Section 1. True Parents are the Center of Blessed Families
1.1. Becoming the sons and daughters of True Parents
From now on, you must live with True Parents. True Parents are in the position of the grandparents. They are also in the position of your mother and father, living with you, and you are in the position of the first child. This is a new and different age. We should realize that, in this way, three generations will be living together. You must live with the feeling in your heart that God is with you, and that True Parents, as your own parents, are with you. We have now entered an age in which we cannot think that God is not there, that He is dead. (131-97, 1984.4.16)
Everything that you do must involve the Parents. You must consult them in making decisions, discuss circumstances and try to solve problems with them. (44-173, 1971.5.6)
You cannot just eat good food and wear good clothes. First, you have to offer the best to God. When you walk, think that you are walking together with Father on your right and Mother on your left. (24-181, 1969.8.4)
What should you do to receive the love of the Parents? You must love everything that is loved by Parents. Only then can you receive love from them. In a family, if a son wants to be loved by his parents, he needs to understand that he can only receive love from them when he loves everything that they own. If someone wants to receive love without doing this, he is no better than a thief. If a child claims everything that is valued by his parents just because he wants to, he cannot receive love from them. (133-26, 1984.7.1)
You are not to live according to your own wishes but according to my words, and follow the path that I am walking. You are to inherit the tradition of the Unification Church. You are supposed to do as I do. I have abandoned my family and parents to walk this path. This is what you also must do. You must be obedient as you walk this path. (49-214, 1971.10.10)
True Parents and you form a relationship of unity. That relationship should never change for eternity. (55-173, 1972.5.7)
You were bought with my blood and sweat. You were bought with my own flesh and blood. Therefore you should carry out the same work as me. I want to take pride in you members. To accomplish all this, let us make a commitment. (11-164, 1961.7.20)
Because Satan rebelled against God and disrupted the path defined by laws of heaven and earth, you have to stand in the position of the archangel who is supporting God; you should establish the way of loyalty to Heaven. Then, for the first time, a new way of restoration can be opened. That is why I put you on the front line. (25-203, 1969.10.4)
Because Adam was separated from God with tears, and was unable to feel God’s heart, there must be a reunion with tears. Our tears must liberate the resentment of Cain and Abel who separated with tears. There is no other way to become united. Throughout the world, there are even grown men who cry wanting to see me. However, are there such people here? You terrible people! A long time ago, everyone was like that. In the early days of the church, everyone was like that. Because women came to the Unification Church and followed me, their husbands complained that their wives were not coming to them. On the other hand, because men followed me, women complained that their husbands were not coming to them! It must be that way. If men want to see me, they should also shed tears. Those who cannot shed tears cannot enter heaven, even when the kingdom is established through the Unification movement. (31-332, 1970.6.7)
You should cry, longing for the True Parents who are in the position of God’s substance. You should always want to see True Parents. You should want to serve True Parents even by making them a bowl of rice or by giving them a glass of water. You should always have such a sincere heart. Your heart should overflow with tears. In feeling this way, if you unite in heart centering on me and breathe together with me, you will come to understand the standard of my character, my past and my circumstances during the early days, which are the foundation of that standard. You will also be able to inherit and receive those things. (38-75, 1971.1.1)
1.2. Our dedication in attending True Parents
The pathways by which fallen people come to God have differed according to the age. In the Old Testament Age, people could offer sacrifices; in the New Testament Age they could believe in Jesus, the Son of God; in the Completed Testament Age they can attend the True Parents. (20-340, 1968.7.20)
Adam and Eve fell in the Garden of Eden. Since they lived within the fallen realm they were unable to live a life of direct attendance. People who have no experience of attending God are not qualified to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Although you have lived your life within the fallen lineage, you have paid indemnity in the course of restoration and you have attended True Parents on earth, in the flesh. Even Adam and Eve could not attend them. This condition of having attended God in your lifetime gives you the qualification to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Thus, citizenship of the Kingdom of Heaven is given to you. (150-233, 1961.4.15)
You were unable to become a filial child to all the things of creation that you should love; you were unable to become a filial child to your parents who gave birth to you; and you were unable to become a filial child to God and the spirit world. Yet, in exchange for attending the True Parents, you were bestowed with the qualification of a filial child. For this reason, you must tenaciously follow me. (105-112, 1979.9.30)
From afar, True Parents are treated as the king of a nation; up close, they are the parents. That is how they are. (150-235, 1961.4.15)
