Four Worlds of Heart in Family

All the evidence from the previous posts show that there is something important for human development in the very structure of the family.

Reverend Sun Myung Moon summarizes that roles in the family create a certain 'realm of heart'. This heart fostered between the relationships between mother-father, parents-children, siblings, and God and family becomes a school for love.

People learn about love through being sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, mothers and fathers.

“The family teaches by its form,” as educator Gabriel Moran explains it.

Each realm of heart reflects an aspect of God's love.

God is the Parent of all parents. He has the absolute love that surpasses the love of even model parents. With that love He can embrace all the parents of the world. In fact, God created man from His parental love.

Without that love from God, we die.

God is always ready to give the type of love that is best suited for the person who is seeking a relationship with Him.

If we are ready for parental love from God, He is prepared to give it. If we want brotherly love, conjugal love, or the love of a friend from Him, He is ready with these.

It is so amazing and wonderful that God who is a God of love protects us in every possible relationship

When we fulfill each realm of heart (children's realm, siblings realm conjugal realm, and the parent's realm) we grow to resemble God's many-faceted love.

Each type of love that is exhibited in the family forms a world of experiences and responsibilities that becomes a matrix for the growth of heart.

Lessons in Loving Others

The family works to school people to have other-centered love through providing crucial relationships to learn from. Each realm of heart involves relating to significant others or partners in love.

In the child's ream of heart, the parents become their most significant other. The sibling's realms of heart, their brothers/sisters and peers are increasingly significant. Within the spouse's realms of heart, one has a relationship with the opposite sex who are emotionally and physically committed for the rest of one's life.

Children are the significant other in the parent's realm of heart.

True love begins with the infant responding to a parent in the child’s realm of love.

A baby is not alone in the universe. He or she is compelled to bond with others by all the forces within.

Many theorists conclude that a baby's attachment to their parent is a necessary building block of relating to others with empathy for the rest of their life.

The quality of the interactions between a parent and child is an essential love relationship that gives each a lifelong perspective on others.

When brothers and sisters interact with their siblings, this realm of heart offers a new territory where the growing child must accommodate others. He or she now shares the parents' universe with their sibilings.

One learns they must not hurt their sibling but must wait their turn and share.

In turn, the relationship of brother and sister in the family can offer joy of companionship and expand each child's love into new dimensions.

When a child must cooperate with their playmates or children at school, issues of fair play, justice, and honesty come to the foreground as he or she learns that there are yet others who need respect and accommodations.

Through experiencing the sibling's realm of heart, a child begins to relate to the world of their peers. The repertoire they obtain through these relationship expand dramatically, as well as their heart for others in society as they mature.

Maturity brings the world of the opposite sex into sharp focus.

A newlywed couple often feel that they are the only two people in the world.

This is how rich the world or realm they occupy together. It is an exclusive, intensely exciting, deeply affecting circle of relationships in which each will learn to love someone who is truly their 'other'. 

They will experience a different emotion and mental make-up than with others they encounter.

When one becomes a parent, he or she enters a realm of relationship with a child that opens up a whole new world of loving and caring.

The parent's realm of love is perhaps the most transformative relationship that resembles the heart and love of God the most closely.

With their children, parents have a dependent 'other' who needs and demands more than anyone else has demanded in a lifetime. They must be attendant to their growth. As a parent, rewards and blessings are enormous as well as anxieties and emotional taxes.

The heart grows here earnestly through other-centered love.

Grandparent's love is an extension of the parent's realm of heart. This love has its own special gifts to bestow and receive from the grandparents.

When we grow and understand the inner workings of the family through experiencing these four realms of heart, we grow to appreciate the brilliantly designed vehicle of emotional, moral and spiritual growth.

The impact of your family does not stop within its own relationships either. The lessons one learns from their interactions in the family is profound and far-reaching. It extrapolates into a person's orientation toward the rest of the world.

Ethicist James Q. Wilson said, “The family is a continuing locus of reciprocal obligations that constitute an unending school for moral instruction . . . . We learn to cope with the people of this world because we learn to cope with the members of our family.”

Photos courtesy of : freedigitalphotos.net 

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This post was rewritten and derived from the religious textbook “Educating for True Love” written by a team of writers to explain Reverend Sun Myung Moon's philosophy.

A Loving Family Expands to Loving World

The ideal family alone can serve as the building block of the Kingdom of God.

—Sun Myung Moon

What if every human was raised in a godly, ideal home? 

Where brothers and sisters respected each other, mother and father were devoted to another and were the examples of true love? Abuse, fighting and separation did not exist?

We can easily see that this would mature into the Kingdom of Heaven. Such people raised in a family would understand how to love others in the world based on the teachings of exemplary love within their own family.

When they encountered younger people their sisters and brother's age they would treat them just the same. When they encountered the elderly who are their grandparents' age, they would treat them just like their own flesh and blood.

The family is the primary means through which most people learn about love.

Unfortunately, this is also how evil entered the world.

Through the first family of Adam and Eve, thousands of generations later followed in their footsteps. What if Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel were to have followed in God's ways? 

