WOMEN'S ROLE IN WORLD PEACE
The founder of WFWP, Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon
It is my great honor to share my vision for world peace with such an illustrious gathering of women leaders from throughout the nation. Our participation here today is truly historic. It marks the beginning of the American Chapter of the Women's Federation for World Peace, and, for many of us, marks the beginning of an active new phase in our roles as women.
We are now entering an age of globalization. Ours is a time where the conflicts between cultures and races, and the walls of ideology and language, no longer keep us from realizing the creation of one, unified world. It is not by chance that we women are holding this conference today. We are called by history. It is the providence of God.
In our audience, I see the greatness of God's handiwork in America: women of every racial, religious and cultural background. But there is one thing that binds most of us here: we are women united to build a better and safer world for our children and families.
We see the signs of decay and confusion all around us. We need look no further than our own communities to find babies born addicted to drugs, children scarred by physical and sexual abuse, young dreams destroyed by unwanted pregnancy and neighborhoods under the siege of random violence.
As women we are deeply affected by these images. Our families and our children are casualties of a culture that exalts living mainly for the self. The impact of this selfishness reaches from the individual to our families, communities, nations and world.
That is why we have launched the Women's Federation for World Peace. This year alone, I have spoken to more than one million women in Asia urging that we join together to fight this war to save our families. As women we reject the ideologies of the past that have oppressed humanity. We are all united in our desire to banish war, oppression and exploitation from this world, and to hasten the anticipated future of true freedom, peace and prosperity.
During this historic age of transition, my husband, the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, and I have advocated Godism in our efforts to overcome the forces of oppression. It is my belief that our efforts have played a role in the demise of the cold war era. Today, I would like to introduce a philosophy that advocates that we rise above racial, religious and national barriers to heal this world. This philosophy is called Godism.
How, then, is a world of true freedom, peace, and prosperity to be achieved? To know this we must first start by understanding God and His purpose of creating the universe.
Originally, God created an object of love in order to feel joy. To create one masterpiece, a sculptor, for example, works day and night, investing his youth and all his strength. Where does this heart of such a sculptor come from? It comes from God, who has the same desire in wanting an object of love through which God can experience joy.
If we look at the physical world, we can see that everything has an inherent duality. Minerals, plants, animals and people all exist in pairs. This is so that each being has an object with which to interact. In the mineral world, there is the action between positive ions and negative ions. In the plant world, we have the relationship between stamen and pistil. Likewise, in the animal world, we have the relationship between male and female. God created all things with a reciprocal partner so that all levels of creation would experience joy and love. At lower levels, the expression of God's love takes the form of harmonious laws of physics and natural instincts. At the highest level, God's love is expressed through the dynamic loving relationship between a man and a woman.
My dear friends!
We all have loving husbands and loving wives, don't we? How much do we love our spouses? If someone offered you a fortune for your loving husband, would you give him up? Is there a husband who would exchange a loving wife if he were offered a crown? When I asked my husband this question, he looked me in the eyes and said lovingly, "Not even for the world." What it all comes down to is that man was born for the sake of woman, and woman was born for the sake of man.
Who, then, is God's partner of love? It is the universe centered upon God's sons and daughters. In other words, God created the universe so that He could reciprocate and experience love.
LIVING FOR THE SAKE OF OTHERS
Moreover, if God created the universe for the sake of love, it is important to understand the nature of God's love. In our world today, we use the word love in many ways. I have heard some say that they love chocolate, or that they love to dance. The often heard expression, "I love you", no longer refers to everlasting love. How often has "I love you" turned into "I want a divorce" in our society today? This kind of limited or self-centered love is not God's love.
God's love is true, selfless and unchanging. True love is the act of giving without the condition of receiving. When God created us, He invested one hundred percent of everything He had again and again. The reason why God wanted to invest Himself completely is because He wanted His object of love to be better than Himself. The act of living for others means that you give one hundred percent of yourself until there is nothing left to give. Only then will the love of your object rush back to fill the void. An example of this is the earth's atmosphere. When a low pressure system forms, air moves in from a high pressure system. The air starts circulating, and can even result in a hurricane. In other words, it is the complete rendering and sacrificing of yourself for the sake of others that produces a vacuum, which will be the very source of tremendous power when God replenishes you with His love.
