What Is Training?

1. Training means tempering and polishing one's character. Where do we find the standard for this tempering and polishing? There are two types of people among you: external people, who amount to little more than flesh, and internal people.

Taking the Fall into account, we have external fallen people and internal fallen people. Both need training to gradually come to resemble the character of an original person.

The character of an original person resembles a child to whom nature bows and whom God kisses and embraces in His bosom. Accordingly, the character of an original person is the standard for your training. (11-348, 1962.06.07)

Becoming an object partner of goodness

2. How much have you done for the Unification Church? Have you existed for the Unification Church or have you sought personal benefit from the church? This point, you need to know, is the line dividing good and evil.

Good and evil are not unrelated; when your will deviates from God's Will, good and evil separate. Good continues along the normal orbit while evil follows an abnormal orbit. Today, there are principles of ethics and morality as well as social ethics.

However, such principles don't come into play when we serve our interests. These principles engage when we live for others. Therefore, as a Unification Church member, rather than thinking about yourself, you should think about the Unification Church twenty-four hours a day. Do not detach from the Unification Church, even in your dreams. (071-125, 1974.04.29)

3. Unless we become good people of God, we cannot hope to form families God desires. Furthermore, unless we become good families of God, we cannot hope for a good nation or a good world.

Therefore, the biggest issue for each of us is how to find the solution within ourselves. The mind and body relationship thus becomes the dividing line.
(065-016, 1972.11.13)

Indemnity through penance

4. Penance is the way to subjugate the body.

This is why Jesus said, "Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it." (Matt. 10:39)

This means we need to sever from what the body craves; we need to remove what the body covets. (039-053, 1971.01.09)

5. It is wise to seek the most demanding and austere religion in history. Religious life consists of the conscience occupying the body like a torturer, shouting, “You depraved body, you depraved body,” pummeling the fleshly desires into extinction, never to rise again. Our mind has to torture our body, t, (261-303, 1994.07.24)

6. Why is penance necessary in religion? Why do we have to carry the cross? Why do we need to serve and sacrifice for others? These tasks are loathsome to us, but they are how religions urge us to leave this fallen world. We have to deny everything completely.

Blessing in the Unification Church comes from seeking complete self-denial. We have been denying everything from the level of the individual to the levels of the family, tribe, people, the world, and even its ideology.

The higher one's level of self-denial, the more one's value accumulates. Our value increases; this is the reason for self-abnegation. Hence, religions advocate renouncing the world and leaving one's home. (140-117, 1986.02.08)

7. Religions walk the path of penance, rejecting bodily cravings. When you seek what your eye covets, your spiritual eye will dislike you. The spirit will completely oppose you. We have thought that human beings are naturally self-contradictory because we did not know about the human Fall.

The origin of the contradiction within our conscious self is a grand discovery, greater than any other discovery in history. Nevertheless, an even more amazing thing is to understand how the Fall took place.

If there is a path leading out of this confusion, we must follow that path, however arduous it may be. Fallen human beings have to follow this course of responsibility. (161-113, 1987.01.11)

8. It is restoration through indemnity, not indemnity through restoration. There cannot be indemnity through restoration. The concept that restoration could bring forth indemnity cannot exist, not even in the Garden of Eden.

If it had, God would have acted as He pleased with Adam and Eve. The problem is that the Fall caused a change of lineage; the seed changed. We have to indemnify this. (427-087, 2003.12.04)

Finding the original path through denial

9. In the course of restoration, that which you love most becomes your enemy. To men, women are the enemy, and to women, men are the enemy. Likewise, children are the enemy of parents and parents are the enemy of children.

Furthermore, the tribe is the entire family's enemy and society is the tribe's enemy. All are enemies of one another. To purify all this enmity in one fell swoop, we have to deny everything. The person cannot ascend to the heavenly kingdom if they have not experienced sorrow – sorrow as deep as when losing one's family's four-position foundation.

Until now, God has prolonged the providence over thousands of generations, hoping to build the four-position foundation. Even if we perform our filial duty to God for tens of thousands of years, we cannot raise our heads. We cannot escape from the fact that we are sinners among sinners. (405-269, 2003.02.28)

10. To enter heaven, we have to deny Satan's blood and turn back. We need purity, and our blood, so we must become filial children in a family grounded in pure love and pure lineage. However, we have not become such devoted children.

Neither have we become patriots in the nation. In the family, we have to become pure children of filial piety, pure patriots, loyal saints, and loyal divine sons and daughters.

We have failed to become sons and daughters who represent heaven and earth with the right of inheritance, so we have to accomplish all this in one generation. (405-282, 2003.03.01)

11. Self-centered societies have gone to ruin. The Fall is about becoming self-conscious and placing oneself at the center, so we must reject self-centeredness.

