Showing posts with label Families. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Families. Show all posts

15.12.12

Gateway to Heaven


True Families Gateway to Heaven
Foreword
With great pleasure we present to you this selection of
passages from various speeches delivered by the Reverend
Dr . Sun Myung Moon .
Jesus Christ first appeared to Reverend Moon while
he was praying on a Korean mountainside when he was
sixteen years old . On that Easter Sunday morning, Jesus
revealed to him that the time had come to consummate
the work of establishing peace on earth, and that the key
to peace was to build God-centered families .
During the next several years, God revealed to Reverend
Moon His original purpose of creation, the circumstances
surrounding the human Fall, and His efforts through history
to restore humankind to the original purpose of God . Many
secrets of the Bible were revealed during this period . Notably, Reverend Moon came to know and to inherit the true
love of God and to appreciate the importance of establishing
“true families,” meaning families that practice true love and
are directly connected to God, our Heavenly Parent .
Reverend Moon promised to fulfill God’s purpose and
has tirelessly worked his entire life to accomplish it . For
teaching this new message he was imprisoned six times . He
was misunderstood and persecuted in Korea, and later in 6     True Families, Gateway to Heaven
America, by those who saw the tremendous growth of his
congregation and the impact his teachings had on others .
Nevertheless, Reverend Moon, now 90 years old, has never
wavered from his commitment to God .
Reverend Moon has influenced the lives of millions of
people around the world with his teachings about God’s
suffering heart, the nature of God’s true love, and the holy
sacrament of the Blessing, that is, a marriage blessed by
God and connected to God’s lineage . He teaches that all
people, regardless of their religious denomination, should
unite in their love for God . Today a growing number of
ministers of all faiths use his teachings to guide their
congregations .
Reverend Moon also teaches that world peace can be
established through interracial, intercultural and interfaith marriages . He has been promoting such marriages
for more than 50 years . He even predicted in October
1975 that a future president of the United States, within
his lifetime, would come from an African-American father
and a white mother .
The teachings of Reverend Moon have been published
in collections now numbering over 1,000 volumes . In compiling this booklet, we have taken material from Cheon
Seong Gyeong [Heavenly Scripture], a large collection of
excerpts taken from speeches given from the 1950s to the
present . The selections are from Book Four: True Family
and Book Five: Earthly Life and the Spirit World .
Please keep in mind that Reverend Moon speaks in  Korean; despite our best efforts, the English translation
may be at times awkward and cannot completely convey
the depth of his meaning . We hope that you will explore
this book with an open mind . Our wish is that these words
inspire you to think about and feel closer to our God .
May God bless you and your families .
      C H a p T e r  O n e
The Family Is the Basis and
Pattern for the Kingdom
of Heaven
1. The Pattern for All Relationships
A person is always situated in a context, relating to what
is above and below, right and left, and front and back . This
context determines his or her position . Your life will turn
out better or worse depending on whether you properly
create relationships with those above you and below you,
with those to your right and to your left, in front of you
and in back of you .
Whether it concerns issues in your family or problems
facing the nation or the world, the same formula applies:
we must deal with relationships to those above and below,
on the right and on the left, in front and in back .
You as an individual are responsible to relate properly
to those above you and below you, to your right and to
your left, in front and in back . This is the case whether
you are relating to your parents or your children, to your
husband or your wife, or to your brothers and sisters .
The same applies as you relate to the nation and world .
Your family should take the lead in your nation to embrace
families in the east and west and north and south, and
encourage all families to do the same . Your family should
embrace the civilizations of East and West and of North
and South, and embrace all the people of the world as
your brothers and sisters . This is the way to bring about
one world family .
The family pattern applies to everyone . Each of you is
situated within that pattern . When you live by its logic, you
will be the starting-point of your family, your family can be
the basis of your nation, and so on to the world, to heaven
and earth, and finally to God . Everyone has the desire to
be the center of the universe; moreover, everyone has the
potential to fulfill that desire .
In this way, the concept of the family can be likened to
the core of the universe . Heaven can be likened to parents in giving life to the earth, representing the children .
The relationship between East and West can be likened
to that between man and woman . For example, it is customary that when a woman marries, she goes to join her
husband wherever he lives . This can be likened to the way
the brightness of the east at sunrise illuminates the west
and gives it the same value .
The same is true with sibling relationships . When the oldest brother takes the lead in a task, the younger siblings
join in to help .
Thus, we need to be in a parent-child relationship, a
conjugal relationship and a sibling relationship . The challenge is how all three relationships can meet at one point .
There should be just one central point . There should not
be different central points for above and below, right and
left, and front and back . If the central points are different,
all the relationships will be off balance .
But when the center is aligned, then above and below,
right and left, front and back, and their common central
point add up to the number seven . A family that forms the
number seven in this way is a family of perfect true love
with God at the center, where all these elements form a
complete sphere, bringing harmony and unity . From this
perspective, the phrase “lucky seven” makes sense .
Since true love never changes, this central core will
rotate forever without ever changing . This is how a family
can realize the true family ideal .
Also, because everything is connected to the core, each
position, starting with the core (one) and two, three,
four, five, six and seven, will possess equal value . When
the grandfather wants something, the grandchildren will
affirm it and the sons and daughters will want it as well .
Thus, three generations will share a desire for the same
thing . The grandfather and grandmother, husband and
wife, and sons and daughters will all align with the center .
When such love is present, then parents and children
form loving relationships and become one . Husband and
wife build a loving relationship and become one . Siblings
build loving relationships and become one . They are all
one . Under what conditions can we say that these relationships make us one? They must be infused with the true
love of God . God is the center of love . With true love at the
center, parents and children will become one, husband
and wife will become one, and all the brothers and sisters
will become one . In this way, they all come to have equal
value . (299-114, 1999.2.7)
2. Where We Experience Universal Love
What is the purpose of the universe? God designed
everything in the created world as study materials to help
His beloved sons and daughters understand and fulfill the
ideal of love . This is why everything exists in mutual relationships . Look at the world of minerals: their elements
interact in partnerships one to another . Atoms consist
of protons and electrons interacting in mutual relationships . Without such interactions they could not continue
to exist . Without motion there is no permanence or continued existence .
Nevertheless, the universe is created in such a way that
all things of creation can have access to its central point –
true love – only through human beings . (137-59, 1985.12.18)
1. For passages originating from The Collected Speeches of Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the citation is
given in parentheses at the end of each passage in the order of volume number, page number
and the date of the speech. Dates are in the order of year, month and day. The Family Is the Basis and pattern for the Kingdom of Heaven     13
The world is the family in macrocosm . A family that has
fully realized the ideal of love has an above (parents), a
middle (husband and wife) and a below (children), right
and left (husband and wife), and front and back (siblings) . This is the basic pattern . All relationships of higher
and lower can be likened to that between parents and children; right and left can be likened to husband and wife;
and front and back to relationships between brothers and
sisters .
What can bring all these relationships into unity? Can
money, power or knowledge? These will never do it . Only
true love can do it . This is the clear truth . Without true
love, the family cannot have a spherical shape .
Why is it important for our families to have good relationships between parents and children (higher and
lower), and between brothers and sisters (those on the
same level)? They are study materials for developing our
love . We take the lessons learned from our family relationships and practice them in the wider world .
How should we love? Jesus said, “Love your neighbor
as yourself .” What did he mean? He meant that when you
meet an old man, you should treat him as you would your
own grandfather . Treat women and men of your parents’
age as you would your own mother and father, and treat
young people as you would your own sons and daughters .
As you treat the members your family, so should you treat
all people of the world .
The world can be compared to an exhibition hall filled
with all different kinds of people . Some are older than
you, some are the same age and some are younger . Some
are ahead of you and some are behind, or to the right or
to the left . The world presents you with all these different kinds of people . If you can love each of them with the
appropriate kind of love, God will dwell with you in the
midst of that love . (128-22, 1983.5.29)
What is the Kingdom of Heaven? It is where you love
the people of the world as you love your own family . If
you can do this, you will be a citizen of the Kingdom of
Heaven . Your grandfather and grandmother, your mother
and father, your spouse, your siblings and your children
– four generations of family members – provide life lessons for you to deeply experience love . Citizens of the
Kingdom of Heaven begin to experience the true love of
the universe in their family . Therefore, your family is the
foundation and the study material for learning life’s basic
lessons . (129-98, 1983.10.1)
We cannot live without learning to be people of universal love . God has prepared textbooks and scriptures that
teach us the way .
2
 First He tells us: “Love your grandmother
and grandfather . Your grandmother and grandfather on
earth were sent to you as representatives of all your ances-
2.  For example, Mencius 1.A.7: “Treat the aged of your own family in a manner
befitting their venerable age and extend this treatment to the aged of other families;
treat your own young in a manner befitting their tender age and extend this to the
young of other families...” The Family Is the Basis and pattern for the Kingdom of Heaven     15
tors in the spirit world . By loving your grandparents, I will
credit you as having loved them all .” This is His pledge .
Next God says, “I hold your mother and father to be
textbooks and models representing the countless mothers
and fathers in the world . Therefore, when you show exceptional love for your mother and father, I will credit you as
having loved all mothers and fathers .”
God also says, “I hold that when a man loves his wife, he
represents all the men in the world and his wife represents
all the women in the world . Therefore, when you love your
wife, I regard it as though you have loved all women in the
world .”
Then God says: “When you have loved your sons and
daughters, I will credit you as having loved all sons and
daughters .” In this way, our family is where we are trained
to be people of universal love .
We rely on scripture to guide us in cultivating ourselves
to love the world . After you have received this training,
God will ask you: “Are you ready now to go into the world
and love the grandfathers and grandmothers of the world
as you love your own grandparents?” If you can confidently answer “Yes,” then you are surely capable of saving
the world . (130-273, 1984.2.5)
3. The School of Love
God’s will is to realize the kingdom of love . To develop
the ideal of love and expand it to make the entire globe 16     True Families, Gateway to Heaven
an ideal world of love, God set up the family as the school
of love . There, people earn credits as they progress from
the elementary grades all the way to university and a doctoral degree .
Expand the family, and you have the world . Look at the
world, and you will find grandfathers and grandmothers,
adults like your uncles and aunts, peers like your brothers
and sisters, young people, and children . In the kingdom of
love, people of all ages – the elderly, middle-aged people,
young people and children – live together as a family, like
your own family only with much greater dimensions and
larger numbers of people . (147-281, 1986.10.1)
The family is the smallest unit for entering the Kingdom
of Heaven and the school that provides its study material . It
has all the levels: the grandparents’ level, parents’ level, husband and wife level, siblings’ level and children’s level . You
can extend the love you have for your family members –
your grandparents, your mother and father, your siblings
and your children – to the people in the world at large who
are of similar age . This is the way to extend your love to
encompass all humanity . Only when you love all humanity
with as much love as you give your wife and your parents,
and care for the world as much as you care for your own
sons and daughters, can your family inherit the Kingdom of
Heaven . This is a wonderful truth . Live it, and you will have
the special right to inherit all the power and authority of
God who created heaven and earth . (143-285, 1986.3.20) The Family Is the Basis and pattern for the Kingdom of Heaven     17
The family is a textbook of love . It is where we can
obtain the right to be registered in the Palace of Peace in
the Kingdom of Heaven after we die .
The family is the school of love . It teaches us how to
live in the world, which is nothing but the extension of
the family . There is a world of people who resemble your
grandfather, a world of people who resemble your grandmother, a world of people who resemble your father and
mother, and a world of people who resemble your sons
and daughters . Hence, if you expand your family, you have
the world .
If you love the people of the whole world as much as you
love your family, and as much as you love God who cares
for your family, you will be on the straight road leading to
the Kingdom of Heaven . This is how you should understand the first commandment, “You shall love the Lord
your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and
with all your mind,” and the second, “You shall love your
neighbor as yourself .” If you love God and love humanity
as much as you love your family, that’s the basis for everything . If you cannot do it, all the spiritual training you go
through will be of no use . No matter how great your spiritual discipline as you follow the precepts of religion, you
will fail all the tests if you do not know how to love God,
humankind and the universe .
In the family there is an ordered process for experiencing love, like a course of training . The school that is the
family is a microcosm of the world . Therefore, you can 18     True Families, Gateway to Heaven
expand on its lessons to love the world . God has given you
the family where you were raised and where your mother
and father live as the school where you are trained in the
ways of love .
You love your wife, and rightly so . But if you can love
your parents more than you love your wife, love your
sons and daughters more than your wife, love humanity
more than your wife, and love God more than your wife,
then everything will work out well . This doesn’t mean you
should abandon your wife . If you love everyone this way,
then everyone who received your love will also appreciate
and honor your wife . Wouldn’t that be a wonderful situation? The same goes for loving your husband . If you really
want to love your spouse, this is the best way . (142-242, 1986.3.11)
4. Textbook for the Heavenly Kingdom
Every child should inherit the good fortune of his
grandparents and parents . Why do we need grandparents?
It is because they represent the past . Grandparents represent the living history of the past . Parents represent the
present, and children represent the future .
How can one family encompass East and West and also
North and South? How can it be the center of the whole
universe? Its center must be true love . The center of the
grandparents, the center of the parents, the center of the
children and the center of God – in every case, the center
is true love . The Family Is the Basis and pattern for the Kingdom of Heaven     19
When you love your grandparents and respect them,
you can inherit the past completely and learn about the
world that has gone by . From your father and mother you
learn about the present, and by loving your children you
learn about the future .
What can you inherit from your grandfather and grandmother, and mother and father? You can inherit true love .
You recognize, “Our grandfather and grandmother are old,
but they are as one in true love . Our parents have become
as one, too . Let’s live the same way and inherit true love,
which will give us a bright future .” You should become absolute true families so that you can bequeath such love to your
children, and thus secure your family’s future .
