The Self (自我)

Former Headquarters Church, Korea

Because human beings cannot live alone to exist, we know well that from the moment of birth we are not born alone by ourselves. Even in living a social life, our individual self cannot speak and act from its own independent standpoint apart from its ties and relationships with society.

In What Position Do We Stand?

Seen from this point, our individual self, from the time of birth until the close of life, cannot go forward centering only on itself, nor can it live that way. This is a fact that needs no repeating.

Even when we reckon up the background environment leading to the point where I come to stand in a certain position, we cannot deny that only when I settle the ties of my individual self within the ties of the whole is my position first determined. Within the “I” that says “I,” there necessarily lie hidden ties in the background. You must know this.

Furthermore, if I live as a citizen of the Republic of Korea, the Republic of Korea itself is supporting me; and further, if I come to stand in a position representing the world, the world is supporting me. Yet we often easily forget that fact.

When we come to know the Will of Providence, we cannot forget the fact that within the single individual called “I,” both Heaven and the earth are involved.

That is, I cannot continue to exist apart from my relationship with the ideal and the environment. You must clearly know that fact.

Every human being is born and raised through the flesh and blood of a father and a mother. Here the father is the symbol of Heaven, and the mother is the symbol of the earth.

You will know that well.

Next, there are siblings centered on the parents, and here front-and-back relationships and left-and-right relationships are necessarily connected. That is, when I consider myself, born within the environment of a family or relatives, that position is not a position occupied by me as an individual alone, but a position of relationship and ties that is the whole environment in miniature. There is no way to deny it. Therefore, one who asserts “I” must assert not an “I” in one’s own private way, but an “I” that bears ties capable of representing the whole. We tend to forget that fact easily in our individual lives, but we must discover it within our lives.

In this way, the being called “I” represents the family and represents the relatives and further represents the nation, the world, and Heaven and earth. Yet had one clearly known that fact from birth, one would live making it clear as one goes through life; but because it was dim from birth, we know well that today many people live out their whole lives dimly.

Therefore, when I, one individual standing in such a position, fall and make a mistake, it does not end as my mistake alone; that mistake becomes a problem of the whole environment to which I belong. You must know that fact. That is, when I once take the wrong direction, due to me alone, the family, the nation, and the world all become tied to that mistaken content.

Seen from this point, due to my doing well alone, that family can, in a new sense, lay the ground for the position of one victorious family; and because that family is victorious, society can lay the ground for a victorious position; and because society is so, the nation can be victorious; and because the nation is so, we can seek a path by which the world can be victorious. In this way, we must not forget how important the matter concerning “I” is.

It is because I exist that I live, and it is because I exist that I go forward with desire and hope. This is our general way of thinking. Yet we easily forget that I go forward this way because these relationships lie behind me. Therefore, if, standing upon righteousness and upon truth, I go forward in my own way with valor, hoping to become some national representative or world representative, you must clearly know the fact that this is by no means forming relationships from an absolute position centered on oneself, but forming relationships from a relative position. In this way, we must always bear in mind that the being called “I” is at once in the position of representing the family and of representing an entire nation.

Seen from this point, when you today stand in the position of being a member of the Unification Church, you must know the fact that the single self called “I” represents the Unification Church.

You must know the fact that one who lives with such feeling, such a viewpoint, and such resolve necessarily becomes an object of reverence in that nation, that organization, or that family.

The Human Desire to Be at the Center

Every human being likes to be respected. Moreover, one wishes to become the center among many people. One wishes to become the center and to be the result of everything, or to become the motive oneself and manifest a result in the relative world. In other words, everyone has within them the heart of wishing to lead from a central position.

Then from where is this determined?

It is absolutely not determined by me. You must know the fact that the decisive path by which my desire is achieved and my hope is fulfilled comes not from me but rather has a far greater likelihood of being determined by the environment related to me.

If I have succeeded, that must not become a success due to me.

If it is a success because of me, that success will surely not last long. That is, an assertion because of me ends as a momentary assertion. Even if there are people who follow that assertion, there may be momentary compliance, but it cannot last throughout a lifetime. This is because, from the origin, human beings continue to exist, centering on the ground of their related environment, and so apart from that living base or base of activity, one cannot secure one’s position.