What kind of society would we be born into in this day and age?

In order to cultivate true love over a lifetime, we need to establish loving relationships and family. The family packs a double punch in a life of love more than any other relationship.

The way one was raised in their family trains him or her in love as a child and sibling. This leads them to their own personal growth and maturity. 

Then, each individual based on their upbringing, takes what they learn to cultivate love in a new family with a spouse and children.

All of these experiences come full circle to educate a person in true love.

Many religions and moral traditions equate a loving relationship in the family as a template for a person's relationship with God.

In the Talmud, for instance, it is written, “When a man honors his father and mother, God says, ‘I regard it as though I had dwelt among them and they had honored me” Kiddushin, 30b

Jesus was the first to encourage his followers to think and relate with God as their father.

Confucius said, “Surely proper behavior toward parents and elder brothers is the trunk of goodness,” Analects 1.2 and “Filial piety is the root of all virtue” Classic of Filial Piety

Hinduism, Shinto, Buddhism, Islam and the traditional Native American and African faiths also echoes this sentiment.

Family life may be seen as a vocation for growing closer to God and allowing Him/Her to manifest and dwell in true love.

A Buddhist master stated that the family is demanding of members responsibilities as any monastery.

From this viewpoint, the family can be a vehicle of holiness and an instrument of salvation.

People within a community of faith refer to one another as 'brothers and sisters' or 'brethren.' Priests lead the members of the Catholic Church and they call him 'Father', and the title of the head of the Catholic Church is the “Holy Father.” 

Such communities are led by nuns who are called 'Sister' and sometimes 'Mother'.

The importance of the family in raising good human beings is corroborated by the findings of social scientists.

Family enhances human and moral development in numerous and positive ways.

Social scientists and policymakers uphold the family as the crucial factor in the physical as well as the mental, emotional, and moral well-being of the children. Therefore, the family is the backbone of social order.

Unfortunately, the status of the family in society in our times have come into question.

Even though times have changed, the fundamental patterns of father, mother and children are still in place showing that the members of the family has basic need for its structure.

Couples live together and raise their children even if they are from previous relationships. Even though there are are the non traditional relationships of same-sex couples, there is still a masculine and feminine role in each relationship. 

Many still want to have their union recognized through a traditional marriage and even adopt children.

Those who do not have a family form surrogate and substitute families. Gangs are joined by youngsters in order to get the same strength and protection they get from the feeling of a family from their 'home boys'.

A convicted criminal leader of the L.A. Crips notorious gang had said in an interview that he turned toward the streets because he did not have a proper family upbringing. 

The same with homeless children, or teenagers of the street, they also form 'families' and band together.

Still, none of these substitutes for the missing qualities in their own homes can fulfill the same benefits as a basic family structure of a father, mother with their biological children.

As far back as our knowledge takes us, anthropologist Margaret Mead affirmed about the centrality of the traditional family, human beings have always lived in families. There is no period where this was not so.

Even though modern society has made proposals for change and there have been actual experiments to dissolve the family or displace the traditional roles, human society still reaffirms their dependence on the family as the basic unit of human living. This is a family with a father, mother and children.

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This post was rewritten and derived from the religious textbook “Educating for True Love” written by a team of writers to explain the philosophy of Reverend Sun Myung Moon.

Center on Higher Purpose for Unity

The previous two posts spoke about finding unity through working toward a greater purpose. It is not easy to live our lives for a purpose that is beyond ourselves.

Even though it seems that it would be naturally perfect for members of a family to favor their family over other, employees to put the company ahead of themselves, citizens work for the needs of the community and countries put the whole of humanity ahead of themselves, unfortunately, we are beings who are not governed by the impulses of our original godly heart.

We witness harmony in nature, but seldom see it within human life. Even though we are God's greatest creation, people are self-destructive.

When an individual is abused by the collective, this aggravates the fear. 

Unfortunately, unlike nature, people needs constant reminders and incentives in order to maintain the right priorities. On the other hand, the impulse to give to the greater good is also strong.

There is a natural fear to give too much and thus being used, this is counterbalanced by the fear of being useless. It is horrible when one feels they are not needed for beauty, goodness and truth in the world.

Being of service to others, being allied with an important end is a fundamental need.

A person feels their value is derived in general not only from personal integrity and the affection of loved ones, but also from having an 'objective worth', a value that comes from benefiting the public good.

Eleanor Roosevelt commented about citizenship:

“When you cease to make a contribution, you begin to die.”

Many have come to realize this truth from experience through combating sadness or stagnation. Therefore, they actively reach out to help someone else instead of wallow in their own world.

Such people know that as long as they pursue happiness or personal growth it will elude them; only when they give to service to a greater goal do these blessings find them.

The heart and conscience pushes each of us to give our time, energy and heart for a worthy purpose. They push us to be like the wax of the candle that gives itself to sustain the light and warmth of the flame.

Humanity has too often denied God's concerns and welfare of the whole for its own petty interests.

To reverse this wrong direction, sometimes the heart and conscience call people to deny themselves to an extraordinarily degree.