The three-generation family can be likened to the universe . Representing the present and the future, such true
families possess the very love that pulses throughout the
universe . This is the love that we can also learn about by
observing nature’s textbook: the love between male and
female in the animal world .
If your grandmother were suddenly absent, your family
would feel distressed . If your grandfather were absent, it
would be the same . The remaining grandparent just could
not feel good about it . This earthly example indicates something about heaven . When a grandfather and grandmother
have lived happily together on earth, after they pass over they
will live happily together in the Kingdom of Heaven . If they
separated, their dwelling-place would not be heaven . Likewise, a family can live together as a family in the Kingdom 20     True Families, Gateway to Heaven
of Heaven when the grandparents, mother and father, and
children have been living harmoniously together on earth .
Your loving relationships with true grandparents, true parents, true children, true families, a true nation and the true
universe will qualify you to enter the Kingdom of Heaven .
The model and textbook for the Kingdom of Heaven is the
true family . (162-140, 1987.4.5)
The family provides us with lessons that enable us to establish the Kingdom of Heaven . Its lessons were created by God .
Any person living anywhere in the world can enter the
Kingdom of Heaven if he loves every old man he meets
just as he loves his own grandfather . A person who can love
everyone he meets of his parents’ age just as he loves his
own parents will be welcomed everywhere . It is the same
in every country . When he goes to the spirit world, he will
transcend every boundary . Furthermore, a person who has
the heart to regard all the young people of the world as
his own sons and daughters will be able to travel freely
throughout the Kingdom of Heaven . All the twelve pearly
gates are open to him, and the regions in all four directions . Thus, the family provides lessons that teach us how
to connect ourselves to the Kingdom of Heaven .
When you apply these family lessons to loving your
nation, you will become patriots . When you apply these
family lessons to the world, you will become saints . When
you apply these lessons for the welfare of all beings
in heaven and earth, you will become God’s sons and  The Family Is the Basis and pattern for the Kingdom of Heaven     21
daughters – divine sons and daughters . This is a desire that
every person shares . (137-78, 1985.12.18)
You must be able to embrace the sons and daughters
of all races, and their grandsons and granddaughters too .
This means you have to stand as true parents, with God’s
true love, and inspire your family to love all the world’s
people . By abiding in God’s love and in a relationship with
the original True Parents, you will be able to attain that
standard of true love in your family . Only then can you
enter the Kingdom of Heaven . (176-210, 1988.5.9)
5. Uniting the Love of Three Generations
The family that is connected through love and united
in love can encompass past history, the present era and the
future . Such a family has been God’s greatest desire, and
He has sought for it over the history of six thousand biblical years .
The original mission given to Adam and Eve at the time
of creation was to establish such a family, where everything
would come under the dominion of true love . No one
would cut themselves off from a relationship if the love
were inherent and absolute .
God did not want Adam and Eve to remain an individual
man and an individual woman . He looked forward to the
new family they would form through their union . This was
God’s primary point of origin in creating men and women .22     True Families, Gateway to Heaven
You can enter the Kingdom of Heaven without any
problem once you have established a true family . We need
to live in this world feeling fulfillment from the love of
God flowing within our family . Only this will enable us to
transcend the snares of this world . (30-86, 1970.3.17)
To form the family realm of love, you must be absolute .
As parents, you must be able to represent the past . As husband and wife, you must be able to represent the present .
As the children, you must be able to represent the future .
You should consider that to love your parents, your partner or your children is equivalent to God relating to the
world .
When husband and wife and children have become
as one body, they are able to represent the cosmos . They
can instruct others to take their love as an example to
follow, and teach their descendents to follow in their path .
The place where they can make such statements, both to
themselves and to others, and communicate the heart of
heaven, is the homeland of the heart that will be remembered by all heaven and earth . (30-80, 1970.3.17)
What has God been seeking all this time? He has been
seeking ideal object partners . He has been looking for
people who resemble God and who possess the inner and
outer aspects of His world of creation . What is the starting
point that leads to such a result? It is the family . Nothing
represents the universe better than the family . To be one  The Family Is the Basis and pattern for the Kingdom of Heaven     23
with our parents is to bring the past and present together .
You can love the past by loving your parents, love the present by loving your spouse, and love the future by loving
your children . In your family, you can experience the love
of three generations . Your family is the core unit where
these three kinds of love are concentrated . (30-80, 1970.3.17)
Then, where does life in the Kingdom of Heaven begin?
It begins in the family, and not in some other place . The
Kingdom of Heaven is nothing more than a three- dimensional expansion of the family; it does not exist separately
from the family . Thus when you embrace your husband
or wife, you should think of it as leading to the unions of
all men and all women in the world . This is how in your
family you can set the condition of having loved all humanity . This is the path you should follow in your lives .
When you love your parents, you are connecting past
history with the present era, and you are paving a road that
will let God come to you . This is the reason you must love
your parents . To love your parents is to connect everything
in the past to yourself who lives in the present, bringing
together the past and the present so they become as one .
Also, loving your own children connects the present reality with the future .
Unification Thought is the philosophy that extols such
love and teaches how it can be practiced throughout eternity . (30-83, 1970.3.17)24     True Families, Gateway to Heaven
6. Training Ground of the Heart
We cannot live disregarding the heart . Even if you were
the president of a country or possessed all the authority in
the world, you could not live without a place to express the
joy in your heart . The president has people under his command, government ministers to serve him and followers to
meet his every need, but they cannot fulfill the desire of
the heart . Only in the family can you experience such fulfillment . Hence the president returns to his family, where
he and his spouse can rejoice with each other and with
their children . You should be able to boast to others about
this joy . It is a joy that can only be experienced directly, not
secondhand .
The same is true for God . Even if the whole world were
restored, God could not be happy without a family . Therefore, God must have a family of His own . (25-86, 1969.9.30)
In the family, parents should be at the center . In educational institutions which represent society, teachers should
be at the center . Your parents raised you from infancy and
helped you develop physically and emotionally . What is
school, then? It is a place where you are trained for your
future role in society . As the family is the training ground
of the emotions, school is the place where you can try out
different roles and prepare for your future role in society .
But society is not the ultimate end . It is a stepping-stone
to the nation . The nation has a leader . Why is it that people  The Family Is the Basis and pattern for the Kingdom of Heaven     25
want to see the president and be near him? Once people
have learned all they can in the family and then in society,
they desire to go on to the next level .
The president is the fruit of the third stage, following
on the stages of formation and growth . A seed is planted
and sprouts (formation), begins its cycle of growth, and
finally the elements come together to produce a flower
and bear fruit (completion) .
In the course of our growth, we attend school to be
educated to become people who can become important
pillars of society and talented people who are needed by
the nation . What is the purpose of our studies in school?
It is training . The school is a place for training and experimenting . With training, you are not in the actual situation;
it is a time of preparation . Be sure to prepare well .
What sort of training happens in the family? It is cultivation of the heart . Your heart is cultivated by the love at the
center of the family . This prepares you in school to relate to
your classmates with the same affection as you have for your
own siblings . In the nation, too, you should relate to others
with affection . The education you receive from your parents will be important for you in school and in the nation .
Parents should create a foundation of heart for their
children and bequeath to their children everything having
to do with the heart . Then they should teach their children
to live as they have lived, giving them specific guidance on
how to live in the family, in society, and in the nation . (180-
130, 1988.8.22)26     True Families, Gateway to Heaven
A family is not necessarily good just because it lives in
a nice house in an affluent neighborhood . Even a family
that lives in a humble house in a poor neighborhood can
be a good family . A good family affords peace to all its
members, who view their family as the center to which they
want to link all aspects of their lives . In a good family, parents and children have a relationship of heart such that
they live for each other . Their family serves as the original
homeland of their dreams . It is the source of their motivation in all that they do in life . It is the foundation for their
lifelong happiness . (29-17, 1970.2.15)
7. The Original Hometown
The family home is a good place . Why is it good? It is
good because it is where my mother and father have lived .
It is good because it is where my elder sister and elder
brother have lived . It is where my younger brother and
younger sister and where all my relatives have lived . This
is why every human being feels a yearning for his or her
hometown . People feel more deeply about their hometown than they do about their nation . A Korean will love
the nation of Korea and want to live in Korea . But even
when he is in Korea, there is one place where he will yearn
to return to . It is his hometown .
Our hometown! How can we describe our hometown?
It is the place where our hearts are entirely lifted up in four
directions and in three dimensions . What is that heart? It  The Family Is the Basis and pattern for the Kingdom of Heaven     27
is the ties that bind us in love . Above us, we are bound in
love to our mother and father; as right and left, we are
bound in love to our spouse; and below us, we are bound
in love to our sons and daughters . We are bound in love to
our relatives in these three dimensions . This is the heart of
the original homeland .
People treasure above anything else this originating
point of their happiness, where true love is at the center .
This is the reason they cannot help but feel a yearning
for their original homeland . Then, where is God’s original
homeland? Where do you think God’s original homeland is on the planet Earth? This is a question we need to
consider .
Since God is the God of love, He must surely have prepared a starting point on earth where He could reside . So
where is this starting point? To answer this question, we
need to understand how God prepared that starting point .
God wants to reside in the place where He first formed
His family . What kind of place is that? It must be the place
where a son of God dwells, a man who truly understands
that God is his Father . In other words, it is the home of
God’s only-begotten son, who can be the vessel for the
entirety of God’s love . Also, it is a place where a daughter of God dwells, who can be the vessel for the entirety
of God’s love . Where that son of God and that daughter
of God marry and complete their family, that place is the
starting-point of God’s original homeland . (23-151, 1969.5.18)28     True Families, Gateway to Heaven
If you could dwell in that original homeland, who else
should be there? All the people you miss should be there .
Your parents should be there and your brothers and sisters
should be there . All your friends and relatives whom you
have longed to see should be there . Moreover, they should
not be the sort of people that you would want to see just
for a moment . You would want to spend eternity with them
and never grow tired of them . This is the kind of world we
need to establish . This is the Kingdom of Heaven, which
religions are seeking for in this age . (23-81, 1969.5.11)
We long for our original homeland because this is where
we find the people who are closest to us: our parents, our
brothers and sisters, and our relatives . These people will
always guide us . Whenever we visit, they will welcome us
just as they did in the past . When we face difficulties, they
will show sympathy, console us and receive us with joy .
It is important to realize, however, that although you
may return to your original homeland with a heart of longing, if people do not welcome you on your arrival, then
your intense heart of longing will vanish and you will turn
back with feelings of deep regret . You need to have people
there who will welcome you . (23-80, 1969.5.11)
8. The Cosmic Ideology
All things start from one, divide into many, and ultimately come together again as something larger . One  The Family Is the Basis and pattern for the Kingdom of Heaven     29
divides into many, and the many unite again into one .
Then that greater one divides again, and they recombine
into an even larger unit . This process repeats continuously .
Families exist within this process of continual division and recombination, yet the form of the family never
changes . In the family a husband and wife meet, build a
relationship as two people, and become one . The clan
brings many families together as one . Clans combine to
form a tribe, and tribes combine to form a nation . The
family, however, is always at the center . The horizontal
world develops as an expansion of the family .
This is why no society can do without the family . If
family conflicts are not resolved, we cannot solve the conflicts plaguing our world .
Once a family is restored, then through that family
we can fulfill the ideal of a unified cosmos . The cosmos
includes the spirit world (heaven) and the physical world
(earth) . Heaven and earth can be compared to a person’s
mind and body . Mind and body must become one .
Just as a subject partner needs an object partner and
vice-versa, a man needs a woman and a woman needs a
man . The union of a man and a woman leads to a family .
God’s foundation of love will not be attained except
through the family . (26-189, 1969.10.25)
The cosmic ideology teaches that we should first unite
our mind and body, next form a family that embodies
God’s love, and on that basis we can connect the spirit 30     True Families, Gateway to Heaven
world and the physical world – the cosmos . The character
ju () in cheon-ju (cosmos) refers to a house or a home .
We thus understand the term “cosmic ideology” to mean
that unity in the cosmos – between the incorporeal world
and the corporeal world – is rooted in unity in the family .
What does this have to do with us? Everyone needs a
family . If you cannot be united in your family, you will have
no place to stand in a united cosmos . The family serves as
the ultimate standard for fulfilling the cosmic ideology . If
you cannot sing songs of peace and praise the happiness
of your family, you will be miserable, both on earth and in
the spirit world . (26-189, 1969.10.25)
Where does the task of building the Kingdom of Heaven
begin? It begins in our families . Our philosophy for establishing the Kingdom is family-centered . In the word
cheon-ju (cosmos) the character cheon () means heaven
and ju () means house or home . Thus the phrase cheonju ju-eui (cosmic ideology) literally means the ideology of
heaven’s family .
Everything in the 66 books of the Bible is God’s word
expressing His earnest desire for an ideal family . Consider,
what is the earnest desire of every man? It is to have an
ideal wife . Also, every person born a woman has the earnest desire to have an ideal husband . She may earn the
highest academic degrees and command influence over
world events, but her deepest desire is still to meet an ideal
man . She wants to meet an ideal man whom she can love  The Family Is the Basis and pattern for the Kingdom of Heaven     31
and with whom she can give birth to sons and daughters
filled with blessings . This is the root of happiness . The
ideal of the Unification Church does not lie anyplace else .
It begins in the family and concludes in the family . (26-103,
1969.10.18)
What kind of teaching is the cosmic ideology? It is chambumo ju-eui, the ideology that teaches us to be true parents .
These teachings uphold the way of life where we relate to
others with the mind of a parent . This is the way of life in
our home, the way of leadership in the nation, and way
each of you should conduct yourselves as individuals .
Had human beings not fallen, Adam and Eve would
have brought the teaching that would have spread all over
the world . The ideology of the original unfallen Adam is
exactly the teaching about how to live as a true parent . It is
the teaching about how to live as a father and as a mother .
There is no higher teaching than this .
