csg-10-02-a-perspective-on-the-family

Section 1. What Is an Ideal Family?

1.1. Why is the family valuable?

The family is the starting point where God’s ideal can be manifested, as well as the happiness of humanity. It is the place where all individuals can have their efforts brought to fruition, and where all of God’s work is fulfilled. Why is the family good? It is because the family is the base for all free activities based on parental love. (Blessed Family -934)

An ideal family is a place where a God-centered eternal parental love; eternal conjugal love; and eternal filial love can be found. (90-201, 1977.1.1)

Everyone must have a family. A family is composed of parents, children, and their possessions. What entities can manifest the substantial horizontal development of the vertical history of the Old, New, and Completed Testament Ages? The creation, the children and the parents – that is to say, parents, their children, and their possessions. Each one of them is required in order to form a family. (29-157, 1970.2.27)

The ideal of the Unification Church does not lie elsewhere. The beginning as well as the conclusion is in the family. Until now, not one person has been able to solve the problem of human happiness, and that is why it has been sought after more than ever. Since happiness lies there, and because it has proved its infinite value in its systematized and universalized form, Unificationism came to be officially recognized. Therefore, if everyone in the world without exception comes to bow their heads and admit that they like this ideology, the world will automatically achieve unity. (26-103, 1969.10.18)

The sixty-six books of the Bible all express the hope for ideal families. What is it that men desire? It is to be married to an ideal wife. If there is any man who claims that is not the case, he cannot claim to be a man. The most fervent desire of women since their birth is to meet ideal husbands. No matter how great a woman is in the world, no matter whether she is a college graduate or holds a doctorate, her greatest desire would be to meet an ideal man. It would be to meet an ideal man whom she can love, and with whom she can have beloved sons and daughters. This is the root of happiness. Since the doctrine of the Unification Church has been deeply embedded in such a family, no one would be able to remove it. (26-103, 1969.10.18)

Where is the Kingdom of Heaven first established? It first emerges in our families. Then what term can be given to our belief? It is the Way of the Family. We actually advocate a cosmos-centered ideology (cheonju-ju-ui); the Chinese character for cheon ( 天) means heaven and that for ju ( 宙) means home. Hence, this cosmos-centered ideology is an ideology centered on the heavenly home. I need to provide a detailed explanation in order to clarify the meaning of the word “cosmos.” (26-103, 1969.10.18)

The family is a miniature nation grounded within a small social unit. It is a miniature nation, world, and cosmos. Therefore you cannot do anything if you abandon your family. The Unification Church is great in that it teaches people these things about the family. (24-230, 1969.8.17)

The family is the everlasting origin and base. This fact cannot be changed by the father or the elder brother, indeed, by any system in the nation or the world. Furthermore, this fact cannot be changed by heaven and earth, or even by God Himself. That is why the word “revolution” will never have any meaning for the family. (25-87, 1969.9.30)

The most important times in a person’s life are in the moments of birth, marriage, and death. Then how should one be born? They should be born well, or as we would say in the Unification Church, be born through the bond of heart. The next important moment is that of marriage. We marry in order to live a full life. Simply put, we marry in order to achieve the four-position foundation. Only when such public laws of the universe are established on earth can God’s will, as well as the will of humankind, be fulfilled. The family is the place where we can find the structure and contents required by these universal law. (24-230, 1969.8.17)

The world develops resembling the structure of a family. This always holds true no matter what state the world is in. The ideal world of the future, therefore, must be established based on the trinity of the family. Then what is the purpose of Creation? It is to complete the four-position foundation. Since human beings need to complete the four-position foundation, everyone should marry and form a family. Human beings must take after God, and a society based on human beings must take after them, centering on God. I founded the Unification Church in order to make this come true. The whole world should already have developed to such a state, but it is not the case yet. However, through such principles, the world can ultimately come to resemble human beings centered on God. An ideal world is where the whole world is molded in the image of an ideal person. It is a world that transcends nations and races. (26-190, 1969.10.25)

The family is the horizontal foundation in the form of a miniature world. From the family stems the nation and the world. What is the family? The family is the horizontal miniature of the world and is the objective standard to the absolute center. Then what are individuals? They are the stepping-stones on which the absolute center can reside. (26-258, 1969.11.9)

The absolute authority to judge this world cannot be bestowed on an individual alone. It needs to be bestowed on a true family. What would Satan attack first? It would be the family. That is why if you have formed a family but failed to unite into one, the family breaks up. A break-up between father and son, husband and wife, and indeed, the whole family, will result. A person who has formed a family only to see it break up later is scarred with a wound that cannot be healed for eternity. No amount of consolation would do that person any good. (30-85, 1970.3.17)

We need to become parents, husbands and wives, and brothers and sisters united within the family that God has yearned for. (24-306, 1969.9.7)

Why is the family good? It is because the family provides an environment in which you can share love with each other freely. That is why people miss their hometown and their home, where their parents and siblings live. (38-328, 1971.1.8)

When the father is pleased, the whole family is pleased; when the mother is pleased, the whole family is pleased; and even when the child is pleased, again the whole family is pleased. The family is where the whole universe can experience joy simultaneously. (30-85, 1970.3.17)

You need to gain control of your body and mind and become a perfected individual. Then the husband and wife need to become one in order to form a perfected family. (30-246, 1970.3.24)

When the mother and father become as one, that family can develop further, and when the children and parents become as one, that family can flourish on a higher level. Then what will happen if families unite with their relatives? Then a new spirit among the people will emerge. When they seek to attain yet a higher level, they will bring about the unity of the entire nation, and will be remembered forever as a clan of loyal patriots. (74-313, 1975.1.1)

A family of God’s Kingdom cannot be formed forcibly; rather, it happens naturally where there is joy. Even when loving, one should not strive merely to receive; ideal love is established only when there is giving and receiving between the two. (66-123, 1973.4.18)

A happy family is one in which the husband comes home after work and discusses with his wife everything that happened to him during the day, and plans new areas to pioneer with her. A happy family is one that strives continuously to discover new things. When parents set such an example, the children want to contribute too; they will gladly align themselves to making such a family. (29-113, 1970.2.25)

The true family is the place where a husband sacrifices for and loves his wife as his mother, and where a wife sacrifices for and loves her husband as her father. Also, they should love each other as younger sister and older brother respectively. Heaven is where ideal families live in a world where husbands and wives love and respect each other as they would God. Such a tradition should be established on earth. (Blessed Family -920)

The mother and father cannot become as one without love. Why do you like love? It is because you are destined to like it, even if you don’t want to. The greater love the mother and father have for each other rather than for themselves, the more ideal it would be. The bond of love is what binds the mother and father completely into one. Metal chains rust and finally break with time, but the bond of love is eternal. Parents and children cannot be bound together with food or money. It is only through the love between the parents and children that they can be bound together. (18-329, 1967.8.13)

A family formed on a foundation that cannot be affected by the elements of revolution would not be absorbed by any philosophies’ or ideologies. Rather, that family would control and surpass them. A family with such a standard would be eternally unchanging, even after decades, centuries, and millenniums, and would maintain the form of a race and nation. (25-87, 1969.9.30)

What would be inside a package of love? When you unwrap the package of love after reaching the homeland, an ideal husband or ideal wife would come out. Moreover, that package would contain a pouch filled with blessings from which would spring out an ideal family. Out of that pouch would come the highest level of restoration. Consequently, the individual, family, tribe, race, nation and world would all be at this highest level. If everyone were in such a state, no one would be above or below anyone else. Therefore the brothers and sisters as well as the family itself would be restored. In order to lay such a foundation for unity, a package of love, like a treasure chest, is required. (19-295, 1968.3.10)

1.2. The family gives birth to the love for society, nation, and humanity

Once your mind and body are united centered on God, circular motion manifests in all sorts of forms and figures. That is why the older sibling must love the younger, following the example of their parents loving them. In a family that is united into one in love in that way, the love within the family blossoms. Then that love becomes the love within a society, and then the love within a nation. In this way, it later becomes the love of the whole world. However, these days, these things have become very much obscured. (28-170, 1970.1.11)

How should love be between siblings? Based on what standard should they love each other? Siblings should love one another as their father and mother love them. From whom should they learn to love? They should learn from their parents. (66-120, 1973.4.18)

Ideal love is realized in the family. However, God could not have true sons and daughters. As there were no true brothers and sisters or husband and wife, He could not become their Parent. Therefore, it is God’s will to fulfill all these things. Only at such a place would love dwell. People would abandon everything they have in the world to find their way to the place where such a love could be found. (19-314, 1968.3.17)

What is true love? It is parental love, conjugal love, and filial love put together. Without a tradition of sacrificing for each other, love cannot last for a long time and would disappear. Since parents sacrifice themselves for their children, the bond of love they have for their children cannot break. The sons and daughters who grew up receiving true love from their parents can only be filial to them. When the husband and wife try more and more to live sacrificially for each other, thinking in their hearts, “You have lived for my sake,” their family will receive blessings from heaven. Such families are the dwelling place sought after by God. (43-323, 1971.5.2)

Who is the most valuable in a family? The children are not the most valuable. Then in a given family, who is of the highest value? It is the parents. Take yourself as an example. Authority, knowledge, honor and money may be precious to you, but none of them are more valuable than your parents. Next in value would be your spouse and finally your children. Is there in fact anything more valuable than your parents, spouse or children? No, there is no such thing. Then why do we value our parents, spouse and children so highly? It is because we have love for them. Parental love is absolutely necessary for the children. Conjugal love is absolutely necessary between a husband and wife. The sibling love between brothers and sisters, and filial piety toward parents, are also absolutely necessary in a family. (Blessed Family -915)

Who do you like most in your family? Your parents, right? Why do you like them the most? It is because they are in the closest position among those with whom you can sustain a love relationship throughout your entire life. The one you love next best would be your spouse. If the love shared in the relationship between a husband and wife is not a conditional love, but an unconditional love, then that love would be the best thing in a family, bringing happiness and harmony. This is the case even if that love may not be directly related with the eternal love of God. Finally, there is filial love for the parents. If children can sacrifice for and love their parents in a bright and positive manner, while longing for an ideal environment in which they can bloom as the hope of the future, their love will be a pure and sincere contribution to the their own happiness. A family in complete possession of the true parental love, true conjugal love, and true filial love will be the most ideal in the world. (Blessed Family -914)