Who can explain the course which Mohandas Gandhi gave of himself? Such a sacrifice of sacrifice of self confounds worldly thinking.

There is clearly a deep joy that rewards those who have killed their smaller selves in order to become a part of a greater endeavor.

Relationship as Higher Purpose

The most basic shared projects is the relationship itself.

Members of the family, teammates and business partners often wisely sacrifice for the sake of their alliance, for the 'we-ness”.

This 'we-ness' has a vitality that depends on how much the participants favor the interest of the relationship over their own personal interests to reach their personal goals and meet the individual needs through the relationship instead of around or in spite of it. Any sports team that is good, understands this.

“In order to have a winner, the team must have a feeling of unity,” says legendary University of Alabama Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant. “Every player must put the team first—ahead of personal glory.”

People who have been married for a while know this too. They make many sacrifices for the marriage. When a couple makes love within a caring marriage, this is a metaphor for such an idea.

Each partner seeks to satisfy the other and ultimately come to surrender to their higher union.

Rather than lose anything in this surrender, each person gains deep joy and a meaningful connection through it.

In families that are resilient, researcher and counselor Ross Campbell fond that there is an overarching moral or spiritual purpose that binds the members together.

It is a paradox that centering on something higher than the family also strengthens the bonds within the family itself.

A family finds they have a rapport with one another when they give their time and energy to others through altruism such as helping out the neighbors, hosts guests or volunteering for the community.

Such families build 'social capital' as Robert D. Putnam, Harvard University, states is the connection with and good will of neighbors which enhances the family's well-being and helps, supports, and gives strengthen when they are in need of it.

Daniel and Lai-Cheng's family is bound through a patriotic purpose. They are oftentimes hundreds of miles apart. Daniel is in the British Royal Air Force which calls him to leave for about nine months out of the year. Even though Lai-Cheng struggles like all military wives to care for her three young children on a budget and alone, she shares her husband's commitment to her country just as if she was in the service.

She is proud of the example Daniel is setting for the children, to live for something beyond themselves.

She understands that in order for her husband to be happy, he has to have the kind of work he loves.

When he is home, he cares for his children and gives his wife a break from her strenous routine. When he is away, they stay in regular contact.

Lai-Cheng remarks, “I think it works because even though we are often apart and do different things, I know we

are both willing to do whatever it takes to achieve what we want: a family that cares for each other and serves our country.”

Family has become its own island for many, a haven set apart from the wider world. This position impoverishes both home and community and places impossible demands on the nuclear family to meet all the members' needs.

Also, the Western viewpoint of romantic love is too thin for a foundation of lasting love and care for children.

There is a constant questions of “Am I happy? Is this meeting my needs?” This strains the bond and places the cart before the horse.

When the relationship itself and the public purpose is ideally honored first, this nourishes and fortifies the participants' attachment to one another.

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This post was rewritten and derived from the religious textbook "Educating for True Love" written by a team of writers to explain Reverend Sun Myung Moon's philosophy.

We Are Brothers, Sisters Without Parents

Throughout history, mankind has exerted all kinds of efforts to bring about world peace through war, religion, philosophy and political powers to no avail.

People had no way to truly and eternally unite.

This is because they were all brothers and sisters who were like orphans who have lost their parents to teach the true way of how one should be.

Humankind lost their parents when the first parents of humankind followed the wrong direction and could not pass down God's true path for living to their descendants on to us.

There was no way to unite our own minds and bodies centered on God without any trace of sin.  Therefore, there was not a path to unite with one another.

If parents had truly followed God and had sinless children, everything in history would have developed through the unconditional love of the original parents.

The first brothers and sister, Cain and Abel, would have united centered on their parents' love, but this could not be achieved.

Adam and Eve were unable to show their family the true love of God through example.

Everyone needs True Parents no matter what position they hold.

The reason God established the nation of Israel and the Jewish faith was in order to build a sturdy foundation of protection to receive the Messiah.

When the Jewish people could not follow Jesus to the end and could not follow him as God's son, God created Christianity in order to receive the Lord of the Second Advent.

The returning Lord will be called the True Parents because they will reverse the mistake of the fall of the first parents who brought sin into the bloodline.

For True Parents to appear is the hope of humankind, is the hope of history, the hope of the nations, the hope of philosophy, and the hope of the providence.

The True Parents coming to earth is what all of history has hoped for to reverse the sins of humanity and will only happen once.

You are alive to witness and breathe the same air as the True Parents.

What kind of people are the True Parents?

Do you think your parents are the same as True Parents without a trace of sin?

In terms of love, your parents have a different concept.

Your parents' love is centered on the earthly realm of living, while the love of True Parents teaches about love that is centered on the spiritual ream.

Therefore, the content is very different.

Democracy is an ideology of brotherhood.  Above that ideology is the parent-centered ideology.

Do you decide who will be your parents through an election?  You cannot.

Democracy has the basis to foster atmosphere of distrust.  Why?

Because people in politics have done all kinds of things for their own profit.  They use their money to mobilize manpower, plot against each other, slander them and so forth.