This is the reason the Unification Church must link
matters of the heart with the heavenly ideology . Heart is
cultivated through the philosophy of true parents and is
practiced within the framework of the original ideal family .
As long as connections remain to families that have internalized this philosophy, the Unification Church will not
perish . (26-201, 1969.10.25)33
C H a p T e r  T w O
Love: the Basis of Human Life
1. Why Are People Born?
Which came first, life or love? You can argue for either
answer . But which do you think really came first? Love
came first . The Primordial Core of the universe must have
emanated love prior to creating existent beings . Otherwise, existent beings would have no value . (143-277, 1986.3.20)
At the very origin of things, which came first, life or
love? Can you discern the answer? Love came first, then
life . Since what comes second must surrender to what
comes first, it is natural that people give their lives for the
sake of love . This helps us understand the true way of life .
Since love gave birth to our life, we should walk the path
of love and ultimately die for love .
The purpose of human life is to establish a love that can
be welcomed by the macrocosm, not merely the microcosm . It is to live, to love, and to die participating in the 34     True Families, Gateway to Heaven
universal love that is recognized by God, the angelic world,
all things of creation, and our parents . (83-164, 1976.2.8)
Human beings do not choose to be born . Are we born
by our parents’ desire? No . We are born by God’s desire .
We are conceived through the love of our parents, which
represents God’s love . Each of us was created as a new life
by the love of our parents, which represents God’s love .
Love has the power to create the whole . Each of us was
born as a central being of the entire universe, receiving all
the love in the universe . The highest purpose of life is to
be born through love, be raised in love, live by love, and
leave behind a legacy of love . In our family we should live
by this love, which is at the very center of the universe .
Then we become people of the greatest value . (Blessed Families
and the Ideal Kingdom, vol. I, 1063, 1978.9.21)
It is important to understand why human beings are
born . We are not born for the purpose of attaining vast
knowledge or political power . We are born because of love
and for the sake of love . What makes love so great? Love is
the fountainhead of life .
You were born out of your parents’ love . You were
not born from your parents’ desire for money or knowledge . Because you were born from love, you should bear
the fruits of love . This is why you need to have children .
A man and a woman each becomes complete when they  Love: the Basis of Human Life   35
become one as husband and wife and then have sons and
daughters as their object partners .
Human beings cannot exist apart from love . Each of us
lives on the foundation of love . Everything in creation originates from God’s love . Since all things that exist have love
as their foundation, it follows that human beings, as the
center of the created universe, must also have begun from
love . Since we were born from love and mature through
love, it follows that we cannot live separated from the
realm of love . (Blessed Families and the Ideal Kingdom, vol. I, 1062, 1988.8.20)
2. Life in its Original Form
What is the cause of human existence? That cause is
love . Then, what do you think is the purpose of human
life? It is to fulfill the ideal of love . Human beings are conceived through love, so our purpose is to perfect love . First
we should form a foundation of love in the context of our
family . Then we should expand it and connect it everywhere, making it complete .
Since the beginning is love, the end is also attained
through love . For this, a man and a woman begin a
relationship, become one in love, and expand their love
to connect with everyone around them: front and back,
right and left, above and below . (Blessed Families and the Ideal Kingdom, vol. I, 1064, 1986.1.3)36     True Families, Gateway to Heaven
No matter how firmly we have determined to become
an absolute being and live for an absolute purpose, it will
be for nothing unless we are happy . Our daily life should
be joyful .
We may live for the sake of a certain purpose . Yet once
we achieve it, some new, greater purpose may appear that
makes the earlier purpose seem insignificant . On the
other hand, what is this most precious thing for a man or
for a woman? It is love . Love is the key element needed to
experience happiness .
Therefore, no matter how lofty a person’s purpose may
be, if he fails to establish a love that can take dominion
over purpose, once he attains his purpose he will not be
satisfied . So he will embark on another purpose and in the
end not be satisfied with that either . Thus, purpose is limited . It cannot stand above love . (29-130, 1970.2.26)
What are you living for? Some people say they live to
eat . Some people say they live to work . Still others live
without a purpose . What are you living for? Declare that
you live for love; that is the most excellent answer .
We are born as the fruit of love, we spend our lives
loving others, and eventually we return to the eternal love
of God’s bosom . This is the original vision of human life
as God created it . (Blessed Families and the Ideal Kingdom, vol. I, 1064,
1982.4.26) Love: the Basis of Human Life   37
A person is born in love and raised in love . Then he
or she leaves the love of parents behind and seeks out
a love of a partner, which is the love of another dimension . We can say that children’s experience receiving love
from their parents is formation-stage love, and spouses’
experience receiving conjugal love from their partner is
growth-stage love . However, no matter how much love a
husband and wife receive from each other, it is only when
they have children that they can be completed in love .
That is why couples naturally want to have children . Parents’ experience of receiving love from their children is
completion-stage love .
Going through the stages of receiving parental love,
conjugal love and children’s love is fundamental to human
fulfillment . They constitute the path to fulfilling God’s
original ideal of love that He purposed at the creation . (48-
12, 1971.8.31)
Love gives birth to life . A man is born from love, is
raised in love by his loving parents, meets a loving wife
and loves her, and then dies in that love – this is the course
of human life . In this original vision for human life there
would be no sorrow or pain . (Blessed Families and the Ideal Kingdom,
vol. I, 1065, 1982.10.29)38     True Families, Gateway to Heaven
Originally, God designed the focal point of the universe to be the place where every type of love combines
into one . God’s vertical love and human horizontal love
would come together in a comprehensive way that involves
parental love, conjugal love and children’s love simultaneously in an all-encompassing union . This would become
the focal point of the entire universe . Every cell in the universe would turn in its direction .
All the spirits in the spirit world would turn and focus on
this point . They would protect it and not allow anyone to
invade it, since if it were destroyed it would be catastrophic .
This focal point needs a certain structure to maintain
itself and preserve its integrity . In the teaching of the Unification Church, this structure is called the four-position
foundation .
3
(Blessed Families and the Ideal Kingdom, vol. I, 1066, 1982.10.29)
3. The Nutrient of Life
You shouldn’t forget that while you were a fetus, you
not only received nutrients from your mother, you also
received love from her . Similarly, while you live on earth,
you not only receive physical nutrients from nature, you
also receive love from God . Love is an essential nutrient
for life . (Blessed Families and the Ideal Kingdom, vol. I, 1066, 1984.4.24)
3.  The four-position foundation is the Divine Principle’s term for the four-fold
structure of a God-centered family, composed of God, husband, wife and children.
It is called “the fundamental foundation for the life of all beings.” (Exposition of the
Divine Principle, p. 25) Love: the Basis of Human Life   39
Just as plants absorb sunlight as an element of life,
people take in love is an element of life . Our dearest wish
is to live eternally in circumstances where we can love and
be loved . This is the hope of the Kingdom of Heaven on
earth and the Kingdom of Heaven in heaven . (Blessed Families
and the Ideal Kingdom, vol. I, 1066, 1986.3.20)
The paths that men and women walk are for the sake of
love . We each have a path to travel, and it is a path of love .
(Blessed Families and the Ideal Kingdom, vol. I, 1066, 1984.4.24)
We travel this life to obtain love, to keep love, and to
create an environment of love . A woman puts on cosmetics or gets a massage for the sake of love . Our wants and
our work are all for the sake of love . We willingly endure
hardships and press forward in order to obtain precious
love . (Blessed Families and the Ideal Kingdom, vol. I, 1066, 1982.4.26)
From the moment we are born, we receive parental
love . As long as our parents are alive, they will love us at
each stage of our lives, through childhood, young adulthood and middle age . Having received parental love as we
grow up, in time the horizontal love of husband and wife is
bound to blossom within each of us . (Blessed Families and the Ideal
Kingdom, vol. I, 1067, 1973.4.16)
What is marriage? It is like a school where men learn
things they did not know about women and women learn 40     True Families, Gateway to Heaven
things they did not know about men . When all the grades
are A’s, then the husband and the wife will be happy .
Raising sons and daughters is like going to another
school, this time to learn about loving the world . Your children are your connection to the future . They are given to
you to provide you with lessons about how to relate to the
future world .
Acts of filial piety toward your grandfather and grandmother, or to your ancestors, have the purpose of enabling
you to be educated by the spirit world . All your ancestors
are connected to you through love . Love is the central line
that links grandfather and grandmother, husband and
wife, and sons and daughters . As blood circulates through
the human body, these links enable your ancestors in the
spirit world going back even ten thousand generations to
circulate up and down and communicate with you, their
distant descendent . The spirit world, like the universe as a
whole, is organized according to connections of love .
Everything submits to the order of love . This is why
people say that becoming a servant of true love and a slave
of true love is the greatest happiness . (Blessed Families and the Ideal
Kingdom, vol. I, 1067, 1985.10.4)
4. What Is God’s Love?
You should discover God’s love . How can we characterize God’s love? It can be compared to a warm spring day,
with white clouds gently floating in the sky, shimmering  Love: the Basis of Human Life   41
waves of warm air rising from the ground, and insects
flying to and fro . Ants are crawling in and out of their
nests, exploring the ground . Pussy willows are in bloom
by the stream . Frogs sing new songs of spring, bees swarm
and butterflies flutter about . Lying in the grass, you feel
a happy, sleepy intoxication come over you . You feel like
resting there forever .
This is just how God feels when He finds His ideal partner . God likewise feels as if He were in a beautiful flower
garden, with butterflies and bees flying around . When
imagining this, do you feel good or bad? Dull-witted
people may not be aware that God has feelings . But truly,
He feels good .
When you run into someone whom you are pleased
to see, you grasp his hand firmly and shake hands . When
someone greets you joyfully, saying, “Wow, it’s been a long
time!” and shakes your hand firmly, does it make you feel
good or bad? [Audience: “Good .”] If anyone says it feels
bad, go ahead and kick him!
Do you like it when someone grasps your hand firmly?
[“Yes, we do .”] You mean you want to like it . How can you
say for sure that you like it? You have to know the person to
like it . If the person is a stranger, how can you like it when
he grabs your hand? But if he is someone you are fond of,
then when you grasp each other’s hands, you don’t want
to let go .
You young ladies here, think of how it will be when you
are married . If your husband loves you, you feel as if you 42     True Families, Gateway to Heaven
don’t need anything else in the world . You want to live your
whole life staying by his side . I enjoy watching a man and
woman holding hands, especially when the man’s hand is
as rough as a cow’s front hoof . We enjoy seeing scenes like
that in the movies . But if the woman were to say to the
man, “Oh, you have such pretty hands,” the man would be
offended . This is how it is .
Love is eternal . Love is not two; it is one . It is two becoming one . When a man and a woman become a couple and
love each other, they are bonded together . Of course this
does not happen literally, but in heart . In fact, they reach
a level even higher than this; they touch God’s love . If you
live with God’s love, will you become one or not? Think
about it . You are destined to become one . (Blessed Families and
the Ideal Kingdom, vol. I, 1068, 1970.12.22)
When a man and a woman fall in love, they experience all sorts of wonderful things . But if you could taste
the profound experience of God’s love, you would find
it incomparably greater than any worldly love . When a
person has really tasted God’s love, no amount of difficulty
or sorrow can defeat him . He dwells in a realm of absolute
freedom . Such a realm truly exists; the question is how to
find it . (39-240, 1971.1.15)
God’s love can basically be divided into three major
types: parental love, conjugal love and children’s love . Love: the Basis of Human Life   43
God’s love is the core that fills them and unites them all .
(173-278, 1975.11.23)
5. Inheriting Love and Bequeathing Love
A glorious new morning will dawn on the day when
God assumes a physical body . Even more glorious will be
the moment that He has a son and a daughter through
whom He can experience the love of husband and wife .
Still more glorious will be the moment when He can love
His grandchildren . The day God can love His grandchildren will be more glorious than when He can love His son
and daughter .
How do you think God explained to Adam about the
joy He felt at the moment He created him? Was it enough
to say to Adam, “This is how happy I was”? People can only
understand the joy of parenthood when their first baby is
born and they become new parents themselves . Likewise,
we can only understand God’s happiness at the creation
when we give birth to our own sons and daughters . When
children are young they can’t comprehend parental love,
but they come to understand it later in life when they have
a family and begin raising their own children . Then they
understand, “So this is how my parents loved me when
they were raising me .” Therefore, the day your child gets
married is a day of glory, and the day your child has a child
of his or her own is a day of glory . (Blessed Families and the Ideal
Kingdom, vol. I, 936, 1978.1.22)44     True Families, Gateway to Heaven
You need to know God’s love . How can you really know
it? First you need to experience the love of your parents
and learn to express your love for them in acts of service .
Next, you need to experience conjugal love with your
spouse and learn to express your love by serving him or
her well . Next, you need to experience what it is like to
love your children and know how they love you . You will
learn that to be a parent you cannot just give orders to your
children, but must learn to understand and serve them as
well . This is the way you learn about God’s love . Until you
have cared for children like this, you are still incomplete
and will not be able to truly understand God’s love .
Without having the experience of raising your own
children, you cannot begin to fathom how much God
has loved human beings, His children . Similarly, until
you have experienced life as a husband, you cannot know
God’s experience of loving a woman as His wife, and without the experience of being a wife, you cannot know God’s
experience of loving a man as Her husband . Although you
may already know what it is like to be a child of God, you
cannot truly understand God’s parental love until you
become a parent yourself . Therefore, to become a true
parent who knows God’s love, you need to have sons and
daughters . (133-138, 1984.7.10)
Parents want their children to be married because they
want to bequeath to them all their parental love . When the  Love: the Basis of Human Life   45
parents die, they leave behind their substantial selves with
their descendants . This is why we need descendants .
Love continues forever . Since love is the highest human
desire, everyone has their arms outstretched wanting to
inherit it . When parents have bequeathed their love to
their descendants, they can stand proudly before God
when they arrive in the spirit world .
