Spiritual Union

Spiritual union is the final goal of the religious mystic. The experience of this unity is profound; it can hardly be described in words. A person in this state is united with God and united with all existence.

All distinctions dissolve between subject and object, knower and known. Mystical union is less common in conventional religion, particularly in the Abrahamic faiths, whose uncompromising monotheism requires an absolute distinction between the infinite God and even the most saintly of His creatures.

Yet, the scriptures of Judaism and Christianity speak of a Beatific Vision, an encounter with God’s presence that transforms the viewer. In Islam, traditions attributed to Muhammad himself undergird the unitive experiences of Sufi mystics.

Father Moon affirms all these varieties of unitive experiences. By learning to live in love, he teaches, we can draw close to God’s mind and heart, share God’s experiences, and move as appendages of God’s body. We dwell in God, God dwells in us, and we experience mystic oneness with all His creations.

Becoming One with God

Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? John 14.10 Heaven and earth contain me not, but the heart of my faithful servant contains me. Hadith of Suhrawardi (Islam)

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. John 15.4-5

As rivers flow into the sea and in so doing lose name and form, so even the wise man, freed from name and form, attains the Supreme Being, the Self-luminous, the Infinite. He who knows Brahman becomes Brahman. Mundaka Upanishad 3.2.8-9 (Hinduism)

Meditate upon Him and transcend physical consciousness. Thus will you reach union with the Lord of the universe? Thus will you become identified with Him who is One without a second? In Him all your desires will find fulfillment.

The truth is that you are always united with the Lord. But you must know this. Svetasvatara Upanishad 1.11-12 (Hinduism)

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into His likeness from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3.18

Bright but hidden, the Self dwells in the heart.23 Everything that moves, breathes, opens, and closes Lives in the Self. He is the source of love And may be known through love but not through thought. He is the goal of life. Attain this goal! Mundaka Upanishad 2.2.1 (Hinduism)

Every Buddha Tathagata is one whose body is the Principle of Nature (Dharmadhatu-kaya), so that he may enter into the mind of any being. Consequently, when you have perceived Buddha, it is indeed that mind of yours that possesses those thirty-two signs of perfection and eighty minor marks of excellence [which you see in Buddha]. In fine, it is your mind that becomes Buddha, nay, it is your mind that is indeed Buddha. Meditation on Buddha Amitayus 17 (Buddhism)

In spontaneous joy is rising the mystic melody; In the holy Word my heart feels joy and perpetually disports. In the cave of spontaneous realization is it in trance, Stationed on a splendid high cushion. After wandering to my home [true self] have I returned, And all of my desires have obtained.

Devotees of God! Completely fulfilled is my self, As the Master has granted a vision of the Supreme Being, Realized by mystic illumination. Himself is He King, Himself the multitude; Himself the supremely liberated, Himself of joys the Relisher; With Him seated on the throne of eternal justice, Ended is all wailing and crying. As I have seen, such vision of Him have I conveyed— Only those who are initiated into this mystery have its joy. As light is merged into Divine Light, has joy come: Nanak, servant of God, has beheld the sole, all-pervading Supreme Being. Adi Granth, Majh, M.5, p. 97 (Sikhism)

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
God is huge, but a human being is a microcosm of the cosmos. By penetrating into God, we can experience God within us. When we experience this, we can say, with Jesus, “I am in the Father, and the Father in me.” (John 14.10)

Although God is infinitely large, He can do His work only when human beings fully dwell within Him. (31:210, May 31, 1970)

When your mind and body are united as one, you will be in your eternal dwelling place, the center where God abides. Then you can possess even God. This state arises when true love is restored; it is the supreme goal of human beings who had lost everything as the result of the Fall. (294:98-99, June 14, 1998)

The path of religion is to stop living as animalistic human beings and become humane human beings. Eventually, we are to become divine human beings. We are to participate in the divine realm. We are to become people with a divine nature who practice divine love and rejoice ever more in eternal happiness. (117:37, January 31, 1982)

Love is the central point, the rope that binds God and human beings together eternally. When embodied human beings attain oneness with God, their heart is immersed in a state of profound awareness and their emotions thrill with boundless happiness. Through love, God and human beings become one. Through love, human beings and the world become one. Here is the starting point for the realization of the ideal world that fulfills God’s purpose of creation. (35:356, October 13, 1970)

When you are united with God in true love, you can have dominion over all God’s creation, both physical and spiritual. When you live completely for others, you are reaching the very essence of God.

