Authors
1. Nothing is good unless it is harmonizing with the essence of God's love. Love does not focus on its position as a subject partner; rather, it focuses on its object partner. If you focus on yourself, you cannot go on the path of love.
Suppose you lead a nation; you cannot function in that position if you are all alone; you need to recognize the value of others as your partners. The basic principle underlying the organization of the ideal kingdom of heaven is that within the family, husband, and wife openly affirm each other.
A man who is not affirmed by his wife can hardly expect to be affirmed in the ideal world. It is a contradiction for a man to seek the world's public recognition when his wife does not first recognize him. For a man to attain world-level recognition with dignity and authority, he should be recognized as the linchpin of his family, without any shortcomings.
A family with that kind of man as a head will remain intact and not be divided. Then that family should take the position of subject partner to its tribe and live sacrificially, overcoming challenges for its tribe's sake. Its purpose should be for the sake of others, not for itself. (46-037, 1971.07.18)
2. The way of love does not go here and there. There is only one way. Is the way of love two or one? It is one. If you go that one way, you can go everywhere. The way of love is the way of purity, the way of tranquility, and the way of caution, like a priest making a sacrificial offering. (233-146, 1992.08.01)
The way of true love through self-sacrifice
3. A human life is conceived centering on the ideal of love; therefore, its essence is love. Since our life originates from love, it is Heaven's principle that we live for the sake of others, just as God does. So we can say that we were born for the sake of true love. True love begins by living for the sake of others.
Human beings were created to live with God's true love within their mind and body and to respond to His love directly. Their mind would respond to God centering on true love, and their body naturally would resonate with the mind.
The true love of God that they would inherit and experience would be the basis of true unity, where there is no conflict between mind and body.
(234-271, 1992.08.26)
4. God's love is not meant to appear only in the heavenly realm. It must first arise in the physical universe the created world and ultimately in human beings. Parents' love is seen in their children.
A husband's love is seen in his wife; a wife's love is seen in her husband. This is the mutual commitment of love; this is the direction that love takes. Unless you follow this way, you cannot perfect your love. (083-179, 1976.02.08)
5. For God to love, He must sacrifice Himself. Likewise, for us, human beings to love, we need to sacrifice ourselves. This is the way we should go. Why? It is because God goes this way. If we are to go with God, we must go this way. When I as an individual take the path of sacrifice, it leads me to the position where God participates in my family along with me.
Next, when my family sacrifices, it earns the right for God to participate in the life of the tribe, and so on to the people, the nation, the world, and the cosmos. From the time we begin our course in the world of love, as we travel through all the stages on the path of love, we will come to earn these qualifications.
This is possible because our life from the beginning is centered on love. It is because we continually strive to participate in God's love and tune ourselves to the direction of His love. This is how we can be free from the realm of the Fall.
(097-263, 1978.03.19)
6. The way of love is not to live for oneself but to go the way of self-sacrifice. Love is so powerful that hearing a single word from your beloved can give you the strength to endure ten years of suffering.
It is why just a one-word promise from your beloved husband or wife can enable you to persevere through any hardship, for ten years or even for your whole life.
The more adversity you face, the more difficulties you overcome,e and the more misery you endure, the more you cherish that promise of love and the more value it holds on a higher and multidimensional level. (115-191, 1981.11.15)
7. When a husband has a sacrificial heart for his wife and offers her his absolute, self-sacrificial love, his wife will do everything possible to become a good life partner to him.
She will not do so unwillingly but joyfully and with sincerity. There is no suffering in it. Her sacrifice does not make her miserable. Instead, it has a sweet and interesting taste.
Parents' love for their children is inevitably accompanied by sacrifice, but they do not demand repayment for it. Parents sacrifice and forget their sacrifice. Sacrificial love is to give and forget how much one has given.
God has been giving and sacrificing for humankind, then forgetting how much He gave, and how much He sacrificed. This is why Jesus said, “When you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.” (Matt. 6:3)
If you give expecting something in return, you are not a real owner of love. If you give and then forget how much you gave, you can be a central person of love.
(56-340, 1972.05.18)
8. Let us go on the path of love that God wants us to go. Only when we reject the path of the Fall that the devil wants us to go, and follow the path of love that God wants us to go, can we be separated from the devil?
We cannot be separated from Satan by our worldly knowledge, by our understanding of doctrine, or by having better skill or wisdom. Love is what enables it.
The reason Christianity has endured to this day is that it promotes the way of self-sacrifice, even to the extent that many believers have sacrificed themselves, willing to go the path of martyrdom and shedding their blood.