It is in the family that love becomes complete . We say
that the path to the Kingdom of Heaven runs through
the family, because the family is where we can realize the
realm of oneness of love . (Blessed Families and the Ideal Kingdom, vol.
I, 937, 1978.9.21)
The principles that we should follow can be seen in
nature . Seeds are sown in spring, in summer plants reach
their full growth, and in autumn they bear fruit . Winter is
a time for storing up seeds for next spring’s planting . Likewise, when you go through winter-like harsh times, you
should put things in order and carry the essence of the
new seed of life deep within your heart . Only then will you
have seeds to plant again when spring returns .
Having thus equipped yourselves, you will be prepared
to become parents and bear sons and daughters in your
likeness . You will know to raise your sons and daughters to
follow the same principles as you do . (26-158, 1969.10.25)
Why do people feel sad when they do not have sons and
daughters? It is because they cannot complete the circle 46     True Families, Gateway to Heaven
of life . When you see birds feeding their young, you recognize the deep love of the mother bird . People generally
like children more than adults . While they show polite
respect to adults, they demonstrate warm affection to children . You can realize how much your parents loved you
when you have your own sons and daughters and raise
them .
Everyone should get married, have children and raise
them . This is the only way they can know both children’s
love and parental love . It seems that many people these
days avoid having children . They hesitate to have children
because children may limit their freedom to marry and
divorce . But when people fail to establish the four-position
foundation, they cannot go to the Kingdom of Heaven .
This is because they do not fully know God’s heart of love
for human beings . (Blessed Families and the Ideal Kingdom, vol. I, 937,
1982.4.26)
6. Seeking the Center of Love
Human beings are born in love, raised in parental love,
and grow up as they extend their love horizontally to relatives and friends . A stage in the development of horizontal
love is completed when they meet a partner of the opposite sex and grow together as a couple . In their conjugal
union, the couple represents the love of heaven and earth .
The fruit of that love is the children they bear . Children
are the result of love, born from the core of the heart . Love: the Basis of Human Life   47
Those children, born from a man and woman who
share love based on deep heart, create a path for the parents that will take them to the central point of love . When
they follow this path to the center, they will meet God . By
having children as fruits of love, human beings come to
deeply experience the love by which God created human
beings and all things . By loving their children with the
same love that they had received as they grew up, they can
have a deep experience of the parental heart of God .
The love that parents pour out to their children is not
materialistic love . It is an intrinsic love . Though everything
in heaven and earth may change, the love that parents give
their children will never change . In every time and place
parental love is the same .
By becoming a parent and loving your children, you
will understand and deeply experience how God has been
loving human beings, His children . Through the experience of being a parent and loving your children, you will
feel to your bone how much your parents have loved you .
This is why people revere their parents even more in
their old age and fulfill the duties of filial piety to lovingly
care for them . If you do not have the heart to do this, you
are not qualified to be parents, and your love towards your
children can only be considered hypocritical .
We need to feel and understand how much God has
loved us . We can do this by becoming parents ourselves
and loving our children . This will enable us to love God
with greater sincerity .48     True Families, Gateway to Heaven
In this way, it is natural that we should love our elderly
parents more than we love our children, and love God
more than we love our parents . This is the order and law
of love .
As was stated, human beings are born in love and grow
through their childhood years receiving parental love . But
once we grow to a certain level, our parents’ love alone is
not enough for us, and we begin to expand our love horizontally to include love among siblings and relatives . This
is because as we mature, we want to receive all the love that
exists in heaven and earth .
In particular, as we enter the years of adolescence, we
begin to crave the love of the opposite sex . By giving and
receiving love with someone of the opposite sex, we are
able to enter a new and comprehensive realm of love . It is
here that for the first time we are able to set out in search
of the center of love .
The cosmos has a spherical shape . By the give-and-take
of horizontal love with our partner, we begin to revolve
together . The relationship traces a circular shape, the first
step in forming a sphere . Next, having chosen a partner of
the opposite sex and shared love, we bear the fruit of children . By the give-and-take of love with our children, we
begin to revolve on a vertical axis . This vertical love when
combined with the horizontal love creates a three- dimensional spherical realm . At the same time it establishes a
center – the center of love .
The center of love that emerges out of this spherical  Love: the Basis of Human Life   49
motion created by these love relationships is the core of
existence of the entire world of creation . It can be likened
to the Sun, around which the Earth continually revolves
and which provides for its existence . The center of love
possesses infinite force, which enables the motion of love
around it to continue forever . This center, which arises
within a sphere of love, is the dwelling-place of God .
All created beings that exist in the world are given birth
and exist by virtue of God’s love . They all seek the center
of God’s love . God is the furnace of love . (126-245, 1983.4.24)
7. The Three Ages of Human Life
Human beings spend time developing in their mother’s
womb before they are born . They live on earth for a certain period, and then die . Prior to birth, the fetus spends
about ten months
4
 in the mother’s womb . While it is in
the womb, it has limited freedom . It develops by receiving
nutrients from the mother through the umbilical cord .
About all it can do is straighten and bend its fingers, open
and close its mouth, and wriggle its feet . Nevertheless, for
the fetus, the mother’s womb is a world of freedom and
the entirety of its realm of life .
After ten months, the fetus is born into the world as an
infant and begins to grow . Now its world is the wide earth
and human society . (Blessed Families and the Ideal Kingdom, vol. I, 1071,
1983.4.24)
4.  Ten months by the lunar calendar are equivalent to nine solar months.50     True Families, Gateway to Heaven
Love is the purpose of human existence at every stage .
The fetus was conceived in its parents’ love . It develops in
the mother’s womb, the bosom of its parents’ protection
and love . After birth, the child doesn’t know any better
and so may wet her bed, but the parents will not blame
her for it . Parents’ love is such that they do not recognize
ugliness as being ugly . Their love enables them to digest
everything joyfully and without complaint . When a child
reaches maturity, at around twenty years of age, he or she
should meet an eternal partner in love . That is when he
or she is engrafted into a higher love, whose measure is to
live for the sake of the other according to the principles of
Heaven . Continuing their life course, the couple has their
own children and gives love to them .
Thus throughout our life, we can experience the
greatness of God’s love . We do this by participating in
completing the substantial realm of God’s love that exists
between God and us, His object partners . (143-285, 1986.3.20)
Human life in the world can be compared to the life of a
fetus in its mother’s womb . It is our hundred-year sojourn
in the womb of our Mother Earth . Just as the fetus is ignorant of the world outside the womb, people living in the
earthly world are ignorant of the reality of the incorporeal
spirit world that awaits them after death . They only have a
vague sense that a world after death probably exists .
Yet just as the human world exists in the fetus’s future,
even though it did not know about it while in the mother’s  Love: the Basis of Human Life   51
womb, even so the spirit world exists in reality regardless
of our beliefs or feelings about it . Yet since the world after
death cannot be perceived by our five physical senses, we
must overcome our disbelief through religious faith . (Blessed
Families and the Ideal Kingdom, vol. I, 1071, 1983.4.24)
Human beings pass through three ages in the course
of their life: the water age, the land age and the air age .
Don’t animals and all things live in the water, on land, and
in the air? For human beings to stand as the lords of creation and be qualified to have dominion over all things,
we must exist as a complete life form, more complete than
any other creature .
To be the lords of all creatures at home in the water, we
are given an age when we live in water . Next, during the
land age, we exist as the highest being among all the land
animals . It follows that we must also have an air age . But
human beings do not have wings . Without wings, how can
we fly? We should be able to fly higher and farther than
any bird or insect . Then what should we do? This cannot
happen as long as we are in a physical body . No matter
how high we jump, we cannot get far off the ground .
Yet because human beings are the lords of creation, and
because we stand in a reciprocal relationship to God, who
is a spiritual being, we need to have the same stage of operation as God . It is well known that light travels 300,000
kilometers a second . Human beings can travel even faster .52     True Families, Gateway to Heaven
We will have this capability in the air age, when we live as a
spirit . (112-202, 1981.4.12)
This world in which we live is not all that exists . There is
also the spirit world . What sort of place is this spirit world,
where we dwell after we die? It is an eternal world, filled
with the air of love . Your physical life is a time of preparation for life in the eternal world of spirit . (140-121, 1986.2.9)
8. Training to Be in Rhythm with the Spirit World
The spirit world is a place overflowing with the elements of love . On the earth we breathe air, but in the spirit
world people live by inhaling love . The love you give and
receive in the spirit world is not secular human love . It is
true love . (145-267, 1986.5.15)
When you go to the spirit world, this is what you will
find . Those who are well-endowed with love for their parents, brothers and sisters, spouse, and children – that is,
those who experienced deep love in their family life – enjoy
great freedom . They can go anywhere without restriction . On the other hand, those who did not experience
love on earth are narrow-minded, and in the spirit world
they find themselves isolated and alone, with no freedom
whatsoever .
The love between parent and child is a vertical relationship, the love between husband and wife is a horizontal  Love: the Basis of Human Life   53
relationship, and the love among siblings is a relationship
that circles and surrounds . These three relationships differ
from one another . Therefore, only when you experience
deep love through each of these three mutually distinct
interactions on earth can you circulate freely – vertically,
horizontally, and in a circle .
For example, a person who did not taste parental love
because his parents died early is in a rather tragic position
because he is missing an important experience of love .
Likewise, those who did not experience the conjugal love
relationship of husband and wife, as well as love in the
family, live a destitute existence in the spirit world because
they lack those crucial life experiences where they were
supposed to develop their love . Those who had no brothers and sisters on earth will also be in an impoverished
state in the spirit world, because they lacked the opportunity to develop that dimension of love . (Blessed Families and the
Ideal Kingdom, vol. I, 1067, 1977.1.1)
There is a reason why we need to get married . We marry
to have the full experience of parental love, conjugal
love, and children’s love . Such experiences are necessary
because the spirit world is filled with the air of these loves .
The reason you need to have a family is to train yourself
to be in rhythm with the spirit world . Those who go to
the spirit world without these experiences of love cannot
follow the rhythm there . It will be as if they are missing a 54     True Families, Gateway to Heaven
nose to inhale the air . (Blessed Families and the Ideal Kingdom, vol. I, 1067,
1977.4.3)
You are born from your father and mother . On a more
fundamental level you are born from God, who made you
by employing your father’s seed and your mother’s womb .
God is your True Parent . You will find Him by first knowing
the love of your physical parents and then experiencing
the universe as your parent .
Relating to your physical parents is just a temporary
stage . In time you will greet the moment of your death; it is
a jubilant time when you will go to meet your True Parent .
You will meet your True Parent in a place overflowing with His true love . This is the Kingdom of Heaven
in heaven, where the atmosphere is composed of love –
parental love . It is not a love for oneself; rather, it is an
unconditional, giving love in keeping with the principles
of service and sacrifice . To make the grade there, you
must love humanity and love the universe . Life on earth is
the training ground for you to develop such love . (105-108,
1979.9.30)
Do you know how important your life on earth is? You
only live it once . It is a brief moment that only comes once .
Compared to the expanse of eternal life, earthly life is
but an instant . It seems too short . Therefore, during this
moment we must look beyond our physical life and prepare ourselves for the spirit world . (207-99, 1990.11.1)55
C H a p T e r  T H r e e
The Original Vision for Love
between Man and Woman
1. Bringing Joy to God and All Creation
A man and woman may love each other, but is their love
in accord with God’s will and the criterion He requires? Is
their love in accord with the model of love that exists in
the mind of God?
If the first man and woman had become one in love
based on the love of God, then they would have become
that universal model of love . God surely desired that
human beings display such love . The man and woman
surely wanted such love from each other . It would have
been true love, the very core of the universe . It would have
become the standard by which all love is measured . (Blessed
Families and the Ideal Kingdom, vol. I, 335, 1983.6.5)
God’s love and human love are the same in their
essence . Love is the power that strives for oneness . Why
does a man long for a woman, and a woman long for a 56     True Families, Gateway to Heaven
man? It is because only through a woman can a man possess God, and only through a man can a woman possess
God . In other words, when a man and a woman become
one in love, God is in the midst of them . (Blessed Families and the
Ideal Kingdom, vol. I, 336, 1982.4.26)
Remembering that God is the source of the duality of
male and female, whenever men praise the beauty and
worth of women, or women praise the merit and honor of
men, they should give even greater praise to the magnificence of God . (25-277, 1969.10.5)
When a woman whom God loves is in a man’s heart,
and a man whom God loves is in a woman’s heart, and
the two love each other even as they praise God together,
God is delighted with their love and all creation rejoices .
Heaven and earth rejoice to see them embracing, for it is
precious in their sight .
When that man and that woman embrace each other
in mutual affection, the entire universe enfolds them and
supports them . This is the original vision of God’s creation . It will be realized in His ideal . (Blessed Families and the Ideal
Kingdom, vol. I, 334, 1969.2.4)
God’s original design was that each man should meet a
woman with whom he can rejoice, and each woman should
meet a man with whom she can rejoice . More than this,
their budding relationship should bring joy to God and all  The Original Vision for Love between Man and woman   57
things of creation . Then, all creation will be mobilized for
this couple and want to receive their dominion . Birds will
sing for them, and butterflies will flutter and dance with
joy . God will rejoice, people will rejoice, and all of creation
will rejoice .
Had the first human ancestors started off history by fulfilling this original plan of God, the world today would be
the ideal world that God originally envisioned . (Blessed Families and the Ideal Kingdom, vol. I, 336, 1969.2.4)
2. Men and Women Are Born for Each Other
For what purpose is a man born? He is born for the
sake of a woman . This fact cannot be denied . Likewise, a
woman is not born for her own sake, but for the sake of a
man . A woman who does not come to a clear understanding within herself that she is born for the sake of a man will
encounter problems in her life .
God, the Great Administrator of heaven and earth,
established this principle within His Principle of Creation .
