The Way For Students

by Rev. Sun Myung Moon

Everybody likes spring. Winter and spring are very different. Spring, summer and autumn are very naturally connected. But winter and spring are very different. That's why the changes in our heart and our life remind us of the transition time between winter and spring. When the spring comes you can see the nature sprout. We say that spring is the time when the whole creation is changing. Also when the seasons are changing we can see seasonal birds migrating. Also we can see the flowers start blooming in the spring.

I think that in the spring each being in the creation is displaying its best qualities. Looking at what is happening around us in the spring, a desire wells up deep in our hearts to follow the example of nature. When spring comes, we may simply think that "Spring came and it's very nice"; but it is much better to think that before this it already had to go through a hard time with the other seasons. In the same way, if we look at the whole year, we can see that, together with the seasons, everything else is also changing. Therefore not only nature has this potential to change, but everything else too. Even in one day we can see something similar to the change of the seasons. We can imagine that morning represents spring, daytime summer, evening represents autumn and the night winter. If you ask people which they prefer, morning or evening, most people will say they prefer morning. Why is that?

In the night everything is covered by darkness, but when we greet the morning, it has already passed through the period of renewal, and our feeling about it is more sweet and stimulating. If someone looks cheerful in the morning, this morning mood can make a difference throughout his whole day. Therefore, a good mood in the morning gives a good mood to the whole day. When we wake up in the morning after a good rest, we naturally have a nice mood.

The period of being a teenager is really a good time. Why is it so good? Because they want to be proud of anything. The times are like that when you become a teenager. If your family has something even a little bit better, you want to be proud of it. Adults worry about rumors even though they may have good things. But during the teenage years they like to bring up the topic in the tram and on the bus or anywhere else, if they have something good in their family.

Likewise the teen years is the time when they like to be proud of and expect to get such objects of pride. Why is such a time good? Because if they have a good thing in their mind, they show it off as it is and make as if it belonged to everybody. If you have a mind that likes to be proud of your good things, it means you have a strong absorptive power which seeks to make any good thing your own. Do you understand me? (33-274)

The teenager has the basis in their mind to like everything. But it depends on their way of thinking, what they like and dislike. A genuine good thing must be eternal. If you have a self-centered good thing, it is not absolute. (33-289)

If you look at younger children, every child wants to become the best. You do too, don't you? Do you have such a mind that you want to become number one in the world? [Yes, we do.] What about the young women here? [Yes] Even if she has only been to elementary school, or even if she has not yet entered kindergarten, all women have a dream of becoming the best in the world. All of them have such a mind. Man does too. No matter even if they have no education and their body is seriously handicapped, all minds have the source to become the best in the world. Is that so? [Yes]

Then if we go to the best, highest place, will we find the true person there or not? Many people are seeking the top position for themselves. One person chooses this way and another chooses that way. They try to gain the highest-looking position. In whatever way, all mankind is competing with each other to reach the top position as their true hope. Definitely we have such a desire. (39-292)

Would you agree that man originally has such a desire? People want to make this world into their own possession. Children are no exception.

Surely as man receives life, everyone wants to become a world-class person. They think, "The world is mine," and try to become the highest person in the world. Everybody has such a mind of wanting to become the best. The human receives such a mind at conception. Then what kind of God do you have? If he led your life toward suffering so that you could not achieve such a native desire, how would you understand God? Even if you had bad parents, they would at least grant you to achieve your dream once if you persisted for a long time, wouldn't they?

Then what is the way to make this world your own? It is simple. Become the son and daughter of God who created the world. There is no alternative. You cannot achieve your dream by fighting with the world. If you become the children of God, everything will belong to you, because what belongs to your father belongs to you. What about your father's apartment? Can you call your father's apartment your own? Are there any such children who say, "This is not our apartment-it's our dad's apartment"? No matter how poorly qualified the children may be, they say, "It is our apartment." If we think in such a way, we can discover the way to become the best in the world.

