The Way For Students

by Rev. Sun Myung Moon

People who prayed in the past have called nature the first Bible. It is not the second. If we took at the Bible, which is compiled from the history of Israel, we cannot understand it precisely. Do you know how much I have shaken my head, looking at its contents? It is just like a fortune teller's predictions. If you fix a ring to your nose it becomes a nose-ring, but if you fit it to your ear, it becomes an ear-ring. It is a means of escaping from reality. If we want to assess the substance of reality and distinguish the sequence of events, then more powerful than the Bible is the world of nature that has been made by God. It is the best. (20-271)

Not one thing in God's ideal world of creation centering on true love, namely all existent beings in the macrocosm, came into being outside of the heart and love of God. The poet who feels this will be a great poet. If there is a poet who can feel the heart of the universe in the sight of one trembling leaf and can give expression to that feeling, he will be a universal poet. Nowadays we ignore and are far too indifferent to such things. We did not realize the fact that all around us, and unbeknown to us, all the burgeoning things of creation are existing together with the love of God.

If we enter the spiritual realm, we can see that even one tiny grain of sand contains the principle of the universe and even in one atom is contained the boundless harmony of the universe. Even though we can, not know so much about all the things of existence, we cannot deny that they are all resultant beings that have arisen from a unifying force. Beyond molecules there are atoms, beyond atoms there are particles. . . all these things do not exist unconsciously but are beings with a consciousness and a purpose. That is why all things in existence have come into being through the out-stretched hands of God. You all have to know completely the fact that you indisputably exist in a relationship with the heart of God.

What kind of person is a sage? The greatest sage is the one whose heart is such that he can take hold of a single blade of grass and say "God!" and perceive that its value is equal to his own value. The person who can sing about that value in such a way will be the greatest artist. If there is someone who discovers the exquisite beauty of the variety of God's heart and love by seeing the variety of all the things of creation, and if that person has the feeling that he can become friends with those things and rejoice together with them, and if that feeling moves every single cell in that person, that person will become someone who can represent the whole universe. That kind of person is the lord of all things. But can somebody who does not know about anything except eating become a lord of creation?

When God created the world there was joy there. After he had created everything and seen it, he said that it was good. There was joy. What is joy? It is what is felt when one's purpose is accomplished. Because God's conscious purpose is inherent in the things of creation, after God had created all things, He felt joy. In that case what kind of world is the world of restoration? In a word, it is the world in which people live who substantially possess the heartistic affinity that enables them to praise God as they behold every individual being in all creation. The value of character that Heaven sees is there. In the past, therefore, stories about persons such as Saint Francis giving sermons when they saw animals or birds are not lies. Such stories are like dreams. Nevertheless, they are not dreams but the truth. (9-168)

If you take a quiet look at children. . . when you look at things like toys, what are they? They are things that move. Everybody likes toys, but of all moving things the ones that have intuitive feelings are animals -- whether they are puppies or some kind of bugs. All children are happy centering on moving things such as the birds of the air and the beasts of the field. Why is that? Because people were originally like that. What does that mean? It means that when humans saw the natural world or the movement of this world, they felt pleasure. Everything is like people's hobby. Also, things like other objects. . . although, of course, the reciprocal base is different; in that place of appreciation, people truly feel enjoyment and interest. Because of that, one's internal attributes of love are all teaming.

If we look at living bugs, insects, or animals we can see that they all exist in pairs. If we look at nature in this way and ask ourselves what it is, it is a museum of educational materials for the development and education of the reciprocal ideal as humankind's one object of love.

That is why there are three kinds of bird-song. The first is a sign that the bird is hungry. The next is a song of love for the bird's mate, and the next is a song that the bird sings when there is danger. They are all different. Although we ordinary people do not know, in the world of birds they know all these songs. If you cry because you are hungry everyone knows already. It is like that. What is everyday life centered on? If you are hungry, once you have eaten that is the end of it. There isn't danger every day either. If we ask ourselves what the songs are generally centered on, we have to say that the songs come and go centering on the relationship of giving and receiving between mates. (137-211)

Humans were created as subjects and objects; that is, as reciprocal pairs. Also, all the things of the world, which exist for humankind, came into being according to the principle of love. Furthermore, because of the love of humankind, life and the ideal become a reality. The world of creation exists for humankind. Especially, it exists as the textbook of love for Adam and Eve, as they are growing up. It is a museum inexhaustibly exhibiting the essence of love. (135-12)

In the very beginning, Adam and Eve, who were favored by being born as the children of God, also grew up under the protection of God from their childhood and gradually became bigger. Consequently, because their intellect developed, they came to understand why God had created the world. The world was created to be a means of education. Everything that moved in the created world was a textbook that taught our original human ancestors Adam and Eve everything that enabled them to live. You must know the fact that because Adam and Eve were not perfected, but were living according to the ideal way of life, the created world was an example or a museum for them. (137-128)

If you open your eyes and gaze upon nature in the morning, that nature creates a vague affinity with this original character and produces a feeling of the new ideal. If you look at the human world, however, you are all aware of the fact that as you look at it, it stirs up a feeling of despair and sorrow within you.