We cannot enter the world of goodness, truth, happiness
and peace, or the world of love and ideal, unless we follow
this principle . (Blessed Families and the Ideal Kingdom, vol. I, 338, 1975.1.16)
Every woman is born to one day join with a man, and
every man is born to join with a woman . This is the highest
truth . By following this principle we can find the realm of 58     True Families, Gateway to Heaven
blessing . Deviating from this highest truth constitutes the
highest evil . (21-201, 1968.11.20)
Men and women are physically opposite . While women
tend to focus on one area of life, men often work in three
or four arenas at the same time . Women are more likely to
enjoy staying at home, and men are more likely to enjoy
traveling the world . Their characters are opposite as well,
with men ordinarily more subjective and women more
responsive . How can these opposites become one? They
can become one through love . Love also brings human
beings and God into oneness . (38-255, 1971.1.8)
Why is a man born? He is not born to earn money, gain
political power, or pursue academic learning . He is born
for the sake of a woman . Men have larger physiques for
earning a living not for themselves, but to support the wife
and children .
A man’s sexual organ and a woman’s sexual organ are
different . For whom do they exist? A man’s sexual organ
does not exist for his own satisfaction . It exists for the sake
of a woman . Likewise, a woman’s sexual organ exists for
the sake of a man . Have you ever thought this way? This
is not something to laugh about and then forget . (143-275,
1986.3.20)
What is the symbol of the love between man and
woman? Where is their love consummated? It is their sexual  The Original Vision for Love between Man and woman   59
organs, by which they become one flesh . When the man
and woman love each other, their sexual organs become
the channels through which their minds and bodies completely merge .
The man’s sexual organ is not his, and woman’s is not
hers . The man has what belongs to the woman, and the
woman has what belongs to the man . Men and women are
not born for their own sake . They should know clearly that
they are born for the sake of their partner . (132-146, 1984.5.31)
What are men and women born to do while living on
earth? They are born to love each other . For this reason,
God, the Great King of Wisdom, switched the ownership
of their love organs . A man has a sexual organ, but that
does not mean he is its owner . The same is true for woman .
Those who act carelessly, employing their sexual organ
with no regard for its ownership, will be judged for having
violated love . If men knew that they will face a dreadful
punishment according to this strictest of laws, how could
they dare think about other women instead of their own
wives? Conversely, how could wives think about other men
besides their own husbands? (Blessed Families and the Ideal Kingdom,
vol. I, 340, 1986.3.14)
3. Men and Women Need Each Other
Every person without exception absolutely needs love .
Isn’t that right? To have love, an absolutely necessary 60     True Families, Gateway to Heaven
element is another human being of the opposite sex . A
man needs a woman and a woman needs a man . How
much do they need each other? They need each other
more than they need Korea, more than they need the
world – even more than they need God .
If there were no women, the entire human race would
perish in less than a hundred years . A man may boast that
he has the power to rule the world, but if there were no
women, all would be gone within one hundred years . So
women are absolutely necessary . (25-180, 1969.10.4)
When we say “human beings” we mean men and women
together .
5
 No man should be without a woman, and no
woman should be without a man . A man does not choose
to be born as a man; neither does a woman choose to be
born as a woman . Only after we are born do we discover
that we are either a man or a woman . (67-267, 1973.7.22)
Men, when you were born, were you aware that there
are women in the world? Suppose a man is born and later
finds out that there are only men; would he not feel bad?
And if a woman is born and later finds out that there are
only women, she too would feel bad, wouldn’t she? Yet at
the time a woman is born, does she or does she not have
any awareness that men exist? Although she was born without this knowledge, the One who gave her birth knew it .
5.  The Chinese character for “human being” () is made with two brush strokes,
one longer and one shorter, like a man and woman leaning on each other.  The Original Vision for Love between Man and woman   61
The reason she is born as a woman is because somewhere
there is a man who needs her .
Likewise, the reason I am born as a man is because
somewhere there is a woman who needs me . We are each
born for the sake of someone, and God has knowledge of
it . (37-19, 1970.12.22)
A man cannot find fulfillment without a woman . Even
his relationship to God is not complete until he is connected to his human counterpart, his wife . Human history
has been miserable because men have failed to understand
that they absolutely need a woman to love and care for .
Conversely, women have not understood that they absolutely need a man to love and care for .
True love can only be experienced on the foundation
of an ideal relationship between a man and woman . A
man and woman who are absolutely committed to uniting
in true love can attain such unity through single-minded
devotion . When they have achieved absolute oneness, God
dwells in their midst .
God would not like to see a husband and wife joined in
true love separate, so He made the absolute love of man
and woman eternal . (Blessed Families and the Ideal Kingdom, vol. I, 340,
1986.8.20)
God is all-knowing and all-powerful, but if He is alone,
these absolute attributes have no meaning . Similarly, a
man may be handsome and possess a fine physique, but 62     True Families, Gateway to Heaven
these things have no meaning if he is without a woman . A
man who lives fascinated by his own good looks and physique leads an ugly, worthless existence . It is a problem
that so many men have sunk into such narcissism; it is one
reason why history has been full of tragedy . God’s providence works to change and improve the world immersed
in such self-centeredness . (Blessed Families and the Ideal Kingdom, vol.
I, 341, 1986.8.20)
4. Love Comes from Your Partner
I cannot realize love by myself . Where does love come
from? Love does not come from me, but from my spouse .
Since love comes from my spouse, I must bow my head
and serve her . This is the origin of the heavenly principle
of living for the sake of others . We must live by this philosophy . It means, when someone worthy and precious comes
to me, I must honor and serve her in order to receive her .
(143-277, 1986.3.30)
I may have love in my heart, but when I am alone it
cannot manifest itself . Love does not appear when a man
is alone . It only emerges when he is with a woman who
can be his partner in love . Only when you have a partner
to love will you experience love springing up in your life .
(Blessed Families and the Ideal Kingdom, vol. I, 342, 1982.10.29) The Original Vision for Love between Man and woman   63
We know that parental love is good and conjugal love
is good, because these genuine loves are not self-centered .
Love is not something I can make for myself; it is something my partner gives to me . Keep this in mind . Love
comes from your husband and from your wife, from your
sons and daughters, and from your brothers and sisters .
Love is not self-made . Your spouse gives it to you . Therefore, who is the owner of love? Your spouse is the owner of
love . (34-331, 1970.9.20)
Where did we say love comes from? It comes from your
partner . Think about it: if your wife neglected her appearance and always had a mean expression on her face, your
love for her would recede . On the other hand, if your wife
takes care to make herself pretty and always approaches
you with a lovely smile, your love for her will develop more
quickly . The way your love functions is determined by your
partner, according to the way she presents herself: her
speech, her beauty, her scent, and so on . (Blessed Families and the
Ideal Kingdom, vol. I, 343, 1982.10.29)
What is the starting-point of love? The starting-point of
love is not “I .” The word love implies a relationship . Even
the most handsome man cannot know love if he is alone
without a partner .
“I love you”: these are words that Satan has been exploiting . The truth is, I cannot create love . You may think that 64     True Families, Gateway to Heaven
you do, but there will be no progress in the future unless
that mindset is totally dismantled and transformed .
Wives have been putting themselves at the center, and
husbands have been putting themselves at the center, both
wanting to be served . This mindset destroys relationships .
Since love does not start from me but from my spouse, if
I am to possess that love I must serve her and live for her
sake . Love requires patience and self-sacrifice .
From this perspective, there is no path anywhere in
heaven or on earth to overcome the satanic world except
by following the principles of love centered on God . That
is why God is holding tightly onto love .
Therefore, love is the basis for the Buddhist virtue of
compassion .
6
 Likewise, love is the basis for the Confucian
virtue of benevolence .
7
 Compassion and benevolence are
realized only in the context of mutual relationships . (46-35,
1971.7.18)
5. The Harmony of Love
Man symbolizes heaven and woman symbolizes earth .
When the two become one, they represent the natural harmony of heaven and earth .
Men and women are different . Men’s muscles are
rugged and women’s are smooth . Men have beards while
6. Jabi (慈悲) is the Korean Buddhist term meaning loving-kindness and compassion. It describes a mind of sympathy rooted in understanding the equality and
interdependence of all beings.
7.  In () in Korean or ren in Chinese may be translated as benevolence or humaneness.  The Original Vision for Love between Man and woman   65
women do not . Women’s voices are high and men’s are
low . Yet we see their contrasting features fitting together
well as harmony unfolds between them .
We may liken them to the human body: the right side
and the left side complement each other to form a whole
structure . The two halves are bound tightly together .
Ladies and gentlemen, do you like only things that
are high or only things that are low? Or do you prefer a
pleasing balance of high and low that creates harmony?
Estimating from the line formed by the horizon, fish live
below the line while mammals and birds live above it .
Women menstruate once a month, like the ebb and flow
of the tides pulled by the moon . In breathing we inhale
and exhale . Likewise, a man and a woman need to establish a line of balance and create harmony .
People like to go to amusement parks with their rides
that go up and down, because their motion duplicates the
motion of the universe .
Which do you think is more pleasing, men socializing only with other men, or men and women socializing
together? Men and women together is better, because it
better reflects the harmony of the universe . We should
live in step with the beat of the universe, the universe that
promotes harmony through the harmony of yin and yang .
(Blessed Families and the Ideal Kingdom, vol. I, 344, 1984.5.31)
When a man and a woman create loving harmony, they
initiate circular movement . When a man and a woman love 66     True Families, Gateway to Heaven
each other and become one flesh, and then bear the fruits
of love, God descends to them, they ascend towards Him,
and they meet in the middle . They form a sphere with God
at the center and begin spherical movement . Out of that
divine center, family members can make relationships in
all directions .
At the center of the sphere, love’s harmony is realized,
and life emerges and grows . The center of the sphere is the
basis for equality between the sexes and for the philosophy
that family members should hold all things in common .
This is so because the power of love is there . Love is the
force that embraces all the interactions in the universe .
(Blessed Families and the Ideal Kingdom, vol. I, 345, 1982.4.26)
For human beings, love is eternal . It is one, and can
never be divided . Once a man and a woman are joined
in love, they are to live together for a lifetime and then
eternally even after death . They are two persons, but by
revolving in oneness with each other they become as one
body .
When the two people become one, they revolve with
God to form a four-position foundation of love . This is the
ideal realm of love . Only true love dwells there; false love
cannot invade . When a man and woman are blessed by
God and achieve this perfect unity, God comes to them
freely .
In the four-position foundation of love, the husband
and wife will grow to love each other with their hearts by  The Original Vision for Love between Man and woman   67
loving each other with their bodies, and when they love
each other with their hearts, their bodies will follow . (Blessed
Families and the Ideal Kingdom, vol. I, 346, 1984.1.1)
6. Enraptured by True Love
What is the most sacred thing in the world? It is true
love . True love begins with God . Since God exists, there
can be no other way to happiness than the path of true
love . God truly desires that we travel the path of true love,
for without doing so we cannot come into the presence of
God . We have to understand this point .
God wants to see, hear, eat and touch through love . As
for human beings, if we were to receive God’s kiss of love,
our joy would be so great that we would feel as though
we might explode from the inside . To rejoice like this is
God’s only desire . He is not the sort who rejoices to have
diamonds or jewelry . (Blessed Families and the Ideal Kingdom, vol. I, 381,
1986.8.20)
The human body has five senses . We feel and become
aware of true love through the impressions of our five
senses . If our eyes are directed toward true love, they take
on the color of true love and are intoxicated by true love .
How beautifully those colorful, intoxicated eyes shine!
Think about how enchanting our smiling lips would be .
Try to imagine the intense beauty we would experience as 68     True Families, Gateway to Heaven
our five senses, intoxicated in true love, moved in harmony toward God .
Yet when God is all alone, He cannot experience the joy
of such beauty . God can experience joy only by perceiving
beauty in a partner . It was for this purpose that God created human beings .
How would God feel as He observed a handsome man
and a beautiful woman absorbed in each other’s eyes
intoxicated in true love, kissing with lips intoxicated in
true love, their hearts singing the melody of true love?
If Eve had possessed such true love, God would have
wanted to journey through every corner of her world of
heart . He would have desired to find out for Himself just
how wide and how deep was the world of heart of this
beautiful Eve . God would have wanted to dwell throughout both Adam’s and Eve’s world of heart, a world more
beautiful than the heaven and earth that God Himself
created . You can be sure that God much prefers to travel
within the world of heart of a person of true love than to
travel the length and breadth of the universe . Adam’s and
Eve’s world of heart and true love was to be such that God
would never want to leave .
What would have happened if, after God created human
beings, He had plunged into their true love and lost Himself in that love? What kind of world would we have today?
God would dwell in our midst . We would live in oneness
with God, and create a world filled with joy and beauty .
(Blessed Families and the Ideal Kingdom, vol. I, 382, 1986.8.20) The Original Vision for Love between Man and woman   69
God is completely responsive to human beings . If true
love had been perfected in the human world, God would
be living in our midst, totally enveloped by true love . He
would have no second thoughts about it . God’s nature is
such that He is completely happy with anything that happens within the realm of true love . Likewise, if human
beings were living in this world of true love, their entire
lives would be happy and free from regret . In such a world
there would be no history of warfare, no grief, and no misfortune . (Blessed Families and the Ideal Kingdom, vol. I, 383, 1986.8.20)
7. The Natural Way of Love
Here is a story from my childhood . One day I caught
a pair of birds and tried to make them kiss each other’s
beaks . To see them kiss, I put them in a cage, fed them,
and watched them . I did it out of a child’s desire to see
them love each other and sing happily together .
This was an experiment done out of curiosity to understand the principles of nature . I continued this experiment,
which I now understand to have been quite naughty .