In a family, who is at the center? The person who is the oldest member of the family, that is, if the great grandfather is still living, he would be the center of the family. If the other members of the family choose to ignore him, just because he will soon pass away, it would be the same as ignoring the vertical world. Even if he became senile, he should still be the center of that family. As such, he should be the first to be served at mealtime. Even if your father were the president of that nation, your grandfather should still be served first. This is because the son represents the horizontal position. (34-242, 1970.9.13)

Where does unhappiness stem from? It first starts with the loss of the love nest. A happy family is where the children live with and attend their parents, who safeguard the household. A family where the parents, who represent God, are attended as the upper level, while on the horizontal level two strangers representing two separate families come together in union as husband and wife, bound together in love, abiding by the heavenly principle and carrying on the family line, is such a family. (19-305, 1968.3.10)

A family must have parents, spouse and children. Only then can that family provide the grounds for happiness. It cannot be doubted that the purpose for God’s yearning for humankind is to find His own happiness. In His search for the basis of happiness, God cannot fulfill this ideal without human beings. Only when He forms a relationship with humankind can He have a place of emotional harmony. Just as we feel joy when we are emotionally content in our own homes, God wishes to feel the same from such a position. (32-198, 1970.7.15)

Even if a person has everything he could ever desire in this world, and is singing with joy, these external things cannot bring about happiness. They could be the conditions to find happiness, but they cannot be happiness itself. Then what would determine whether you feel happiness or not? In order to feel happiness, you need to have loving parents, a spouse, and children. Not one person on earth can deny this truth. If a person has fulfilled only one of those conditions, he would not be able to help but feel sad and discontent proportionate to what is missing. (21-140, 1968.11.17)

What was God’s ideal for the first human ancestors? It was for man and woman to come together in union to form an ideal family. The center of an ideal family would be neither the man nor the woman. A family is a unit connected to each other by the bond of parent to child and the bond of a husband and wife, all centered on God’s love. Therefore, we can conclude that God’s will is to perfect a family centering on His love. (Blessed Family -301)

The ideal family is the place where the parents, children, husband and wife, and brothers and sisters desire to unite into oneness based on true love. From such a place the eternal global equalization begins, and consequently, the God’s Kingdom on earth, followed automatically by God’s Kingdom in heaven. (300-226, 1999.3.14)

As God is the original substance of true love, when one gets connected to true love everyone becomes part of one body. Parents are gods living in God’s stead on earth, husband and wife are mutual counterpart gods, and sons and daughters are little gods. A family structure comprising three generations centering on true love in this manner is the basis of the Kingdom of Heaven. Without achieving such a foundation, the kingdom cannot be established. The family is the center of the universe. The perfection of the family is the basis for the perfection of the universe, and so if there is love in a family and love for the universe, you can freely go anywhere. In this case, God stands in the combined central position of love as the Parent of the whole universe. (298-306, 1999.1.17)

Man’s love, woman’s love, son’s love, daughter’s love, parents’ love and God’s love are all included in the original ideal family foundation. Whoever loves their parents, spouse and children in such harmonized circumstances leads a heavenly life. (Blessed Family -946)

There is a saying to the effect, “All is well if there is harmony within the family.” If peace reigns in a family everything will go well. A perfected family is the family of peace which forms the basis of God’s Kingdom. The driving force of a family is true love. Loving God more than yourself and loving your spouse more than life itself; true love is such pure and beautiful love. God did not create a force greater than the power of true love in the universe. True love is God’s love. (219-118, 1991.8.28)

A human being should be part of a parent-child relationship, as well as a husband and wife and sibling relationships. These three relationships should meet at one point. There can be only one central point. That means the central point of upper and lower, left and right, and front and rear should be one and the same. If the central point is different for each of them, the balance of the three relationships would be broken. In the end, seven points, composed of above, below, left, right, front, rear, and finally the central point, would be formed. The significance of fulfilling the number seven is that the seven points have become as one in perfected true love, centering on God, thus achieving a perfect sphere forming a family that manifests harmony and peace. (287-21, 1997.8.10)

Section 2. The Family Is the Basic Unit of Heaven

2.1. Family is the cornerstone of God’s Kingdom on earth and in heaven

Heaven must be established from the family. Since Jesus couldn’t form a family, he could not enter heaven, but instead is in paradise. Paradise is like the waiting room you have to pass through before entering heaven. Hell came into existence because of the Fall. God did not create it from the beginning. (21-199, 1968.11.20)

The four-position foundation is the cornerstone of God’s Kingdom on earth and in heaven. One individual cannot establish it by himself. Accordingly, Jesus cannot establish it alone; the Holy Spirit must descend. (13-67, 1963.10.17)

The starting point of heaven is not the individual or nation. It is the family. That is why Jesus will descend to earth in his quest for a bride. Is an individual the starting point of heaven? No, the family is the starting point. (30-83, 1970.3.17)

The family is the basic unit in building God’s Kingdom. Once you enter God’s Kingdom, you would never want to leave, because “the One” with whom you want to meet tens and even hundreds of times dwells there. If all humankind had a common desire to enter there, and wanted to meet and live with Him, the world could be unified right away. The Unification Church is heading towards that destination. However, that cannot be established all at once. First the foundation of the individual must be laid, followed by the foundation of the family, expanded into the tribe, nation, and world. (12-180, 1963.4.1)

The Kingdom of Heaven in a family is established when man and woman are completely united. The individual heaven is realized when mind and body form oneness. Husband, wife and children should be united centering upon God’s will in the heavenly kingdom. The heavenly kingdom in the family has all of humankind as its focus, and the center of its will is God. Therefore, the heavenly kingdom in the family is to be realized where a family lives for humankind, centering upon God. We have to work not just for God alone, but for all humankind centering on Him. He desires to establish such a family. Unless this is done before restoring the world, humankind, nations, and families cannot be saved. You must understand that Blessed Families were established in order to make such families. (100-310, 1978.10.22)

The four-position foundation in the Unification Principle refers to the domain of three-generational love. When three generations live together happily in harmony, the ideal of creation is realized. Of course, husband and wife should love each other. In addition, they should pray for their children with love and take sincere care of them in order to create a happy and harmonious family. When this is accomplished vertically through three generations and connected horizontally through brothers and sisters, then perfect love is established. Even cousins and second cousins should become as one in love to form the perfect spherical shape of love. (Blessed Family -947)

The family and God’s Kingdom are the same in form. There are parents, husband and wife, children, and brothers and sisters in a family. The family can be united through love. On this foundation, unification can be established, life can be connected, and the ideal can be realized in a family. Therefore, you become qualified to enter God’s Kingdom when you can respect conjugal and parental love. Grandparents bequeath love to parents and the parents bequeath love to their children. If any one of these fails to happen God’s Kingdom cannot be established. You should love your parents more than your spouse and you should love your grandparents more than your parents. This motto is the core and the ideal of God’s Kingdom. (Blessed Family -946)

What is the world of God’s ideal of creation? It is where God’s Kingdom on earth and in heaven is established through the realm of true parents. God’s Kingdom is established only through the foundation of love. No one has received the love of true parents in the fallen world; there is no trace of it. The same is true for the spirit world, because there has been no one who experienced the love of true parents on earth before passing away. In the original family foundation, the love of a man, woman, son, daughter, parents and God are all included. Whoever loves their parents, spouse and children in such harmonized circumstances leads a life of heaven. (Blessed Family -946)

Where is the Kingdom of Heaven? It doesn’t just drop from the sky. It is the place where we develop a living tradition of giving and receiving between the father, mother and children. It is where we experience complete joy in utilizing the creation in our daily lives to create an ideal environment. (Blessed Family -945)

I feel that from now on I should teach you the code of conduct for Blessed Families, the code you should follow as you lead a life as families of God’s Kingdom. Those who are walking the course of restoration have someone to teach them based on the Principle, and so should learn from them. The age in which I myself take responsibility for such problems has already past. Each and every one of the families needs to be set in order. The Unification Church is a family-based organization. That means we place families first. In the past, individuals were considered the most important but now we must prioritize the family over them. (22-334, 1969.5.11)

The day that humanity meets the Messiah will come only after passing through the Ages of the Word and the Substance. Only after that day has arrived can humanity begin life in the Kingdom of Heaven. By that time, you will have to attain such a state that his mind, heart and state can become your mind, heart, and state, so that his difficulties and his sufferings can also be your own. Only when you attain such a state and feel that his heart and mind is one with your heart and mind can you become families of the Kingdom of Heaven. Only when this is completed on earth can the families of the Kingdom of Heaven be established. (19-251, 1968.1.15)

Where does the life of the Kingdom of Heaven begin? It begins in the family, not in any other place. The Kingdom of Heaven is the dimensionally expanded version of the family; it does not appear outside the realm of the family. Hence, when you embrace your spouse, you need to think that all the men and women of the world are becoming as one. The family is the place where you can make the conditional offering of loving all humanity. (30-83, 1970.3.17)

The Kingdom of Heaven is established based on the family. You should never forget to maintain your dignity as Blessed Families. (21-77, 1968.10.20)

In the future, the Sunday service of the Unification Church should be in the format of a report, not a sermon. The contents of the report should be about something a family can be proud of. Therefore, the whole family would need to attend the service. In this way, the other families can model themselves after the exemplary families and be guided by them to the right path. In such a manner we can establish the heavenly kingdom for the family, on earth. You should bear in mind that before this is done God’s Kingdom on earth cannot be established. (23-63, 1969.5.11)

The reason I’m not currently constructing any church buildings is because I have plans of my own. The number of people in the church is not important. The Kingdom of Heaven does not begin from the church; it originates from the family, that is, the bride and groom. Woman was born to meet man, and vice versa. When a baby wakes up, it looks for its “mama.” The husband should call his wife more than the baby calls its mother. A person who fails to do so is truly pitiable. The wife should also call her husband more than he does her. They should become such a couple. As husband and wife enjoying the happiness of conjugal harmony, they should call out to each other all the time. If they can live in such a manner forever, they would not envy the young even when they grow old. In the future, I will arrange a world tour for those blessed couples that reach the age of eighty. (23-55, 1969.5.11) Just like in the early days of our church, you should form a household that can make your friends exclaim, “Hey, I like this place better than my own home. Here, boiled barley and gruel tastes better than food in my own home. Let me stay one more night!” Your family must make your friends and visitors want to abandon their own homes to live in yours. Only then can your family belong to God’s Kingdom. (16-328, 1966.7.31)