(138-252, 1986.01.24)
9. The way of love is the way of giving yourself to be used by others for a higher purpose. Individuals who have love want to be used by their families, families who have love want to be used by their nation, nations want to be used by the world, the world wants to be used by the cosmos, and the cosmos wants to be used by God. This is the way of true love. (206-222, 1990.10.07)
10. The way of faith requires long endurance; endurance and sacrifice are the way of faith. Human beings have been able to go on living because they have faith in God's promise of a world of love, and with faith, they are willing to endure and sacrifice to attain it.
When we are told, “God is love,” we need to understand that within that expression sacrifice and endurance. (112-051, 1981.03.29)
11. When people love each other, for example, parents and their children, their love knows no seasons. When you weep for the ones you love, your tears transcend spring, summer, autumn, and winter.
True love transcends youth, middle, age, and old age. True love follows the track of eternal life, eternal joy, and eternal happiness. This world is one of change upon change. Revolutions come and go; life and death come and go. But true love never changes.
Therefore, let us always maintain the environment of love in our hearts. To do so, we need a life of prayer. By that, we can grow. When going the way of God's Will and the way of love, prison is not a problem; even death is not a problem. The way of true love is about overcoming death and difficulties. (277-013, 1996.03.17)
12. There is a power that enables that which is true to exist forever. For us to connect to it, for us to connect eternally to what is beyond time and space, we must be connected to God's true love. To possess that love, we need to sacrifice ourselves to secure love with our eternal partner.
By sacrificing as couples, we should recover the family; by sacrificing as families, we should recover the tribe; by sacrificing as tribes, we should recover the people; by sacrificing as peoples, we should recover the nation; by sacrificing as nations, we should recover the world; by sacrificing as a world, we should recover heaven and earth; and by sacrificing as heaven and earth, we should find God.
Even for God, going the way of love requires sacrifice. God sacrifices too. He sacrifices Himself for love. (180-102, 1988.08.07)
The one who sacrifices becomes the central person
13. To walk the path of love, you need to serve and sacrifice for others. Without serving and sacrificing, your love cannot grow. Although you may have the capacity to love that rates only ten, if you sacrifice and serve, that capacity can grow to one hundred, one thousand, or even ten thousand.
Especially, if you have some evil ancestors, your love rating may be even lower than ten. Nevertheless, you would want to increase it to one hundred, one thousand, or even ten thousand if only you could find a way to do so. That way is the path of love, by serving and sacrificing.
Because I understood this principle, regardless of what kind of abuse and indignities I suffered, no matter how many times I went to prison or faced pain to the point of death, I endured everything. When it comes to loving people, I am willing to sacrifice more than anyone else.
When I meet anyone whose sacrifice and love are greater than mine, I immediately resolve to sacrifice and love more. If it means I have to sacrifice and love one thousand or ten thousand times more, I will go that way. I know that only by becoming like that is God able to pour out His love upon me. (44-203, 1971.05.07)
14. The way of love opens to us only when we sacrifice for others. After parents love their children, they do not say, “We raised you for twenty years and sent you to school, so now, according to the principle of restoration through indemnity, you have to sacrifice for twenty years for us.” No.
Parents sacrifice for their children without considering or calculating the extent of it. The harder they work for their children, the more their children's love for them grows. Even though parents ask for no compensation, their children's original minds cannot but love them.
That is why children whose parents loved them are never unfilial. A child can't be unfilial to such parents. In a family of sacrificial parents, filial children will emerge.
The more a nation's king sacrifices for his subjects, the more loyalty they will display to him. On the path of love, sacrifice, and suffering do not diminish your value. Instead, they double it. Such is the path of love. (63-196, 1972.10.14)
15. Love drives you to the place of sacrifice. You may feel that being pushed to sacrifice is unfair.
Especially if you collapse and die as a sacrifice, you may feel even more that it is unfair. But unbeknownst to you, God's love builds up behind you. So widen that place by going over the realm of your tribe and your people.
Widen it even further to influence your nation. On the day when you change the standard of your nation, you can take the flag of your renewed nation and march toward the world.
The Unification Church is going this way toward that goal. Therefore, you must love your country more than you love your children. You are in the position of following God's Will, so you should expect to take responsibility as His representative over and over again. (32-228, 1970.07.19)
16. Sacrifice accompanies the way of love. It is how you can possess the love of your partner.
You need to sacrifice because doing so builds the foundation for your partner to completely unite with you and follow you. People can unite completely with those who sacrifice themselves to pay the price of love.
It turns out that the dwelling place of love is not in yourself but in your partner. Do not think that your husband or wife loves you because you are great. (44-349, 1971.05.30)
17. The center of your love has to be your counterpart, not yourself. Only when you fully recognize the value of your counterpart will his or her full value in love become manifest. Why do you have to sacrifice on the path of love?
It is because your love does not belong to you. You must make your counterpart the focal point of your love. That being the case, unless you make the condition to be completely in accord with that focal point of love, you cannot fulfill love's purpose.