Please strive to become the children of God and attend Him as your Father-then you will come to achieve your desire. Eventually you will have a lot of sources of pride. (48-76)

Usually young men have very hot desire. They dare to think Baektu Mountain (the highest mountain in Korea) fits in their pocket and to drink the Pacific Ocean as if it were a cup of water. This is the fearless spirit that youth must keep. (151-68)

1) Have a Big Dream

If you are a youth, you have a dream like the youth. It is the hope! Our hope is to live catching God by the right hand and grasping the world in the left hand. How fine it is! (87-21)

When a young person has hope, he should not dream just with men in mind. Certainly men are changed through ideology. (87-11)

You must have a big dream. Even though the present reality is harsh, you will belong to God if you live with the dream of the future, and accept the present reality for the sake of the future. God will remember such a person.

Do you like it? [Yes] You must know that such a dream is not over in the present time; moreover it is the source of joy for the future.

Then will you yearn for the future hope under easy circumstances, or under difficult and severe adversities? Which is more valuable? [Difficult and severe] Why is that so? Because then the final results will become all the more wonderful and joyous. So, are such people going to just play around? How shall they pass the next ten or twenty years continuously and steadfastly? Or hesitating and wavering up and down? Which is better? [Continuously] That is the right way. (98-291)

What do you think is the most fearful things! To me, it is to be completely immersed in something. As if you were immersed in something you like very much -- you should hold onto God like that. In the Bible, we find the passage "Always be uplifted in heart," which has such a meaning. Do you want to hold on to God? [Yes] Then do you realize the way to hold God? [Yes]

How can people become famous in this world? If someone is very greedy to become such a person, he absolutely will not be. I don't think so. If such an avaricious person gains such fame, he will pass away. He cannot be blessed. If you are given a duty, accept it joyfully. You will invest much more time in it -- even day and night, for ten, twenty or fifty years -- for your entire life, because you are doing it with delight. In this way you will bring success.

That's why you need to choose the delightful things right away even from your young age. Then if you concentrate your effort on this with joy throughout your whole lifetime, you will become a world-level person. How was Rev. Moon able to found the Unification Church and become such a world leader? I was attracted more than anything else by God's heart, and from my very childhood I never changed my mind right up until now, regardless of any difficulty or life and death crisis. Thus I became the Reverend Moon of today. There was no other special way. I never thought, "I am tired. . . this is too difficult. . . I am falling down," even in my dreams. I went with the attitude, "I had better not even think; I had better not even die." Going on in this way, the more I moved the more I developed.

If I visit a tropical place, I try to like it even though I am pouring out sweat and my clothes become completely soaked. Sometimes people say, "Rev. Moon is a very strong man." I heard this many times. But it's not true. When I start something, I really like it. I try to like it more than anyone else. That is my merit. There's nothing else.

When people watch me work, they think as if Rev. Moon was born for this work. If I work on the farm, I do it as if I was born for this work. Because I have such an attitude, even young men cannot outdo me. Which mind is better as you work: "Let's finish quickly and get out of here," or "I don't want to stop doing this work"? If you enjoy this work, will you get tired of it? Think about that.

Now you have received the key to success. We were aware of the new field. When I look into your faces, I know at once whether you have hope or not. When you act joyfully, you cannot forget it. Please try to test if my word is true or not. (76-273)

Your life is only once. So you must make a plan. (24-86)

The adolescent period is the most important time of your life. During this time you determine and set up your goals. So this is the transition period of your life. You must make your life plan at about the age of 18. This time is like the crossroads in your life. It is very important how to understand and how to go over this crossing. The most important point is how to keep on going steadily throughout your whole life. (21-82)

One point you should know, is that you should make your life program. When I observe my own life, the age from fifteen to thirty was the formation stage, thirty to forty-five was the growth stage, and forty-five to sixty is the perfection stage. I set up the plan in three stages. So I worked to prepare everything by the age of thirty. From the age of thirty, I challenged in everything to influence the entire cosmos. (103-59)

People have different ways to succeed, according to their personal temperament. Some are quite capable of gaining success within one year. Some others needs twice or three times more effort in order to succeed. So you must determine that you will fulfill the goal even over a period of thirty years, if you cannot do it in ten years.