True Parents give birth to humankind through true love

You have been born with the sinful blood lineage of false parents who were chased away from Heaven with no connection to God or true parents.

In order to go in the opposite direction and cleanse this fallen lineage, you must trample that lineage again and again and pull it out again and again.

Without changing your satanic lineage at the most basic level in this way, you cannot enter the heavenly world.

In transforming the lineage, unless the condition for victory is fulfilled through binding God's love to the seed of the children of the future, God's child cannot be born in the future.  This is a logical certainty.

What kind of savior is the savior who is demanded by the fallen people?

He should be one with God's will and receive God's love and blessing in the position of unfallen parent.  He must be the savior who is able to give birth to humankind, otherwise people will not be able to disconnect to the original sin with him as the model to follow.

Even though the Messiah can change your lineage, you yourself have to attend, act and walk the bloody path in order to change it.

If you do not have such a standard, we cannot reach the path of salvation.  This is not achieved easily, but only in a situation where your life is at stake.

This change of blood lineage is possible only when you fulfill a forty-day fasting and prayer condition or experience a state of death in which you are vomiting blood - a cleansing of the sinful blood.

Why do we need True Parents?

We need to take root in the realm of the heart.

Now, there is a different root.  Through the Fall, the trunks and branches become different.  Now a new root of history has emerged.  A trunk and branches grew, and you are being engrafted to this true tree.

Therefore, in order to be recreated without traces of the fall, you should cut yourself down, reject your fallen acts and become engrafted.

You must remove everything from the satanic world down to the root.

Because history did not have the example of a perfected person, a person without the trace of the fall, there was no way for humanity to go in the right direction or see that their ways were fallen.

They needed an example of the true way to follow and that is through the coming of the True Parents.

What do we all desire?

We all want to welcome the True Parents who will establish a global nation.  Your sons and daughters would want to be born in the lineage of True Parents, not your own fallen, sinful lineage full of abuse, lies, disease problems and such.

Therefore, True Parents become the starting point of the new future.

True Parents should correct the false lineage, the root of the satanic world, reverse the false life which we live everyday, and open the true path away from the path of false love.

Once false love disappears, infidelity, divorce will disappear.

What does the paradox in the Bible mean, those who wish to die will live, and those who wish to live will die?

This is because as you walk this path of ridding yourself of the satanic blood lineage you must die, your humanistic, sinful self must die. But through this 'death', you live.

Those who cling to their fallen ways and live, ultimately die in spirit.  The world is full of people who are zombies without a soul enriched in God's love.

True Parents walked a tremendous path of suffering to lay a foundation for you and I to follow out of hell.

Complete salvation, which is no connection to satan or sin, is only possibly through True Parents.  Complete salvation is both spiritual and physical.

Jesus could only accomplish the spiritual realm of salvation, but he himself lost his own physical body to satan.

True Parents have brought salvation to our bodies as well, where we can have complete mind and body unity centered on God where Satan cannot invade.

No one can sever the relationship between True Parents and their True Children.

It is eternal and unchanging destiny.  There is only one path toward God, there is no secret method.  All of humanity from the President to the homeless man, must walk this path.

True Parents bring people of the world together who have walked this path to cleanse their fallen blood lineage and marry them together.

Therefore, they transcend racial differences, cultural differences and good people marry bad people.

True Parents deny evil love, evil life, and evil lineage, but they do not abandon Cain who disobeyed God and killed Abel, rather they bless him at the same level.

Therefore, 'bad' people as well will join in this dispensation, thereby completely expelling Satan from this earth.

The Fall occurred through the false marriage in the Garden of Eden. So, True Parents reverse this by marrying people in the proper way approved directly by God.

They sweep away the bad deeds of the false parents and abolish hell and carry out the work to bless billions of ancestors in the spirit world through the foundation of the earthly descendants which is based on true love.

Furthermore, through the foundation of such families, East and West form a connection.

We as God's adopted sons and daughters should connect to God's true son.

We must cut off the wild olive tree and engraft a bud from the true olive tree.  Then create a movement of wild olive trees becoming true olive trees.

You should first long for the Parents.

You receive salvation by attending the Parents based on their being your motivation for life, the entirety of your hope and the root of all your ideals and happiness.

You should have the conviction that you are a son or daughter who can become eternally one with True Parents.  Otherwise rebirth will not come.

You might think that you have your natural parents and you are fine?

Why do you need spiritual parents?

It is because you are fallen and you have no direct relationship or blood ties with God, thus passing on the fallen blood lineage of Satan.

What do false parents teach?

They have taught you the way to continuously deteriorate centered on yourself.

They have helped you chase away the better part, more than half of yourself.  This creates a clear line that keep you eternally bonded to the satanic world based on the false love of your parents.

There is no other way to cut this off other than attending the True Parents.

On the other hand, True Parents teach you greater and greater things on this foundation so that you can be fit for the heavenly kingdom.

They equip you with the tools so that you can keep in rhythm after you go to the eternal kingdom.  They teach you so that you will be able to breathe the air of love which is the atmosphere in the spirit world.