Therefore, if you want perfect love, you must sacrifice completely. When you follow the way of total sacrifice, you will see perfect unity. (45-226, 1971.07.01)
18. Without fail, the sacrificial person becomes the central person. In a family, the filial child is the one who sacrifices the most; thereby he or she becomes the center of the family. A patriot who sacrifices the most for the nation becomes the central person of the nation.
The saint who sacrifices the most becomes the center of all saints. This is Heaven's principle, so follow this way with sincerity and become individuals who can bring people into harmony in all respects.
When you do so, God's new hope will dwell within you and the power of God's love will be added to your efforts. (113-326, 1981.05.10)
19. Sacrifice makes the way of love shine. That is why the Bible says to love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. It says that it is the first commandment.
As commandments go, it is indeed the first among all the commandments in the universe. It is the most important law because once we fulfill this law, we can create a realm in which all other laws will be followed.
From this perspective, to fulfill God's Will, God's ideal of creation, we have a path to follow: We must make a relationship with God in absolute love; then we will realize the ideal of creation. (63-160, 1972.10.14)
20. The way of true love is to move toward something greater, even if it means sacrificing your interests. As you move forward toward a bigger world, you make sacrifices and accept greater hardship.
Regarding the family, if your family lives for the sake of society, then leaving your family is not leaving it behind but uniting it with society. For example, when your son grows up he will find his life companion, and they will join as a couple. Even though he leaves you, and his parents, his loving relationship with you can deepen, and when he has children, your family will expand.
Further, when your son's family moves into society, your family grows even bigger. As its links with society develop, your family will grow ever greater.
(48-012, 1971.08.31)
21. If parents love their children in a self-centered way, their love is false. If children love their parents in a self-centered way, that too is false love. What do I expect to see in the Unification Church?
If our church represents a true religion of true love, we should not love the Unification Church for the sake of the Unification Church. Just as you become a filial child by loving your parents at the sacrifice of yourself, and you become a true parent by loving your children at the sacrifice of yourself, in the Unification Church we should love the nation and the world even at the sacrifice of the Unification Church. This is the shortcut to establishing the law of love. (34-330, 1970.09.20)
22. For us, to sacrifice ourselves for the family is to find the path of love to the family; to sacrifice as a family to save the tribe is to expand the path of love to the tribe; to sacrifice as a tribe to save the nation is to expand the path of love to the nation; to sacrifice as a nation to save the world is to broaden the path of love to the world. In this way, by loving the world we should go to reach the love of God. This is the path we have to go from now on. (41-356, 1971.02.18)
23. Religions teach individuals, families, tribes, and nations to sacrifice their interests. The nation of Israel was built upon the sacrifices of its tribes. Among the nations of the world, those who stood on religious beliefs walked the way of sacrifice throughout their history.
If we are to realize the ideal of creation, we must become God's object partners of love. But unless we go through sacrifice, unless we practice this essential principle of love, we cannot become one with God. Nor can we form a relationship with the ideal world of love that God is to govern.
To form a relationship with the ideal world of love, there is no other way than to inherit the tradition that takes sacrifice as a cardinal principle. This is why religions place great emphasis on the path of love that requires compassion and sacrifice. The division between heaven and hell, between good and evil, is right there. (60-087, 1972.08.06)
The way of blood, sweat, and tears
24. Throughout His course of searching for human beings, God has been confronting Satan. We have to learn from God's course of devotion and follow in His steps.
We now know that God has devoted Himself throughout history, in ways beyond description, to finding His lost children with the heart of a parent, in the shoes of a servant, sowing sweat for earth, tears for humankind, and blood for Heaven.
We too, to find and attend our Heavenly Parent, must shed blood, sweat, and tears for Him, and to experience the heart of our Parent, we must go forward in the shoes of a servant. God suffered pain to find us, and we suffer pain to find God.
The tears we shed on this course are not for ourselves alone; they are the tears we share with God. Our sweat is the sweat we share with God. Our blood and sacrifice are not for ourselves only; we shed tears and blood to participate in the sacrifices that God has been making. (13-244, 1964.03.29)
25. God comes to the earth with the heart of a parent and in the shoes of a servant.
When you shed tears, He also sheds tears; when you shed sweat, He also sheds sweat. When you stand in the place of death, He sheds His blood for you. You have no idea how many tens of thousands of times God sacrificed Himself for your sake. You have no idea how many times God Himself played the role of high priest.
How many painful experiences did God endure in the course of this work, from the individual level to that of the family, tribe, people, nation, and world? God sent His Son to do this mission, and when he was unable to complete it, He had to do the Son's mission Himself. (11-214, 1961.07.17)
26. We were dead, yet God went the way of death to revive us. Hence, we should go the same way – the way of blood, sweat, and tears with a parent's heart. This course is our destiny as descendants of the Fall When Jesus came to earth, he shed tears for humankind, blood for heave,n and sweat for the earth.