It was only much later that I came to understand that
love happens in natural settings . Sincere love occurs naturally, in a most natural setting . Only after a long observation
did I come to this correct understanding about love . (Blessed
Families and the Ideal Kingdom, vol. I, 353, 1986.1.3)70     True Families, Gateway to Heaven
If we want to regain the lost value of love, does it help to
pursue a university education? Most likely we would only
accumulate knowledge, become individualistic and come
to worship at the altar of materialism . Just as Korean bean
soup tastes right only when it is served in an earthenware
bowl, so we can find genuine love only by the discipline of
training our character .
The flower of world civilization blossoms on the basis
of artistic harmony . For example, roasted ribs should be
served on a platter and Korean bean paste soup should
be served in an earthenware bowl to bring out the proper
taste of each dish . Once you grow accustomed to the
rough, deep and refreshing taste of Korean bean paste
soup, you will never forget it no matter where you may go .
Likewise, once people become used to the earthy, deep,
relaxing taste of love, they will always keep their taste for it .
However, just as we easily tire of instant foods that are usually heavily sweetened, if we could obtain love easily and
anywhere, like instant food, we could not call it true love .
(Blessed Families and the Ideal Kingdom, vol. I, 354, 1986.1.3)
Love does not deepen because you bathe in a fragrant
bath . I would say that the love of a couple living in the
remotest countryside, who wash themselves in cold water
before going to bed, is purer, longer lasting, and ever
deepening .
A couple that brushes their teeth before kissing is not
experiencing natural love . The toothpaste smell prevents  The Original Vision for Love between Man and woman   71
them from tasting the unique smell of their partner . When
I look at people who brush their teeth before kissing, I
don’t know whether they are trying to taste love or taste
toothpaste . (Blessed Families and the Ideal Kingdom, vol. I, 354, 1986.1.3)
When you meet someone you like and you fall in love
with her, you want to embrace her and kiss her . This is
a natural instinct between the sexes . Previously you may
have explored your surroundings and made relationships
with its places and creatures in order to develop feelings of
affection for the universe . It was natural for you to do so,
as a stage on the road to finding your one partner of love .
When we relate to each other in accordance with the
ideal of partnership – with each man relating to one
woman and each woman relating to one man – there will
be no acts or incidents that violate the order of love . A
society that upholds the order of true love will emerge
only when men and women join together on the basis of
the ideal of partnership . (Blessed Families and the Ideal Kingdom, vol. I,
355, 1981.1.13)73
C H a p T e r  F O u r
Our Course of Life
1. The Purpose of Creation
God does not have a body . God created with the intention that all things would represent His body and that
Adam would represent His face .
Originally, God was to be the spiritual focal point and
Adam was to be the physical focal point . These two focal
points were supposed to generate two axes that would
meet at a 90-degree angle: the first is God’s purpose of creation, and the second is the purposes that people desire .
Had Adam and Eve not fallen, then representing the
face of God they would have occupied the positions of
father and mother eternally in the spirit world; yet due
to the Fall, this was not possible . Had there been no Fall,
everyone could have gone to heaven simply by attending
their parents as though they were attending God . (119-109,
1982.7.4)74     True Families, Gateway to Heaven
2. Why We Are Born
The world we live in is round: the sun is round, the
earth is round and the stars are round; even our mouths
are round . Everything has an inherent round aspect . In
fact, every interactive pair in the universe relates by means
of one entity revolving around the other . Such interactive
pairs form a spherical shape through maintaining a relationship with the greater whole .
Why, then, are we born? We are born to beat in rhythm
with this vast universe . Ocean waves lapping against the
shore lap against our hearts as well . Gentle breezes sighing serenely lull our hearts into serenity . Flowers in bloom
release rich fragrances and stir the fragrances in our
hearts . (104-122, 1979.4.22)
To be born in love, raised with love, to live with love and
to die with love makes us grateful for our birth, our life
and our death .
You came to be born because you participated in a
moment when your father and mother expressed the
utmost love for each other . You were participants in that
love . Since you were born out of your parents’ love, you
can consider yourself to be the flag of your parents’ love,
which they planted at your birth .
Your flag flutters to express love . We are all meant to
live for the sake of love throughout our lives . You should
wave the flag of love for your mother, wave the flag of love  Our Course of Life   75
when you see your father, and wave the flag of love for
your siblings . (103-258, 1979.2.25)
3. The Importance of the Moment
Your body cannot be sound and whole unless you have
a continual foothold on life, able to absorb whatever nutrients may come your way at any time . This is the way of all
living things in the natural world . The turning points of
life depend not what happens over a long period of time,
but on how you deal with a single moment .
People who ignore the moment can fail to obtain something precious . They cannot become great people . They
cannot inherit God’s throne and crown . To make each
moment shine, you should exercise care with each word
you utter, each action you take, and even each thought
you think . Deal with life and solve its problems, believing
that how you deal with the day-to-day challenges of life
will remain to determine your connection to the world .
The only way to gain ultimate victory is to do well in each
moment .
Meeting the challenge of each moment will make you
a victor . The same applies if you are fighting for an historical victory or even a cosmic victory . Those who know
the infinite value of one bright shining moment and live
accordingly can become great people, even saints, even
God’s sons and daughters . A single moment can deter-76     True Families, Gateway to Heaven
mine whether you are on the path of life or death . (31-218,
1970.5.31)
Scripture tells us that we should first seek the coming of
the Kingdom of God and pray that God’s will be done . Yet
the more important issue for each one of us is how I as an
individual can move forward in unity with God’s will .
Consider this current hour; how can we spend it in such
a way that it becomes entirely one with God’s will? That is
far more valuable than just sitting there hoping for the
Kingdom of God to appear . Therefore, we should use this
hour to create the conditions that will enable us as individuals, as well as our families, tribes and nations, to inherit
and accomplish God’s will . This is the way we can make a
place for ourselves in God’s coming Kingdom . Thus the
question is this: How do you spend this one hour – if you
are given an hour – to make God’s will your first priority
within the context of your daily life?
The way we spend each moment of our life is a very
important issue . Looking at the history of the providence
of restoration, four thousand years elapsed from Adam’s
family through Noah’s family, Abraham’s family, and
Moses’ family down to Jesus’ family . Yet each of the failures
that prolonged the providence did not happen over the
span of, say, a year . In the case of Adam and Eve, their fall
was not something planned out and put into action over
the span of a year or a decade or several decades . Their
mistakes happened in a flash . Yet the failure of that one  Our Course of Life   77
moment had consequences that have persisted through
eons of time . Considering this, we can understand that a
single moment can have a great and terrible impact .
Due to the failure of that one moment, countless people
who walked the path of righteousness in the course of history had to undergo untold suffering . Due to the failure
of that one moment, many nations could not follow God’s
will and fell into the abyss of destruction . They became
part of a gigantic offering of indemnity that was required
because of that one moment . When we understand this,
we see that each hour we just let tick by can be fraught
with terrible consequences . Even though the Kingdom of
Heaven is eternal, it does not exist apart from what we do
in each single moment .
Eternity does not begin when we die . It begins from the
moment we understand God’s will . From that moment on,
if we interrupt our relationship with God’s will for even an
instant in time, it can create an abyss that interrupts our
walk with eternity .
Therefore, as you walk the path of faith through the
course of your life, do not procrastinate by deferring your
providential responsibilities from this year to the next, and
then to the year after that, or from your 20s to your 30s,
or from your 30s to your 40s, or from your 40s to your 50s .
You should not live like that . If you persist in your secular
lifestyle, you just might end up dying without having lived
for the sake of God’s will for even a single day . In that case,
how can you possibly go to the Kingdom of Heaven?78     True Families, Gateway to Heaven
It doesn’t matter that the country you live in is blessed;
you will have no place in the Kingdom of Heaven if you
were unable to live even one day by a victorious standard .
You may face one crucial day or one crucial year in your
life when, if you fail the test, the consequence will be that
you cannot enter eternal life . Thus, while it is not wrong
for believers to spend their days dreaming of eternity, it is
far more important that they actually join in God’s work to
eradicate evil and become the standard-bearers of goodness in the real world .
Consider that Adam’s momentary lapse resulted in
eons of anguish . Consider Cain and Abel, who were supposed to dissolve the anguish of their parents, demolish
the wall between the brothers and create the starting point
for family unity . It only took a moment for Cain to murder
Abel, yet that brief incident destroyed the providence of
restoration that Abel had been elected to lead .
Noah had toiled 120 years to build the ark . But when
the time came, God issued the command, “Call the people
to come into the ark, for the day of My judgment has
come .” The people had only one brief moment to follow
this order and receive the blessings of the eternal God .
Those who did not were drowned in the deluge .
In Abraham’s case too, God’s promise that his descendants would be “as numerous as the stars in the sky and as
the sands on the seashore” was bestowed in just a single
moment . Abraham’s sacrificial offering did not require
decades but merely a day’s work . The time it took him to  Our Course of Life   79
cut the animals for the offering and place them on the
altar was not more than an hour . Yet the way he spent that
single hour bore the seeds of life and death, blessing and
curse, for subsequent history .
Today’s believers should not be anxious over the
coming judgment in the Last Days . Rather, they should be
anxious about how they can take each day that God has
given them and devote it to the will of God . They should
be anxious about how they can link their lives to God’s
will . (37-217, 1970.12.27)
4. Adam and Eve Grew from Infancy
How did God create Adam and Eve? The Bible says
He created them from the soil, but what kind of soil was
it? Where did He begin? Which part of the body did He
create first? We should not think that God created Adam
and Eve as adults . He created them as babies . We know
that every existence attains maturity after passing through
three ordered stages of growth . Adam and Eve were no
exception to this logic . This leads us to the notion that
God must have gone through the experience of a mother
who conceives a child in her womb, gives birth to it, and
then nourishes it . Logically, Adam and Eve must have
begun as infants and then entered the growth stage . Had
they not fallen, they would have continued to the completion stage . This is natural law .
What was Adam and Eve’s infancy like? We must 80     True Families, Gateway to Heaven
proceed from the concept that the invisible God nurtured
them as babies . Their origin was in the realm of the formless, and by passing through a certain process they entered
the world of form . (225-198, 1992.1.20)
5. The Path of a Victorious Life
Since the society, nation and world in which we live are
far from ideal, all manner of suffering happens . Good and
evil are at cross-purposes . If we take a random sample of
a hundred people, we would find that each of them is jostling for advantage in an “every man for himself” struggle
within their circumstances as they cope with the demands
of their daily lives .
Consider that in ordinary life, most people lack the confidence that the tasks they planned in the morning can be
completed by the end of the day . People who have a wider
range of responsibilities need proportionately greater
drive and determination to bring their daily work to a successful conclusion . If their determination and drive are
below par, their day will not be success . A series of such
bad days can turn into months, and months into years .
Our situation also makes it difficult to meet monthly
goals . To be successful, we need enough drive and determination to overcome all the complicated situations and
circumstances we may encounter during the month . If
that drive and determination are missing, our efforts that
month will not be successful . Our Course of Life   81
Having a successful year requires that we equip ourselves with a fighting spirit, with an inner drive strong
enough to thrust aside all the challenges of each and every
one of its 365 days . We can then celebrate a victorious year .
If we live one year like this, and then the next, and continue in this way, it will eventually add up to ten, twenty
and thirty years . Over time it becomes the path of a victorious life . (31-30, 1970.4.12)
No person living on earth can escape the constraints of
time . It is true today, and it has been true throughout history . Individuals, families, tribes, peoples, nations and the
world all move within the limitation of time .
People everywhere have goals they strive to attain . They
focus on their goal for ten years, twenty years, thirty years,
seventy years, indeed, their entire lives . The greater our
goal, the stronger our inner commitment needs to be if we
are to accomplish it . We need to have an inner determination that surpasses the difficulty of the goal, and maintain
it without faltering through the allotted span of time . Otherwise, the goal will elude us . (31-149, 1970.5.24)
6. The Central Teaching of Religion
You may not know of the reality of the spirit world, but
God has given me special grace to have clear insight into
that unseen world . Digging into the root of that world, I
found its principles to be quite simple . In the spirit world, 82     True Families, Gateway to Heaven
only those who lived altruistically, in line with God’s universal principles, can enter the higher realms . The realm
that is entirely structured along these lines is the ideal
Kingdom of Heaven .
Heaven is humanity’s original homeland . Today we are
exiles from our original homeland and dwell in the fallen
world . Yet we still seek our original homeland, and we are
destined to return someday . But as we could not find the
way back by our own efforts, God in the course of history
has laid out paths for our journey .
That is why God has raised up various religions . God
set up each religion as a training ground to equip people
for one of these paths appropriate to their race, culture,
customs and traditions . Taking into account the diverse
cultures that exist throughout the four corners of the
earth, God set up various religions as the training grounds
for equipping all humankind to become eligible to return
to the original homeland . As people progress upward
along these paths toward higher ground, God is leading
humanity to converge toward a unified religious world .
In all religions, what is the central teaching that guides
people to the original homeland? It is to live for the sake
of others . The more highly developed religions emphasize this principle . Thus they teach their adherents to be
gentle and meek, to place others above themselves and
live for their sake, and to serve others sacrificially . These
teachings serve to instill discipline in us, so that we can
abide by the laws of the Kingdom of Heaven . (78-117, 1975.5.6) Our Course of Life   83
7. The Highest Goal of Life
As we walk along our life’s path, where should we be
heading? Our destination is to possess God’s love – to be
owners of God’s love . To possess the love of God is life’s
highest and final goal . Everyone, men and women alike,
should take the path to this destination .
Our life path should be a journey to the God of infinite love . Of all the ways that human beings live, this is the
loftiest path . On that path we may face life-and-death situations even ten times or a hundred times, and we may have
to continue the search even after we die, yet we never stop
searching for the love of God .
What is our greatest desire? It is to possess God’s love .
You may have met God, but if you did not discover a love
that is even more precious, then you have not made God
your own . Therefore, you must strive to possess God’s love .
Once you have love, there would be no problem even if
God were not with you .