Therefore, one who always asserts only oneself is necessarily removed. It is so for a nation, and so for the world. That is why human ethics and morality are necessary.

Human ethics and morality (인륜도덕) were established not through the momentary feelings and circumstances of an individual but were formed through history. The human ethics and morality thus formed through history did not condemn and deny reality. They have served, as the eternal standard for human beings, to enable one to settle the value of the self, centering on the appropriate ties along the course of life.

We must know that this is the path along which human ethics and morality have been cultivated.

Seen from this point, even though I stand in a position where I am respected and have achieved some desire, when we see that a more significant value dwells behind it, you must clearly know that the position in which one is placed is not absolute.

So even if you were told to go by another path, you could not. When I take one step, there necessarily dwells behind it a value greater than one’s own value.

Therefore, when you take one step wrongly, your family, clan, people, nation, and world become entangled here.

If you stand in a position where you can vividly feel such a fact, then the self that asserts itself within that is worthy to become the representative of the family, worthy to become the representative of society, worthy to become the national representative, and worthy to become the world representative.

Even if one goes without having secured that environment in such a position, if the ground of such an environment is prepared, one can someday surely bring about the victory of the nation and can determine a subjective position in the world.

Seen from this viewpoint, we know well through history that the saints and sages who came and went upon this earth all lived to lay this foundation. Their lives were lived not centering on themselves placed in reality, but together with the past that history had borne. Why was that so? Because such was their position, unable to escape the ties and relationships of the environment, and because they were an “I” existing in such an environment, it was to clearly manifest that “I” and to leave behind an eternal foothold that could determine that “I.”

Therefore, because it cannot be achieved apart from such relationships, you must know the fact that the saints and sages who left behind an exceptional name along history’s path lived on that path, fought on that path, and died on that path.

Why Human Beings Need Religion

What they spoke, they spoke centering on themselves, yet it was not for themselves alone. They sought to establish themselves within that which is for the whole and sought to establish themselves within that which is for the environment; they did not seek to establish themselves while ignoring the whole and ignoring the environment. You must not forget this. Yet worldly people today frequently commit errors in this.

Therefore, even looking at the Unification Church Principle today, if one ignores the self, one comes to ignore the front-back, left-right, and above-below relationships. This is absolute content. Therefore, when one comes to stand in a position of having to resolve some grave problem oneself, one must first consider what result this whole problem will bring to the environment or what result it will bring to the world of ties related to it. That is, one must first analyze and evaluate the problem of what result it will bring to these environmental ties, rather than one’s own interests or one’s own right and wrong.

Yet because human beings could not stand in an absolute position meeting that analytical standard and critical standard, the sages who fought to stand in such a position were necessary, and the path of the Way (도) was necessary.

Humankind, following the path of the sages, is to clarify the ultimate purpose toward which morality goes. Yet because not only human ethics (인륜) but also heavenly ethics (천륜) are together with human beings, religion is necessary to walk the path of heavenly ethics. You must know that. Religion is necessary because human beings have forgotten the fact that they were born not through human ethics but on the foundation of heavenly ethics.

What are Heaven and the earth?

Today, many vague, conceptual terms such as “Heaven” and “earth” have arisen, but in their actual content, human beings have no proper recognition of them.

However, because heavenly ethics must be established before human ethics is established, we say “Heaven and earth.” We do not say “earth and Heaven.” Even when we speak of above and below, it is that above exists and then below is determined, not that below exists and then above is determined.

Likewise, Heaven (天) must exist for the earth (地) to be determined. It is the same principle that the father must exist for the mother to be determined, and the elder brother must exist for the younger brother to be determined.

Seen from this viewpoint, human history is not a history woven by human ethics alone. Human beings have pioneered history until now, but they have not known how the heavenly ethics that became its background motive and gave it content stand. Thus, from of old, one who asserted only human ethics cannot become a sage.