When Jesus went the way of the cross, he gave a substantial standard of heart for the past and present simultaneously. We human beings had been unfilial children, yet Jesus made the indemnity condition in the heart on our behalf when, before he died, he set the standard of forgiving us all. (13-055, 1963.10.16)
27. You must connect to God in your heart and experience His heart. Unless you experience His heart, you can never come before God. At the time of Jesus, what did the people of Israel do?
God had shed tears, blood, and sweat on them, to prepare them as the chosen people, and all His heartfelt tears, blood, and sweat remained with them. Yet, they utterly forgot all of it. (10-278, 1960.11.06)
28. We are destined to go the way of one mind and one heart. How can we continue this way without ever-changing? If we cannot go this way with wisdom, we will have to go with sweat and tears. If we cannot go with sweat and tears, we will have to go even shedding our blood.
We have to offer our sweat as God's sweat and our tears as God's tears. We should shed blood for Heaven, tears for humankind, and sweat for Earth. We should demolish the basis of God's bitter sorrow, which has blocked the union of God, the earth, and human beings. This is our task.
We should strive to make our daily life one in which “God's work is my work; my work is the work of the earth; my work is the work of all humankind.” We should reach the point where each of us is praised as a person of divine value.
(10-179, 1960.09.25)
29. We who know the existence of the living God will have to save humanity before Satan inflicts more destruction on the world. Even though I might end up in the lowest position and perish there, my urgent concern is how the Unification Church can establish measures to save this country and the whole world. We need to provide something of substance.
We need a substance that we can present to history, which we can present to all time and the future. What is that substance? That substance is our blood, our sweat, and our tears. Our heartfelt blood, sweat, and tears should make God and all humankind weep.
Each of you needs to shed blood, sweat, and tears. Then, when the people of the world listen to you, they will be so moved that they will not be able to hold back their tears. (13-191, 1964.03.15)
30. What do you value most among all your possessions? No matter what it is, you should be able to give it away without hesitation or regret. But to me, your tears, sweat, and blood are what have the highest value.
You should shed sweat for all things of creation. You should shed blood for Heaven. You should shed tears for all humankind. This is the motto of our Principle movement. You should be able to give these precious things freely. Only by doing so can you bring unity in the spirit and the heart. (15-069, 1965.02.13)
31. You should be the cement, you should be the gravel, you should be the sand and you should be the water. Your blood, sweat, and tears are the water; your flesh is the sand, and your bones are the gravel.
With these materials, you must build your foundation of concrete. The foundation you create in this way will remain for a thousand years; even ten thousand years later it will still be standing. Although people may try for ten thousand years to knock it down, they will not succeed. (28-221, 1970.01.11)
Loving our enemies and the way of the Principle
32. Why did Jesus teach that we should love our enemies, even as he did by carrying the cross? It is because there is no way to subjugate Satan other than by love. God-centered love is love that seeks to save the world. It seeks to reclaim the realm of love from Satan's world.
God's love has a purpose: it is to liberate Satan's world. The goal of salvation is to fulfill God's Will and providence. The core element for fulfilling God's providential Will is love. We must love because it is the way to recapture this world from Satan. (138-253, 1986.01.24)
33. The biblical teaching to love your enemy means to love human beings, people who are under the devil's influence. It does not mean you should love the devil himself. Our cherished hope is eternal life.
The only way we can have eternal life is by walking the path of true love. We create unity when we strive over and over again with our mind and body to live for the sake of others, centered on God's love.
Unity comes when the body serves the mind as much as the mind serves the body. If you give and receive in that place, based on the central axis, unity will certainly come. When you stand before this axis of principled love at the point where the horizontal line and the vertical line meet, your position will be established.
(209-229, 1990.11.29)
34. Every human being is connected to two lineages. One is Satan's lineage; we are linked to it through the historical line of our ancestors. This happened because they had a self-centered consciousness.
Then what is the other lineage, God's lineage, about? It is to live not for oneself but for the sake of the whole. This lineage lives for the sake of others. This is why arrogant people can never escape Satan's lineage.
How can you free yourself from that lineage?
Worldly people live for themselves, but godly people are the opposite. They live not for their sake, but for the sake of the whole. That is why I tell you that the way to be free from the fallen realm is to love your enemy. (332-067, 2000.09.05)
35. When you journey to find love, your mind goes first. But if your counterpart does not reciprocate, all your investment disappears. It is not so with God. His heart will keep pounding, and He will keep trying again and again until He establishes His love. He just cannot stop.
He continues searching unceasingly for His beloved ones. He continually strives to forge relationships with them by filling all their cells with love.