When we possess God’s love, God’s love becomes my
love and my love becomes God’s love . The internal and
the external become one for the first time . A nation based
on such love would be an ideal community . There would
not be upper and lower classes .
When we dwell in that place of love, we feel that everything under the sun is good and exists for our sake . God’s
love has that quality . Therefore the heavenly world, the 84     True Families, Gateway to Heaven
Kingdom of Heaven, is a world filled with love . This is our
final destination . (39-210, 1971.1.10)
8. Our Wrong Birth
People in today’s world boast of their social status or
family background, all the while unaware that they were
misbegotten at birth . They do not know that they were
born from the love, life and lineage of Satan, the enemy of
God . This is a serious problem .
Due to the human Fall, all people have been born from
Satan’s love . Satan’s love has been passed down through
the generations to their parents and then to them . Satan’s
blood is flowing in the life of every mother and in the life
of every father, and that blood now flows in each of us .
Each of us is a fruit of these three .
For this reason, each of you belongs to the linage of
Satan . To put it another way, Satan’s blood is running
through your veins . Therefore, Satan propagates his
“ideal” fruit in the natural course of things . Meanwhile,
God strives to redeem those same men and women and
transform them into the pure and wholesome men and
women of His original vision .
Your beginning was in Satan’s love . You were born from
his lineage . Your starting-point was wrong . Since you came
from the wrong starting-point, you must return to the correct starting-point .
Where is that correct starting-point? How far back do  Our Course of Life   85
we need to go? We need to go back to the origin . As we
originated from false parents, we need to return and start
anew from true parents . How serious is this? It is imperative to inherit God’s love, life and lineage afresh .
That is why, when you receive the Blessing, you undergo
a ceremony for changing your lineage . Just because it is a
Unification Church ceremony, you should not think of it
as some ordinary ritual . It is like a wonder drug, an antidote to restore the dead back to life . You must believe in it
more than your own life .
The mistake our first ancestors made was so serious that
it caused the suffering of countless people throughout
the course of human history . People have paid a ghastly
price for having perpetuated illicit love in the fallen spiritual and physical worlds, with far-reaching consequences
for individuals, families, societies, nations and the world .
Knowing this, we cannot commit that same mistake again .
Never again! (216-109, 1991.3.9)
9. Eternal Life
Eternal life does not refer only to an eternal existence
in the spirit world . It means living for eternity in the
bosom of God’s love . God created each individual to live
with Him in a relationship of Lover and beloved, Subject
partner and object partner . You are the beloved of God .
God cherishes the ideal of true love more than He values
Himself . Although God is the absolute and eternal center 86     True Families, Gateway to Heaven
of life, His ideal is even more eternal, and the center of
that ideal is true love . Love is realized with a partner, and
the partner of God’s love is you .
Love has the power to bring two individuals into oneness . Love can unify a nation . When two people are in a
relationship of true love, they will accompany each other
through any situation . The same applies to your relationship with God . When you live this way, you can inherit
God’s entire fortune and even His entire heart .
I went through a miserable course to discover this reality, and now I stand on its foundation . It is sublime and
lofty . I would not exchange it for anything in the world . It
is an amazing grace . Because God and I love each other in
this way, He lets me stand in the same position with Him,
where we can share true love for eternity .
The spirit world is in a different dimension from this
limited earthly world . We cannot move freely within these
mundane confines, but as the spirit world is a realm of
higher dimension, you can do anything there; you can
even leap across time . You can have whatever you desire
anytime and anywhere, so long as your desire is motivated
by love . We were originally created as eternal beings . If on
earth we become people of true love who enjoy an eternal relationship with God, then when we go to the spirit
world, we will enjoy such freedom .
The first standard of life is the criteria of good and evil,
the second is the original starting point, and the third is
eternal life . (216-115, 1991.3.9)87
C H a p T e r  5 :
The Spirit World and the
Earthly World
1. Prayers
“Beloved Heavenly Father, I thank You for Your grace .
You have protected me through all my struggles from my
youth up to this day, as I fought to prevent Heaven from
suffering any shame or humiliation on my account .
“I have learned that among all the good things on this
earth, there is nothing more precious than to connect to
Your original heart . Enable us to yearn infinitely for that
relationship, knowing that when we truly experience Your
love, we will have no regrets even if we are deprived of
everything in this world .
“Let us prepare today on earth for the day of our birth
into our third life in the heavenly world as liberated children, endowed with the right of freedom .” (49-308, 1971.10.17)
“Loving Father, we know that in order to greet the new
spring, the relationships in our lives must be harmonious, 88     True Families, Gateway to Heaven
that we might be completely absorbed in You . Only then
can we greet the spring season and bloom as beautiful
blossoms . Let us not be pitiful souls who, when asked
whether we have ever greeted a spring season in our lives,
are unable to reply in the affirmative .” (32-37, 1970.6.14)
“Father, we recognize that if we lack the heart to attend
You and bow down humbly to You, we will have no relationship to You in the eternal world . Open the doors of
our hearts to feel Your heart; let us today hear Your voice
welling up from the depths of our hearts so that we may
regain our lost selves . Help us to appreciate Your historical course of toil and trouble to find each one of us, that
we may humbly bow our heads before You .” (4-280, 1958.9.14)
2. Understanding Death
On the earth we have parents, teachers and relatives,
and in the course of our lives we make relationships with
them . In the spirit world the situation is different . In the
spirit world, people are in different realms according to
how much they live for the public good, with the most
public-minded people closest to God who resides at the
center . Those in a higher realm cannot descend to a lower
realm, and it is difficult for those in the lower realms to
ascend to the higher realms .
Human beings were created to become complete while
on earth and then pass over into the spirit world . Hence,  The Spirit world and the earthly world    89
there is no provision for returning to the physical world
once we enter the spirit world . We live just one life, and
then we must die .
Our lifetime on earth is too short . Life is too short .
Even a lifespan of eighty years is too short . It is not even
eight hours in spirit world time . That is why the power of
true love is great . True love transcends time and space,
and moves at a speed that is beyond our comprehension .
(205-65, 1990.7.7)
Without a doubt, the spirit world exists . It surely exists .
We were born from the spirit world, and when we die we
must return there . There is an interesting word in Korean,
toraganda, which literally means “to return” but also means
“to die .” Where do we return to? Not to the soil in the cemetery . To return means to go back to one’s place of origin,
and we didn’t start out in a cemetery . To return means to
go back through the vast expanses of history, back to its
most distant origin .
For a person to return does not mean that if he was
born as a Korean he returns as a Korean . Although you
may be a Korean when you die, your path of returning is
not a Korean path . We all return to the original world that
brought forth the first ancestors of humankind . What does
this mean? It means that since we were made by our Creator, we will return to the place where our Creator resides .
That is where we originated, so that is where we return .
The universe is replete with things in circular motion .90     True Families, Gateway to Heaven
When the snow on the mountains melts, it flows through
many streams down narrow valleys, into larger rivers, and
then enters the ocean . Once in the ocean, it evaporates
and returns to the mountains as snow, thus completing its
cycle . Everything circulates . In a similar way, we return .
When we return, where do we wish to return to? We
wish to go back to a place where we can be higher, a place
where we can be happier . No one wants to become smaller .
Therefore, it would not do to return to the physical world,
where the laws of motion dictate that all things diminish
through activity, and where all motion slows and eventually comes to a stop . (141-269, 1986.3.2)
We live in this world, but it is not the only world that
exists . There is also the spirit world . This earthly world and
the spirit world are not two completely separate worlds .
They are connected as one world .
Then, where is the place where we are to go, the place
where we are to live? We are on earth now, living in our
physical bodies, but we are moving toward the eternal
world .
Ordinary people are born into this world, pass through
their youth, reach their prime, and begin the downhill
slide into old age . They end their lives like the setting sun .
People who know the existence of the spirit world, however, realize that their lifetime on earth is but a fleeting
moment compared to the eternal world that awaits them
after death . Knowing this, they spend their lives on earth  The Spirit world and the earthly world    91
wisely, preparing themselves for the world of eternity . (140-
121, 1986.2.9)
Death illuminates the meaning of life . Who knows
the value of life? Not those who have lived comfortably .
But those who have risked their lives know it well . When
people are hanging at the intersection of life and death,
they cling to God and implore Him, and many times they
are shown the value of life . (74-242, 1974.12.31)
Should we or should we not welcome death? We should
welcome it . If you are about to die, and someone asks you
what you are dying for, you should be able to answer: “I die
for the sake of God’s true love .” You discard your physical
body to participate in the realm where God’s infinite love
is always active . You leave the earthly world for God’s world
of love .
To die is to be born in God’s love . Yet people clamor
in their death throes, “Oh, I’m dying!” Death should be a
moment of joy . It is the joyful moment when you pass from
a realm of limited love to the realm of infinite love . Therefore, the moment of death is the moment of your second
birth .
Which do you think God rejoices over more: the day of
your birth in a physical body, or the hour of your second
birth into the infinite world as a son or daughter of God
whose every action is for the sake of love? You might
wonder why I talk about such things . The truth is, you 92     True Families, Gateway to Heaven
cannot establish a relationship with God unless you liberate yourself from the fear of death . (116-172, 1982.1.1)
3. The Three Stages of Life
During the course of our lives we pass through three
stages: formation, growth and completion . We pass from
the realm of water in our mother’s womb to the realm
of living on planet Earth, and then we pass on to the
aerial realm in heaven . In other words, human beings go
through three periods: the period in the womb when we
live in water, the period that begins at birth and continues
for up to a hundred years when we live on the earth, and
the period when we fly in the heavens . (116-174, 1982.1.1)
Human beings are born from waters deep within the
womb . During their period of gestation they live in water .
Inside the mother’s womb, the fetus is floating in fluid . It
lives by way of the umbilical cord connected to its mother’s
body, through which it draws in and expels fluid .
How does a fetus take in nourishment? It is supplied
through the navel . The navel functions as its mouth . So,
do not be disdainful of your navel . Pat your navel and say,
“Belly button, thanks for your hard work a long time ago .”
Pat your navel often; it will be good for your health . Do it
as an exercise . If you exercise this way often, it will make
you healthier . Even when you sleep in a cold room, if you
cover your navel, you won’t get diarrhea . The Spirit world and the earthly world    93
During your time in the womb, your navel was your
mouth . At birth, a new orifice for breathing opens at a
place above the navel . What is this second mouth? It is the
mouth you use for eating . At this point, what is done with
the umbilical cord attached to the navel? It is cut off .
While we live in the world of air, our spirit self is attached
to the physical self and feeds off the physical body, similar
to the fetus in the womb feeding off nutrients supplied by
its mother . When the physical body grows old, the spirit
self discards the physical body and goes out on its own .
This is its second birth, now as a person who can relate
to the eternal God, the Father who is spirit . Physical birth
and this second birth occur in accordance with the same
fundamental principles .
Once the child is born in the earthly world, it gets
acquainted with its mother and father . The earthly world
is where we can share love with our mothers and fathers .
In a similar way, we must eventually be born a second time
into the spirit world, where we can share love with God,
our Parent . He will connect us to the boundless world of
spirit . (299-69, 1999.2.4)
After coming out of the womb, it is not enough just
to breathe air . You have to develop your love by receiving
elements of love . It is not enough just to eat food . If you
live only to eat, you will begin to die . There is something
more essential that you need to fill yourself with during 94     True Families, Gateway to Heaven
your life on earth – the second stage of your life . What is
it? It is love . You must renew your character with love . (139-
214, 1986.1.31)
Love is what you need during your earthly life . Why do
you call a child who lives without the love of mother and
father an “orphan”?
8
 It is because that child is deprived of
the love that can connect him eternally to the spirit world .
For the same reason, we feel pity for people who live alone
without marrying . (139-214, 1986.1.31)
Dying occurs when the spirit breaks free of the organs
of the physical body, including those that had functioned
in the second kind of breathing . From that time forth, the
spirit subsists by breathing only love elements . The internal self had been developing the ability to engage with
these invisible love elements on earth through experiencing parental love and conjugal love . That is why, just as an
embryo should develop in the womb in accordance with
God’s laws and principles in order to be born as a normal
baby, we must grow in the earthly world in accordance
with God’s laws and principles so that we can be born as a
fully functioning spirit self . (299-69, 1999.2.4)
Dragonflies during their larval stage swim in the water
at first, then crawl about on land for a while . Then they
fly around, preying on bugs that they never would have
8. The Korean word for orphan, go-a, literally means “isolated child.” The Spirit world and the earthly world    95
imagined eating when they were crawling about on land .
They fly about freely; the whole world is their stage .
There are many insects that go through three stages of
life . Insects in general have wings . During their life-cycle
they pass through the stages of living in the water, on land
and in the air . What about human beings, who are called
the lords of creation; do we have wings? We have a set of
wings of a higher dimension .
Death is the blessed gateway to our second birth . What
is the meaning of death? Earthly life, the time of living
in air, parallels the time when we were swimming in the
womb . The air is like our swaddling-cloth; we are eager to
take it off . Death is nothing special; it is merely birth into
the third stage of life . That moment of transition is what
we call death . (299-71, 1999.2.4)
4. The Central Point between the Two Worlds
I imagine you must be very curious about the spirit
world . The many religions of the world provide paths for
us to seek eternal life, the world where we can live together
with God eternally in the good regions of the spirit world .
For religious people, attaining that world is their life’s goal .
However, what has become of religion today? It is on
the decline . In this modern age people think that religion is only for the weak; it is unnecessary for everyone
else . They think that religions were created by people
to push morality . Even Christianity, the central religion, 96     True Families, Gateway to Heaven
has declined . America is the representative of the world’s
Christian nations, yet people who grew up in American
Christian homes have lost their faith and are living each
according to their own way .
Christianity upholds heaven, the dwelling place of God,
who is the Lord of the universe and Source of all good .
Why are so many Christians abandoning their religion?