We have to deny ourselves and live for the greater whole; thereafter we will blossom. A plant emits fragrance only after it has received nutrients through its roots and leaves for a year and has blossomed flowers.

Accordingly, God will seek us and angels will come to protect us when we become fragrant flowers in full bloom, people who live for the greater entire. This is the wish of heaven and earth. (405-323, 2003.03.02)

12. Do you have a gift that will delight God? Do you have a gift that, when given to God, will make He say, “Wow, thank you so much!” When God visits you, can you present Him with the gift of a pure family? If you are a couple, there is no better gift for God when He visits than being united in love.

What kind of couple is this? It is not a couple where the partners live for themselves; rather, it is a couple where the husband lives for the wife and the wife lives for the husband.

God wishes to receive the gift of a family where the husband and wife are eternally united, where they are determined to revere the reproductive organs and to maintain that stance forever. (405-323, 2003.03.02)

13. To manifest God in substance, Adam and Eve had to reach completion and give birth to children. Unfortunately, they became Satan's children. They became the archangel's children. They became children unrelated to God.

This is why complete denial is needed. God cannot act as He wishes because the lineage was stained. This circumstance is like a bandit kidnapping a bride-to-be a few days before her wedding, taking her into his lair, living with her, and having her give birth to his sons and daughters, thereby forming a tribe.

How miserable must the groom be as he witnesses all this! Even though we say that God is omniscient and omnipotent, He could not treat the archangel in any way He wished. If God could not kill the archangel, could He kill the children who carry the archangel's blood? This is why God is like a prisoner behind bars. It is as if He has been incarcerated. (492-169, 2005.04.15)

14. Unless we deny ourselves, we cannot return to the position of being the original raw materials of creation. There cannot be any flaws in the original raw materials.

For you to settle in the family of original and ideal love, there should not be any cracks through which Satan can enter. Water, air, and even light must not be able to penetrate. (410-235, 2003.07.05)

15. To stand in the position to receive love, you have to become one in the position of subject partner or object partner. When the subject partner seeks to give absolutely and the object partner seeks to receive absolutely, the two become one. When the subject partner wishes to give one hundred of something, as the object partner, you need to receive all one hundred.

When Heaven tries to give us one hundred of something, but we want to receive it by our thoughts, opinions, or desires, we cannot receive the one hundred that Heaven bestows. When we add our desires and wishes, we can only receive eighty, seventy, sixty, or fifty.

We are unable to receive one hundred. We have to tell ourselves, “If you wish to receive one hundred, empty everything. Remove everything, deny and abandon everything.” We need to renounce everything and obey absolutely.

We may think that obedience is bad, but when a person obeys absolutely, Heaven can embrace him or her completely. (61-258, 1972.09.01)

16. A good person is a person who tries to help others eternally, from birth until death. Furthermore, a good person goes beyond rank, geography, race, or historically established traditions to help others eternally. When this person passes away, he or she will be called good.

When you endlessly give to others, you become a void, like a low-pressure area. However, since you are pushing yourself in one direction, the spirit world builds into a high-pressure zone.

Therefore, when you pass away, the high spiritual pressure will wash over you and all the good deeds committed over a thousand years will burst forth and place you at the peak of a mountain that will stand for tens of thousands of years.
(300-039, 1999.02.21)

The path to becoming a victor

17. Neither God nor human beings have been able to fulfill His Will, yet history moves on. It is not because of God that His Will remains unfulfilled. It is because of human beings. In other words, the failure to fulfill His Will came because of the Fall of Adam and Eve.

Therefore, the process of history, as well as the course of the providence until now, has been the attempt to reverse this failure in God's Will. To bring His Will to fruition, a person capable of realizing God's Will is needed.

God has worked through long historical eras to raise people capable of upholding His Will. There was Adam's family, Noah's family, Abraham's family, Jacob's family, and so on.

If and when such historical families had failed in the responsibility to establish a relationship between heaven and earth, humankind would have lost track even of the direction necessary to accomplish God's Will. We have learned these truths through the course of the providence. (28-068, 1970.01.04)

18. When we look at the Unification Church today, we wonder, will the Unification Church accomplish God's Will or not? There are two types of Will, one for the individual and one for the whole.

If no one is capable of handling God's Will for the individual and His will for the entire, God's Will cannot be realized. Even if the time has come for God's Will to be completed if the responsible person fails to fulfill his or her responsibility, the opportunity given to realize God's Will will be lost.

The realization of God's Will requires the appropriate person. Thereafter, the time becomes the problem. Always, what we call time becomes the concern. In addition to the time and the person, the condition to accomplish the Will is necessary.
(28-068, 1970.01.04)

19. What did Jesus Christ have to do to carry out his specific responsibility, the salvation of humankind? Jesus, even he, had to invest his entire heart and soul. Whether awake or asleep, Jesus had to invest his entire heart and everything he had in his mission.