He continues to invest over and over in His work of creation until He reaches His goal. This is the basic logic behind the principle of living for the sake of others. (202-293, 1990.05.25)
36. To say that God created all things means that God invested His heart of love in them. Since God is like that, when His object partners appear, they will have the same heart.
Then not only will God be able to have a relationship with people, but His love will manifest through people. Such people will prosper. You may not grasp this by reasoning it out, but the conscience guides you to love one another and to live for the sake of others. Further, all religions teach sacrifice and living for the sake of others. (112-301, 1981.04.25)
37. God set up the principle of living for the sake of others. To use the analogy of the atmosphere, it means He becomes a total vacuum. The environment of a total vacuum is an area of low pressure toward which a high-pressure area automatically moves to create balance.
Likewise, to find His object partners, God continually gives and gives of Himself, giving out until what He has given automatically returns.
Based on this logic, God made all creations in pairs, advancing step by step to higher levels to make the ideal footstool for the love between God and human beings. (199-276, 1990.02.20)
38. To demand that others live for your sake is not true love. The true ideal, true happiness, and true peace do not stand on the foundation of telling other people to live for you.
They stand on the foundation of living for the sake of others. That is why true husbands and wives, true parents, true teachers, and true patriots do not start by pushing others to sacrifice for them.
They start from the point of giving themselves to others. The act of creation itself was an act of investment. (077-106, 1975.04.01)
39. People who wish to succeed need to help people in the world around them. With this in mind, the Unification Church advocates living for the sake of others. We were born for the sake of others.
The act of creation required God's total investment. It means that God created with love and for love. The world has been advocating, “Live for me!” but this is wrong from the outset. I as a human being am born for my parents, for my wife, and my husband. My life is a continuation of my parents' lives.
I inherited my life for the sake of my parents. The life a husband inherited is for the sake of his wife; the life a wife inherited is for the sake of her husband. The life I inherited is for my brothers and sisters and my country. Ultimately, I was born for the sake of the world. (169-087, 1987.10.25)
40. Was the Unification Principle made before the Fall of Adam and Eve, or after? The Principle existed before the Fall. The way of the Principle was the way Adam and Eve were supposed to go.
If Adam and Eve, as the ancestors of humankind, had become perfect and achieved oneness with God in the realm of His love, no one could have separated them from each other, not even God. The way to salvation is the path of restoration, and the path of restoration is through re-creation.
For re-creation, we need to apply the general rule of the Principle, from before the time Adam and Eve fell, to assess the value of things about their progress toward completion. Otherwise, we cannot go back to where we can have an original relationship with God. (135-305, 1985.12.15)
41. The path of the Principle is to walk, while the path of restoration is to seek and find. The path of restoration through indemnity is to seek and find. Once you find the path, you are to walk it.
Thus far, no one knew about the path of restoration. Now that I have elucidated it all – the path of the Principle, the path of the Principle of the course of restoration – you are required to walk it. This is the formula course. Hence, everyone from your ancestors to your descendants must go this way. (213-331, 1991.01.21)
42. It is not only human beings who have to walk the path of the Principle. God also has to go this way, to meet us. God seeks to walk the path of the Principle even as we try to walk the path of the Principle.
God and human beings can meet in a victorious reunion only when they both have walked the path of the Principle. What is evil? It is what opposes those who would go the path of the Principle.
Evil tries to stop us from going on the path of the Principle. Evil sets up obstacles on that road. This is why, by the rules of Principle, evil cannot be tolerated. (58-010, 1972.06.06)
43. Since our ancestors Adam and Eve lost the way, we have to find that way again. That is why I am saying that the way of restoration is about seeking and finding, while the path of the Principle is to be walked. When you are walking the path of the Principal, you will be walking the same path as I.
However, there is a difference between you and me: I had to pass through a course of incredible battles with Satan both in the spirit and in the flesh, that is, with Satan in the spirit world and with evil people in this world, and triumph over them. However, you do not have to walk the path of confronting Satan on the world level or evil people on the national level. (34-266, 1970.09.13)
44. To ride on heavenly fortune you must go the way of the Principle. You must become a person who walks the principled way. This is my philosophy of life. I have been persecuted to this day, and many people thought I would perish.
Yet, I leaped up from a place of ruin to a bigger world and a bigger stage, and I have been advancing ever since. The reason God cooperates with me is that the path I walk is in alignment with Heaven's principles and law. (149-187, 1986.11.21)
45. Through me as your teacher, you Unification Church members came to know the Principle by which you seek the path of restoration. All of you are required to walk the path of the Principle.
On the path of the Principle, there is no need for forgiveness. This is the path that everyone without exception your grandparents, your parents, and you, including blessed children, have to go. (143-032, 1986.03.15)
46. I am going ahead of you in seeking because the way of restoration is the way of seeking. I am seeking and testing the way, and I am building the path of the Principle. So walk this way exactly as I do.