We Unification Church members need to have strong conviction. Reverend Moon made effort to have it from the age of 18. Your conviction is your most important attribute. In order to strengthen it, sometimes you need to go up to the top of a high mountain and sometimes you need to go deep down into a valley. Witnessing is also necessary. Do you want to experience witnessing?

What is the next thing necessary for a young man or woman? Desire. When you analyze your mind which desires to do something, it contains up to four hundred stages. However, once you really gather your desire to do something, it is just one stage. Do you really have the will to carry it out? [Yes] How much do you want to do it? If one of your hands is cut off and your leg is snapped, could you do it? After that, if both your legs and both your hands are cut off, can you be pleased, saying the words "No problem!"? Would you carry out such a task, in which you had to cut off your neck and then you could accomplish what you sought? [I will do it.] You are very afraid of such a thing, but your answer is all right.

To answer "Yes" is easy. But to practice in such a way cannot be done at once. So the most important thing is to have the attitude of investing your whole body and even your life.

In the past when I went to the mountain with my friends, I had breakfast early and invited them to go up with me. I tried not to become the last during the climb. Even if I were not in good condition, I prepared everything for the climb. If it became really difficult, I prayed like this: "Dear God, I will do it!" and then I challenged. I did not like to climb just following people. I invested my very best, and then I prayed to God. If I am not leading in front, at least I have to offer some condition such as "I am a man with such a determination and will." You need such a will. When you climb the mountain, your will must be such that you are ready to bring back a wild boar on your back.

You can find in desire the power to pursue all kinds of goals. What kinds of birds are found along the Han River? It is summertime so it's very hot, but how cool it is on the top of the mountain. Let's go and expose ourselves to the wind. Ahhh! How wonderful! We'll be able to see the capital city from up there. If people have such a desire, then their penetrating minds only become more and more determined, and then it is no problem to overcome whatever situation in which we find ourselves.

Since childhood I have been looking at a mountain and thinking, "What is that mountain's name, and what is up there?" That's the way I have been thinking. I most certainly went there to see. I clearly knew everything in my village. If there was a pond, I knew where its outlet was and even where there was something unusual. If there was a large eel, and I wanted to catch it but couldn't, then would I drain out all the water from the pond and then catch the fish!

Here is another story: There was a big carp in a pond that it was crucial that I catch. I cast out a fishing line to catch it. However, instead of the big one, I caught only small fish, because there were lots of them. So when I would catch the small fish, I would release them, saying, "Go! You, little one!" and again I kept going for the big one. You would never know the feeling I had when I finally landed it, unless you have had such an experience yourself. In fact, I suffered up until the moment I caught it -- but that suffering was washed away by the feeling I had at the moment of catching it. If you want to have a feeling like that, you need to have an experience that can bring such a feeling home to you.

Looking at the youth nowadays, they are very quick witted. When one says, "Why don't we go together?" then the others answer, "Okay! Let's go together," although in fact they don't really want to do it. Such a man will remain always a small-minded person. All he can do is tag along after and be indebted to others. There is nothing else that he can do. Therefore, the will is the life of youth.

To satisfy the will, you need to undertake an adventure. If you want to gain quick success, you need to challenge correspondingly greater adventure. That is not a plain, ordinary adventure nor a one-sided adventure but a full-fledged adventure in three dimensions. Therefore, you must know that we need the perseverance to overcome great difficulties. In order to acquire this, the sensation of nervous anxiety must become dulled in you. You must become dull like a toad. There are many things to learn from the toad. You must learn from the toad, when you see how the toad gets up in the morning and sits basking in the sun and blinking his eyes. And also how the ox stands there chewing its cud and meditating deeply. You must team such meditation. It is very necessary for you.