How seriously have you prayed for me? How much did you really want to see me? If you truly desired to see me, prayed with deep sincerity, and desperately yearned for me, then just seeing me in the flesh would not be the issue. (23-52, 1969.5.11)
Even before you eat, you should think, “Father, after you!” (11-218, 1961.8.26)
When the time and hour of attending Father comes, what will you do, and how will you show your filial piety? You should consider with what attitude you will attend Father. (17-293, 1967.2.15)
You should prepare a prayer room in which you place my picture, and bow before it a thousand, even ten thousand times. In the past, the spiritual groups, such as that of Heo Ho-Bin, who were preparing to receive the Messiah, bowed three thousand times each day. You should try this. When they were making clothes, they sewed each garment by hand, one by one. They believed that doing it on sewing machine showed disrespect. Even with such great devotion, it was still not enough. (179-77, 1988.7.22)
When you look in the mirror, you should ask yourself how much your eyes have shed tears in longing to see the Parents; how much your mouth cried out for the assuaging of the Parents’ grief; how much your hands toiled while shedding blood for the land of the Parents; and how much your body has labored, until it shattered, for the foundation that the Parents are seeking. If you seek that path while feeling in your heart, “My grief is in not having been able to do those things!” it will become a path of happiness. A happy person is one who establishes a relationship with Heaven on that path. No one can dominate such a person. The only one that can move him is the Parent; the only one who can touch his heart is the Parent; the only one who can make him happy is the Parent. And the son is the only person who can make the Parent happy. The Parent’s wishes lie in their son rather than in the parents themselves. (78-35, 1975.5.1)
How should you think in order to lead a kind of life of attendance to God? You should think that you are one with God and one with True Parents. If everything in your life is in oneness with them, you should have the idea that everything belongs to God and to True Parents; and that what belongs to True Parents belongs to the kingdom of True Parents and then to you. Since even this house, nation, world and universe belong to True Parents, you come to the conclusion that everything belongs to you since you are True Parents’ son. (161-231, 1987.2.15)
A member once made rice cakes containing mugwort for me. He had them wrapped in order to keep the dust off and brought them to the headquarters. When he opened them in front of me, the rice cakes had started to spoil. Although they were unfit to eat, those rice cakes were worth hundreds of millions in gold. My heart feels closer to such people. (33-113, 1970.8.9)
Love sometimes looks silly and foolish, doesn’t it? When you truly love someone, you do not mind being watched by others. If you mind, your love is merely love with limitations. How silly and foolish love seems when you are in a state where you do not mind being watched by others! One day, another old man brought bellflower roots that he had dug out on a remote mountain and offered them to me with tears in his eyes. Such things become good material for liberating such a person when he goes to the spirit world. (33-113, 1970.8.9)
When I talk about my hardships, you should think of them as your own; you should be able to feel the same – your heart should ache, you should be in sorrow and in tears, you should feel mortified and angered. My suffering is the raw material you can use to feel the same way. (34-101, 1970.8.29)
Do not say that you know me. I only know the Principle. I only know those who are grounded in the Principle and in the laws. (10-249, 1960.10.21)
What would happen if I visited your house everyday for three months? You would come to dislike it saying, “Oh, bother!” Those who think otherwise raise your hand. I really have many things to say, about this and that. Would it be stifling or refreshing for me to know all these things? That is why I use the expression, “This is stifling.” You do not even know how to maintain your dignity and conduct yourselves. I must therefore educate you in these things. (26-299, 1969.11.10)
My history will not be written during my lifetime. However, once I pass away, won’t it be written? Then, if it were found that I had done things inappropriately from the Principle point of view, I would be in trouble. The question is whether or not the reason I have led such a life can be supported by the Principle. If something was very wrong with it, I could come to lose everything that I had accomplished. That is why the position of a leader is very difficult. (33-167, 1970.8.11)
Section 2. Let Us Love and Be Proud of True Parents
2.1. True Parents are the hope of all humankind
Who are the True Parents that the Unification Church speaks about? If Adam and Eve had not fallen, God would have become the vertical form of love, and Adam and Eve would have become God’s body. It would have been as if they were the flesh of God – God as the bones, and Adam and Eve the flesh. God would have achieved mind and body unity through Adam and Eve. God is meant to become the internal parent in the internal position, and Adam and Eve the external parents in the external position. The internal and external parents must become one through love; and at that place, we come to have external parents and attend the internal parent in heart. With the union of love between God and Adam and Eve, the True Parents – the perfected man and woman – can emerge. There can be no perfected human beings without unity in love. (184-71, 1988.11.13)