When a guide leads you across the ocean you have to follow him; when a guide leads you over a high mountain pass you follow him. If you say you hate this way, you cannot reach the realm of liberation. (58-092, 1972.06.06)
47. While following the way of the Will I have never uttered one word of complaint. I was imprisoned even though I committed no crime. There I was beaten and bloodied by interrogators, but I never complained or asked, “God, what is this?” Servants may oppose God for tens of thousands of years, but as a son, I should never take their side.
Knowing that Satan opposes God, how could I as a son oppose my Father, God? Isn't that right? Even though I may die, I have to die on my Father's side. You too, after enduring all sorts of difficulties and pains along the way of the Will, may have many things that you would like to say to God the Father. But what will make you great is to say nothing. (044-297, 1971.05.24)
48. You must keep going, no matter how miserable the course. I, too, have been through this course. On the way, you should not resent anyone. If you have the urge to complain, rather be concerned about what will happen to this nation and the world, as well as to the way of God's Will.
This is the proper attitude of those responsible for restoration. Set up this inner standard before God. (29-214, 1970.02.02)
49. Go the way of restoration with a joyful heart. Even on the way to death, when you go with a joyful spirit, God will come to you. But if you go disheartened and lamenting, Satan will follow you.
Furthermore, in case you become a martyr, if your motivation is to go to heaven, you will end up in the opposite place. Thus, if you go the way of a martyr, it should be with the desire to liberate God and to save the world. Jesus' life purpose was to save the world, including the Roman Empire.
This is why he could love the Roman soldier who pierced him. He died for the sake of Rome, and so in the end the Roman Empire came into the bosom of Christianity. If he had complained and lamented on the cross, God would have lost the position to claim Jesus; Satan would have claimed him instead.
Therefore, those who follow the Will of God cannot complain, even unto death. So to make friends with those who complain is the most dangerous thing.
(291-324, 1998.03.19)
50. When you are joyful, God takes an interest in you, and you can enter God's realm of love. But the question is: how can we live with joy under any circumstances? The answer is this: When you do everything with joy, do not keep it only for yourself.
Rather, share your joy and bring harmony among all things of creation, making them your partners in joy. Your life of faith should be fun. Furthermore, all the work you do on the way of God's Will should be enjoyable to you.
It is no good to do things reluctantly or unwillingly. No matter how difficult, you should not take it as difficult, but rather as something fun to do. This attitude should be deeply rooted in your daily life. (277-012, 1996.03.17)
51. You are called to expand your experience of the community of cosmic brotherhood and sisterhood. It is not enough for your family to live alone. For at least three years, you can live together as four families from four nations under one roof.
There, you should not regard only your children as your children. In your community of four families, you should love all the children as your sons and daughters. You should create such communities of families and experience what God wants to enjoy through your brotherhood and sisterhood.
(310-200, 1999.06.15)
52. In the future, we will have apartment buildings that serve as family training centers. I envision apartment buildings serving as intercultural residences. We will make a residence in which at least seven families can share life for several months at a time, training for community life among people of different cultures.
These apartment buildings will be training centers. I want you all to go through such training. I would like to see three households living together in those apartments, eating together, and studying together. This is based on the Principle. (44-154, 1971.05.06)
53. I want to see the three wives of your trinity united. I am training you for this. In the future, twelve families should dwell in one house, then one hundred twenty families, then twelve hundred families, all under the same roof.
People who live in the same village should not fight. The time when you live with True Parents on earth is the time to set this tradition so that it will endure for tens of thousands of years to come.
Big problems will come if you fail to set up this tradition. By this tradition, if one family among the three cannot have a child, the other two families will step up to give them a child. (44-154, 1971.05.06)
The way of filial children, patriots, saints, and divine sons and daughters
54. Even though the ways of a filial child, a patriot, a saint, and a divine son or daughter differ, they all belong to one sequence. What makes their ways one sequence? In this world, the love of filial children for their parents lasts for but one generation.
The love of a patriot is confined to one nation. But if you move centered on true love, your path remains forever. When an ancestor sets up this foundation, it will endure even if his children cannot continue it.
When anyone in the future builds on his foundation, his merit will increase. For this reason, the more we fulfill the duties of filial children, patriots, saints, and divine sons and daughters centering on the direction of true love, the more we will progress, and never retreat. (219-208, 1991.09.29)
55. Have you ever considered that God wants you to be a filial child in your family, a patriot for your nation, a saint for the world, and a divine son or daughter before heaven and earth?
Looking at history, all the main founders of religion taught people to be filial children and also to become patriots, saints, and divine sons and daughters. Religions that did not teach this have not survived. It is your destiny as human beings to become such people.