The Kingdom of Heaven of husband and wife is established only when a couple becomes one based on God’s love. No one can dissolve that union and it will never separate into two. What kind of love did you find? If you found God’s love, your mind and body should be in complete oneness so that His love can dwell in you. In this way, the heavenly kingdom for a married couple and for the family can be established. When a father and mother are in a complete union of love and the children have their own spouses to love just as their parents loved each other, family heaven can be realized. When parents become plus and children become minus, the heavenly kingdom in the family appears. (Blessed Family -943)

In a married couple, what should the husband do? He should be involved with church activities. The wife should deal with material matters. This is what they are supposed to be responsible for in their daily lives. Then what should they do as a family? The father, mother and children should be united. From there family heaven can come into existence. Therefore, in order to establish God’s Kingdom based on love, the four-position foundation needs to be fulfilled. (26-101, 1969.10.18)

2.2. The family is the training ground for true love

The cosmos-centered ideology is for the sake of achieving mind-body unity. It is to establish the family as the embodiment of God’s love, and to implement these ideas in the spiritual and physical worlds. The Chinese character for ju ( 宙) in cheon-ju (cosmos) means “house.” That’s why the term “cosmos-centered ideology” is being used. The cosmos is the combination of the incorporeal and corporeal worlds. How does this relate to us? We need a family. If you cannot achieve oneness on the family level, the cosmos-centered ideology will have nothing to do with you. The God-centered family is the ultimate standard to complete the ideal about which such a cosmos-centered ideology teaches. If you cannot sing the song of peace and praise happiness in the family on earth, you will be unhappy in the spirit world. (26-190, 1969.10.25)

Love continues eternally. It is the greatest aspiration. That is why everyone in the world desires to inherit it with open arms. By leaving behind such a love on earth, you can justly advance into the presence of God when you enter the spirit world. The family is the place where you can attain such a love. Entering the Kingdom of Heaven through the family is none other than establishing the realm of oneness of love. (Blessed Fam-

ily - 937) If there is a heaven, there must be an earth, and if there is a heaven and an earth, there must be a man and woman representing them. In the family resides the standard of heart where the two can be united in all dimensions. Such a family is the absolute standard for the world of God’s purpose; it can overcome any difficult circumstance. That is where the foundation for a new history, new world and new cosmos is laid. (25-148, 1969.10.3)

The cosmos-centered ideal should be realized on the foundation of the family. The cosmos is the totality of heaven and earth. The two are like mind and body in a human being. Mind and body should become as one. One subject partner needs one object partner; likewise, one man needs one woman. The union of a man and woman will create a family. (26-189, 1969.10.25)

A family is the ethical foundation of the society and is the exemplary, fundamental and primary organization. In such a family, love becomes the most accurate measurement of value. (Blessed

Family - 930) How should we measure the value of humanity? We should place more value in the state of an individual’s heart rather than the state of the world. Therefore, to love the world you need to love individual people. You should love them as a man loves his wife and vice versa. (Blessed Family -929)

In order to become God’s child, you need to take after His heart. His heart is embedded in the world. Therefore you must love every single person in the world. If you cannot love them because they are far away, then love their nation, tribe, family or parents. This is because the parents represent God, the husband and wife represent Adam and Eve, and the children represent all humanity. (24-307, 1969.9.7)

What is the ideal world? Being colorful is more ideal than being of one color. In that sense, which is more ideal, the five races living in unity together or living separately? Living together would be more ideal. Therefore, we have to rebuild everything that does not follow the ideal way. Do you think God wants me to rebuild all these things or not? God supports such people. Therefore, you should inherit God’s heart and the True Parents’ tradition and focus on how to expand the bond of heart of the heavenly family which loves humankind. (Blessed Fam-

ily - 928) Raise your hand if you like old grandfathers and grandmothers. What about those who don’t like them? I see many of your hands are down. If you were to take care of 500-year-old grandparents, what would you do? Would you still like them? To love older people is to love God, because God is the oldest being in the universe. If you love God you should be able to love everyone regardless of age, whether they are the youngest, uncles, grandfathers or sons. That is to say, you need to love God’s family. His family includes Japanese, Korean, American, and people of all nationalities. People with racial prejudice do not love God’s family. Racial prejudice cannot exist in the ideal world. Isn’t that true? When children who have received love from their parents go out and meet people of their parents’ age, they will feel very close and will try to talk with them and help them. When people who have a beautiful relationship with their siblings go out into society, they will easily get along and have close relationships with the people they meet. They will feel natural even in their relationships with the opposite sex. They would see the opposite sex as their brothers and sisters without any sexual desires or unsound ideas. God’s Kingdom on earth is realized through families in which you are able to experience such love relationships centering upon God. (Blessed Family -927)

Life together with grandparents, parents and children is a sound family life. If one of those generations is missing from a family, it is deprived of something. When ideal families are established, those families should serve as the building blocks for God’s Kingdom on earth. We have the mission to establish ideal families on earth. People who have experienced the deep love of grandparents in their family relate well with society. For example, they will feel very close to the elderly folk on the streets of New York, and in turn these senior citizens will treat them as if they were their grandchildren. No matter what the circumstances, they will want to communicate with each other and share feelings of closeness. Young people who have served their grandparents will try to help elderly people right away, whenever they are in need of assistance. (Blessed Family -927)

The family that is composed of grandparents, parents and children is a miniature form of the world. The way for humankind to live is to expand the love for their family into love for humanity. You should consider and love old people as your grandparents, middle-aged people as your parents, people who look older than you as your older brothers and sisters, and people who look younger than you as your younger brothers and sisters. So the true person is the one who considers everyone as his or her family and whose heart can love the whole of humankind by transcending the barriers and boundaries in the world. Then you are truly qualified to love your father and mother. (Blessed Family -926)

Wherever you go you should not think of everyone you see as strangers. Instead, you should think of them as members of your family. When you see old people you should think of them as your own parents, and you should always be ready to weep with them and share their sadness if something happens to them. (16-314, 1966.7.31)

A true family is the place where a husband loves and lives for his wife as his mother, and a wife loves and lives for her husband as her father and brother. Next, the world where a husband loves his wife as God and a wife loves and respects her husband as God is the Kingdom of Heaven where ideal families reside. Such a tradition should be established on earth. You cannot abandon your siblings. You cannot abandon your mother. You cannot abandon anyone in your family. Therefore, the word “divorce” cannot exist. A husband represents the father and older brother, so a wife cannot abandon her husband any more than she can abandon her father and older brother. You have to love the world with such love. When you see a man who is the same age as your father, you should love him as your father, and when you see a woman the same age as your mother, you should love her as your mother. (Blessed Family -926)

Why does everyone have affection for their family? Because the family is the base for free action focused upon parental love. Likewise, God should also be able to act freely in the family. When society is composed of individuals who possess such a radiant nucleus of love regardless of their external appearance, God becomes free. Don’t you think so? When you visit someone else’s home as a guest, you feel uncomfortable, don’t you? Why is it? It is because there’s no bond of love with them. You feel awkward because that bond is not set up in all four directions. Therefore, our way is to become men and women of character. (Blessed Family -925)

The Unification Church regards God’s Kingdom as starting from within the realm of the tribe. When parents, siblings, cousins and second cousins become as one centering upon the grandfather, a perfect three generations are established. When this tribal domain of love becomes as one with God on earth, the whole world will be filled with God’s love, and become His Kingdom. When a woman marries, she has to serve her grand parents-in-law and parents-in-law in place of God and her husband. She also has to harmonize with the sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law. If such love relationships are extended to the society, nation and world, this world will be full of peace and love, instead of crime and war. This is God’s Kingdom, His ideal world. (Blessed Family -947)

Where is the center of the universe? It is the family. Where is the base for true love to settle? It is in your family. Therefore, the family of the original ideal is one that grasps the love of the universe and participates in the protection of the universe. Also, such a family applies the realm of love for the universe to the national level in order to walk the way of patriotism and finally, applies it to the world level. People who love their family are called filial sons or daughters, people who love their nation are called patriots, and people who love the world are called saints. (Blessed Family -925)

Because God is at the center of the family, this world should be His Kingdom. The Blessed Families should strive to lead a life that works toward building His Kingdom. A God-centered tribe, nation and world are established when we live for the sake of others on His behalf, so Blessed Families should be responsible for creating a God-centered world. The Unification Church centered upon the True Parents is like a tribe and race. The purpose of our church is to form a heavenly nation composed of five races in unity, which can live more for the sake of the world than anyone else. This is my purpose and it is God’s purpose that He desires to accomplish through me. (Blessed Family -947)

The family is the representative training ground that educates people in love for humanity. It is the representative environment for establishing the center of heart. If you trust each other and lead a happy family life, you will stand as the center of the whole universe and be blessed with happiness. That is the beginning point of the ideal domain. Beings without love have no meaning to their existence. (Blessed Family -925)

The family is created to be the textbook for life in heaven. If you can love every person who is your grandfather’s age as your own grandparent, you will surely enter heaven. If you can love every person who is your parents’ age as your own, there will be no boundaries for you in the spirit world. If you can consider all the young people in the world as your own children, you will be able to visit any place in heaven. Even though there are twelve pearl gates leading up to heaven, you will be able to pass through all of them. The family is the teaching material through which you can relate to the whole Kingdom of Heaven. In other words, it is the textbook. (Blessed Family -924)

In a family, parents should completely inherit the vertical axis of love and align themselves to it. Next, the husband and wife are to relate horizontally at an angle 90 degrees to that axis. The standard is the same for a nation. The axis of love exists in only one place. That is why although the family is small in itself; it extends to the tribe, nation and world centering upon this axis. The ideal realm comes into existence when these lesser or greater relationships with the central axis continues to expand in all directions. Consequently, the work I am doing at present involves righting that axis in order to unify the world. In order to achieve this, Father should occupy the position of the prince of all ideologies. He will obtain this position not by exercising force but by digesting with love. (Blessed

Your families represent the sovereignty of God’s Kingdom. The parents stand on behalf of this sovereignty. The children stand in the stead of the citizens, and the material possessions represent the land of that kingdom. Subsequently, being filial to one’s parents is the same as being loyal to one’s nation, and also leads one to fulfill one’s duties as a saint. At present, the family has become the origin of many disgraceful acts, but God hopes that the family will be transformed into sanctified ground. Therefore, the mission to save corrupted families in the fallen realm lies with us. Though families worldwide are shattering, we are not in a position to abandon them. (35-306, 1970.10.30)