There are three reasons .
First, people do not have a clear understanding of the
reality of the spirit world . Human beings have the innate
capacity to compare and would abandon a bad situation in
favor of a better one . If they knew that the spirit world contained higher-dimensional realms of greater value, they
would certainly seek them out . That is original human
nature .
Second, people do not truly know God . Our connection with God was severed as a result of the human Fall,
and we have lived ever since as orphans .
Third, people do not understand the centrality of love .
Love is what connects us to God and also to the spirit world .
Even though many people believe in God and the spirit
world, if they do not understand that the eternal world is
ruled by love, they may well abandon their religion .
Where love abounds, you are happy . It doesn’t matter
whether you are promoted to a high position or demoted
to a low position or you just stay at your current level; in
whatever state you are, you are content . Does a wife dislike
her beloved husband if he has a higher position in society  The Spirit world and the earthly world    97
than her? Does a husband dislike his beloved wife because
she comes from a lower class than him? When you are one
with each other you can go anywhere, from the bottom to
the top or from the top to the bottom, or you can just stay
where you are . There are no limitations . It is based on this
concept that many people in the world say, “This world
can become one . There can be unity among all peoples .
We can build a world of peace .” (91-140, 1977.2.6)
God and His love should be at the center; it is the same
for the spirit world and the physical world, for spirit beings
and physical beings . But people in their fallen state as we
usually know them do not have God as their center .
The relationship between the physical self and the
spirit self is different from that between mind and body .
The mind is not the spirit; spirit world exists in a different dimension . In speaking of the spiritual and physical
worlds, we understand that they relate based on God’s
love . For these two worlds to unite as one, God must be
involved . Were it not for God’s love, the spirit world would
not exist . It is by God’s provision that we can have a home
there .
People may think that mind and spirit are the same,
but this is a confused notion . Due to the human fall, the
mind does not have a relationship with the spirit world . To
better understand this, think of the mind of fallen human
beings as analogous to a person whose body has no bones .
Its form is like a boneless body .98     True Families, Gateway to Heaven
The spirit self is composed of a body-like element and
a mind-like element . The mind-like element of the spirit
self is immersed in the spirit world . It always maintains
a relationship with God . Therefore, if you do not make
a relationship with God, this mind-like element will not
form in your spirit self .
Understand that spirit and mind are two different
things . The mind of fallen man has no relationship with
God . God has left it . God can neither relate to the fallen
mind nor exercise His direct dominion over it .
Your mind changes, going one way and then another,
but the spirit world and spiritual beings are not like this .
They set one eternal goal and move steadily in its direction . Why is this so? It is because they stand on God’s side .
But the mind that resides within us fallen human beings is
constantly vacillating .
I’m sure you know this from studying the Principle, but
what is the spirit mind? It is what unites our mind and
spirit and moves them toward a higher goal . When our
spirit mind becomes one with our conscience, centering
on God, it motivates us to become our ideal selves . Therefore, without the spirit mind, we would be unable to find
the inner root that enables us to live in proper relationship with the spirit world and experience true love .
When the spirit mind sprouts within us, our body
rejoices . Everything we think, say and do follows the
promptings of our spirit mind . Then everything begins
to unite spontaneously . The biggest problem for human  The Spirit world and the earthly world    99
beings has been the conflict between our mind and body .
However, when spiritual energy resides within us and
causes our spirit mind to germinate, our mind and body
spontaneously become one .
Unless we experience such a revolution occurring at
the root of our selves, and unless we discover the origin
that can rectify everything from that root, we will have no
way to attain the ideal . Without a motivating cause, there
can be no result . The purpose of religion is to implant a
spirit mind within us . The many religions with all their different forms and doctrines all exist to cultivate the spirit
mind . (91-142, 1977.2.6)
God in His majesty decreed that the spirit world and
the physical world must be united . However, because true
love was not established, the spirit world and physical
world could not become one . This resulted in the separation between mind and body . Also, because true love was
not established, there has been separation between religion and politics .
Where true love is present, everything comes together
as one . Everybody is linked together, from the individual
to the family, society, nation, world and cosmos . We have
to make this a reality with our own hands . Otherwise, we
cannot inherit God’s original Kingdom in heaven and on
earth . How do we establish resonance between the spiritual and physical worlds and make them one? It is with
true love . (216-106, 1991.3.9)100     True Families, Gateway to Heaven
5. Know the Spirit World
Eighty percent of the world’s population does not know
about the spirit world . Even many believers aren’t sure
whether the spirit world exists, or even if God really exists .
But the spirit world does exist .
Imagine a wealthy person who willingly invests his
entire fortune to build a garden of happiness for himself .
With that in mind, we can surmise that God, the Creator
of heaven and earth, made enormous effort to create His
dwelling place – the spirit world – to be a world of beauty
beyond imagining . You could gaze at even just one tiny
part of it for a thousand years and never grow tired of it .
The world’s most prized possessions are nothing compared to the things in the spirit world . Therefore, I have
no desire to accumulate possessions on this earth . If you
were to force me to say which I prefer, I would say that
this earthly world does not conform to my purpose, and I
would rather live in the spirit world . (15-154, 1965.10.7)
People generally do not think about the spirit world .
They think only, “I am alive because I was born . I serve
my parents because I live in their family . I will live just
the way my parents lived .” What are such people’s central
concerns? It is how they can eat and earn a living . They
consider food, shelter and clothing to be the most important things in life . Most people’s main concerns are how  The Spirit world and the earthly world    101
to support themselves, how to feed themselves, and how to
clothe themselves .
Of course, people also uphold the principles of morality and the obligations within human relationships that
enable them to develop their character as individuals and
find satisfaction together . However, the norms of morality
differ from one nation to another . Moral standards and
social systems vary among world’s diverse cultures . In this
light, we recognize that there is a huge difference between
the original standard that God originally envisioned for
humanity to attain and the norms of ethics and morality
that people adhere to today . Yet, these must be made the
same .
Where is it that we are supposed to go, having been
born and lived out our lives on earth in keeping with the
original standard? People are not clear about this . For this
reason, people are doubtful about the spirit world and are
not certain whether God exists .
However, people who have studied the Principle clearly
know that the spirit world exists . They do not just believe
it; they know it . Why is this? They know it through countless spiritual experiences . The members who labored to
construct the global foundation of the Unification Church
went through a course that included many spiritual experiences . If you learn the Principle, I am certain that you,
too, will have experiences such that you will no longer be
able to deny the existence of the spirit world . (140-122, 1986.2.9)102     True Families, Gateway to Heaven
Once we know the Principle, what should be our path?
We must follow the path that God desires for us . We must
follow the path to fulfill God’s will . What is God’s will? First
we must follow the path to fulfill God’s will for us as individuals . Next we must follow the path to fulfill God’s will
for our families . God has also set up paths for the society,
the nation, the world and the spirit world . I am the expert
on this . As you follow these paths, you will see for yourself
that the spirit world definitely exists . (121-146, 1982.10.24)
Why is it important to acknowledge that God exists and
that the spirit world exists? Some people may think, “Even
if God exists, He has nothing to do with me,” but they are
wrong . To say, “Even if the spirit world exists, it has nothing to do with me,” would be like a person who, satisfied
with his family, claims that he doesn’t need his country
and doesn’t need the world .
But since there is a God who is greater than us, and
since there is a spirit world that is greater than us, we
want to have a relationship with these greater entities . Just
having a relationship is not enough . What do we do in this
relationship? We should strive to become one . We should
move in step toward the same goal . (104-119, 1979.4.22)
The Apostle Paul’s experience of seeing the third  The Spirit world and the earthly world    103
heaven became the driving force that empowered him in
his missionary activities for fourteen years .
9
 You, too, need
to have such experiences . This also holds true for me . (27-
128, 1969.11.30)
I don’t fear death . What made me this way? Love did .
It doesn’t matter how many times I am put in jail; I can
digest that . My experiences of God’s love have enabled me
to digest and overcome the opposition that surrounded
me . To this day, I am overcoming every adversity with my
own hands . (202-27, 1990.5.1)
6. How We Should Relate to the Spirit World
The spirit world is equivalent to the angelic world .
Today’s world is in the same position as the world at the
time of Adam and Eve . God created the spirit world before
creating Adam and Eve .
The satanic world came into being because the spirit
world went against God’s will . Therefore, today’s fallen
world can be restored only after the spirit world welcomes
God’s will . Similarly, the Lord cannot come to the earthly
world unless he first subjugates
10
 the spirit world . That
is why the Unification Church has worked until today to
bring the spirit world to natural surrender . Hence, the
9.  1 Corinthians 12:2
10.  By “subjugate” Rev. Moon means to bring the opponent to voluntary submission, winning him over by love, service and sacrifice.104     True Families, Gateway to Heaven
spirit world must help the Unification Church . (25-233,
1969.10.4)
Where is the spirit world? It is within your bodies . You
walk around carrying the spirit world on your shoulders,
attending it . So there is no escaping it . (162-116, 1987.3.30)
The spirit world exists . It exists for the sake of this world,
and this world exists for the sake of the eternal world .
People question, “Where in the world is God? Can God
be in this world? Where on earth is the spirit world?” I say,
God’s dwelling place is the spirit world . (117-307, 1982.4.11)
If our life simply ceased after seventy to eighty years
on earth, then we would not really have any problems to
worry about; but as we continue living eternally it is a different story . Since the spirit world exists, and you will go
there after death, what will you take with you when you go
there? The way to be assured that you will have good rapport with the spirit world is to practice true love during
your earthly life . The spirit world is vast . You have no idea
how vast it is – a world without boundaries . (187-285, 1989.2.12)
The contemporary interest in electricity and space
exploration helps accustom humanity to the ways of the
ideal world of love . We can say by analogy that the spirit
world is a world filled with the electricity of love . The electricity of love makes everything possible . For this reason,  The Spirit world and the earthly world    105
in the spirit world we can govern the form of existence
through the structure of our thoughts .
The spirit world is a place that values eternal elements .
It is a world of harmony, where everything is filled with
love . Thus, the universe goes into operational mode with
just a push of the love button .
What is God’s Kingdom on earth? It is the place where
we can open all the valves of love . Then what about the
Kingdom of God in heaven? It is the place where we can
open all the valves of true love .
As long as you maintain a loving heart, when you tug on
the rope of love, everything will come to you . When you
release the rope, everything will go back to where it came
from . When you pull the rope sideways, everything moves
sideways . You can steer the universe any way you like . It
does not resist, but moves automatically .
Thus we can understand the meaning of the concept
that the spirit world is filled with the air of love . If the
God of love, who with the loving heart to feed all humanity
at once and make them happy, says, “Let there be food!”
then food will appear .
In the spirit world you eat the food of love . People look
at each other with eyes of love . There are no words to
express the mystery of the spirit world . The more you hear
about it, the more you want to hear . There is no concept
there of being sleepy or tired .
The spirit world is the place filled with the electricity of
love . These days, people try to link everything to love . Why 106     True Families, Gateway to Heaven
is that? It is to be in tune with the spirit world . The spirit
world operates in this way, and people on earth inevitably
respond to it . They cannot escape from its influence .
When you see me in your dreams, I appear to you
through the waves of God’s love . For that to happen, you
cannot be asserting your ego . You have to become like pure
gold, which has a very low resistance . There can be no self .
In this state, you create a vacuum . When there is a vacuum,
you can create a realm of resonance . (112-16, 1981.3.15)
Copyright © 2009 HSA-UWC
HSA-UWC
4 West 43rd Street
New York, NY 10036
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
ISBN: 978-1-931166-31-7
Second Edition
Printed on recycled paper in the United States of America.3
Contents
Foreword .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . . 5
Chapter One: The Family Is the Basis and Pattern
for the Kingdom of Heaven .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . . 9
1 . The Pattern for All Relationships .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . .9
2 . Where We Experience Universal Love  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . .12
3 . The School of Love .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . .15
4 . Textbook for the Heavenly Kingdom .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . .18
5 . Uniting the Love of Three Generations .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . .21
6 . Training Ground of the Heart .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . .24
7 . The Original Hometown .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . .26
8 . The Cosmic Ideology .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . .28
Chapter Two: Love: the Basis of Human Life .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . .33
1 . Why Are People Born? .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . .33
2 . Life in its Original Form .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . .35
3 . The Nutrient of Life .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . .38
4 . What Is God’s Love? .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . .40
5 . Inheriting Love and Bequeathing Love .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . .43
6 . Seeking the Center of Love .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . .46
7 . The Three Ages of Human Life  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . .49
8 . Training to Be in Rhythm with the Spirit World .  . .524
Chapter Three: The Original Vision for Love
between Man and Woman .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . .55
1 . Bringing Joy to God and All Creation  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . .55
2 . Men and Women Are Born for Each Other .  .  .  .  . .57
3 . Men and Women Need Each Other .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . .59
4 . Love Comes from Your Partner .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . .62
5 . The Harmony of Love .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . .64
6 . Enraptured by True Love .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . .67
7 . The Natural Way of Love .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . .69
Chapter Four: Our Course of Life .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . .73
1 . The Purpose of Creation .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . .73
2 . Why We Are Born .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . .74
3 . The Importance of the Moment .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . .75
4 . Adam and Eve Grew from Infancy .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . .79
5 . The Path of a Victorious Life .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . .80
6 . The Central Teaching of Religion  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . .81
7 . The Highest Goal of Life .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . .83
8 . Our Wrong Birth .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . .84
9 . Eternal Life .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . .85
Chapter 5: The Spirit World and the Earthly World .  .  .  .  .  . .87
1 . Prayers .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . .87
2 . Understanding Death .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . .88
3 . The Three Stages of Life .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . .92
4 . The Central Point between the Two Worlds .  .  .  .  . .95
5 . Know the Spirit World .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . .100
6 . How We Should Relate to the Spirit World .  .  .  .  . .1035