Even among sages, only the highest sage—one who dealt with matters of the heart centering on heavenly ethics—can become a sage of heavenly ethics. Then who, more than Confucius or Shakyamuni or Muhammad, taught in such a way as to analyze more deeply and to approach more closely, centering on heavenly ethics? There is no one but Jesus Christ.

Jesus was one who lived together with the heart foundation of heavenly ethics to form a solid foundation upon which the standpoint of heavenly ethics could be established. He was one who, transcending human ethics, lived together with the heart foundation of heavenly ethics and sought to cultivate and establish the ground of such an environment. Therefore, the path that he thought of and that he walked is a great one that can remain together with the end of world history. You must know this.

Then where is the path the Unification Church today must go, and where is the position it must occupy?

The Unification Church was not formed due to some teacher. The Unification Church is a place formed by many people gathering.

If it were an organization that anyone could set up at will, the Unification Church would be no more than a self-cultivation group. In that case, it would surely have to be revised at some point along with the flow of history.

What the Unification Church regards as important upon the foundation of human ethics is the problem of how it has laid the ground for the inner situation of heavenly ethics.

If the Unification Church is set up in a decisive position that can be higher and stronger than any religious body in the world and than the heart that anyone in the world possesses, and at the same time set up in a position that can determine the heart of the world’s people and the heart of heavenly ethics, then the integration of the world’s people becomes an automatic result. You must know that.

The Summit of Human Heart and Heavenly Heart

Then, centering on what does the Unification Church speak?

It speaks of centering on the heavenly heart (천정). The Unification Church is a place that comes forth discussing the heavenly heart, not a place that comes forth with the human heart (인정).

Then what is the summit of the human heart?

It is the parents. The highest peak of the human heart is the relationship between parents and children centered on the family. All the core content of the three bonds and five moral disciplines is also determined from here.

So one who does not know how to love between parent and child cannot love siblings and cannot love the nation; one who does not know how to love mother and father cannot love wife and husband. The family that holds the parent-child relationship, the highest center of human ethics, holds all the clues.

Then where is the summit of the heavenly heart?

This is not in me. This too is the family. Therefore, heaven and earth can be unified. Because the highest starting point, ending point, and departure point where heavenly hearts can dwell is also the family, Heaven and earth can be unified.

Then when will they be unified?

It is when human ethics and heavenly ethics are connected. Where will they be connected? Precisely in the place called the family. Thus, the Unification Church asserts Cosmos-ism (천주주의).

The Unification Church can be called one house.

What kind of house is that house?

Not a house where people live among themselves, but a house centered on God, a house where God can live. And who is the member of that house? It is I. It is not father and mother.

Of course, there must be a father and mother in a house, but it is not all accomplished by that. Here there must be the Heavenly Parent. That is why the term True Parents that the Unification Church speaks of is a splendid term.

What are True Parents?

They mean the Heavenly Parent. “True” can always be the conclusion of righteousness. It is that which remains eternally. No one can deny this. Everyone must affirm it. Not only that, but everyone must form a relationship to comply and harmonize with it.

Seen in this process, the standpoint called “I” is such an enormous thing that if I feel bad, the whole Republic of Korea can feel bad, and further, Heaven and earth can feel bad. Those who, merely because they get a mouthful of rice to eat, are content and stop at their single self being full even though everyone else goes hungry, are not human beings. They are animals—animals. Many young people have come here today; if there is anyone newly joined, please raise your hand.

When you have eaten rice at the time you should eat, you must feel awed. Some people cannot eat rice. That is, there are people more unfortunate than you. One in whom such a notion is strong is a person the nation needs and a person the world needs. Those who thought and lived that way all became great figures historically.

Therefore, such people can breathe with the future of that nation, can breathe together with the history of the world, and can breathe with the hoped-for Kingdom of Heaven of the future. Such a person cannot cooperate with injustice.

Upon this earth there is as yet no one who has occupied Heaven and earth. There is as yet no one who has occupied this world. Therefore, as long as this foundation of heart remains, the world that comes in the future will not become a world moved and swayed by the authority of some sovereign who has occupied it. The great figures who came and went in history were, without exception, people who fought and passed on to greet the hoped-for Kingdom of Heaven.