This could not be accomplished by his being ordered or coerced; he had to do it of his own volition. Only when he achieved this did hope blossom, the conditions for happiness arise, and eventually, the determination of his victory or defeat appears. (29-081, 1970.02.25)

20. We need to erect a protective hedge around us, fortified by our children and our spiritual children. We should grow this hedge to serve as a protective buffer within which to share and discuss any secret freely.

Even risking our lives, we cannot sell ourselves to Satan's world. Therefore, we have to set up a sphere of absolute safety from which God's Will, can expand. You need to understand this very well because you are the experts who will be responsible for carrying out and fulfilling this mission. (29-100, 1970.02.25)

21. The one who strives for victory will not encounter a supportive environment; rather, he or she will face an environment of adversity. In this circumstance, you have to be able to handle the hostile environment with a steady and reliable heart.

This heart is linked to sweat and tears that have come down to us through history. Therefore, however difficult the circumstances may be, our hearts must never falter or change. We have to advance with this conviction: “No one can take away this heart burning with the desire to win.”

A victory without confidence is an accidental victory. We don't need that kind of victory; we need absolute victory gained with confidence.

Such victory is not only a historical victory but is also the victory of the ideal of creation. You need to have a victorious heart, burning with conviction. If you do not overcome ordeals, you cannot wear the crown of victory. (11-110, 1961.02.12)

22. Since we know that the Principle is irrefutable truth, once we learn it we cannot refuse to follow it or to carry it out. Each of us has to walk this path; we cannot be failures, we have to be victors.

Until now, I have fought alone; however, just as I have achieved victory, you can also achieve victory. As long as I am here, you require not worry.

Go forward, fight to the end, and victory will be yours. I am certain of this. Know this, be confident, and charge forward with passion. (11-215, 1961.07.17)

23. A leader has to seek to feed and clothe his followers better than himself. However, in a critical situation, the leader has to send them out, even if they will go the way of misery. How sorrowful do you think Moses must have been to leave his people and go off to pray for forty days?

Moses knew that a hurricane would sweep through their midst. Even today, when I see members on the path of tribulation, my heart aches. However, I push them forward because the more my heart aches, the more intensely I feel the urgency of realizing the cosmic ideal.

I remember what it was like in the past, to be imprisoned as a criminal. America will go to ruin if you forget that your ancestors wept and pleaded sorrowfully while gripping prison bars.

We can obtain victory only by shedding blood, sweat, and tears. I have shed as many tears as any filial son. I know that God is the protector of those who seek goodness. Every time you work at the risk of your life, God will open the way for you. (13-073, 1963.10.18)

24. You need only do three things to achieve victory in your life of faith. The issue is how long you persevere. Your endurance and effort will determine whether you go on for a few years or several decades.

The three things are first, to master ideology, second, to have unsurpassable loyalty and devotion and, third, to be the best at performing good deeds. If you commit to these three practices, victory is as good as winning.

Your perseverance, period, and effort will determine your result, and, depending on your effort, you can shorten the time required for victory from seven years to five years or even one year. (16-078, 1965.12.26)

25. Among all victories, what victory is the greatest? Originally, God meant for human beings to start from the homeland of victory. Nonetheless, due to the Fall, they could not do so.

Thus, the world of victory became something for which they had to seek. What is the standard in that quest? Yes, it is the perfection of character, but while character is of course important, of greater importance is the inner core that moves character. That inner core is love, and that love is none other than God's love. (32-219, 1970.07.19)

26. Facts take precedence over words, and achievements take precedence over excuses. Mere words and excuses don't amount to much. When assessing achievements, facts are strict and cold.

What is right will end up as right and what is wrong will end up as wrong. Victory will end up as a victory and, in sorrow and misery, failure will end up as failure. This is the historical course of judgment. (058-349, 1972.07.01)

27. We cannot continue our casual carefree life. Through the unity of God, past lords, kings, and our ancestors in the spirit world, we have to establish one global family. Inheriting Heaven's lineage, we can completely renew the earth drenched with Satan's blood.

We have the responsibility to create one great family, then a nation and world of one culture – the world of Adam's culture. The world of Adam's culture is absolute, unique, unchanging, and eternal. I am responsible for it.

Now there is no such word as “we.” I must unite my mind and body, and then unite my family and my tribe. Afterward, I must engraft the nation and the world, so that the field of wild olive trees is transformed into a field of true olive trees.
(437-112, 2004.02.10)

28. Making ideal families is not God's responsibility. Our human ancestors and our descendants are responsible for this. God cannot deliver an ideal family to you. The malefactor who destroyed the ideal family must do the repairs.

We lost the ideal family and the global kingdom of ideal peace. This is a monumental sin among sins. God is absolute, unique, unchanging, and eternal. There are no errors in what He creates. (540-252, 2006.09.27)