What do True Parents have to do? They must rectify the false lineage that forms the root of the satanic world, turn around life that has deviated from the ideal, and correctly reopen the path of love that has gone the wrong way. The Bible says that those who seek to die will live, and those who seek to live will die. Why is this paradox necessary? It is because the satanic world must perish. (169-37, 1987.10.4)
Are you the true sons and daughters of True Parents? When you talk about true children, what is your mind centered on? It is the true lineage. Of course, a relationship is formed through true love, but the actual connection is through the true lineage. That is why those connected through that lineage take after the mother and father. Do you resemble me? Your eyes are blue whereas my eyes are black, and our hair is different. My hair is white. I am an Asian, and my face is flat. When taking after True Parents, you only need to resemble the most essential parts. By essential parts, I am talking about winning over Satan and loving God absolutely. That is all you need to inherit from me. Then you can dominate and control Satan. (170-237, 1987.11.21)
How much should you love me? This goes back to the fundamental problem. You should not love from a position that has traces of the satanic world, and is tainted with love from that world. You should be in a higher position. You must love Father more than you love your parents, spouse and children born in the satanic world. That is why in the Bible, Jesus says, “He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves sons or daughters more than me is not worthy of me.” He reached this conclusion for everything. Later, he also says, “Take up your cross and follow me.” He said to take up your own cross. Overcoming the power that pulls you in the opposite direction means taking up the cross. There you must shed tears of bitterness. (178-97, 1988.6.1)
What do True Parents signify? They are the symbol of hope for everyone. They are the symbol of absolute hope for fallen humankind. They are the fruits of history, the center of the present era, and the center of the nations of this world of five billion people living today. They are the starting point from which we can be connected to the ideal world of the future. (35-237, 1970.10.19)
What is the desire of all people today? Before they establish a nation and world, they would want to welcome True Parents. From whom would our future descendants want to be descended? Your future sons and daughters would not want to be born from your fallen lineage. They would want to be born through the bloodline of True Parents. That is why True Parents will become the starting point of a new future. (35-237, 1970.10.19)
What is God’s hope today? God is hoping to make Himself visible in this time of the Last Days. Therefore, He is hoping to appear as a being of complete heart and as a vertically restored, perfected individual, in other words, as the Messiah. Therefore, a central figure who establishes the position of perfected Adam and perfected Eve must appear. In the Completed Testament Age, God will appear before humankind in the form of True Parents. This is the reason that the Unification Church has enormous power, which cannot be controlled by any political authority. The path of the Unification Church is one of accumulating experiences of the realm in which we directly see and deeply experience the living God. (God’s Will -279)
The desire of humankind is to meet the True Parents. Even when you are walking the path of death, you desire to meet True Parents. Even if you lost all of history, all the past eras, and all of your descendants, if you were to meet True Parents you would regain that history, those past eras and the future. You must understand that this is the value of True Parents. (35-237, 1970.10.19)
When you think of True Parents you realize that they govern history and that they establish a starting point from which we can return to an ideal world. The True Parents determine the internal relationships of position and heart through which we can dominate Satan. Through these, Satan, who controls the external world, can be subjugated and the center, with which we can liberate God from His anguish, can finally be established. Therefore, first of all, you must be thankful for the amazing blessing of being able to live with True Parents and act according to their instructions. (43-144, 1971.4.29)
When you completely unite with True Parents, then the nation, tribe and family can come to exist. True Parents are the standard in substance that integrates the value of the glory of heaven and earth. Would you exchange True Parents for all the money in this world? Would you exchange True Parents for your life? Things are different from how they were in the past. Wherever you may go, you have to visit Korea to serve True Parents. Your sons and daughters and your descendants of a thousand or ten thousand generations all must do the same. This is why the Unification Church is unique. (30-237, 1970.3.23)
What is the culminating point of everything? It is when everything meets the True Parents. The appearance of the True Parents of humankind is the hope of history, the hope of the nation, and the hope of the providence. The time when True Parents appear is a climactic event occurring only once in history; it never happened before and will never occur again. From the perspective of the eternal world, a human lifetime is but the span of one breath. (51-354, 1971.12.5)
2.2. Honoring True Parents’ picture in each home
It is good for you to carry my picture with you from now on. It will protect you so that you can safely withstand any difficulty you may encounter. Moses led the Israelites away from the Pharaoh of Egypt and guided them to Canaan by showing great miracles and works. At that time, all the firstborn of the Egyptians were smitten, while the Israelites avoided this calamity by smearing the blood of a lamb on their doorposts. Thus, the spirit world is watching over you and will protect you. (130-290, 1984.2.7)