Destiny concerns what cannot be changed, such as the relationship between parents and children. Fortune, on the other hand, refers to things that you can change. You can change your fortune, but you cannot change your destiny. (287-024, 1997.08.10)
56. You can be victorious only when you go the way of the Will with the title of a devoted son or daughter in front of God. You have to become the princes and princesses who are obedient to God and committed to taking responsibility for the six-thousand-year history of sin and evil.
Just as Jesus set the standard of a devoted, filial son when he said, "Yet not what I want but what you want" (Matt. 26:39), you should also set the standard of a filial child and say, "In the end, Satan surrendered to me."
Only then can you enter the kingdom of heaven? In this way, you will become the ancestors of the Word, the ancestors of substance, the ancestors of heart, the ancestors of obedience, and the ancestors of lineage. (11-350, 1962.06.07)
57. A filial son will disregard himself, his wife, and his children to follow his parents. Such is the path of a filial son. The path that we walk is the path of the Will, and the path of the Will that we walk is the path of love. To love is to place the greater good ahead of oneself. This is why the way of the Will is the way of love. (18-023, 1967.05.14)
58. A filial child is someone faithful to his or her parents, out of love for them. A patriot is someone who loves his or her country, and a saint – that is, a world-level saint – is someone who loves the world.
Divine sons and daughters are people who love and uphold the authority of the Palace in the heavenly kingdom. Hence, as people who hold the Will in your hearts, if you follow the way of the Will with the hope that you will be respected by all the people of the world and that your names will be known throughout the world for upholding the Will, then you must become warriors who can shine more than anyone else on the path of suffering. (199-071, 1990.02.15)
59. For the sake of his nation, a patriot will sell his land. He will sell his cows and pigs. He will continue in this way even if it means that he cannot afford to send his sons and daughters to school.
A patriot's way is to fight for his country at the sacrifice of his flesh and blood. He does so for the sake of his descendants. (138-041, 1986.01.13)
60. A patriot is ready to sacrifice his or her family, relatives, and tribe for the sake of the nation. A faithful wife is ready to sacrifice herself for the sake of her husband, and a filial son sacrifices himself for his parents. Sacrifice is the basic principle-sacrifice for the sake of goodness. Sacrifice means denying oneself. Perfect sacrifice is total self-denial. (127-258, 1983.05.15)
61. For citizens of a nation, the way of truth is to serve the leader of the nation with unchanging devotion. This is the way of a patriot. As we are citizens, we need to go the way of patriots.
For members of humanity, the way of truth is to go the way of a world-level saint. As we are members of humanity, we need to go the way of world-level saints.
It means that we love the people of the world beyond the borders of our nation as we love our brothers and sisters and as we love our spouses. This is the way of truth for the world. (169-082, 1987.10.25)
62. In this world some people are loyal to their family, some people are loyal to their community, and some people are loyal to their nation. Those who are loyal to their nation make the condition to leave a legacy – to pass on their national ideals as a tradition to their descendants.
However, everyone living in this earthly world is destined to stand in the court of judgment. To prepare us for it, religions teach us to become not simply patriots who are loyal to our nation, or children who are filial to our parents, but children who are filial to God, the Father of the entire world, and to the King of kings and Lord of lords. This is the right way that all religions teach. (9-224, 1960.05.29)
63. It is said that a person whose loyalty is to his nation is a patriot and a person who loves humanity and the world beyond the borders of his nation is a saint. This principle defines the right way for filial children toward their families patriots for their nation, saints for the world, and divine sons and daughters for the sake of heaven and earth.
We are called to be people who, like Jesus, connect humankind with love to the law of the heavenly kingdom and to the decrees that come from the Heavenly Palace. This way leads us in one straight line. On the other hand, the love of the devil goes the opposite way.
That is why the habits of those on Satan's side are 180 degrees different from those on Heaven's side. Historically, the character of people on Satan's side is to demand that others invest for their sake, whereas the character of people on God's side is to give of themselves for the sake of others. Overall, it is the latter who become owners. (213-015, 1991.01.13)
64. What is the difference between a patriot and a saint? A patriot does not go beyond his or her nation, but a world-level saint transcends his or her nation. The love of a saint is not limited to one nation.
That person lives a life of love, enduring hardships, and suffering, for the sake of humanity and the world. (223-142, 1991.11.10)
65. Christianity speaks of sons and daughters of God, people who are like Jesus. These divine sons and daughters represent all the realms of the love and work of the heavenly kingdom, and they represent the realm of love for humanity on earth.
Beyond this, divine sons and daughters are equipped with the internal and external qualities of the heavenly kingdom, they uphold the kingship of the Palace, and they live a life of love.
Divine sons and daughters are different from world-level saints. Saints, even world-level saints, endeavored to love humanity based on brotherly love – a somewhat nebulous concept.
Divine sons and daughters, on the other hand, focus their love on building God's kingdom – the kingdom of heaven on earth and the kingdom of heaven in heaven. Their subject partner is eternal.