Human beings need patience. No matter how good an ideology might be, it will not work without patience. You must have great patience! You need to pass through ten years remaining constant. Now I speak a lot, but it is no problem for me to not speak for a month. When I was in prison, I didn't speak for several months. When I speak, I can speak well on any subject, but when I don't speak, I don't speak a single word.

That is why we need to take on a double adventure by our will. Without doing in this way, no matter how great a dream you may have, you will gain nothing but the last remaining dregs from your efforts to realize that dream. Then you will become the last.

You need firm courage to take on an adventure with the will. Courage! Courage is necessary. You must be willing to take any risk in the process of carrying out a certain task. If the nation wants to come against me, let the nation do so, and if the world wants to come against me, let the world also do so. Once you have checked and discerned the time, you must keep going on with courage. You have not the slightest fear even in prison. You need such courage.

You must judge the situation well, because, even in having courage, you must not be thoughtless. After judging the facts and the reasons clearly, if it is right, you must overcome no matter what the circumstances. You need to feel, "How regretful it would be if what we have prepared over several decades were to be destroyed." Therefore, prepare from now on. We can never stand in the sorrowful position of defeat, giving up all that we have prepared. Accordingly, we need courage that is capable of overcoming all kinds of circumstances. We must march on courageously at the expense of our lives. The victory will not come to us without such a process.

The victorious foundation can be achieved through such a process. To gain victory without going through such a process would mean to be indebted to others. This man standing before you today, Rev. Moon of the Unification Church, has never been in debt to anyone. I have lived with faith, carrying out this righteous quest, investing more effort than anyone else has ever done.

Then to whom will the victory return home? Because it was gained by heavenly fortune, it must return to the subjective Being in accordance with heavenly law. We cannot gain the victory merely as individuals. Once the victorious foundation is established, after this history and this time have passed, this world will be transformed into the world of glory. You must know that there is such a content behind what we are doing. So, what do we need? [The will.] And what else? [Courage.] Then we can go on to win the victory.

There are still paths remaining for us to walk on the way toward the world, even though our Unification Church has been walking up to this moment. I will continue heading toward the world. For this sake I will never surrender and never be defeated by anyone. What's more, I will not fall behind anyone in having the courage to tackle each problem, and will not lose the fight to anyone. Without marching on like this, we cannot expect the victory on the worldwide level. Even if you have won the victory at the national level, it is still far away from victory on the worldwide scale.

You must consider how you should spend the time of your youth and under what circumstances, keeping in mind the steps in the development of our Unification Church. Although you are living within the sphere of the ideology of unification and of God's will, still, in order to keep moving on toward the victorious world which Rev. Moon and God are longing for, you must know how to criticize your own state of being. In so doing, you must not become a small-minded person, feeling sorry for yourself in light of this self-criticism, but become a brave person who can develop given this opportunity!

Then what should you do from now on? You should become a prince or princess with whom the heavenly world agrees. Prepare yourself well in order to establish the glorious heavenly kingdom while you are yet in your youth. Become such a man and a woman able to do this! Do you understand? (24-84, 33-278)

You are now teenagers. When I was your age, I recognized that by all means I must not avoid historical sufferings, sorrows and lamentations in order to turn around the wheel of history. There must be national troubles in the process of saving the nation, and also there must be worldwide troubles in order to save the world. Why? Because this world is not a world of goodness; instead this world began with evil and is in the process of development toward the ultimate world of evil purpose.

Many young people dash about with desire and ambition in their hearts. They all seek to possess new and better things as their own property. Yet in order to have these things, you need to remove the conditions that stand in the way of the good which others cannot attain. Before doing that, you will be unable to have any relationship with those new and better things. You can easily understand that fact, both by looking at the past history and from the perspective of our day-to-day reality.

Therefore, the time has come to determine afresh with you who are now standing at this starting point. Now, in which direction shall I go? What shall I do? For what purpose should I live? What should be my way of life? What should be the contents of my life? What kind of person shall I become? When we think about these things, a lot of questions come up in our minds. (154-12)

The destiny of a human being is decided by the attitude (the faith and direction) that he or she has between the ages of 18 and 24 years old. After the passage of a long period of time, the fruits of the person with conviction will be revealed.