Until now, countless people have said, “Follow my example.” This saying is not “Follow the example of the present me now living,” but “Follow the example of the me that can be seen in the future.”

When Jesus said to believe in him, his words too were not “Follow the example of the present figure in a position of suffering, being chased, and persecuted.” It is that if one walks the path of faith, there will surely come a day when one can enter the world of liberation, the heaven, and the earth of liberation—that is, the Kingdom of Heaven.

So you too must have such a mind and be able to speak boldly later. And when you come to critique a sage or a great figure, measure them with the ruler, centering on this content.

Even looking at only the first few chapters of some book, you can tell at once how many points the person who wrote that book is worth. And you can tell at once that our schoolteacher is worth so many points in this field, but in that field is inferior to me.

Then from where do heavenly ethics come? It comes from a heavenly heart.

What is heavenly ethics for establishing?

It is for establishing a heavenly heart. For that, there must be True Parents. This comes forth naturally when you think about it, even without knowing the Principle. Is that so, or not? It is not known by learning the Principle, but begins from a natural standpoint, and one falls into such an environment. It comes to be known naturally.

Then where will Heaven and earth become one?

Where is that place where Heaven and earth can rejoice together and grieve together, where joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure can be shared in sympathy? It is precisely the place where the heavenly heart is realized.

For that, there must be True Parents, and there must be a true family equipped with the ties of true children.

The Place Where the Standard of Truth Can Be Established

Although the standard that history today longs for—the unifying of some world—may also be a hope, that is a secondary matter. Unless I first equip myself with the motive of joy, the hoped-for world of joy cannot come about. A despairing person cannot realize a Kingdom of Heaven of hope.

Only when the hope of joy surges up here, and a vigorous driving force gushes forth there, can the world become the Kingdom of Heaven from there; it cannot become the Kingdom of Heaven from sorrow.

Where did Jesus say the Kingdom of Heaven is?

Did he say it is in our nation? No. He said, “It is within my heart.” That is a right saying. My heart is a place that can eternally enjoy joy together with the heavenly heart.

Then what is the heavenly heart?

Though Jesus could not say that word, he saw through to the core of the heavenly heart and sought to form the ties of True Parents and true sons and daughters.

Those ties are the position that represents True Parents from the standpoint of true sons and daughters.

Then where is the place where the true standard can be established?

It is the heavenly heart. The path the Unification Church must go from now on is precisely this path. This path the individual must go, the family must go, and the nation must go. This path is the path all of you must go.

For that, you must realize a world where heavenly hearts can dwell and a nation where heavenly hearts can dwell and a family where heavenly hearts can dwell. And you must become one yourself in whom heavenly hearts can dwell.

Thereby, as true sons and daughters who attend True Parents, you must become one substantial being that can never be separated and become a self that can go through heavenly ethics. When you go through heavenly ethics, human ethics is necessarily separated. Only then will there be no fall in the human world and no suffering.

What is the Fall?

It is that which goes against the heavenly heart. In the Unification family, this is treated as a problem of love. Therefore, because this must be sought again, religion asserts love. Hence, those who follow religion must follow love. What is that love? It is God’s love.

Where does God’s love appear?

It does not appear in the midst of Heaven. It appears upon the earth. That is why, to accomplish this, many forms of religion came to be equipped upon this earth. Because, for one purpose, this—with differing cultural backgrounds over thousands of years, at a historical distance, and by stages—had to be settled, various methods and forms came about as the means for it. Only when it is so arranged can the whole world be gathered.

From the place where you yourselves can dwell, your mind and body must become one with the thought, “I represent human ethics, one who represents heavenly ethics, one substantial being in which human ethics and heavenly ethics can be joined.

Moreover, I am one substantial being that can synthesize the cosmos and Heaven and earth, and at the same time one central being.” Only when one becomes such an individual will Heaven and earth be unified from there, history be settled from there, and a new origin be able to begin from there.

The thought that comes forth to determine such core content will become the thought of the ideal society to come. And who is the one that bears responsibility for that thought? It is precisely the Lord at the Second Advent.

