The Meaning of Education

We are to raise our children to be people who are like God

This is the standard for education.

What does it mean for a person to be like God? It is not defined by the shape of one's face, how much energy one has, or the extent of one's abilities. Being like God means loving as God loves.

It requires perfecting oneself as a person and learning to love as God loves. Then what is God's love all about? If we analyze it, there are three kinds—parental love, conjugal love, and filial love. That is all it is. His love is nothing apart from these three kinds of love. (076-289, 1975.03.07)

The true meaning of education

2. For human beings to be saved, they need education. The human ancestors fell while they were in a state of ignorance. Adam and Eve, who should have moved from the realm of indirect dominion to the realm of direct dominion, did not fully know God's Will.

Hence, not one of the many great people and religious leaders who came to the earth throughout history was able to prepare the foundation according to God's original standard. No one fully figured out the course that our first ancestors failed to complete, and hence left unknown.

No religion, no philosopher, or great individual has been able to clarify this. Human history has not flowed by God's original standard. Rather, it has flowed based on our ignorance, following the tradition inherited from our ignorant ancestors. This is the point on which humankind needs education.
(136-198, 1985.12.29)

3. For us to be a mother or a father, it is not enough just to give birth to our children. We have to raise them and educate them. What is the purpose for which we raise them? It is so they can enter the kingdom of heaven.

Even if we cannot give them education on other matters, we should at least educate them so they can enter the heavenly kingdom. We should not leave them unable to go to the place where all their family members and relatives reside.

That is why we need to educate them. By this, I mean to teach them about heavenly law. Education is of foremost importance. (208-101, 1990.11.17)

4. The way of filial children is to love their family, which channels the life force of love. The way of patriots is to love in conjunction with the life force of the nation.

The way of saints is to connect their love to the life force of the world. People have taught morals and ethics in light of this progression; we need to understand that this way is correct. Loving the world is the way of saints. This is the standard for the moral education of humanity. (111-173, 1981.02.15)

5. Everyone has to take the path of learning, the path of education, but what is its purpose? It is to advance toward a world of greater good and thereby increase one's value.

Thus, we strive onward toward a higher dimension to become one with a center of greater value. Although it may be indirectly, we are all in pursuit of something based on this purpose. (109-264, 1980.11.02)

6. Of all education, which is the greatest? The family is the base, the origin of the kingdom of heaven; therefore the best education is teaching the way of a son or daughter in the family. This teaching of the way should be from God. God is our Father and at the same time our Teacher and King.

In God's royal family, princes and princesses would have been taught: “You represent all the men and women who live in the kingdom, even though they number in the hundreds of millions.”

However, no one has received such education in the position of sons and daughters representing His royal family. Further, no one was ever taught, “When you two unite as the older and younger siblings, you can bring peace to the world. Further, since all the men and women in the country are like your brothers and sisters, and you are in the position of older siblings, you should love your people as your younger brothers and sisters.”

Even though families are small, each one represents the whole nation, which in turn represents the world and all the heaven and earth. Therefore, with your family as an exemplary model, you should teach your children the principle that applies to all levels in the complete world.

That is, loving your brothers and sisters is the same as loving all of humanity. At the same time, teach them that when they live for the sake of something greater, that which is of lesser value is absorbed by that of greater value. These are heavenly principles. (220-345, 1991.10.20)

7. Education does not take place only through a teacher standing at a podium with books, but also through the teacher's words and deeds. The way a person dresses is an education; you can tell a good deal about a person's character by the way he or she dresses.

Just as the body reflects the mind, a person's clothes reflect his or her character. In this light, our daily life offers constant opportunities to educate, stimulate, and influence everyone around us.

If we continually strengthen our effectiveness in educating people in our daily lives, society surely will develop. That is where new hope for our world unfolds. (144-178, 1986.04.24)

8. Schools are places where people are educated from the age of a toddler through young adulthood. Universities provide courses leading to a bachelor's, master's, or doctoral degree. Once they are adults living in society, the media provide their education.

However, these days, most media are not performing that role properly, but are misleading society and even contributing to its destruction. Media organizations put their interests first and focus on making money. I am proud that I stand firmly for moral standards and promote them throughout the world. (270-288, 1995.07.16)

9. When we go to school, we must study not only for our purpose, but rather to deepen our understanding of nature as God created it, and to grasp God's heart. Knowledge of God leads us to a deeper and higher love.

Please understand that the training I am giving you, although strict, is to enable you to learn to love heaven and to love nature, and to prepare you to become a central figure. That is, it is to make you a master of love.

When you go out and work in society, although you face bitter winds, think that the challenges you are facing help you share God's love and manifest its true value. (106-139, 1979.12.24)

10. You cannot gain competence in a short time. To become competent at something, you have to go through various types of training and gain experience. The purpose of studying in a school is to inherit what others have learned through experience and practice.