True Parents teach you the true way of God.

Return for Tomorrow's Post: How Can Love Destroy? This Post was rewritten and derived from the book Cheon Seon Gyeon Book Three, "True love", Chapter 2, Section 2

Love Nation, World, Humankind = World Peace

Just like God, love is not flat.  Once you are united with God in oneness, a circular motion manifests in all kinds of forms and figures. This is why the older sibling must love the younger by following the examples of their parents who love them as well. Love will blossom within a family that is united in this way. That love becomes the love within a society and then the love within a nation.  In this this expansion of heart, it will later become the love of the whole world.  This is how world peace will be established - through the family. Love of the Nation, Love of the World, and Love of Humankind When you look at the world it is composed of many nations. Nations are composed of societies.  Societies are made of of tribes. These tribes are made up of families which are two individuals coming together. Those who sacrifice their lives to live for the public purpose of humankind will come together centering on their love for humankind. Likewise, have a love for their homeland, they will unite based on patriotic ideas. As their patriotic feelings grow stronger, the citizens will unite through their patriotism in order to establish a nation. You must build relationship and gather people of like mind together once you know you have the responsibility to work on the patriotic movement.  The base where genuine love can settle down is the family. Therefore, the original family that embodies the love of the universe will expand the domain of love in the universe and be protected by the universe. We should go beyond the family level and walk the patriotic path of loving the nation.  Furthermore, we must go beyond race and nation and go toward the path of loving the world. Those who love their family are children of filial piety and virtuous wives.  Those who love their nation are patriots.  What do we call those who love the world?  We call them saints. The path of children of filial piety, patriots, saints, and divine sons and daughters How do you become a global figure? You cannot become one by just human morality or making people your central concern. If you are only concerned with human beings, then you will not be able to go beyond the national level. It is that which is of heaven that will enable you to step beyond the national level. If you do not have a philosophy that embraces heaven and earth, then you cannot go beyond the national level. If you look at the ranks of the saints, they revered God or did they not revere him?  Is there any saint that did not have God?  They all upheld God's will as their standard way of living. Thus, the saints have spoken about God tremendously, not just about humankind.  Moreover, the saints have taught not only the way of morality, but the path of the heavenly law. Children of filial piety serve and love their parents in a family.  Those who serve and love the nation are patriot. Those who love the world are saints. Then, what is it that I teach? It is to be a divine son or daughter who loves God, the world, and the universe. Which will you be? Will you be a divine son or daughter, or a dutiful son or daughter?  Love is the essence that moves reality. It cannot be omitted from daily life or from history.  Love provides the internal power which moves everything from a parent's body to our social institutions. This is why, when you are educated, you are taught to love your country. You are taught, brotherly love, parental love, conjugal love and worldwide philanthropy of your country. All of these contain love. What does this mean?  It means that we cannot connect to history without including love which is the realm of people's daily lives and the course of history. What do you have to become? You must become a patriot.  A patriot devotes one's effort to serve the people as they would serve the nation's ruler.  What is a child of filial piety?  They are those who devote all their efforts toward their parents. Those who devote themselves to their brothers and sisters as they would serve their parents are children of filial piety. Saints are people who have sacrificed themselves until now and died for the sake of all humankind. What is a divine son or daughter?  Those who reach out to the world centering on God and serve mankind as they would serve God are divine sons and daughters. Historical saints are those who have died for the sake of the people of the world.  Divine sons and daughters are loyal to God, but as they live for God they also live for the sake of all people.  Being a saint does not make you a divine son and daughter or God's child. What is next level after you become a child of filial piety, a patriot and a saint?  No matter how much you have loved the nation's ruler and its people, you have to know the laws of the heavenly royal palace to be a divine son and daughter.  You have to live in the rhythm with the palace law. A filial child's heart goes straight to his parents without changing. The same goes for the patriot whose heart goes straight to the king.  The saint, likewise, has a heart that goes straight toward God without changing. In other words, you can be a child of filial piety, a patriot and saint only when your heart goes straight without changing even in a situation where you may face death. A filial child serves and loves the parents in the family.  The one who serves and loves the country is the patriot and the one who serves and loves the world is the saint. You should be divine sons and daughters who love the world and universe.  Once you have such a broaden love, you must have as much love as God. The child of filial piety lives on even when his household perishes.  This is why there are epitaphs of children of filial piety, patriot and saints. Divine sons and daughters are people who know how to observe not only national laws, but also the laws of the heavenly royal palace. Thus, that which can connect straight to the path of children of filial piety, patriots and the path of saints is the path of the divine sons and daughters. Our life course can be condensed into the life paths walked by filial children, patriots, saints and divine sons and daughters. Would they be paths driven by the heart of wanting to be together and live together regardless of the upper and the lower, transcending front and back, left and right, and day and night, and going beyond one's own life? This is the conclusion that has emerged. No matter how outstanding a person may be, he is of no use if he has no love.   Also, happiness becomes connected based on love. The medium that connects brothers and sisters, friends, countrymen, all humankind and heaven on earth is love.  Love is like yeast. God created the universe and established its law.  What kind of being is He? He is the Being who stands as the representative caring for others more than anyone else.  This is God. Therefore, if you want to meet God, you have to live for the sake of others.  God is the king of knowledge, but he will not tell you to come to Him with knowledge. Although He is the king of capability, He would not tell you to approach Him with capability. God is the king of money, power and knowledge, He does not need these things. God would tell you that anyone can come to Him that lives for the sake of others.  God exists in front of human beings for their own sake. This is why we want to follow God forever.  If you want to maintain your own position of existence living within the natural law, you must exist for the sake of others as the universe does. Through serving others, you connect to the East and the West, and to the past and the present.  God has the same love in the past that He has now in the present. God can overcome the East and the West and overcome the past and the present, and even the future. Therefore He is able to unify them into one.  How is He able to do this? He unifies them only in love. Return for Tomorrow's Post: The Importance of the Love of Nature This Post was rewritten and derived from the religious textbook, "Cheon Seong Gyeong, "True Love", Book Three, Chapter Two, Section 8

