Seven Principles for Loving Relationships Part I

 

We speak upon having mind and body unity often. Once one is able to center their fallen body upon their godly mind, this principle fosters and furthers the flow of true love.

This is one of the following seven principles.

Why does religion emphasize principles or rules?

Because principles underpin both the natural and human worlds.

A Confucian philosopher, Chu his writes, “There is not a single thing that lacks an inherent principle.”

This is the same observation behind the idea of natural law, that there are invariable principles that govern the nature of everything in existence.

Even though we were endowed with free will and we can choose to live in accordance with these laws or not, the principles of the natural world and human world have many parallels to one another. This is because they both have the same origin, God.

We can also see that these principles reveal much about the Creator to us as well.

Since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made

Romans 1.19-20

Reverend Sun Myung Moon gives us insight that the principles or laws for true love not only have counterparts in the created world, but they also tell us much about God.

The following is a summary of all of the principles. They are first briefly defined and then described within the larger universe.

Principles for True Love

1. Maturing Through Responsibility

We each grow to our fullness when we fulfill the responsibility to give out true love. 

Everything in creation automatically reaches maturity without effort except for humans. Our mind reaches its potential only through our exercise of our responsibilities.

God dwells where there is unity of mind and body. 

Due to the Fall, maturity does not maintain or come easily to us. We are disunited between our godly mind and our sinful, flesh or body. Humans do many things that they know they should not do and immediately regret them.

Saint Paul wrote about this state of disunity. He said that there was a war between his 'members' or body and his mind. Those who sought to have unity with their mind, they often had to walk a difficult path of self-denial and sacrifice in order to restore the natural relationship between their mind and body centered on God.

If we observe those who have good moral stature, these are people that the world deems as extraordinary

people who are pure-hearted, passionate for truth and righteousness, and morally advanced.

Such people have overcome selfish desires and attachment to worldly concerns such as lusts, obtaining possessions, influence, or even status in society.

Instead, they follow the dictates of what is good and true and beautiful even at the great sacrifices of themselves and their comfort. Jesus said they have 'overcome the world,” but they have overcome the influences of the world within themselves that are far from God in order to follow Him and the imperatives of true love.

Such people are called saints, sages and the enlightened ones.

We can say they are the incarnations of God's ideal.

When a person does attain unity between their mind and body, there is an affinity with the divine where He influences the person directly and bestows His extraordinary love and power to him or her.

When a person achieves this unity with God, he or she is able to manifest the divine nature out into the world and serve as a clear messenger or reflection of God.

Jesus boldly declared to the people, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” John 14.9

2. Mind and Body Unity

Mind and body unity allows us to give true love. This is where the mind leads the fallen body of the flesh. Everything is composed of external and internal dimensions where the external follow the internal. 

Our body, which leads humanity in the wrong direction, must obey the mind, but when humanity ignored God's will, the sinful body ended up dominating the godly mind.

All animals have natural harmony between their mental and physical aspects. Their inner instinctive impulses direct their body's behavior toward a purposeful action. This is how we come to admire the dignified beauty and elegant efficacy of even the simple house cat. Every single movement embodies grace. Nothing it does betrays its essential God-given feline nature.

Isn't every inch of an oak tree's trunk, branches, roots, leaves, acorn or bark true to its own nature?

We rely on the absolute integrity of the created world as part of our basic security.

The absolute integrity within the creation is a reflection of its Creator.

St. Paul write of God's “eternal power and divine nature” which is expressed and seen through the crated world. Romans 1. 20

The 'divine nature' represents His character while His 'power' represents His manifestation throughout the world. In other words, the divine Word and His deeds are one.

God is the ultimate example of harmony of word and deed, character and expression; the equivalent of mind and body unity. Because God has such a character and we as humans are created in His image, we also can manifest this kind of integrity. When we a person does, we see a authentic human and likeness of divinity.

Such individuals as a government official who speaks out against a tyrant even though he may be killed or persecuted, or the Oxford graduate who sets up his medical practice in a slum are people acting in a way that is true to their deepest heart and conscience.

These are examples of unity of mind and body in service to love.

For Reverend Moon, this mind and body unity is a prerequisite to altruistic loving. Thus it comprises a principle of true love.

3 Giving and Receiving

Through giving and taking, True Love is generated and sustained. When one initiates and invests love continually, then receives well

True love gives completely. It is total giving, to the degree that we ultimately reach a point where there is nothing left to give. After we reach that ‘zero point,’ we will have the capacity to receive much more than we gave. This process of giving and receiving will achieve a balance that continues forever. Relationships of giving and receiving will produce a world where people live for the sake of others centering on true love.

—Sun Myung Moon

Youngsters love to play catch with their fathers, teenagers enjoy talking to each other and young lovers delight in dancing together.

The commonality between all these activities: basic give and take between people. These small gifts comprise our lives.

Give and take is the substance of all relationships.

Conversation is basically just an exchange of words, and marriage is an exchange of concern and support. Through that exchange, the heart is transmitted back and forth.

Giving and receiving is a second universal principle which comprises and sustains true love.

Just like everything else, love depends on give and take, communication, support, working and playing together. The genesis of love depends on it.

Interaction inspires affection.

A patron who exchanges a few words with a bus driver everyday can create such a bond that the commuter misses her when she changes routes. A daughter-in-law can feel surprised at how she misses the cantankerous, complaining mother-in-law she cared for until her death.

We develop a bond when we are given enough dealings with just about anything or anyone. Reverend Moon observed this give and receiving action as a principle of true love.



Return for Tomorrow's Post: Seven Principles for Loving Relationships Part II


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.