Section 3. The Ideal and Value of True Family

3.1. True parents, true couples, and true children

God is the vertical parent who has true love for humankind. There is only one such vertical and perpendicular relationship. It is absolute. There cannot be two such relationships. If the vertical Parent were left standing alone, He would collapse. Therefore, the horizontal parents need to be found and connected to the vertical Parent. To go into more detail, the Creator is the vertical Parent of true love, and the created Adam and Eve are in the position of His children, as well as the horizontal parents. Adam and Eve are His substantial embodiments. When they are giving and receiving at the place where they resonate together in union, a central point comes into existence and the center of that couple’s realm of resonance is established. This is the origin of life from which you were born. (183-40, 1988.10.29)

The vertical Father requires a horizontal father that can unite with Him. Why? He is needed to create a sphere. A being cannot just form a sphere on its own. A sphere comes into existence only when front and back and left and right are connected relative to the vertical and horizontal. Only when a sphere is formed can you harmonize with others and not live a self-centered life. The universe revolves on its axis; it is in an objective position to, and revolves centering on the great axis of the universe, God. That is why it is standing on the same level. Therefore, there is only one creative true love of God in the universe. There is only one axis. There cannot be two. (182-143, 1988.10.16)

Existing theologies depict the Creator as a divine being and created human beings as essentially inferior and secular. They treat the whole of humanity as sinners. However, this perception is wrong. God created humankind because of love. If God were the owner of the vertical love only, the children conceived by Him would maintain just a single vertical line. He would not be able to have them expand horizontally. On account of this, He is not the one who would give birth to His children. Instead, He would have them born through true parents. The couple standing in the position of the parents of horizontal true love is the True Parents. They possess the horizontal love at a right angle to the vertical love of God, the True Parent. That is why the love of both parents is necessary. On the one side stands the Parent who is the Creator, and on the other side stand the physical True Parents, the object partners of God, who were created in pursuit of the ideal. That is why God is in the position of the spiritual Parent and the True Parents are in the position of the physical Parents. In this way, human beings were supposed to be born connected to both the vertical love and horizontal love. (182-258, 1988.10.23)

Why should you give birth to children? It is so that you may experience the inner heart of God the joy and delight He felt at the time of the creation of Adam and Eve. That is why those who have not experienced childbirth may fail to appreciate their parents, their husband or wife. That is how they will end up. They may have loved in the past and in the present, but they cannot expand in the future. The grandparents represent the past, the parents the present, and the children the future. The family is where these three can unite as one. (216-192, 1991.3.31)

Eve is the external bride of God. Then why did God create Adam and Eve? It was for reproduction. It was to multiply His descendants. What would He achieve by multiplying His descendants? By doing so, He would be multiplying the citizens of the vast heaven. Would reproduction be possible in the spirit world? It is not possible because God’s love is vertical, and comes down as one line. God’s love is a vertical path that reaches only one point. Since it comes down the one single vertical path, there is no way for reproduction to take place on that vertical line. He created Adam and Eve as the horizontal basis of reproduction and foundation of love. Since they stand on the horizontal plane, they revolve from East to West. A 180-degree plane stretches out infinitely. Consequently, reproduction can take place in all directions. Reproduction is necessary in order to create those who can be born and grow on this vast horizontal plane before passing to the spirit world as the eternal citizens of heaven. Reproduction takes place on earth. This is because reproduction is possible only through the physical bodies of men and women. Babies cannot be born in the spirit world. (213-265, 1991.1.21)

The citizens of God’s Kingdom are not born in the spirit world. For what purpose did God create physical beings? It was to multiply the citizens of heaven. Without physical bodies, reproduction cannot take place. Vertical love reaches only one point. It is only when this love revolves based on the horizontal foundation that a sphere covering 360 degrees can come into existence. There is plenty of space to live within that sphere. This is how God’s children can be born on earth. Therefore, it is not a misfortune to have many sons and daughters born on earth. The more children are born on earth, the more citizens of God’s Kingdom there will be. What God desires is to fill up the limitless universe. There should not be an empty spot in its vastness. He needs more citizens in order to achieve this. (218-130, 1991.7.14)

What is the starting point? It is the right of the true parents, true king and true firstborn son. These are the foundations which Adam and Eve should have built and stood upon. These three make up the principal palace of God. At that place would be His palace and His love. When human beings and the Creator are connected as one, the foundation of true love would be laid. The starting point of this union is the center of God. It is the original foundation for the perfected family of Adam and the palace where God can dwell forever. (218-189, 1991.7.28)

What is it that our hearts desire when we human beings wake up in the morning? The moment we wake up we do not worry about what we will have for breakfast, or the work we have to do that day, or the problems of the whole world. Instead, we desire to cherish an unchanging heart full of love night and day, all year round and for our whole lives. This is the place where such men and women can form a perfect horizontal unity and be connected to the vertical God at 90 degrees. It is the place where human beings can be united with God in love and form the ideal realm of love. For this, God created heaven and earth. (213-157, 1991.1.20)

What were the means by which you were born? Based on the original ideal of creation that is God’s love, the lives of your mother and father, who are earthly beings created through love, were completely exhilarated and intoxicated in love, thereby becoming one united body, and this is how you were born. What drew them to come into union? It was the complete assimilation of man and woman through love. Their cells were full of excitement and stimulation. You were born based on the love of your parents, inheriting one life and lineage. Therefore, the being that is “I” is the fruit of the love of your parents. You are the fruit of parents’ love. (213-157, 1991.1.20)

The fundamentals of God’s principles of creation are that women were born for men and men were born for women. They were born for each other, and the center of their lives is their spouse. They were not born for themselves. To a husband, his wife is the center and to the wife her husband is the center. They were not born on account of themselves. They did not come into this life to live for their own sake. For what purpose did God create the universe? If everyone realized that it was for love, how peaceful and close we would feel towards the universe. On that basis, because God has absolute love, His object is sure to live forever. That is the most precious thing of all. (215-300, 1991.2.21)

All the creation would appear beautiful in your eyes at the time of your marriage, just as it was when God created the universe. The whole of creation, including you, exists through love. When you realize this, then through that love the fundamental feelings God nurtured at the time of Creation can be re-created and shared with your partner and all forms of existence on earth, all united together as one. In other words, it is possible for you to experience the deepest feelings of God at the time of Creation. You are also a part of the creation who inherited every ideal conceived by God when He created the universe. If you were to pull true love towards yourself, heaven and earth would also be drawn towards you. Even the furthest things would be drawn to you if they were pulled by true love, and things nearby could be sent far away by the power of true love. (216-192, 1991.3.31)

Sons and daughters born in the world of the one culture are princes and princesses of the absolute God. In the palace of God, human beings are the princes and the princesses. This palace is centered upon God, the Creator. We are the royal family centered upon the King of kings, the Creator. (218-198, 1991.7.28)

Human sexual organs are gifts inherited from the Creator and the ancestors and have remained unchanged through the ages. They are precious gifts that our ancestors and even God Himself cannot interfere with. If one were to violate them, he would become the flesh and blood of the devil, destroying the principal palace of love, the center of the great way of the heavenly principle. The sexual organs are the principal palace of life, giving birth on the basis of eternal true love as God’s pure essence. They are also the origin of a new lineage. Why were the sexual organs created? They were given to you for the great cause of heaven and earth, for the great providential governance of the cosmos. (193-147, 1989.10.3)

At the time of Creation, God created man and woman with the sexual organs as their emblem. As result, that which controls the sexual organs is connected to all structural elements of the human body. For this reason, a man and woman unite as one in the act of making love and give birth to a child. What would happen during childbirth? Whom would the baby take after? The baby becomes attached to the mother’s nervous system so its own develops in a similar way. Can branches grow if there are no roots? The logic in this cannot be denied. When a man and a woman become excited during love-making, it is a principle that the mind and body unite into one. That is logical. Then through which organ can love, life and lineage can be connected continually through the generations? It is the sexual organs. What comes first, love or life? In this question lies the problem. Similar to the problems of the world today, which are caused by materialistic philosophy, and the questioning of whether it is the mind or the body that comes first, we also need to ask ourselves: What is more precious, love or life? This is the problem. What comes first? The order of importance must be determined. The answer is that love comes first. When God first established the ideal of creation, He did not do so centering upon Himself. Instead, it was centered upon love, and that is why He created the world of reciprocal relationships. This is logically correct. (193-145, 1989.10.3)

Where did men and women come from? As there is a Creator of the universe, they originated from Him. Then for what purpose did that Creator create men and women? It was for love. What love? True love. Then what is true love? True love is the love that is eternal and yet unchanging. No matter how much the era and the environment changes with time, true love will remain unchanged. Men and women were created to fulfill the ideal of true love, which is unique, eternal and unchanging. They were not created for themselves. Creation was initiated centered on God, who is the root of all. Therefore it can be said that the whole universe was created because of love. (213-156, 1991.1.20)

A true family that has matured through true love is the love nest of God. (173-166, 1988.2.14)

God’s grief is that He could not educate human beings to become true children, siblings, and couples. He could not teach them how to be true parents. (228-34, 1992.3.1)

3.2. The qualities of a true family

The Kingdom of Heaven is your homeland. You can go there after restoring the Four Great Realms of Heart and the Three Great Kingships. You will know this once you die. Even the greatest human beings would find themselves in trouble on account of this. So, you should quickly decide and receive the Blessing. Then when that time comes, you will not curse yourself saying, “I should have listened to the words of Rev. Moon!” That is the quickest solution. (239-76, 1992.11.23)

Satan ravaged the Four Great Realms of Heart and the Three Great Kingships. He brought the heavenly realm, the earthly realm and the future world to ruin, thereby destroying the kingships of the three worlds of past, present and future. That is why, in order for us to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, we need to become perfect embodiments of the Four Great Realms of Heart. We must become people who can receive the love of the royal family as the princes and princesses of love who will inherit the Three Great Kingships. It is the heavenly principle that such people enter God’s Kingdom. (239-74, 1992.11.23)

Since everything was lost through the Fall, when you meet your spouse as God’s representative, you will feel the heart of a daughter or younger sibling. Likewise, you will also come to feel the heart of a bride, a mother, and even new sons and daughters. For this reason, when people used to see Father, they wanted to make him their son. By restoring the realm of heart, you can judge what is right or wrong and what is good or evil, and thus return to God’s side. In this way, all resentments and grief can be appeased. That is how the realm of heart works. It cannot be helped. You need to form families of love. Let it be known that the Kingdom of Heaven is the place for members of a unified royal family that have experienced love as princes and princesses of God’s Kingdom, the realm of His love! Amen! While you are living on earth, you need to base your lives on this principle. Even when you pass on to the next world, you need to do your absolute best to follow this principle. During my whole life, I have never thought of anything other than this. (238-262, 1992.11.22)

When you return home you need to serve your grandparents as you would God. You need to serve your parents as if they were the king and queen; the center of the family. As the sons and daughters of such parents, you are the princes and princesses who are to inherit their respective duties while you are growing up. Once you have grown up, inherit the kingship of the future and lead the world. From now on, members of the Unification Church should consider these matters and keep in tune with such an order of love. When you have become the parents, mother, grandfather, or child of such a family, you will automatically enter God’s Kingdom. Heaven is the place for those who have experienced the love of the royal family of God’s Kingdom on earth. (221-309, 1991.10.26)

Members of the Unification Church are closer to each other than their own siblings. In this manner, in the world of the future, front and rear, husband and wife, left and right, and above and below need to unite as one. Above and below represent the duties of children towards parents, front and rear represent the duties between siblings, and left and right represent the duties between husband and wife. Once perfection is achieved in this way, you can then ascend to the level of God in the spirit world and become like Him. The only way to return to God is through true love, and nothing else. A true family represents the trained and perfected Adam’s family based on the heavenly standard. Once it extends across the world, it will bring about the unity of East and West, as well as man and woman. The object partner needs to unite as one with the subject partner, the man. Also front and rear, and above and below need to unite. In so doing, one unified world will undoubtedly result and everything in it will become perfected based on true love and the content (222-321, 1991.11.6.)