The Love of Siblings Teaches Love of Parent

The ideal of family has changed over the last decades beginning after World War II. You can even see the change in ideals from the 'Leave to Beaver' family structure of mother cooking at home raising the children and the father as the overseer of the family. There are significant reasons why this is so.   God fought a hard battle with Satan in the second world war in order to bring about a world where He could substantially rule. Instead, after winning the battle, Satan was able to claim that foundation because there was no unity with the returning Messiah and the Christian world. In fact, he suffered greatly and was rejected by the established churches. Therefore, he had to walk his own path of 40 years of suffering to establish God's foundation on the earth. If the religious world had followed his directions given from God at that time, based on the teachings of the Divine Principle, the world of peace would have been established in that time. At that time the world of family tradition still followed the ways of God compared to the times of today where divorce, wife swapping and second/third husbands is the new trend. Now we stand on a solid foundation where God can truly come directly to do His work through the foundation of families. Why did God give us family, our brothers and sisters?   Why did He make such a unit? We need brothers and sisters so we can look at them and realize that our mother and father must have been like that when they were younger. Children can see through his brothers and sisters the process of his mother grew up. Sisters can observe elder brothers and understand how her father grew up and lived.  You should know that this is the love among siblings.  You can become one by growing up in this environment.  Should you love your brothers and sisters or not? What if parents have only one son and only one daughter? Then the son needs an elder sister and an elder brother doesn't he? The daughter needs an elder brother and an elder sister. Furthermore, they need a younger brother and young sister. Through them you come to appreciate and love who your parents are. It is unfortunate if you do not have them. What if parents have only one son and one daughter? The son needs an elder sister and an elder brother, doesn't he? Also the daughter needs an elder brother and elder sister. Furthermore, they need a younger brother and younger sister. There needs to be an elder brother, an elder sister, a younger brother, and a younger sister. It is unfortunate if you do not have them. Brotherly love is a model of love for all the people of the world. A family that has a younger sister, younger brother, elder sister and elder brother has achieved complete unity and will receive God's protection. America has moved away from the tradition of larger families and some have even forsook marriage or having children at all. The elder brother and elder sister means east and west, and the younger brother and younger sister mean north and south.  When this pattern is completed there will be three dimensions. This family becomes the origin of a clan, a people, and a nation upon expansion.  When such a principle of love takes root, the origin of peace will be established. When an elder brother loves his younger sister, and the younger sister loves her elder brother, they cannot just love one another, they must also involve their parents in that love. They can cherish their childhood experiences of growing up in the bosom of their parents. They should be a brother and sister who are connected on the basis of parent and child of oneness. Only then will they be able to ascend as they grow up. They should grow up like this all the way through elementary and middle school. However far you go in your travels around the world and throughout life, nothing will be able to replace the love of your brothers and sisters in a family who share the same blood from their birth. When you go out to society, is there anyone who is closer to you than your brother or sister? Although some people may be close, they will eventually drift away from you. Why do you need brothers and sisters? They are those who are connected to the vertical (spiritual) and horizontal (physical) plane. If Adam and Eve are horizontal, then God and Adam and Eve are vertical.  At this intersection it creates a plane. This is why both a horizontal setting and the front and back are needed. Through their unification, a sphere is formed. Therefore, when the love of brothers and sisters expand to a love for all the people of the world, then sibling love transcends family. Only when we can embrace the world and love all people with sibling love,will we join everything together in an ideal sphere of love. When this occurs, no mishap will severely shock us; all the substance of God's thought finally bear fruit. God's ideal of children unites and bears fruit there: the fruit of children's love, the fruit of siblings' love, the fruit of the love of husband and wife and the fruit of parents' love, the fruit of siblings' love, the fruit of the love of husband and wife, and the fruit of parents' love. When God's original world of creation is finally manifested on earth, upper and lower, front and rear, and left and right will be merged with Him. Through brothers and sisters, a nation arises and all humankind arises. The brother and sister relationship signifies front and back like a flat surface, but when flesh is added then a sphere is formed. So, it is brothers and sisters and the people of the nation who from this sphere. Brothers and sisters expand to become a people, and the love of brothers and sisters is connected with the love of the world. A family where there are many brothers and sisters growing up is like a model to embrace all people of the world. This family creates an ideal Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom of God on earth and in heaven. Hence, brothers and sisters expand in number.  When there are many siblings, two may have to share a plate at mealtime. They do not fight because there is only one plate of rice. Even if there are many siblings and they have to suffer to live in hardship, if they have such a heart of love that says, "Although I may starve, I will give this to my elder sister," or "I have to give this to my younger brother or sister," then everything will work out very well. Return for tomorrow's post: Love Nation, World, Humankind = World Peace This post was rewritten and derived from the textbook Cheon Seong Gyeong Book Three, "True Love" Chapter Two, Section 7