Then what relationship is there between that Lord at the Second Advent and me?

He can make me shine, seek me out, establish me, and determine me. The human being is a being who cannot determine himself. Still more, the fallen human being all the more cannot. Yet today those who believe in the Unification Church tend to harbor the thought, “It is enough just to go on as I am; what is there to be busy about in any special way?”—but that is one’s own private thought, not a thought together with history. It is not a thought in accord with the mind of God, who works His providence centering on this actual stage. It is a thought far removed from the past, a thought far removed from the present; and no matter how much one stands at the forefront with such a thought, in the end one can only live in the very manner that your ancestors walked out along the course of history.

We Must Live Centered on True Parents

Jesus said, “What shall it profit a man if he lose his life and gain the whole world?”

Therefore, one must not live centering on one’s own private thought.

If one does, human ethics and heavenly ethics cannot meet. So you must live centering on True Parents without fail. Only then can Heaven and earth, human ethics and heavenly ethics, meet.

When we consider the term True Parents, the interesting thing is that without True Parents, there can be no true children. Seen on a level plane, if we regard the parents as Heaven, the children are the earth; if we regard the parents as above, the children are below; if we regard the parents as front, the children become the back; and if we regard the parents as right, the children become the left. You must clearly know that.

Until now, even when you ate, you have eaten alone. Until now you have lived from that viewpoint. What is it to gain salvation by attending the Unification Church? It is to eat not alone, but together with the Parents. Isn’t that splendid? Even when you go sightseeing, you go not alone, but attending the Parents together.

You must know how great and awesome a notion it is to live attending to Heaven and earth. On the day one vividly feels, “It is so,” there is no one who does not surrender and yield to this. There is no one, among those who with such a spirit experience and vividly feel “It is surely so,” who surrenders to anything whatever.

Even if one has strayed from the principle and surrendered, because one surely returns once more to that principle, in the end it is not a surrender. Even if one has surrendered, the standard of that principle is different.

Therefore, the Unification Church tells you to surrender to it completely and experience it. Then there will be no reason to be conquered under heaven, and it is that one gains salvation through attendance. That is why the Unification Church asserts that one gains salvation through the life of attendance. Do you understand? A religion with such conviction can overcome anywhere in the world. Seen from this viewpoint, you must know how great the thought of our Unification Church is today.

What is it, if not this, that humankind should stake its hope upon and be grateful for?

This was the wish that our ancestors have longed for until now. It was the wish that countless men longed for and the wish that countless women longed for.

Therefore, if such a man and woman had joined upon this earth and formed one family, they would have become the core being that Heaven and earth could acknowledge.

The time when such a man and woman can open the door and step forth into a new world together with a heavenly heart is precisely the time when the Kingdom of Heaven we have longed for begins.

Only then will the Last Days (끝날) of Heaven and earth come from there, and a settling point of the purpose and hope that humankind has desired will arise.

When that time comes, the age of asserting oneself alone will all pass away. It is an age when one cannot say, “I am the best.” From then on, it is a communal world.

That is, it is the world of the ideology of mutual existence, mutual prosperity, and mutual righteousness. That is why the Unification Church asserts mutual existence, mutual prosperity, and mutual righteousness. That world is not realized alone. Do you understand?

The world of the ideology of mutual existence, mutual prosperity, and mutual righteousness is the world of the ideal Kingdom of Heaven that humankind has longed for. That world is a world that absolutely cannot be realized alone.

The Ideology of Mutual Existence, Mutual Prosperity, and Mutual Righteousness (共生共榮共義主義)

Therefore, that world is not a world where one is alone. When one says “I,” there is necessarily a counterpart, and there is also a family. This does not end merely as a notion but must be applied in actual life.

The world in which that can actually be expressed on the stage of life is precisely the world of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Isn’t that so?

Do the left eye and the right eye keep in step with each other, or not?

This is mutual prosperity. All of them live for one purpose. Everything is arranged this way.

There are two nostrils too, but if one nostril is blocked, is it good or bad?

Likewise, if one ear is blocked, is it good or bad?