The course of human life is that of a wanderer. Considering this, what is it that we need? We need to experience what true love is. Due to the Fall, humanity could not receive the perfected parental love. So, based on true parental, true sibling, true conjugal, and true filial love, you need to form a family vertically related to God. You must create a horizontal environment, by extending your family into numerous families in all directions. Then these families become true families that can connect the vertical with the horizontal, and thereby expand to the realms of tribe, people, nation and world. That world connected through love will be God’s Kingdom! (139-212, 1986.1.31)

Filial love, the love between siblings, and parental love all need to spread. When these kinds of love are expanded and adopted by all, the family will become perfected in both heaven and earth, inheriting the spiritual and physical kingdoms. People who have lived in families that experienced God’s inner heart as well as the external substantial forms of Adam and Eve belong to the realm of the royal family of God’s Kingdom. Isn’t that simple? What I am saying is true. (240-17, 1992.12.11)

There is only one fundamental concept common to the three main ideals of true parents’ love, true teacher’s love, and true owner’s love. This is the concept of parents in a true family. Even I myself return home at night, don’t I? Even a nation’s president returns home at night. The school should be a place where a teacher possessing parental love teaches, and the president should be someone who governs a nation with parental love. (213-124, 1991.1.16)

What is true love? It is about giving more than one has and not expecting anything in return. What is patriotism? It is about sacrificing one’s life for the nation without expecting anything in return. A true husband is someone who is ready to give his life for the sake of his wife, time and again. True husbands, true wives, true children, true siblings, true parents, and a true family follow that path. Families in which the grandparents, parents, husband and wife, and children are all ready to do this will automatically have God dwell with them even if they tell Him not to. Why? Because they would resemble Him. (210-32, 1990.11.30)

You don’t need a lot of money. Money flows away, as does knowledge, and everything else. However, the tradition of the true family based on true love remains forever, even in the spirit world. This is the most precious thing of all. (215-160, 1991.2.17)

If Adam and Eve had fulfilled their responsibility as children, as siblings, as husband and wife, and parents, then their children would have been in a different situation. As it was, Adam’s children could not reach the realm of God’s love. If they had been the children of unfallen Adam, they would all have been connected horizontally and would have established God’s Kingdom on earth; instead, the vertical and the horizontal were not connected, and so it could not be established. That is why the sons and daughters need to inherit two kingdoms. Since they are destined to inherit God’s Kingdom in heaven and on earth – the vertical and horizontal kingdoms – and the lineages of the vertical and horizontal parents, the sons and daughters are eligible to inherit every internal aspect of the vertical Parents and every external aspect of the horizontal parents. Being a part of the royal family signifies leading the life of having inherited the two kingdoms. The fact that you have become the royal family would mean that you stand on the perfected foundation, and you can be accepted by both kingdoms at all times. (240-17, 1992.12.11)

The love of a mother and father can be said to be the flower that represents all men and women of the world, at the same time giving out fragrance and standing in the position of their fruit. They are the representatives. The mother and father represent the women and men of the world. Then who do their sons and daughters represent? They represent future generations of descendants who will become the billions of people that make up humankind. Therefore, the mother, father and child need to unite through God’s love, and exercise a love where those above live for the sake of those below them, and vice versa. It does not mean living for oneself. From the perspective of the original nature of God’s creation, it is living for the sake of others. (214-270, 1991.2.3)

The grandparents should conduct themselves as representatives of God, the parents as the president of the world, and the sons and daughters as the children of the king of the heavenly nation – that is, the princes and princesses. This characterizes the family ideal, and the original family of the love of God, the Creator. The family is the palace of God’s Kingdom, and its members represent the royal family of that kingdom. From the viewpoint of God, the grandfather is the representative of the princes and princesses of the past. Your parents are the representatives of the princes and princesses of all nations currently. Isn’t that so? Doesn’t everyone have such a desire? Everyone is the same. The children are the representatives of the future princes and princesses of the entire universe. It is our family that holds such great value. This is something to be proud of. That we are standing on the foundation of such a profound premise is truly precious. “I am proud of God.” When you say this, God would feel the same way about you. “I, as the central family, feel proud to be the representative family of the ideal husband and wife.” When you are ready to claim this, the whole cosmos including all things of the future will welcome you. Do you recognize the background underlying this historic family, this most-highly valued family? This structure of the ideal family was created by God. You need to advance to such a position. God stands in the position of the Grandfather. Anyone who comes into His presence should bow before Him. (216-299, 1991.4.14)

Loving and respecting the grandfather is the same as inheriting and learning about the world of the past. From the father we can learn about the present, and by loving and caring for one’s children, we can learn about the future. What we can inherit from the grandparents and parents is lineage and true love. We inherit true love. Although the grandparents are old, they are united through true love, as are the mother and father. So the children need to become like them and inherit the future from them. Unless you form a true family, you can never inherit the future world. Looking at these three generations in the family is the same as looking at the universe. The love of the universe lies in the true family that represents the whole history beginning with God, as well as the present and the future. In a true family, the grandmother, mother and older sister are loved by the other members of the family. The same is true in the animal kingdom, where the female and male are also loved; that is the situation of every creature in this world. What this indicates is that the family is the textbook from which you can learn the love of the universe. Without the grandmother, the family is unstable. The same is true of a family without a grandfather or either of the parents. Only when the family has all of its members present can it move directly to God’s Kingdom. The grandparents, parents, and children can all enter heaven as they are. The people who love the true grandparents, true parents, true children, true family, true nation and true universe can enter heaven. The model textbook is the family. If you learn to constantly reflect on God with such thoughts in your mind, your future would be assured. When you love God in your heart and you can say, “I love for the sake of the future,” then your future would be eternally blessed. (162-140, 1987.4.5)

Section 4. We Enter Heaven as a Family A family belongs to a nation, a nation belongs to the world and the world belongs to the universe. So if you love God, even though you had to abandon your family and nation for a higher purpose, you will still attain the posi- tion of having loved everything in the universe. That is why I teach all Unifi- cation Church members to live for the sake of the world and for God. If you can love the world and humankind as much

as you love me, you can enter heaven. (Blessed Family -954)

When we say Heavenly Father, we are saying that God is a Parent. If Adam and Eve not fallen, they would have become the king and queen of the heavenly nation, as well as the parents. They would have been the king and queen of God’s Kingdom and the universe. That’s why it is said that devoted, filial children and loyal subjects can enter heaven. When a woman serves her husband as God, lord and king, and leads a life of true love, she can enter heaven. In this way, it becomes logical that you cannot be welcome in heaven unless you love your parents, nation and world. (Blessed

Family - 954) What is the Fall? What are fallen children? Fallen children cannot deeply feel God as their Father. Their mind doesn’t have a concept of God. You should have the following experiences and realizations. Firstly, you should substantially feel, “I am born again and have inherited new life, and I am God’s child who leads a new life through the True Parents.” Secondly, you need to realize, “I am a qualified citizen of God’s Kingdom.” Thirdly, when you think of the nation and world, you should feel God’s love, and bear this thought in mind, “God has bequeathed this world to me, so as His child I have a right to possess this world.” (Blessed Family -953)

You cannot enter heaven alone. In this regard, a husband and wife need to achieve unity. In order to go through this process, one first needs Cain to be united with them. For this, an environment of Cain-Abel relationships is needed. Unification Thought teaches that you cannot be restored unless you have established a standard of unity between brothers and sisters before reaching the position as parents or couple. (Blessed Family -953)

If you cannot experience heavenly love on earth, you are not able to enter God’s Kingdom in the spirit world. Have you sincerely loved a Cain-type person? In order to go to the Kingdom of Heaven, your love should surpass the parental love and conjugal love of the satanic world. If the parents in the satanic world are able to die for the sake of their child, we should demonstrate a love that surpasses them. (Blessed Family -953)

Your mind and your life should overflow with God’s love and should let the love droplets fall continuously. When love overflows like this, there is hope, but if it dries up, you will perish with your family. People without love will be stricken out of the world of love. Such people are destined to be excluded from the world of the tradition of love. (Blessed

Family - 952) Only when you can respect parental love and conjugal love can you be qualified to enter heaven. You have to love your parents more than you love your spouse, and you have to love your grandparents more than you love your parents. This is the core teaching of heaven and the ideal motto. (Blessed Family -952)

What kind of people can enter heaven? Those who love their son more than God cannot enter Heaven and neither can those who love their wives or themselves more than God. (35-305, 1970.10.30)

I am Eu Hyo-won. As Father’s close disciple, I served for a long time as church president, and I wrote the Divine Principle, which became our worldwide scripture. I thought I would be in the top position in the spirit world. But when Father organized my trinity in the spirit world, with the hierarchy set in the order of Lee Ki-suk, Eu Hyo-won and Park Jong-gu, I was disappointed and so I complained. Father said, “The spirit world is the world of love where competition of intellect does not exist, only that of love. Lee Ki-suk has more love, and that is why he became the eldest in the trinity.” I could understand after listening to Father’s explanation. I have not yet entered heaven; I am still on the way. Thus far, my work for the church has inclined heavily towards intellect, but from now on both my wife on earth and I will focus on working with a loving heart. Heung-jin nim is currently in Heaven. He could not enter until he received the Blessing. Only after establishing the four-position foundation could he finally enter. The spirit world is the world of love. (Blessed Family -952)