Then, God’s will becomes your will, and God’s feelings naturally come into your heart. Living this way, you become a resonant vessel of God’s heart and love. You and God will always resonate together, like two tuning forks. (201:206, April 9, 1990)

As existent beings in front of Thee, we entrust to Thee our whole selves: We shall be Thy branches and leaves. When Thou art sorrowful, we shall also be sorrowful; when Thou art happy, we shall also be happy; when Thou dost hurry to work, we shall also hurry to work. Permit us to become Thy sons and daughters who stand beside Thee, as Thou dost deal with every aspect of our world. (42:59, February 21, 1971)

God and Human Beings United in Love

God the Almighty has said… “My servant will not approach Me with anything dearer than that which I put on him as an obligation, and he continues presenting Me with works of supererogation, that I may love him.

And when I love him, I am his hearing by which he hears, his sight by which he sees, his hand by which he strikes, and his foot with which he walks.” 40 Hadith of an-Nawawi 38 (Islam)

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? For I am sure that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers nor height nor depth nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8.35, 38-39

“Look at those who are clothed in the wedding garment of charity, adorned with many true virtues; they are united with Me through love. So I say, if you should ask Me who they are, I would answer,” said the gentle loving Word, “that they are another Me; for they have lost and drowned their own will and have clothed themselves and united themselves and conformed themselves with Mine.” Catherine of Siena (Christianity)

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
Perfect unity is possible only in the perfect love of God. (94:263, October 1, 1977)

Once God’s love dwells within your heart, even when you are alone, you will be totally filled. You will be happy. Because His love fills you, you can find joy in everything. (95:39, September 11, 1977)

What is God like? He is a God of love. When Saint Paul said, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” he meant the love of God in Christ. Even Christ is nothing without God’s love.

Hence, we cherish God’s love more than anything. God’s love is the source of life, happiness and peace. You will understand this if you have spiritual experiences. (24:325, September 14, 1969)

Once a person has tasted and joined himself to God’s original love, would he or she ever want to separate from it? When a bee is sucking nectar and you pull on its abdomen, it will not release its mouth from the nectar even if its abdomen is pulled off. So, what will you do once you have experienced the taste of God’s love? You might leave, but you would turn around, come back, and cling to it. (137:57, December 18, 1985)

Love alone can solve everything. Love alone holds the privilege to possess the ideal vertical axis. Love brings the right of possession, the right to equality, and the right of participation.

When I have true love, God dwells within me, and I in God. God belongs to me, God’s love belongs to me, and God’s universe belongs to me. We can have such a concept of possession. Since each of us has such a value, we have an original desire to display ourselves proudly to the entire creation. (179:169, August 1, 1988)

People who experience the heart of God in their lives cannot come before God without shedding tears, no matter where they are. They know the original Will of God and struggle to become His sons and daughters. If you are among them, sharing God’s will and desire, He will visit you and weep with you. Where are the roots of God’s grief? They are inside us.

They are inside our nation, this world and all things of creation. We must carry on a movement to eradicate them and restore God’s joy. For us, the center of our life of faith should be to experience God’s grief. When we live shedding tears for God, we can perceive God’s eternal love and fulfill the mission as God’s representatives.

Immersed in God’s sorrowful heart, we do not need to pray. We do not need to rely on doctrines. Before we pray, we already feel the heart of God… Do not hold a grudge against anyone. Rather, weep for them.