Is being a cripple good or bad? Try cutting off a leg or cutting off an arm. It would feel terrible. Therefore, every being equipped with a relative relationship proves Heaven and earth of itself. That is, the human being proves it of himself. In this way the mind knows. The saying that the human mind is the heavenly mind (인심이 천심) is also related to this.

Parental love, conjugal love, sibling love—such things are absent in Western thought. Therefore, in the dimension of the heart, Eastern thought is one step higher than Western thought. And it is the Unification Church that asserts the ideology of mutual existence, mutual prosperity, and mutual righteousness from that ground.

Therefore, apart from such a viewpoint, “I” cannot exist. One absolutely cannot be victorious alone. This you yourselves will know well.

Then why is it that you are told to work for the sake of the church?

It is to become greater. Would it do to try to become the chief in the home? Working for the church is so that I may become greater; working for the nation too is so that I may become greater; working for the world too is so that I may become greater; and working for Heaven and earth too is so that I may become greater.

How much greater?

To become the greatest. What is called great here refers not to volume but to being equipped, inside and out, with the highest fullness and maturity.

From such a position, centering on the Unification Church, you must become one who resolves to live together with all people on a world-level stage. Only then can you become a son or daughter of God, who created Heaven and earth. You must all know that my path yet to be walked from this viewpoint remains.

The starting point of this path the Unification Church has already secured. Now that the start has been made, you yourselves must become those who go to the point of purpose and dwell there. That is why it is said, “Witness for the sake of the nation, or become a missionary of the world; and next, for the sake of Heaven and earth, if it is the communist party, fight the communist party.”

From this viewpoint, I hope that you, knowing your value well, will live today in the position that God desires.

Prayer

Father, until now we thought that my one life was a pitiable being. But now let us clearly come to know the fact that my one life was fashioned together with history.

Let it be discovered here that, due to its sorrow, mine is an individual self that cannot let loose its heart and give way to anger.

O Father, how much have we respected ourselves, tied in such a way? We have come to know the fact that a shining history is not in the relative world but was behind the history of my individual self.

We have come to know the fact that the glory of victory is not in some world of the Cosmos (천주), but that the place where the gift of victory can dwell together with history depends upon my one individual self.

Therefore, O Father, no matter how wide the whole world may be, if it cannot determine the one place where I can dwell, that world becomes exceedingly narrow; and though I am an minimal single individual, let it be discovered that if I have determined the inner foundation that can bend the whole world, the result is my individual self that the whole world can resemble and more. That is why Jesus made the decisive statement, “What does it profit though a man find the whole world, if he lose his life?” and Shakyamuni too expounded the value of “In heaven and on earth, I alone am the honored one” (天上天下 唯我獨存). Let us come to know that all of this, in this way, cannot exist apart from my one individual self.

Father, look down upon Thy children gathered here. We have come to know that though their forms are of myriad kinds, the course they must walk is the same. We have also come to know that though their hearts are torn into shreds, they must be equipped with a standard by which they can be settled into one heart. We have also come to know that the reality of action is swayed from here. Therefore, let us clearly come to know the fact that when one spiritual standard by which this position can be determined appears, from here a new Kingdom of Heaven is founded, and the wheel of a new history begins to turn.

Seen from this point, we have come to know how great the mission is that the Unification Church bears. Therefore, we must laugh at the history of the past, which ended by pursuing only the human heart, and raise the human heart together with the heavenly heart to a position of value a thousand and ten thousand times over. Therefore, we earnestly ask that Thou let us come to know the fact that, to stand in a position where we can boast, “I am one who has come forth bearing that which all the people of the whole world long for and idealize in the world of heart,” we cannot but pass through the gate of unification.

We cannot but truly give thanks that we have come to know this position together with the long history of ten million years or together with the existence of the whole cosmos. Therefore, we earnestly ask that Thou grant that this position, surpassing the toilsome course we have sought until now, become a place where we fulfill the duty of loyalty before the Father and fulfill our responsibility.

Father! When we come to know that here is the standard of praise by which we can sing the joy and happiness the Father desires, with a mind that can now do so, let us come to know that this position is one we can take by pouring out our whole body and mind.