If this was the original world of uncorrupted humankind, you would not feel such sorrow at looking at the value of humanity. Humankind was not created with the same value of a single blade of grass or a flower or a tree. This most precious humankind cannot be exchanged for anything in the creation, and this humankind should have appeared, substantiating this incomparable value, as the representative of Heaven. (9-97)

Now we have to understand this. When we look at nature, which is endowed with the love of God, we have to feel in our mind that neither the wonderful things belonging to kings of this world and famous people, nor antique treasures, nor the splendid clothes worn by famous women can compare to nature. If we cannot do that, we are committing a crime in front of nature, even though we do not realize it.

The person who takes hold of the creation, into which God has invested his heart, and feels its preciousness, and when looking at a single living thing, thinks, "Can man-made things compare to this? No matter how wonderful a person may be, is he more wonderful than God?" then that person is without doubt a son or daughter of God. This kind of person does not need to pray. This is someone with whom God lives. Heaven is pushing humankind into that kind of position.

Look here, all of you. Humans all like and treasure something which belongs to the person that they love, no matter what it is. Isn't that so? Nevertheless, they do not know how to treasure the things of creation that have been made by God, whom we should love the most. Are these kind of people the sons and daughters of God?

All of you, who bear the responsibility of liberating the bitterness of heart of the lamenting creation, even at the sight of a blade of grass or a tree, must deeply experience the heart of God six thousand years ago, when He created those things. You must have that kind of mind.

That is why our Unification Church members have to be able to shed tears on seeing a single blade of grass by the wayside. Embracing a single tree, you have to be able to cry, while saying, "How lonely have you been since losing your lord?" Try to do that one time.

This person who is speaking now has cried a lot. He has embraced a rock and wept, and wept even while watching the blowing of the wind. If you have listened to this speech, you will understand why he has done that. "Precious things of creation that have been made by God, precious things of creation that have an eternal affinity with God, I have to sympathize with your sorrow at never having even received the treatment that is given nowadays to national treasures and valuables in royal palaces." I have appeared speaking these words. If you all have a heart which feels, "Even though all the people of the world are blind to you, I must sympathize with you," in the future this people will become a new race that will be able to control all humanity. This is not a theory; it is a fact.

Who among you are going to regard nature as being more precious than your family's heirloom, which has been passed down from generation to generation, or more precious than the most valuable diamond? Where is such a person? Oh God, when you see such a person in sympathy with the things that You have made and embracing them with tears, You will say "Come to me." Think about whether you can do that or not. (9-175)

What is nature? It is a display of adorable things given by God as a present to me, when His sons and daughters, filled with adoring love, are born. The sound of a bird, or even a single blade of growing grass are ornaments to make the life of His beloved sons and daughters beautiful. Even a stone rolling down the street knows that those sons and daughters will become the lords who will govern the nation, and it has been made to decorate that nation. The flowing water is just the same. As dullness and monotony will not do, nature was created to be a garden of peerless harmony for the sake of the prince of dreams, the prince of hope, who could inherit such a world, which had been made for love.

That is why we can study by means of all the things of creation. When male and female birds chirrup, even the house owner's wife learns from that. You have to know how to live even at the risk of your life, praising the beauty of the created world and heading towards a world of mutual reverence. If someone does this, even the birds will want to come and live in the hedge around that house in order to raise their baby chicks. Do you understand what I am saying?

No matter how precious a work of art in a museum may be, can it be equal to a living work of art? The point is who has loved this world, which is God's work of art and the museum of all the things of creation, more than God. The point is have you loved this world more than your own country's museum. Can you compare a golden crown from the Silla era in a museum with a single dandelion trodden underfoot by the roadside? God made that dandelion in person. You have to think about the territory of your native land in that way. With that kind of heart of God and the kind of mind that is able to say, "I am sorry and ashamed that I myself could not love in that place where I received love, that kingly position, from which the original God could be revered." When there is that kind of king with such a clear conscience, even the blades of grass will follow that king and want to be together with him eternally. That is the way human beings have to live. (175-187)

You have to know how to love nature and love people. You all have to understand that people who cannot love people and cannot love nature, also cannot love God. The things of creation are the symbolic existence of God. Because humankind is the substantial existence of God, the person who knows how to love the creation and humanity will come to love God.

This is why it is not right to have a church made up solely of young people. We have to make a church filled with grandmothers and grandfathers, aunts and uncles. Self-sacrifice alone is not the best thing. Do you know that? [Yes] That is why if you all grew up as orphans, you could not help but be orphans. (70-182)

We have to love nature always. We have to love nature, and we have to love humanity. Furthermore, we have to love every race and color of humanity. Would God say, "Oh, I only like white people"? In that case we would all have to wear white clothes. White people would all have to wear white clothes. We would all have to throw away our colored clothes. Why wear black clothes? Why wear colored clothes? It's a contradiction. (133-130)