Then you shall receive the benefit of paying indemnity. Today you enjoy the privilege of being the first people to experience God’s grief and shed tears for Him. Know, however, that God shed tears for you first. (4:60, March 2, 1958)

Father! Please reach out to each of us and hold us with both arms in Thy loving embrace. How anxiously hast Thou looked forward to this, hoping for this moment? Now I can fully envision Thy heart! Now I can fully envision Thy heartbreak. (9:160-61, May 8, 1960)

Oneness with All Things

Those who see all creatures within themselves And themselves in all creatures know no fear. Those who see all creatures in themselves And themselves in all creatures know no grief. How can the multiplicity of life Delude the one who sees its unity? Isa Upanishad 6-7 (Hinduism)

Buddha said, “Through the Consummation of Incomparable Enlightenment, I acquired not even the least thing. This is altogether everywhere, without differentiation or degree.” Diamond Sutra 22-23 (Buddhism)

The infinite joy of touching the Godhead is easily attained by those who are free from the burden of evil and established within themselves. They see the Self in every creature and all creation in the Self. With consciousness unified through meditation, they see everything with an equal eye. I am ever present into those who have realized Me in every creature. Seeing all life as My manifestation, they are never separated from Me. They worship Me in the hearts of all, and all their actions proceed from Me. Wherever they may live, they abide in Me.

When a person responds to the joys and sorrows of others as if they were his own, he has attained the highest state of spiritual union. Bhagavad-Gita 6.28-32 (Hinduism)

In the Great Beginning, there was non-being. It had neither being nor name. The One originates from it; it has oneness but not yet physical form. When things obtain it and come into existence, that is called virtue [power which gives them their individual character]. That which is formless is divided [into yang and yin], and from the very beginning going on without interruption…

By cultivating one’s nature one will return to virtue. When virtue is perfect, one will be one with the Beginning. Being one with the Beginning, one becomes vacuous, and being vacuous, one becomes great. One will then be united with the sound and breath of things. When one is united with the sound and breath of things, one is then united with the universe. This unity is intimate and seems to be stupid and foolish. This is called profound and secret virtue, this is complete harmony. Chuang Tzu 12 (Taoism)

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
Heavenly Father is breathing. His breath is the breath of love. God continuously breathes love into the cosmos, bringing it into alignment with love.

You should align yourself with love, since in loving, you will find eternal life. Only then will you transcend this reality and enter the realm of Heavenly Father’s breath. (201:191, April 1, 1990)

Allow yourself time to experience through your own direct senses—through your eyes, nose, mouth and ears—and believe through your own experience. It is important to give yourself enough time to have such experiences. S

elf-centered people are not able to sense it well, but when people who lead a life filled with God’s grace look at nature, they experience everything as brand new. In the morning it seems new, and in the evening, it seems new. As God’s grace slowly rolls in like waves, they feel fascination and mystery in three dimensions. A person who can experience this is a happy person. (30:134-35, March 21, 1970)

If you want to dwell in God’s heart, you should have the heart to protect all creatures in heaven and on earth as if they were your own. Since God’s heart dwells in all His creatures, caring for them links you with God’s heart.

The highest spirituality is to be possessed by God and dwell in His heart. If even looking at a flying bird or smelling a flower’s fragrance prompts you to sing eternally, then you are not dwelling in the world, but in God’s heart. In that state, time means nothing. (8:182, January 23, 1959)

I long for the ideal world, a world that completes the purpose of creation, a world transcendent of the world of consciousness, a world where I can feel endless peace.

What would it be like to live in that world? On seeing even a blade of grass, you would extol the value of its existence.

As a human being, you are a small thing compared with the vast universe, yet all its creatures would praise you, saying, “You are truly wonderful! Whenever you move, heaven and earth move, God’s heart moves, and eternal life moves.” All people should attain this level. (9:320, June 19, 1960)