The children of unification, after coming to know this path, feel deep in their hearts of their accord that they must forget all their environment and follow this path centering on the church.

Father, to walk that path, the body must follow the mind. We come to realize that this is no sorcery, nor any new wonder, but simply one natural law that moves according to the principle of heavenly ethics. Therefore, Father, we earnestly ask and desire that Thou grant that, following the way of compliance, we may bring about a result of absolute victory.

The path we walk is not a path walked for the sake of anyone. Let us come to know that it is a path for the sake of ourselves and, at the same time, a path for the sake of the world and the nation, and that we live not for the sake of some individual but for the sake of the world. Let us come to know that when I was born, the being called “I”—if it is a certain Kim—was not born for the sake of that certain Kim alone.

Let us become the form that knows how to boast of ourselves, “I, so-and-so, was born to walk this path,” and make clear that it is the heavenly ethics of my life, and let us come to know that value. Father, we earnestly ask and desire that Thou let us come to know that the purpose of becoming a member of the Unification Church is to make this problem clear, resolve it, and seek one core substantial being that can make that value all the more valuable.

Father, we have come to know that walking this path must be more urgent than anything in the world. When we ask for whose sake we have gathered, it is not for the sake of the teacher of the Unification Church, nor for the sake of anything of the Unification Church.

Because I seek to go for my own sake, the Unification Church is necessary; and because there is the nation and world that the Unification Church desires, we believe and follow; and because this path is the path near to it, we have come following this path.

Therefore, O Father, let the unchanging heart that seeks to go through the Unification Church to the nation, through the Unification Church to the world, and through the Unification Church to the Cosmos not be wounded, and let that heart stretch and flow forth tenderly.

Grant that we ourselves can perform the role of the veins so that the pounding of the arteries flowing out from the heart and the pounding of the arteries resounding through the heart of the heavenly heart become one with our bodies, moving and turning the feelings of our life.

Thereby grant that the pulse of those veins can shine forever and ever in the annals together with history, and that we can become comrades of all people in our lives. Let us come to know that the Father is asking, even at this very hour, whether this is not our wish.

O Father, we must praise the precious “I” forever and ever. For the sake of that “I” that must be found and established, we must struggle even to the shedding of the blood of all fallen descendants.

Since today struggles to make tomorrow’s me shine, we earnestly ask and desire that Thou let us become warriors of Heaven who know how to hold precious every single hour and each moment of this day, bearing the hope that, together with that shining, the ties of Heaven and earth can shine. On this day, we most earnestly beseech Thee, O loving Father, that Thy compassionate love and Thy precious heart be added to all the many children scattered throughout the nation and to the throng who, longing for this place, have offered devotion.

Now, where is our mind flowing? Where is our body resting?

Let us not remain in the position of the sinful mind of the past, and let us not become selves who hide our bodies in that which can perish in the past and remain in a position where we can be punished.

Grant that, bearing the Father’s mind, we can equip body and mind in a position where they can sprout in the minds of humankind upon the earth; and kneeling before the Father and pledging loyalty, grant that we can be equipped with the form of the Father’s princes and princesses, picturing that “I” that can become a light to all things. Grant that mine be a self in which that place of mine—where the passion of adoration longing for the Father can sprout, or that place of mine that can shine with the passion of yearning—can grow tenderly.

Taking a shining tomorrow as our hope, we must rise. Taking the shining “I” of tomorrow as our hope, we must rise. For the sake of a shining new Kingdom of Heaven, we must rise.

For that, we must become vessels worthy of it. We must equip our shining forms, inside and out. Moreover, before the ties of heavenly heart, we must sleep tenderly and wake tenderly to become the Father’s sons and daughters and become true children who can truly call upon the Father.

Therefore, O loving Father, we earnestly beseech Thee that we may all become Thy sons and daughters who can sing of the day’s life within that love and holily praise the day’s work within that story.

Let the remaining time be made glorious, and let this place become a place of truth in praising “I.” I have spoken all these words in the name of the True Parents. Amen. The Self (自我)