God's true love is such that though He loves and loves again, or gives and gives again, He does so unconditionally and unconsciously. If you consciously remember what you have given, then you will begin to calculate how much giving is enough. And if you decide that you have given enough, then love cannot continue eternally. Love flows perpetually only if it is given unconditionally.
If your mind and body become one centered on true love, then each of you will become God's companion of love, and will assume the position of God's eternal object. Moreover, you will come to inherit the eternal love of God.
God created the first humans, whom the Bible calls Adam and Eve, to achieve true love and to serve as a paradigm for ideal human relationships. These relationships can be likened to a vertical line that bisects a horizontal line. In this model, God is positioned at the top of the vertical line, and Adam and Eve are positioned at opposite ends of the horizontal line. The point of intersection of the vertical and horizontal axes symbolizes true love, where God, Adam, and Eve meet in a harmonious relationship.
God is the parent of vertical true love, and Adam and Eve are the parents of horizontal true love. If we are born of the love, life and lineage of God, our Heavenly Parent, as well as of our earthly, physical parents, then our minds are vertically connected to God while our bodies are connected to the horizontal, physical realm. More importantly, when our "vertical self" and our "horizontal self" are unified, we become the true love companion of God.
If humanity had matured according to God's will and inherited God's absolute, unchanging love, then our history would not have been a history of war, bloodshed, and misery. Instead, it would have been a history of harmony and peace.
As God's true love companions, we can communicate freely with God and feel everything God feels. Our minds and bodies will resonate in unison with the original heart of God. From this principle of "resonance," or communal oneness, we can say that God's love is my love, God's life is my life, God's lineage is my lineage, and God's creation is my creation.
THREE ATTRIBUTES OF TRUE LOVE
True Love contains the three great attributes of "inheritance", "participation", and "equality". Thus, if you truly love God as He loves you, then you can possess what God possesses, you can participate in everything that God does, and you can share in God's infinite value. Take, for example, a poor man who did not have the means to get an education. If he is married to the President of the United States, and they are a loving couple, then what belongs to the wife belongs to the husband. He has the right to participate in his wife's affairs. Moreover, because the husband and the wife each love the other more than themselves, they are equal in value.
Ladies and Gentlemen, which do you think comes first, love or life? A person's life is conceived from the ideal of love, therefore, it is love that comes first. The essence of life is love and life is the embodiment of love. Thus, life, from the moment of conception, has infinite value and should be lived for the sake of others.
If we claim that our lives are to be lived only for the sake of ourselves, and for no one else, then we would never experience love. True love starts only when we sacrifice ourselves for the purpose of loving others. This is captured by the classic Charles Dickens tale in which Mr. Scrooge, who, despite all his riches, was never able to experience joy until he learned to live for others. When Mr. Scrooge sacrificed himself for the sake of his community, he became the initiator of love among his neighbors. Likewise, when a person sacrifices herself for the sake of her family, she becomes the initiator of love in her family.
When we sacrifice ourselves for the sake of others, it may seem as if we will lose everything, but actually the opposite is true. Not only do we become the subject and master of love, but we also transcend to a higher realm of love.
It is the principle of love that the more we sacrifice for the sake of others, the higher our level of love becomes. When we sacrifice ourselves for a greater purpose, we will not simply be absorbed by it, but rather will come to hold a central position within the greater purpose where a higher level of love will be realized. A good example of this principle of love can be seen in the history of Christianity. The very reason that Christianity became a religion of resurrection lies in the fact that its principal teaching extols the virtue of sacrificing oneself for the sake of others. Jesus himself practiced this very principle of love. Even as he was being sent to die on the cross, his heart of sacrifice and love was captured by his last words, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do."
Jesus' life was the paradigm of God's true love. His life of love and sacrifice resulted in the attainment of a higher level of life for many Christians around the world.