True Father is very famous. Everyone acknowledges that I am a patriot living for the sake of the nation. Moreover, the whole universe bows down in recognition of my achievements. So if people come to say, “Since we have put True Parents’ picture up, my wife and I cannot quarrel in front of it,” and tell their children, “You should not do such things in front of Rev. Moon,” what is wrong with that? Because you are revering it more than the photograph of your own parents, your ancestors will come and also revere True Parents as their ancestors. It will become an altar where ancestors can come and hold a service for the household. As a result, because the way to receive heavenly blessing will have been opened up, then even after you fall asleep, at three o’clock in the morning they will chase out all the evil spirits from your family’s environment. (219-91, 1991.8.25)
When the Israelites were about to leave Egypt, they were able to avoid the calamity of the smiting of the firstborn by smearing the blood of a lamb on their doorposts. In the same way, you can be protected if you carry my picture with you. Spirit world can recognize the picture even if it is in your pocket. This small condition has the same effect as the Israelites smearing the blood of the lamb on their doorposts. (132-190, 1984.6.1)
Members have had the experience where my smile seemed as mysterious as that of the Mona Lisa. Most of you have had the experience that my mysterious figure, which looks different in hundreds of thousands of ways, has led the spirit world to co-operate with you. Everyone in the spirit world knows me well. Are they glad to see my picture or not? Your ancestors are connected to you through the medium of the photograph. You can understand that this is such a precious item. (132-190, 1984.6.1)
Now, my fame has gone beyond national borders. I heard that many statesmen in various places have put my picture on the wall of their study and pay their respects to it. Have you put my picture on the wall of your room, Dr. Yoon Se-won? Do you offer a bow to it everyday? Do you kiss it everyday? You should kiss it passionately. It is not impolite for you to do so. By kissing it on behalf of God’s love, the spirits around you are given the right to participate with you in your work and receive benefit. God would not say no to this. He would say, “That’s right!” Don’t you think so, Dr. Yoon? (171-239, 1988.1.1)
When you place the picture of True Parents in your room and hang up the Unification Church flag, you come under God’s dominion. I am trying to have you belong to God’s dominion. There were many who were struck by lightning while they were cursing the flag. This is quite miraculous. Some people developed sickness in their hands because they were pointing their fingers at me; they were only able to recover from it after holding their hands and praying in repentance for several days. Such phenomena took place, right? Why? When heavenly fortune comes, it cannot be blocked by an individual’s destiny. It is an unchangeable destiny. When Moses held his rod up high, all those who looked up at it lived. You will live as long as you look up at the Unification Church flag, bowing to it every time you come and go. Every time you set out from or arrive at home, bow before the picture. (219-91, 1991.8.25)
When you put up the Unification Church flag it is a signal to the members passing by to enter your house and rest if they are tired or hungry, to have lunch before they go on. Therefore, you should always be prepared to receive guests. On behalf of True Parents, you should make such preparations. That is why you would need a separate room. As True Parents may not come, you should attend your guests as if they were True Parents. This way of practicing connects the idea of equalization to the highest heavenly standard. For this reason, you should attend your guests as if they were God and True Parents. Such a person will surely receive blessings. (169-220, 1987.10.31)
Section 3. The Manner in Which We Attend True Parents
3.1. The law in the age of justification by attendance is the highest law
Your conduct, the way you sit – everything must conform to heavenly law. Even the manner in which you greet me should be codified. Shouldn’t there be a protocol for greeting when you meet me? Shouldn’t that be created? There are even such rules in society – shouldn’t we have such rules? (66-267, 1973.5.16)
Up to the present day, human ethics have meant that parents should love their children and children should love their parents, and that there should be a distinction between husband and wife. These virtues have been transmitted to the present day as the cornerstone of the three fundamental principles and the five moral disciplines in human relations. However, the situation seems to be changing. Today, traditional customs and norms are changing. Something spiritual is penetrating and undermining our daily and social environment. We call such times the Last Days. If the Messiah appears, he must solve all these problems. (11-19, 1960.12.11)
Shouldn’t there be new laws to rectify our fallen habits? You must understand that there are numerous legal procedures waiting for us in the future. You must pass through these. (66-299, 1973.5.16)
According to Korean custom, whenever a person receives something from someone older, they should receive it with both hands. This means that only when their hands are completely level will they receive the love of the older person. Whatever is received should come from the vertical to the horizontal through ninety degrees. It can be said that a person’s mind is Heaven’s mind. All rules should be level and equalized, since they were created in relation to and according to the way of our conscience. (171-236, 1988.1.1)