At school, you inherit what others have learned; you benefit from their effort. But to make that knowledge your own, you have to apply it; you have to put it into practice. In short, by both knowing something and practicing it, it becomes yours. (72-304, 1974.07.14)

11. A true leader will say, “When you die, you should die for the sake of true love.” The greatest education of all is that which teaches us how to end our lives in true love. This education is ten times better than studying at Harvard University.

The Unification Church is saying, “Let us give our lives for the sake of the highest love, for God, humankind, and the world.” The highest teaching is that all action, direction, and purpose start from love.

Men and women, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, the universe and everything in it, started from love. Those who go to the spirit world after living this way surely will not be ashamed to stand before God. (93-191, 1977.05.29)

The principle and practice of true love and the purpose of education

12. To raise your children just as I raise you as church members, you have to study Divine Principles day and night. To educate your children well, you have to go out into Satan's world and train yourself to learn more. That is not all.

To become owners of the world, you need to learn the heart of the parent, the heart of the teacher, and the heart of God, and inherit the right of ownership from Him. After joining the church you are reborn.

You then need to be educated and perfected. When you are fully mature, you will come to know God's Will. Then you can say, “I am ready to stand in the position of an owner.” When you stand in the position of an owner, you will inherit everything. (205-022, 1990.07.15)

13. God intended to bestow His love through Adam and Eve, but because they did not reach the standard of perfection and establish a partnership with God in love, God was put in a miserable state.

That is why He could not stand in the position of the True Parent. The first ancestors should have given birth to true sons and daughters, nurtured them, and provided for them. Giving birth to children is the role of parents; nurturing them is the role of teachers, and providing for them is the role of owners.

I am not talking about the world; I am talking about a family. A mother and father are parents, but at the same time, they are teachers and owners.
(204-120, 1990.07.01)

14. To resolve God's sorrow over His inability to educate Adam and Eve, due to their Fall, we have to inherit and teach the “three great subject partners principle.” This is the practical way of life based on the principle of true love.

If we teach and practice the three great subject partners principle, we can reclaim the right of the eldest son, the right of the parents, and the right of the king. Since Adam and Eve were not properly educated, they could not create the ideal family, which was God's Will.

Therefore, we have to form families, the foundation for the unity of the whole, by educating children, siblings, couples, and parents, in true love. In this way, we can realize the ideal nation and ideal world. Had Adam and Eve received proper education, they would have naturally created a world of oneness.
(222-043, 1991.10.27)

15. The teacher is an extension of the parents. The king, the leader of a nation, is an extension of the teacher and the parents. The king is in the place of the parent, the teacher, and the owner of the nation. This is the three great subject partners principle that we speak of in the Unification Church.

We cannot disregard the Three Subject Partners Principle. We should teach it in the family, in the school, and the nation. Regretfully, no country in the world includes this in its education system.

Each nation has a different system. Further, parents have one way, teachers have another way, and the nation has yet another way. Likewise, nations are all disconnected. (263-302, 1994.10.27)

16. What is it that we most need to know? First, we should know God well and know clearly that He is at the center. Second, we should know with certainty that human beings are the center of the world. Third, we should know the ideal nation that God and human beings are striving together to realize.

In conclusion, love is the key to connecting these great purposes. That is why my motto for education is “Love Heaven, Love Humankind, and Love Your Nation.” I have been taught that true education is to enable people to realize these purposes. (195-051, 1989.11.03)

17. What does it mean to “love Heaven”? We are not worshiping Heaven based on a vague concept of God. The idea of “love the nation” is not vague; it is concrete. A nation has its sovereignty, land, and people, and if there were a heavenly nation, it would have sovereignty, land, and people.

So expressions such as “the heavenly nation” and “the earthly nation” make perfect sense. Yet, God Himself does not create the heavenly nation and earthly nation. Neither does a king make them. It is their citizens who make them.

This means that between heaven and earth, there are people in the middle. Thus, they can form the heavenly nation and the earthly nation. All of this is interwoven by love. God needs love, the nation needs love, and the people also need love.
(263-299, 1994.10.27)

18. What does it mean to love Heaven? The greatness and power of Heaven, by itself, is only external, and love is internal. Love has the power to move God and to call Him to come to you. The force that attracts God is not that of knowledge, power,r or money. It is love. I have the motto, “Love Heaven.”

If we have the power to move Heaven, Heaven will follow us. Another motto is “Love People.” I am not referring to loving individuals; I mean loving all humanity. Humanity has to follow love. The third one is “Love Your Nation.” A nation follows the one who loves it the most. (186-151, 1989.01.31)