A person leading a celibate life can never enter heaven. For such a person, heaven is the land of despair. A land of solitude still presents hope, but the land of despair presents no hope at all. (Blessed

Family - 951) How do you picture heaven? In a word, it is the living environment for a perfected person. If it is the place for a perfected person with true love, then what is such a person like? Humankind is composed of man and woman. When considering how the perfection of God’s ideal love can be achieved on earth, we can safely conclude that this ideal can only be achieved by a man and woman together. It can be perfected with a man and woman who together take initiative to practice perfect love from the core of their beings. (Blessed Family -951)

Who will build God’s Kingdom? Only couples who are thankful even as they walk the way of crucifixion for the will of God can do this. The gates of heaven can be opened only through the husband and wife who are an eternal and unchanging couple with absolute faith, absolute practice and absolute heart. (Blessed Family -951)

Considering that it is God’s desire for you to become exemplary families in this world of the enemy in accordance with His will, you should realize that you can only enter heaven as a family. (29-9, 1970.2.15)

You cannot go to heaven if you are single. The Blessing allows you to pass through the gates of heaven. It is a place where only families can be welcomed. The three generations of the family need to be connected in order to enter. The 70 family members of Jacob consist of three generations of his family. That is how they could enter Egypt. (12-266, 1963.5.25)

According to the original principle of creation, heaven is a place where only families can enter. You can only be happy when your parents, children, and members of your clan have all entered together. Could that place truly be called heaven if only the children were allowed and the parents ended up in hell? Therefore, in paving the way to heaven in the future, the Unification Church should first create the family standard. Otherwise, you will not be able to enter. Based on the family, you need to free yourself from all situations in which Satan can accuse you. In other words, you need to free yourself from all the historical and providential standards of accusation. (21-63, 1968.9.1)

You cannot go to the Kingdom of Heaven alone. There is no way you can enter it alone. Adam and Eve fell together and opened the gates of hell, and therefore you cannot go to the Kingdom of Heaven alone. That is why even Jesus could not go there; instead, he is in paradise. Jesus was supposed to enter the Kingdom of Heaven only after obtaining his bride. The Christians of today do not know about this, and say they will follow him. If they were to be true to their words, they would have to go and come back again. Unless you form a family and establish the foundation for the restoration of the family, you cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven. That is why the Unification Church is conducting the Blessing. (23-315, 1969.6.8)

The woman sinned first, and so the Holy Spirit who is female comes first in the form of the mother and cleanses the world of its sin, and then Jesus needs to come again as the bridegroom with a new seed. God’s purpose is to revitalize and recreate the world with humankind newly centered upon Him, as kinsfolk of the true parents of a new heaven and earth. Only when such a world comes into existence can it be said that everything has been done in accordance with His plan. If God who has been guiding His providence for six thousand years did not have a purpose, then there would be no need to believe in Him. (21-199, 1968.11.20)

What kind of place is the Kingdom of Heaven? It is a place prepared for a man and woman who together have formed a family centered on God. Jesus came to earth but he was crucified before he could receive his bride and so could not have any children. For two thousand years he has had to remain in paradise until this time, praying and having the Holy Spirit work on his behalf. (21-199, 1968.11.20)

God did not create the world in such a way that the husband could enter heaven while his wife went into hell. At the time of creation the main characters of the ideal, that is, the father, mother, and their children, were supposed to establish a tribe, race and nation. Shouldn’t it have been like that? However, the first human ancestors fell, and so hell came to exist. (16-33, 1965.12.26)

The heaven we speak of in the Unification Church is not a place one can enter alone; it is a place where the whole family resides together. According to God’s ideal of creation, do you think heaven is where the man and woman enter separately? Of course not. It is the place where they enter together. It is a place where, if the father were to enter, the mother should also enter, and if the parents were to enter, their children should also enter. Both the mother and father should enter heaven together; if the father entered heaven and the mother went to hell, could such a place be called heaven? From this perspective, the Unification Church is a truly historic religion. (34-209, 1970.9.6)

People who have not fallen will marry in holy matrimony in the bosom of God’s love during their life on earth, give birth to children beloved by God and have grandchildren who are a source of delight to Him. They will all receive God’s love and enter heaven together as a family. Could that place be called heaven if you enter it without your children? Paradise, on the other hand, is a place where the most loving husband and wife, parents or children enter separately. It is not related to the family in any way. Would such a place be heaven? Heaven is a place where the whole family can enter and have give-and-take with each other in attendance of God. If someone was being tormented in hell while his parents were residing happily in heaven, would that be right? Would such a place be heaven? (19-105, 1967.12.31)

You cannot enter heaven as an individual. When I looked into it, I found out that it is not the place of dreams dreamed up and believed in by Christians until now. Heaven is a place where one enters as a family. The whole family is supposed to reside in it together. It is a place for the family. The place where the father, mother, sons and daughters can live together in harmony serving God is the ideal world. However, if the father ended up in hell, the mother in heaven, the older sister in hell and the younger sibling in heaven, would you be happy even if you went to heaven? The Kingdom of Heaven is a place the whole family enters together. (22-271, 1969.5.4)

What is the secret to entering heaven? It is a place where an individual cannot enter alone. Only whole families may enter there. Not only that, you need to bring with you members of your tribe. Having many members in your tribe serving God on earth is truly a blessing. If in a family there were many children as well as abundant wealth, that family is said to be blessed. In this regard, in order to be blessed and enter heaven, one needs to go not as an individual, but as a member of a family. (22-168, 1969.2.2)

Section 5. The Family Pledge

5.1. Those who can recite the Family Pledge

The families who recite the Family Pledge should achieve mind and body unity. In principle, you could not recite it unless you are united in mind and body. You need to eliminate everything that falls short of its standard and increase everything that coincides with it by reciting the Pledge and praying every day. In this way, you can achieve complete mind–body unity. In the original sense, you would only recite the Family Pledge after reaching such a state. (261-143, 1994.6.9)

The Completed Testament Age must unfold in accordance with the Family Pledge. The most important phrase is “Our family… centering on true love.” This tells us that we have crossed over the fallen realm. It signifies that everything that had been divided through the false love, false life and false lineage of the false parents has now been united. When you are reciting, “…centering on true love,” you need to do so in a state of complete mind-body unity. You must also be in a state where the mind and body, the husband and wife, and the sons and daughters are united as one. Through your children, you need to resolve the historic deadlock caused by the shedding of Abel’s blood by Cain’s hands. The Family Pledge needs to be recited on the foundation of the unity of mind and body, husband and wife, and of the children, so that everyone has achieved oneness with each other. (264-192, 1994.10.9)

Who can recite the Family Pledge? People who have inherited the false love and false life through the false parents of the satanic world are not qualified to recite it. Only those who have returned to the originally intended world, become one with God and the True Parents, and who stand on the basis of having achieved, through true love, oneness of mind and body, unity between husband and wife and unity among sons and daughters may recite the Family Pledge. (264-213, 1994.11.3)

Who can enter heaven? It is not a place where just anyone can enter. It is a place for only those who have achieved oneness of mind and body, husband and wife, and sons and daughters, and have established the family four-position foundation over three generations. That is why to enter heaven, the whole family, which is the primary base, needs to be completely united. The Family Pledge is only for those who can achieve this. That is why you need to reflect at every mealtime – breakfast, lunch and dinner – and also when you wake up in the morning and go to bed at night, on whether you have fallen into a position of having induced a relationship with Satan once again, through disunity of your mind and body. Conflict between husband and wife should not exist. It causes nothing but problems. Until now you have lived as you pleased, but in the future a time will come when family feuds are subject to the heavenly law. These laws will be severe; there will be no forgiveness. The women in particular must beware. Fallen women need to learn to control their tongues. They need to watch what they say. Women have important responsibilities to shoulder, because all responsibility will lie with them. (264-214, 1994.11.3)

The Family Pledge is not for the general public. It is not intended for just anyone to recite. The beginning of the eight verses of the Family Pledge are set forth as a premise in the phrase, “Our family … centering on true love.” This phrase can only be recited on a foundation that has no relation to the satanic world. (263-195, 1994.10.4)

5.2. The content of the Family Pledge

• Our family, the owner of Cheon Il Guk, pledges to seek our original homeland and build the Kingdom of God on earth and in heaven, the original ideal of creation, by centering on true love. The first pledge is, “Our family, the owner of Cheon Il Guk, pledges to seek our original homeland and build the Kingdom of God on earth and in heaven, the original ideal of creation, by centering on true love.” In simple terms, these words mean that we are the ones who will build God’s Kingdom on earth and in heaven. It means that we need to form God-centered families, since the family was lost. It means our family will, through true love and our original homeland, build God’s Kingdom on earth and in heaven, which is the original ideal of creation. The original homeland is based on the family, not the nation. That is why you need to return to your hometowns. Your family needs to return to your hometown in order to establish God’s Kingdom on earth and in heaven. Once you have restored the hometown, the nation and the whole world will automatically be united. There is nothing to worry about. God’s Kingdom on earth and in heaven will automatically come into existence. It all begins from within the family. (260-157, 1994.5.2)

What is pledge number one? It contains the words, “…to seek our original homeland…centering on true love,” so we need to seek that homeland. We are pledging to complete “the Kingdom of God on earth and in heaven,” God’s ideal of creation. We need to build it, with our own hands. We need to reclaim it from the world of the devil. We need to completely transform the satanic world. Do you understand? That is why we are not talking about completing, but building. (261-88, 1994.5.22)

Pledge number one refers to seeking our original homeland and building the Kingdom of God on earth and in heaven, the original ideal of creation. Since the kingdom was lost, it needs to be restored. God will not establish it for us. We need to do it ourselves. (263-148, 1994.8.21)