Another example of this principle of love is our beloved Mother Teresa. She herself may be small and fragile, but as a woman of God, living for the sake of others, she becomes the strongest of all. The reason is that if a woman loves and gives one hundred percent to others, then God's love will fill up the vacuum that is left after she has given everything, and the power of God's love will replenish her. Thus, if a woman resembles God and becomes the subject of love, a tremendous force will be unleashed and the power of that love will give life to the family, to the nation, and to the world.
Last year, in November, my husband and I traveled to North Korea a Communist society closed to the outside world. There we met Kim Il-Sung, the president who has ruled that nation for 40 years.
Forty years ago, before we were married, my husband spent nearly three years in a Communist labor camp for preaching the word of God in North Korea. Since that time, my husband has been in the forefront of the effort to educate people about the error of Communist ideas and the tyranny of Communist governments. Because of this work, the North Korean government did its best to propagate misinformation about my husband and even threatened his life on several occasions. But Reverend Moon and I felt called by God, and went to North Korea, relying only on God's protection. We put into practice the words of Jesus, "For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it."
We preached God's truth to the Communist rulers of North Korea for the first time in that nation's history. Furthermore, we told Kim Il-Sung that "the unification of Korea can only be brought about through the ideology of Godism." In reality, we put our lives at risk by speaking out so boldly. Nevertheless, we were willing to sacrifice everything for the reunification of our homeland. It is precisely through the power of true love that one gains the ability to conquer even hell.
GOD'S STRATEGY OF LOVE
Throughout human history, God's strategy for the salvation of humanity has always been the way of true love. Satan, on the other hand, uses force, for he does not possess the capability of true love. God's strategy is to receive the first blow but ultimately emerge victorious, while Satan's way is to strike first, but lose everything in the end.
Look, for example, at the First and Second World Wars, and the third world war between the ideas of Communism and the free world. In each case, the side of evil was the aggressor, and in each case the evil side was defeated. God is omnipotent, and has the power to strike and take back what is His at will. God, however, does not do so because to strike first is not the way of true love. God always remains true to the principle of love. God works patiently to win the world back by continually pouring out His love and by allowing those who are closest to Him to suffer for the sake of the world. God has deep compassion for those who are persecuted for doing His work. Being persecuted for doing God's work is one way to inherit God's blessing.
The history of the prophets shows us this principle at work. The prophets who came to teach the word of God should have been revered and honored as great teachers, but instead, they were bitterly persecuted and wrongfully beaten. Some of them have even lost their lives at the hands of their accusers. But do you know what happens in the end to the beaten and persecuted prophets? They eventually receive all that they had lost and more. Moses was driven into exile by the Pharaoh of Egypt. Confucius and Mohammed both received heavy persecution during their lives. Joan of Arc was burned at the stake, and Jesus was crucified as a criminal. But as time passed, history revealed their greatness as men and women of God. God has let my husband and me experience this many times in our lives. My husband is one of the most persecuted religious leaders of our time, yet God has allowed us to prosper.
If we truly come to understand God's heart, we would never seek revenge on our enemies. On the contrary, we would move heaven and earth to help them. By embracing and becoming one with your enemy centered on love, you will come to stand in front of the gates of the Kingdom of Heaven. There, God will be moved to tears. He will exclaim, "You are just like Me!" and He will be overcome with joy. This is the secret behind the words, "Love your enemy." No amount of money, power, or knowledge can ever match the infinite power of true love. Moreover, God knows that even His enemies have parents, spouses or children who still love them. Since God Himself has gone through the valley of tears, He understands the loving hearts of His enemies' families, and so withholds His punishment.
TRUE LOVE, TRUE LIFE, TRUE LINEAGE
God has true love, true life and true lineage. Since we originated from God, we also have true love, true life and true lineage. Centering on the true love of God, we were born to achieve a perfect union with God through the ideal relationship between parent and child. Just as the mind and body of God are naturally unified through true love, the mind and body of men and women also should have been naturally unified.
