue. Virtue becomes deep and far reaching, And with it all things return to their original natural state. Then complete harmony will be reached. Tao Te Ching 65 (Taoism)
It is as if a man traveled through the forest, through the great wood, should see an ancient road traversed by men of former days… And that man brings word to the prince, “My lord, as I traveled through the forest, I saw an ancient path, an ancient road traversed by men of former days. Going along it I saw the ruins of an ancient city, an ancient prince’s domain, wherein dwelt men of former days, having gardens, groves, pools, foundations of walls, a goodly spot. Lord, restore that city.” The prince or his minister then restores the city, so that it becomes prosperous and flourishing, populous and teeming with people who thrive and reach old age. Even so have I seen an ancient Path, an ancient road traversed by the rightly enlightened ones of former times. Samyutta Nikaya 2.106 (Buddhism)
For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.37 1 Corinthians 15.21-22
Why are idolators lustful? Because they did not stand at Mount Sinai. For when the serpent came upon Eve he injected lust into her; as for the Israelites who stood at Mount Sinai, their lustfulness departed; but as for the idolators who did not stand at Mount Sinai, their lustfulness did not depart.38 Talmud, Shabbat 145b-146a (Judaism)
In the messianic future the Holy One will heal the injury [of Adam’s sin]. He will heal the wound of the world. Genesis Rabbah 10.4 (Judaism)
Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
The way of restoration is to return to the origin. Therefore, unless you make the required indemnity condition, you cannot return to the origin. It is human beings, not God, who make the indemnity condition.
In order for a sick person to be healed, he must take the medicine even if it is bitter. Real medicine is bitter medicine. Making the indemnity condition is like taking bitter medicine; it is difficult work. However, without making the indemnity condition, you cannot go the path of restoration. (92:254-55, April 18, 1977)
How can we be re-created as God’s children? There is only one way: by going all the way back, before the many generations of your ancestors, before fallen Adam and Eve, and come to God through the gate of the True Ancestors. (96:40, January 1, 1978)
Adam and Eve took a path that resulted in their drowning. Hence, all fallen human beings are like drowned men. They cannot save themselves; someone must come and resolve the problem for them. We who are called to this task must go all the way to the root of the problem and fix it there. (248:149, August 1, 1993)
At the Fall, human beings disobeyed God’s word and rebelled against Him. Hence they were subjugated by Satan’s lies. Once united with Satan, human beings received Satan’s nature and Satan’s love instead of God’s nature and God’s love. To be restored as an original human being, we must reverse the process of the Fall.
This time we must separate ourselves from Satan, reach out to God whom we had lost, and obey His Word. In this way, we can receive God’s nature and His love. (88:208, September 18, 1976)
Father! All the situations of history are entangled in us today. Therefore, we wish and pray that Thou wilt cut all those tangles by connecting us with the Center of liberation. (1:345-46, December 30, 1956)
Sun Myung Moon