• Our family, the owner of Cheon Il Guk, pledges to represent and become central to heaven and earth by attending God and True Parents; we pledge to perfect the dutiful family way of filial sons and daughters in our family, patriots in our nation, saints in the world, and divine sons and daughters in heaven and earth, by centering on true love. Pledge number two of the Family Pledge also contains the phrase, “Our family… by centering on true love.” This signifies that nothing can be accomplished without true love. The next phrase is, “Our family… pledges to represent and become central to heaven and earth by attending God and True Parents; we pledge to perfect the dutiful family way of filial sons and daughters in our family.” This means that the father needs to practice the way of filial piety, as do the children. In fact, every member of the family needs to do the same. They need to inherit the tradition of filial piety. Pledge number two goes on to say, “We pledge to perfect the dutiful family way of … patriots in our nation, saints in the world, and divine sons and daughters in heaven and earth.” So the whole of pledge number two states, “Our family, the owner of Cheon Il Guk, pledges to represent and become central to heaven and earth by attending God and True Parents; we pledge to perfect the dutiful family way of filial sons and daughters in our family, patriots in our nation, saints in the world, and divine sons and daughters in heaven and earth, by centering on true love.” That means that you need to become parents and raise your children well. The words “divine sons and daughters” refer to the children that abide by the law of God’s Kingdom and His Palace, both in the spiritual and physical worlds. In both these worlds, the sovereignty and the citizens of His Kingdom need to abide by His law. The sovereignty is the subject partner and the citizens are the object partners which exist in the two worlds. (260-157, 1994.5.2)

Pledge number two signifies that our family pledges to represent and become central to heaven and earth by serving God and the True Parents, to fulfill the way of filial piety in our family, patriotism in our nation, saints in the world, and a family of divine sons and daughters in heaven and earth. This means that we will complete everything desired by God in our family. Through it, we are making a vow that as parents, we will educate the children in our family, the citizens in our nation, and the people living in the world, and in heaven and earth, so that they may become eligible to become the family members of God’s Kingdom. (260-190, 1994.5.8)

What is the content of pledge number two? It speaks about a representative family. Therefore, you need to pledge, “To represent and become central to heaven and earth by attending God and True Parents, and to perfect the dutiful way of filial piety in our family, patriotism in our nation, saints in the world, and a family of divine sons and daughters in heaven and earth.” We need to rid the world of everything and everyone that was disloyal, impious and treacherous to God throughout history. There were many like that in past families, nations, world, and even in the spirit world. Numerous though they may be, as their representative you need to become as one with the True Parents and perfect such a family as depicted in the Pledge. (261-88, 1994.5.22) You need to fulfill the paths of filial sons and daughters, patriots, saints, and divine sons and daughters based on love. Your family represents Adam and Eve, the pinnacle family. Since you were blessed from such a high position, you can then settle down on earth. Once you settle down centering on heavenly love, you become a central family. Such a family will be one of divine sons and daughters, saints, patriots, and children of filial piety. Such a family will forever be the seed for future generations. The same is also true of its fruit. By becoming people who base their lives on this principle over countless generations to come, you will undoubtedly become the citizens of God’s Kingdom. (263-149, 1994.8.21)

• Our family, the owner of Cheon Il Guk, pledges to perfect the Four Great Realms of Heart, the Three Great Kingships and the Realm of the Royal Family, by centering on true love. Pledge number three states, “Our family, the owner of Cheon Il Guk, pledges to perfect the Four Great Realms of Heart, the Three Great Kingships and the Realm of the Royal Family, by centering on true love.” You know about the Four Great Realms of Heart and the Three Great Kingships. If Adam and Eve had not Fallen, but perfected themselves, they would have become God’s royal family. Therefore, this part of the Pledge signifies that entering God’s Kingdom requires becoming a restored royal family. The Blessed Families need to achieve this. In order for a man and a woman to receive love from each other, they need to stand in such a position; otherwise, they cannot love each other. Conjugal love should only take place where the Four Great Realms of Heart and the Three Great Kingships have been realized. These realms and kingships cannot be realized without love. That is why man is absolutely necessary for woman, and vice versa. Blessed families should strive every day in order to achieve this goal. This is a practical matter, and it is set right before your very eyes. (260-190, 1994.5.8)

Pledge number three says, “Our family… pledges to perfect the Four Great Realms of Heart, the Three Great Kingships and the Realm of the Royal Family, by centering on true love.” Since Adam and Eve failed to accomplish them through their first love, we have to fulfill them as originally intended. Terms such as “divine sons and daughters” in pledge number two carry the implicit meaning of restoration. We therefore we need to achieve pledge number three on the basis of first fulfilling the content of number two. This pledge clearly requires us “… to perfect the Four Great Realms of the Realm of the Royal Family.” The realm of the royal family signifies that the direct descendants of the Lord at his Second Advent have no conditions of indemnity to fulfill. The direct descendants are not affected by them. Such conditions still apply to the woman and son in the realm of Cain, but not to the direct descendants. That is exactly what took place with True Mother, Sung-jin’s mother, and Sung-jin himself. To put it more clearly, to be included in the realm of God’s royal family is acknowledging the realm of Cain. By putting them in the position of the restored younger brother, and treating them as the royal family, Satan would have no grounds on which to accuse. Satan would have to acknowledge them, because he would have no conditions on which he can claim them as his children. If the realm of Cain were not included, it would mean that within the satanic realm would be those who are not part of the royal family, and so Satan would still maintain his fallen existence. However, by recognizing the realm of Cain as part of the royal family, Satan would have to retreat. This is crucially important. (260-158, 1994.5.2)

The Four Great Realms of Heart and the Three Great Kingships need to be perfected. The grandfather stands in the place of God. The father is the center of the second generations, and so he would be the king of families in the world. Therefore, you need to serve your father and mother as the king and queen, and your grandfather as God. By receiving the two loves of mother and father on behalf of God, we can enter the era of the grandchildren and subsequently progress to the universe that will be the manifestation of God’s Kingdom on earth and in heaven. (264-195, 1994.10.9)

By practicing a life based on pledge number three you would finally perfect the ideal model as originally intended by God, the original model of Adam who had not fallen, that is, the Four Great Realms of Heart and the Three Great Kingships. “Our family…pledges to perfect the Four Great Realms of Heart, the Three Great Kingships and the Realm of the Royal Family, by centering on true love.”! Only the families that have accomplished this can advance to the place of perfection. By serving God and the True Parents you must stand as representatives of the world, in a perfected position similar to Jesus. The moment you begin to serve God from such a position, your connection to Satan would be completely severed. Until this time people in the world have stood in the position of the firstborn son and acted as our enemies, killing Abel on God’s side; however, they can no longer do so. When the truth of the matter became clear, it turned out that the younger brother was actually the “elder brother.” Their positions were switched, but they were still brothers. That is why people living in the world should be treated as part of the royal family. The Unification Church is the Abeltype royal family and the satanic world is the Cain-type royal family. Members of our church cannot enter heaven unless they have brought these members of the Cain-type royal family into oneness. You need to carry out this work in line with True Parents. In uniting with them there would be no opposition in doing this, and the world would follow automatically. (261-88, 1994.5.22)

• Our family, the owner of Cheon Il Guk, pledges to build the universal family encompassing heaven and earth, which is God’s ideal of creation, and perfect the world of freedom, peace, unity and happiness, by centering on true love. Pledge number four says, “Our family… pledges to build the universal family encompassing heaven and earth, which is God’s ideal of creation, and perfect the world of freedom, peace, unity and happiness, by centering on true love.” The phrase “our family … by centering on true love” signifies the same in every part of the Pledge. This is followed by the phrase, “to build the universal family encompassing heaven and earth, which is God’s ideal of creation.” No matter how large a family is, it is still one family. When you pass on to the spirit world you will find yourself part of an extended family. The last part of this pledge is, “perfect the world of freedom, peace, unity and happiness.” It means that by building the universal extended family, we will realize a world in which universal freedom, universal peace, and universal happiness are present. (260-158, 1994.5.2)

The phrase, “Our family … pledges to build the universal family encompassing heaven and earth, which is God’s ideal of creation… by centering on true love” indicates that God’s ideal is to have the whole world become one extended family, one big household. Since it is the place for those who have perfected the Four Great Realms of Heart and the Three Great Kingships, everyone belongs to one global family – not two – which is centered on God. By building the universal family encompassing heaven and earth, which is God’s ideal of creation, we would have transformed the whole world into one extended family. (260-191, 1994.5.8)

Let’s consider the part, “Our family … pledges to build the universal family encompassing heaven and earth and perfect the world of freedom, peace, unity and happiness…” The freedom referred to here is not that of an individual, but that of the people belonging to the one global extended family. This is the same for the peace and happiness. This means that the whole of humanity will find happiness. (260-192, 1994.5.8)

What is pledge number four about? What should you do, centering on God’s true love? “To build the universal family encompassing heaven and earth, which is God’s ideal of creation, and perfect the world of freedom, peace, unity and happiness…” God’s ideal of creation is to create one extended family on such a foundation, as He desires. The Cain and Abel worlds are meant to be a single extended family. At the place where the original ideal, that is, the Four Great Kingships, has been established, the ideal of the one global family would be perfected. We pledge to perfect a world of freedom, peace and happiness by standing in such a position. Everything should be fulfilled in a particular order. (261-89, 1994.5.22)

• Our family, the owner of Cheon Il Guk, pledges to strive every day to advance the unification of the spirit world and the physical world as subject and object partners, by centering on true love. Pledge number five says, “Our family … pledges to strive every day to advance the unification of the spirit world and physical world as subject and object partners, by centering on true love.” The advancement mentioned in this part of the Pledge refers to progressive development taking place daily. It should not stop. If it were to stop, everything would become related to hell. Therefore, a progressive development must take place. We must strive for this. Every day of our religious lives is concerned with God and the spirit world. Members of the Unification Church were supposed to live every day aligned with the spirit world; however, the problem is that not many are doing so. They tend to think about the physical world before they concern themselves with spiritual matters. It should be the other way round. Blessed families should unite as one centering on true love, to strive every day to advance the unification of the spiritual and physical worlds as subject and object partners. There must be no stopping along the way; only continuous progressive development. Whatever is alive continues to advance, and only that which is dead stops advancing. In addition, we must accelerate this process. Whatever stops, leads to hell, and whatever continues to grow leads to prosperity and God’s Kingdom. We have no need for the word “stop.” When you first joined the church, you were overcome with joy; however now that a decade or two has passed, how do you feel? If you stop, you will only descend. Stopping leads to hell whereas growth leads to heaven. Stopping is what is most desired by Satan. Therefore, every day you need to add something to yourselves. These are important words. People in the world strive to save more money, but we strive to save more lives every day. (260-159, 1994.5.2)