Because of the fall, however, humankind has inherited Satan's love, life, and lineage. Satan seduced the first man and woman and prevented them from harmonizing their mind and body centered upon true love. This is why our body, controlled by Satan, fights with our mind which is on God's side. The self-centered love that we see around us today does not originate from an individual's mind but from his body. The mind was to represent heaven as the subject over the body, but the body has become another subject, centered on Satan, challenging our mind.
This is why religion teaches us to overcome the self-centered desires of our physical bodies through fasting, sacrifice, and service. Moreover, religion teaches us how to strengthen our mind through constant prayer, faith and devotion. Guided by religion, an individual can develop the ideal harmony of mind and body, and live as an enlightened being of true love. Philosophy, knowledge or conscience alone is not enough.
How, then, did Satan prevent man's mind and body from becoming one with God's ideal? The Bible tells us that Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. What part of the body, however, did Adam and Eve cover after they had eaten the fruit? If they were ashamed of eating the fruit, they would have covered their hands and mouths. But instead the Bible says that they were ashamed of their nakedness and covered their lower parts. Indeed, the fall was an illicit love relationship centered upon Satan.
According to God's plan, the embodiment of true love, true life, and true lineage is man and woman's reproductive organs. The act of love was meant to be a husband and wife's most holy possession. Because of the fall, however, the act of love has been considered shameful. Adam and Eve, the ancestors of humankind, fell when they were still immature teenagers. Influenced by Satan's initiative, they sowed the seeds of false love, false life and false lineage.
Today throughout the world, young people like Adam and Eve are destroying the ethics of love and living lives of corruption. Many of our youths are abandoning their hopes and dreams and pursuing lives of promiscuity, drugs and violence. How many more times must we bear the news of teenage pregnancies, of newborn infants addicted to cocaine, and of schoolboys getting shot and stabbed in our schools? When we see these phenomena, we know that the age of Satan's dominion has reached its climax.
Throughout history, any city or country that has ignored God and engaged in wanton behavior has been destroyed. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by fire and brimstone. Rome was destroyed because its citizens became morally decadent.
Look at America, Europe, Japan and the other developed nations of the world. Who can control the hedonistic way of life that only seeks to stimulate our carnal desires? We have to realize that this life, based on the desires of the body, will ultimately lead us into ruin. This decadent path is not what our minds want. In fact, our original minds are crying out in despair.
Humankind, which fell and became allied with Satan, is like the wild olive tree. Therefore, the wild olive tree must receive the branch of the true olive tree through which the wild olive tree can be adopted into the true lineage of God. God has prepared the religious people, and people of good conscience, of the world so they may be adopted into the true family of God when it appears on earth. Only as part of God's true lineage can we fulfill God's original ideal of true love. This is the reason the Messiah must come.
Ladies and Gentlemen, what is the Messiah?
The Messiah is the True Parents of humankind. God's original plan was to establish perfected Adam and Eve as the true ancestors of humanity. Satan, however, invaded this ideal, and God, ever since, has been working toward the emergence of ideal True Parents through which all humankind can be restored. As True Fathers and True Mothers ourselves, we must vanquish Satan, liberate humanity and build the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.
As God's sons and daughters we must inherit God's love, life, and lineage. Moreover, we must also inherit True Parents' love, life, and lineage. Then we will have achieved unity between heaven and earth, vertical and horizontal, and mind and body. This will be the starting point for the eternal world of peace.
My dear guests of the Women's Federation for World Peace!
Starting now, in this year of the woman, we must be the model movement of true love for the whole world. We must begin with ourselves and unify our minds and bodies and become vertically connected with God's true love. We must then live for the sake of others to bring about love and understanding with those around us.
The Women's Federation for World Peace recognizes that the moral and spiritual roots of this great nation are still alive. Let us help each other, let us commit our time, let us share our ideas and our strengths to accomplish this noble cause. Centered on our leadership then, ideal families will join together and create the ideal nation and world. Upon this foundation, the Women's Federation for World Peace soon will initiate the Family Federation for World Peace.
My dear sisters, let us pledge to shed our blood, sweat and tears for the purpose of creating a world centered on God and true love.
Let us all rise up and take the lead in completing this historic mission.
May God bless all of you, your families and your nation.