The Family is a Training Center

Everyone is a  part of a family unit.  The parents may have divorced, the sisters and brothers may live in separate houses, but the family still exists.

When we stand in the world of space, in order to stay balanced, you need top and bottom, left and right and front and back.

When we deal with relationships concerning top and bottom, left and right, and front and back, also problems in the family, nation and world, there is only one solution.

Just as there has to be these six positions with the individual in the center, there also have to be parents and children, husband and wife, and brothers and sisters.  This also applies to the nation.

The leader is at the center of the nation.  All families should embrace the civilization of east and west, and the civilization of north and south, and all the people of the world as brothers and sister.  Eventually, establishing a family model.

This model is the same for all.  You are the center of that model.  This model represents a principle that requires that from you sprouts your family and expands into the nation world, heaven and earth all the way to God.

The Family is the Central Model for All Beings

You not only want to be the center of the universe, but you want to be the center.

In the same way, the family is the center of the universe.  If you were to think of heaven as the parents, then earth represents the children.

In relation to east and west, east symbolizes the man and the west the woman.  So, after marriage, the woman goes to the place where her husband is.

This is similar to the west reflecting the sunlight that shines from the east.

This is the same for the brother and sister relationship.  When the eldest brother leads a task, the younger brothers and sisters will cooperate.

Each person should, therefore, be in a parent-child relationship, a conjugal relationship and a sibling relationship.  Do you see how this rounds out. These three relationships should meet at some point.

Also, you can see that in these Last Days that all of these relationships have been broken up. This is directly the root cause of all of the world's problems which expands from relationships within the family all the way to the worldwide level.

The central point is one.  The center for the top and bottom, left and right, front and back should be the same.

If the centers are different, then the relationships will all be imbalanced.

So the common central point of top and bottom, left and right, front and back must add up to the number seven.

When this happens, then the family is united in true love with God at the center.  This is where all things form a complete sphere bringing about harmony and unification.

We often think of the number seven as the luckiest number.  Therefore, when we hear this about the number seven it seems believable.  As long as true love never changes, then the central core will turn forever without changing, therefore, realizing the idea of a true family.

Also, since everything is connected to this core, then each of the position are equal.  For example, if the grandfather and his sons and daughters want something and the grandchild is not against it, then all the three generations will come to want it.

The grandfather, grandmother, husband and wife, and sons and daughters will all follow the center.  The parent-child relationship becomes one in terms of love.    The conjugal relationship is one and the sibling relationship becomes one.

They become one body.  So, what do these relationships revolve around?

They revolve around the true love of God who is the center of true love.  In this way, the value of everything becomes equal.

The Family is the Textbook of Love through Which We Can Connect with Universal Love

What is the universe?

God created everything in the universe as a sort of a training aid to help His beloved sons and daughters find the ideal of His true love.

This is why you see a reciprocal relationship in all of existence.

For instance, minerals are based on the reciprocal relationship of subject and object partners.  Protons and electrons exist based on a relationship of subject and object partners.

What is the universe?

We see this in human relationships of teacher and student, husband and wife, and parent and child where there is also interactions between a subject and object partner.

The universe is simply the expansion of a true family.  If you take a close look at the family that has been able to become an ideal of family love, you see that it has a top, middle and bottom.  That is the parents, husband and wife, and children.  You will see left and right and front and back.

This is the principle.

When we talk about top and bottom, this refers to the parents and children.  When we talk about left and right, we mean the husband and wife.  The front and back refers to the brothers and sisters.

How are all of these positions able to become one?

There is no way for it to become eternally one through power, knowledge or money.  If a family was to be united through force, smarts or money, then once these things disappear, the family will separate.  So, what would determine eternal unity of a family?

It is only through love that a family will truly unite.  This is the absolute truth.

If this does not happen, then the sphere cannot be formed.  The top, middle and bottom of the family is the textbook of love.

This is the textbook through which we can experience universal love.

We then go into society and put it into practice.  So, how should we love?

Jesus taught about the kind of love for your neighbor as you love yourself.  What should we do to follow this kind of teaching?  Do we see even Christians living this way in this time and age?

Do Christians unite with brothers and sisters of other faiths?