The Blessed Families should realize that there is a vast spirit world, which is the subject partner to the physical world. The spirit world is the plus. It is the same as the mind being the plus. The body represents the physical world whereas the mind represents the spirit world. The mind is like the plus and the body is like the minus. Consequently, if you fail to recognize the world of mind as subject in your everyday lives, you will end up in hell. The body denied the mind, delivering a blow and becoming the subject; but it should be the other way round. As it says in the fifth pledge, we need “to strive every day to advance the unification of the spirit world and physical world as subject and object partners.” The two worlds must be united. In the phrase “strive every day to advance the unification”, the advancement is an everprogressive one. “Our family … pledges to strive every day to advance the unification…” We must strive to accelerate the process, that is, we must try to bring about the advancement as quickly as possible. There can be no stopping. If we stop, we will only fall behind. Stopping leads to hell and death. Stopping puts you on the path to hell, but striving forward leads to development. Striving on, we need to speed up the process. Sleeping and lazing around, eating and enjoying yourself do not contribute to the providence. You must lead a busy life. Life is short. Though the universe may be vast, it still has only one central axis and if that were to revolve once, the whole universe would also revolve once. It needs to follow suit. Therefore, you need to align to the central axis. That is why this part of the Pledge states, “Our family … pledges to strive every day to advance the unification of the spirit world and physical world as subject and object partners, by centering on true love.” You need to run without pause, just like Father. You need to move forward without even sleeping. If you do that, wouldn’t you be able to build the world you have been thinking of? You will not be able to make a world you have never thought of. Therefore, you have to think about the two worlds as reciprocal partners. (260-194, 1994.5.8)

The Family Pledge states, “Our family … pledges to strive every day to advance the unification of the spirit world and physical world as subject and object partners, by centering on true love.” This means that the whole world is one extended family. The spiritual and physical worlds need to unite into one as the object partner of the subject partner that is God’s Kingdom. We need to do more than just unite; we need to rid this world of hell on earth, the satanic realm, striving to hasten unification. We have no time to lose. (264-202, 1994.10.9)

• Our family, the owner of Cheon Il Guk, pledges to become a family that moves heavenly fortune by embodying God and True Parents, and to perfect a family that conveys Heaven’s blessing to our community, by centering on true love. Pledge number six states, “Our family, the owner of Cheon Il Guk, pledges to become a family that moves heavenly fortune by embodying God and True Parents, and to perfect a family that conveys Heaven’s blessing to our community, by centering on true love.” In short, you should not try to live well by yourself. The clause “Our family…by embodying God and True Parents… centering on true love” shows that heavenly fortune lies with God and the True Parents. Therefore, this part of the pledge signifies that you will try to perfect a family that goes the heavenly way, attracts heavenly fortune, and conveys Heaven’s blessings to your community. That means that wherever they go, our Blessed Families will become central families that distribute blessings to others. (260-160, 1994.5.2)

Pledge number six begins with “Our family pledges … centering on true love.” You know what true love is, don’t you? You must bear it in mind all the time. The phrase “embodying God and True Parents” signifies that Blessed Families are the delegates of God and the True Parents. Your family represents God and True Parents, and as such, moves heavenly fortune and conveys God’s blessing to your community. “Our family… pledges to become a family that conveys Heaven’s blessing to our community…” Blessed families should not just try to receive blessings for themselves and live affluently. They have to become part of the royal family and help to restore all people in the world to become citizens of God’s Kingdom. The Blessed Family pledges to embody God and True Parents and as such becomes a family that moves heavenly fortune, by centering on true love. What this means is that the family that embodies God and True Parents can move heavenly fortune. This part of the Pledge says, “Our family…pledges to become a family that conveys Heaven’s blessing to our community…” Through these words you are making a vow to become a channel of blessing, distributing all blessings from God equally to all the people of the world. God and the True Parents’ family are as one. Though there are only one set of True Parents, there are many Blessed Families standing in their stead that can spread out across the world and become channels that distribute blessings on their behalf. You should strive to become such a family. (260-195, 1994.5.8)

Pledge number six mentions moving heavenly fortune, doesn’t it? Here, you are making the pledge to “become a family that moves heavenly fortune by embodying God and True Parents…by centering on true love.” The hardships endured by the True Parents were not for their own benefit. Everything was for the liberation of all humanity and in order to convey and distribute heavenly fortune amongst them. The heavenly fortune that comes with the True Parents needs to be handed out. In short, you need to become channels of blessing. Do you understand? No matter how advanced you are and how united you are, you should not try to receive blessings for your own benefit while you are on earth. By performing meritorious deeds on earth you should receive the great benefits of heavenly fortune. These should not be kept for you but conveyed to others so that all may be satisfied. Until now, I have walked the path of opposition in order to connect all peoples to the heavenly fortune, and to establish the Will of the Parent in an environment of happiness and freedom. As such, everyone would be able to move heaven and earth and receive blessings from God. As representatives of the True Parents’ family, the blessed couples should also become families that distribute heavenly fortune to others, because only then can they attain the right to follow the footsteps of the True Parents into God’s Kingdom, and live there together with them. (261-91, 1994.5.22)

“Our family… pledges to become a family that moves heavenly fortune by embodying God and True Parents, and to perfect a family that conveys Heaven’s blessing to our community, by centering on true love.” These words simply mean that you should become institutions of blessings. Only then can you become channels that can distribute blessings from God as the families who can unify heaven and earth. Do you understand? You need to become a fountain of blessings. (264-202, 1994.10.9)

• Our family, the owner of Cheon Il Guk, pledges, through living for the sake of others, to perfect the world based on the culture of heart, which is rooted in the original lineage, by centering on true love. Pledge number seven of the Family Pledge reads, “7. Our family… pledges… to perfect the world based on the culture of heart, which is rooted in the original lineage, by centering on true love.” The clause “Our family… rooted in the original lineage… centering on true love” emphasizes the words “original lineage.” Lineage is very important. It should be neither changed nor defiled. This part of the Pledge tells us to create a world based on the culture of heart. The culture of heart means living everyday life as an expression of the principle of living for the sake of others with true love. The world based on the culture of heart refers to the one great enclosure embracing everything – that is, the tribe of the realm of the heart. (260-160, 1994.5.2)

Can you understand what is meant by “the world based on the culture of heart”? In simple terms, it means that the worlds of God’s heart and the True Parents’ heart, the spiritual and physical worlds are all as one. That is why we say that our family pledges to build a world based on the culture of heart. This is our ideal. There can be only one culture and not two. The fallen world is overflowing with many cultures. Only when we have united them into one can we welcome the Kingdom of Heaven at the level of the individual, family, tribe, people, nation, world and cosmos. Without such a heart, the individual, family and tribe cannot be connected. Without the world based on the culture of heart, unity can never come on all levels from the individual right through to the cosmos. (260-196, 1994.5.8)

God’s world is one based on the culture of heart. It is one unified extended family centered upon the one love of God. As such, the five races should live as one big family, with no one above or below others. Such a time is coming. If the people living in the world were united in the desire to create a lifestyle of equality for all, then how could we do that? On what nation should that lifestyle be based? In order to make that choice, we should base our decision on the poorest nation in the world. For instance, if North Korea were the poorest, we should base our decision upon it, not Africa or Japan. Centering on the Adam nation, we should set the poorest nation as the standard. (261-93, 1994.5.22)

The world based on the culture of heart is the world of God’s original culture and one that is based on the culture of perfected Adam who has not fallen. There cannot be two cultures but only one. Therefore in the future, the world will be unified and there will be only one language and one set of customs and traditions. Only in such a circumstance can God dwell with individuals and families. (261-95, 1994.5.22)

“Our family… pledges… to perfect the world based on the culture of heart, which is rooted in the original lineage, by centering on true love.” This part of the Pledge speaks about the world of heart, the world where true love has been manifested. The world should become such a place that, wherever you go, you will find families waiting to welcome you as guests. Families would invite guests whenever they had something good to eat, with the heart of sharing it with other brothers and sisters from around the world. We will enter an era in which every family will want to serve other families in the world as their own brothers and sisters, sharing food and whatever else they have. By welcoming the era where we will manifest and globalize the realm of heart, we will consequently establish a world based on the unified culture of heart, a world of a single unified culture. The world will be without war or conflict, and God’s Kingdom on earth and in heaven will be realized. Once the world of the culture of heart is established, God’s providence of restoration will come to an end. (264-202, 1994.10.9)

• Our family, the owner of Cheon Il Guk, pledges, having entered the Completed Testament Age, to achieve the ideal of God and human beings united in love through absolute faith, absolute love and absolute obedience, and to perfect the realm of liberation and complete freedom in the Kingdom of God on earth and in heaven, by centering on true love. What are the contents of pledge number eight? “Our family, the owner of Cheon Il Guk, pledges, having entered the Completed Testament Age, to achieve the ideal of God and human beings united in love through absolute faith, absolute love and absolute obedience, and to perfect the realm of liberation and complete freedom in the Kingdom of God on earth and in heaven, by centering on true love.” This pledge depicts the time of creation when God made the Garden of Eden. Having entered the Completed Testament Age, through absolute faith, absolute love and absolute what? – obedience. You need to achieve the ideal oneness of God and humankind in love, and unity between God’s Kingdom on earth and in heaven. Then you are able to be freely active in all corners of the world, with the rights of God’s children. Only then can you presume to liberate Him and perfect the realm of liberation in God’s Kingdom on earth and in heaven. (301-85, 1999.4.16)

At the time of creation, God stood in the position of having exercised absolute faith, love, and obedience, but because human beings failed to form families that could stand as object partners to Him, they consequently fell into hell. We are now living in the time when everything that was lost in Adam’s family can be restored worldwide through absolute faith, love and obedience on the unified foundation of True Parents’ realm of victory. Unification Church members must therefore inherit and practice absolute faith, love and obedience centering on the True Parents. True Parents inherited these absolute traditions from God, and so you should inherit these traditions in turn. Do you understand? Then God’s blessing will be with you. (1996.11.3)

It is our destined and inevitable task to create a relationship of unity between father and child, but what should that unity be based on? From the bone marrow and the seed, it should be centered upon true love. Only when a baby is born in such a way can it come to mature enough in heart and body to embrace the whole world and to unite with its father and mother. Children should follow their parents with absolute faith, love and obedience, just as the son and father should follow the grandfather with absolute faith, love and obedience. These qualities will be handed down as an eternal tradition. Our preordained task is to perform liberation! Only then can we fulfill pledge number eight of the Pledge, which is to achieve the ideal of God and human beings united in love through absolute faith, absolute love and absolute obedience, as we have entered the Completed Testament Age. Only when this state of oneness has been achieved can we perfect the realm of liberation in the Kingdom of God on earth and in heaven. (295-167, 1998.8.28)