According to Oriental thought, when people walk along the road, the elder person walks in front. Why? It is because the elder person was born first into the world. That is how we try to create order in the environment. The person born later should stand back. Upper and lower, front and back, above and below, these should all be in their positions. These perspectives should not be changeable. These are eternal and unchanging. (168-252, 1987.9.27)
There are morning meetings everyday between the king of a nation and his subjects. In a Korean family, the children first greet their parents when the parents rise in the morning. Isn’t this part of Korean tradition? In order to indemnify fallen history, you should establish the finest set of laws among all laws, including the laws of filial duty to one’s parents. Even for a nation, you should establish laws superior to the highest existing standard. (31-275, 1970.6.4)
In Korean society, during the threeyear mourning period after their parents have passed away, the children offer meals to the departed spirits of their parents every morning and evening. Also, whenever they go out or return home, they give a greeting towards the altar of their parents. Aren’t there such traditions in Korean society? You have to do better than that. Does what you do now precisely fulfill the formalities of Heaven from the viewpoint of God’s will? It does not. Far from it. (31-275, 1970.6.4)
The quickest way to establish the heavenly tradition in a family is to do it during my lifetime. Originally you were supposed to bathe every morning to purify yourself and walk 10 ri to offer bows to me. Without establishing such a tradition, the path of your descendants will be blocked. (21-88, 1968.11.3)
Amongst the church members, some say that they can go to the movies because I often go to the movies. They don’t understand. In the past, I never even went in front of a movie theater. It is not a problem now, since I went through so much training and equipped myself with such self control that no matter where I go, I am not infected or dominated by those places. Yet, there are some silly people who say that they will just do as I do – following me when I go down to the country or using crude language because I do… I have lived a life of attendance to God, and even served and bowed respectfully to young children until the time came that I could speak without using honorific language. After knowing God’s will, people feel awkward to such an extent that when I speak to them in respectful language they cannot respond with their faces raised. Imagine how awkward it would be if I had to treat you so politely. (57-277, 1972.6.4)
3.2. Ethics and morality give value to human beings
Today, most laws in this world find their basis in Roman law. However, morality is based on conscience rather than law. The foundation of conscience is goodness. The standard of conscience is the standard of goodness. When you move away from goodness and do wrong, your conscience tries to correct your error. If people tried to create a universal social system in accordance with the conscience, they would still need laws. Where is morality rooted? It is rooted in the heavenly law. (33-44, 1970.8.2)
Ethics are formed on the basis of the emotions of love, aren’t they? In the relationships between family members, the idea of morality, order, the social system and so forth are based upon deep emotional factors. People express their respect to the one who can show the deep emotion of a long-lasting or consistent love. You should know that. The motivation for the establishment of ethics lies in the emotion of love. Ethics begin from the point of parents loving their children. True human relationships are established when children love their parents. (64-124, 1972.10.29)
Everyone needs and loves parents. Everyone wants to see them and be with them. But why? For what reason? It is the age difference that leads to the relationship of superior and subordinate in an orderly manner. Therefore, people should show deference, respect and dutifulness to their parents. Based on all matters of ethics and morality in social life, we should each stand in the position of a subject partner or object partner within a relationship of superior–subordinate. To become a filial son in certain respects, you should display obedience and humility, and long to meet the parents. This is the relationship of parent and child. (112-251, 1981.4.19)
People are valuable because of human morals and ethics. Morality forms the basis of relationships among people. Human morality has no use in relation to just one person; it applies when there are two or more people. Social ethics derive from the family formed through the marriage of a man and a woman. Ethics provide the way and laws of human relationships. (136-208, 1985.12.29)
It must be shown that there is a system of vertical order in accordance with the heavenly way, formed from the principles of creation of the sun, moon and stars in the universe. This system of vertical order appears within the family as the grandparents, parents and children. The horizontal order of brothers and sisters is created, and a corresponding sense of values and norms simultaneously emerges. (122-304, 1982.11.25)
We must establish a new tradition that transcends races and nations. We must establish the foundation for that tradition in accordance with God’s desire rather than our own. It means you should not hold yourself to your habits, previous customs, or current trends. You should know that this is totally different. When you observe the world of nature, you will see that everything exists in harmony. Everything is natural, in harmony and has no sign of awkwardness. Everything is made to become attractive and to be a stimulating force. If something is disliked, it will not draw any attention. (66-299, 1973.5.16)