People in a nation live for their generation, but the kingdom of heaven's sovereignty should represent eternity. Sons and daughters of God are those who pledge to center their love on the sovereignty of the kingdom of heaven to the very end. (223-142, 1991.11.10)
66. What is the way of divine sons and daughters? It represents the tradition of loyalty and filial piety but for the sake of the invisible spirit world as well as this visible human world.
The way of divine sons and daughters requires sacrificing the love of even the great world-level saints to pave the way to a higher love. When Jesus Christ came to earth, he knew the law for divine sons and daughters and how to follow the right way of a divine son. Therefore, he loved even his enemies.
(140-146, 1986.02.09)
67. The founders of the great religions were world-level saints, people who loved the world. All religious leaders should follow the right way of these saints. Theirs was the path to love the world, transcending human history and national boundaries.
Theirs was a love that has lasted for thousands of years. Then, who are divine sons and daughters, like Jesus? They are the people who are centered on God and who love God's kingdom and His sovereignty. (211-276, 1990.12.30)
68. Filial children are those people in a family who love their parents and live for their sake. Patriots are people who love their nation and live for its sake, and saints are people who love the world and live for its sake.
I am teaching you to become divine sons and daughters who love God and the universe, by living for their sake. To become a divine child of God, you need to have a loving heart like God. (129-099, 1983.10.01)
69. What is the common thread running through human history? Even though the world has fallen, history has unfolded based on ethics and morality. The center of morality is love.
Filial children are those who love their parents more and more; patriots are those who love their country more and more. The path of a saint teaches us to transcend nationality and love the world. World-level saints take it as their duty to love the world more than they love their family or country.
The way of divine sons and daughters teaches us to transcend this world and love with the highest love by the decrees from the Heavenly Palace. All these levels unfold in this way, centering on love. (206-062, 1990.10.03)
70. Once you become a patriot, you are automatically a filial child. As a patriot, you stand above tens of thousands of filial children. When you become a world-level saint, who is on a higher level than a patriot, you can embrace tens of thousands of patriots. Divine sons and daughters are God's children.
When a person follows the way of a divine son or daughter, saints in vast numbers will necessarily love and serve that person. What kind of person goes the way of a filial child, the way of a patriot, the way of a saint, and the way of a divine child?
It is a person who loves and serves others for a higher purpose, loving them more than they love their life, more than they love their spouse and children.
(194-275, 1989.10.29)
71. Being a saint does not make you a divine son or daughter; it does not make you a filial child of God. You still have to become a divine son or daughter. No matter how devoted you are to the ruler of your nation and the people of your nation, to become a divine son or daughter you have to know the decrees issued from the Heavenly Palace.
You have to know the one law as decreed from the Heavenly Palace, be governed by that law, and move to its rhythm. (147-282, 1986.10.01)
72. On earth, you must equip yourself with the qualifications to earn the title of a patriot, then the title of a saint who can represent the world, and then the title of a divine son or daughter who can represent heaven and earth.
Who are divine sons and daughters?
They are those who know how to keep the decrees of the Palace in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus Christ knew how to do that, and it is why we call him the Son of God. Filial children of God invest their entire lives in giving love for the sake of others; they love their family, their nature, and the world.
When you walk the way of divine sons and daughters, you are investing not only for one generation; your position represents many hundreds of generations.
The question when you die is: How much, through your investment, were you able to bring your ancestors in the spirit world down to earth to help you widen your foundation and influence the world beyond your nation?
In the heavenly kingdom, your status is determined by the scope of your love for others. (170-202, 1987.11.15)
73. The way of divine sons and daughters requires you to know and adjust to the decrees of the Palace in the kingdom of heaven on earth and in heaven. This is the duty of heavenly princes and princesses.
This is what Heavenly Father does, so we should inherit God's parental heart, inherit the heart of His kingship, and day and night aim to live up to it. This is what a true son or daughter of God does.
A divine son or daughter should walk the way of love along the shortest route, without twists or turns, from the family level to the kingdom of heaven. (194-224, 1989.10.22)
74. A saint is a person who devotes his or her life for the sake of humanity. A divine son or daughter is a person who lives for the sake of humanity and serves the people of the world as if they are serving God.
Those whom history recognizes as world-level saints are those who lived and died for the sake of the people of the world, while those whom history recognizes as the children of God – divine sons and daughters – are people who were loyal to God but also lived for the sake of thousands of people in the same way that they lived for God.
Such is the difference between world-level saints and divine sons and daughters. Truly devoted sons and daughters live for the sake of their brothers and sisters just as they live for their mother and father. True patriots serve their nation's people just as they serve their king.
Likewise, true divine sons and daughters love all things that belong to God just as they love God. (133-243, 1984.07.19)
Sun Myung Moon