When you go into the world and see an elderly man who is the same age as your grandfather, treat him the same way you would your own grandfather.  Treat people like your own mothers, fathers and your own sons.

When you are able to go out into the world and live in this way and love people in this way, God will dwell in the midst of that love.

You should know that the world is an exhibition of all people.

  

The people of top, middle bottom, front and back, and left and right are all displayed in the exhibition of all of the world.

What does the Kingdom of Heaven look like?

It is the place where you love the people of the world the way you love your own family. It is where people who do this are the citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Your grandfather and grandmother, your mother and father, your wife, brothers and sisters and your own children are four generations.  What do they represent?

They are the textbook where you can deeply experience love, the true love of the universe as people of Heaven. In other words, the family is the foundation, a type of textbook that

They are the textbook through whom you can deeply experience love, the true love of the universe as people of the Kingdom of Heaven. The family is the foundation, a type of textbook that teaches you this love.

We cannot live without learning the love of the universe. 

Your grandfather and grandmother were sent as representatives of all the grandmothers and grandfathers in the spirit world.

God has prepared textbooks and scriptures containing promises which openly say, "Love your grandmother and grandfather."

"Therefore if you love them, I will take it as if you had loved all grandmothers and grandfathers."

Next God would say that since your mother and father are representatives of all the countless mothers and fathers of the world, if you love them to the utmost it will be the exact same as having loved all mothers and fathers because they are the textbook and model of love.

It would be the equivalent of graduating college after many lessons on how to love mothers and fathers.

Furthermore, if you as a man, who represents all men, love a woman who represents all women, then it will be a condition of having loved all women.

Then God would say, "I will take your loving your sons and daughters as you having loved all sons and daughters."

This is how the family becomes the training center to receive such training on loving the world.

This training process which God developed is in accordance with the scriptures.  If the trainees are willing to go out into the world and love the grandmothers and grandfathers of the world in place of their own grandparents, this will save the world and bring a world of peace.

If all the people of the world were raised in such true families, where brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, grandparents and grandchildren each treated each other with respect and true love, when this expands to the world level, then Heaven on Earth is recreated automatically.  Therefore, there will not be true peace in the world until there is peace in the family.

A Training Ground of Love for Entering the Kingdom of Love

This is God's will: to realize the kingdom of love.

Then if God wishes to develop a globalized ideal world of love, then the family is the experimental ground where you earn your credits at such a school.  This is obtained all the way from the elementary level to the bachelor's degree and PhD.

If you were to examine the world carefully, you will see that it is a world where grandfathers and grandmothers live.  It is a world where adults like your aunts and uncles live.

It is a place where your elder brothers and sisters live.  It is a world where youth live and where children live.

So, this place where the middle-aged, elderly, young people and children live are just a larger expansion of the family.  Isn't this so?

The family is the smallest unit within the training center.

It is also a textbook for how to enter the Kingdom of Heaven automatically.

It has four levels: grandfather's level, mother's level, couple's level and siblings level.

Then each of these levels expands into a larger group of grandmothers and grandfather's, mothers and fathers, your own peers, and your own sons and daughters.  Together, they form humanity.

Only families that can love all of humanity as their own spouse and parents, and serve them as their own sons and daughter can inherit the Kingdom of Heaven.  This is amazing.

This is where the right to inherit all of the power and authority of heaven and earth lies.

You receive the right to be registered at the Palace of Peace and the Kingdom of Heaven once you pass to the spirit world.

As discussed, the family is the training ground for the true way to love all of humanity.  

The extension of the family is the world.

The world is made up of smaller worlds: grandfathers' world, grandmothers' world, a world of fathers and mothers, there are husbands' and wives' worlds and sons' and daughters' worlds.

When all of these combine, they make up the whole world.  Therefore, if you are able to love all of the people of the world as your own family, this will lead you toward a straight path to the Kingdom of Heaven.

Thus, the first commandment is to love the Lord your God with all of your heart and soul and with all of your mind.

The second commandment, "Love your neighbor as yourself".  With these two practiced together of loving God and humanity, then everything will be accomplished.  A world of love will follow a people that live in such a way.

No matter how much spiritual training you obtain, if you are unable to love in this way, your training is in vain.  If you do not know how to love God, humankind or the whole universe, you will fail the test.

You should deeply experience love by going through this family training center which is an encapsulation of the whole universe.  Then this expands to loving the world.

When we see the clear-cut point of God's way to train humanity how to love and look at the current situation of the world of broken homes, we see where true restoration should begin.

You have inherited this tradition from your family, which is your training ground, where your mother and father raised you.

If you are able to love your parents more than your wife, love your sons and daughters more than your wife, love humanity more than your wife, and love God more than  your wife, then everything will be accomplished.

Of course, this does not mean to abandon your wife, because loving in this way, each recipient of that love will come to love your wife as well.

Could there be a more glorious place than this?

If you want to love your wife, follow this proper order of love.

Return for Tomorrow's Post: Everyone Desires Good


This post was rewritten and derived from the textbook Cheon Seong Gyeong Book Four, True Family Chapter 3