This is the characteristic of people: the person who has no conviction will fail even though he may be a brilliant man in reality, and the person who has conviction will succeed in the end, even though the course that he trod may be humble.

Even the intelligent man cannot surpass the person of conviction. Therefore the Bible says, "Do your best by heart, will and nature." But not by intellect.

The one who has faith cannot be broken though there be many reasons and difficulties: he will transcend and overcome. The results will thus be brighter. What we call faith does not only pertain to the faith of a person, but also to the faith of the universe, and beyond that, the faith of God. God's work is to accomplish the goal to bring the faith of both God and humankind into oneness: it was for this that religion appeared.

God's faith is the faith to accomplish the purpose of creation, meaning, substantially, to love Heaven, love humankind and then love the universe. In other words, God's purpose of creation is the realization of one world centered on love for Heaven, love for the universe and love for humankind. (10-15)

1) To Be an Important Person

Everybody here wants to be an important person. An important person is the one who takes a central position among the others, going beyond the norm. To become such a person, we must make a victorious foundation and set a superior standard. We have to distinguish perfection and imperfection in order to create such a superlative standard. We have to find the point in which we can surpass others. We have five senses. All of them should be keener than anybody else's -- in seeing, watching, listening, speaking, touching, and feeling. Then our mind should be sharper; and not only that, even our actions should exhibit a better standard.

What can we do in order to become such a person, to be better than others! Actions by themselves are not enough. We must have an internal content which goes completely beyond others. When you study books, you have to practice. You should practice reading, going through a training course to become a good reader. Listening to music is exactly the same. just listening passively is not enough. You need training and practice. Likewise, to become a great speaker you should attend seminars in public speaking and get plenty of practice. It is the same with thinking and the use of the mind. Meditation and prayer are part of the training course for your mind. A course of training is necessary in order to excel in each area.

To reach the level of becoming an important person we need to go through a training course. Otherwise a person cannot be important. Normal people cannot do this. We have to do something which normal people cannot do. It is not easy to become such a person. They should undergo trials and training and be confident to tackle any problem. What kind of training do we experience through our life? We train in perceiving, observing, listening, speaking and touching throughout our whole life.

Our life itself is a training course. To achieve a superior standard depends on how we unite with a certain purpose in our life and how we fulfill a certain course of training. Therefore we have to see, listen, speak, think and act in a way which normal people cannot. If someone becomes like this, he or she will surely become a great and important person. Likewise we can conclude that, for an organization to become central, it needs to have many such people.

Whether a nation can be a central nation in the world depends upon how many such people it has. Let's think about our organization. What kind of person do you want to be? I'm sure that you want to be an important person, and your church will try to educate you as an important person. Yet even though you might be very good at seeing, listening, watching, speaking and thinking, if you fall short in actual performance, you will ultimately lose everything.

Therefore you should not retreat, but advance in every field. Even though you have passed a tough training course, if you retreat you will be a loser. You must overcome all obstacles. You can be chosen and officially approved as a central figure when you become a person who can overcome and digest problems on your own, having the foundation of victoriously overcoming many difficulties and taking responsibility for all kinds of problems. That is why you are in the process of training in an environment where you can learn, listen, speak, and think new things.

Observing the way in which people receive stimuli through their five senses, and furthermore, centering on various problems caused by their actions, in whatever way these actions are influenced by some cause outside of themselves, whether that influence is on a grand scale or very minor, whether in just one aspect or in many aspects, and whether flat or multidimensional-by looking at such problems, we may decide whether a person is important and responsible or not.

Already, in order to become an important person, they must have gone through many types of training and discipline. As a leader, they do not just represent themselves; rather they must stand for the sake of others, as you surely know by now. (67-177)

What kind of concept does each of you have? You should be thinking, "I live for the sake of the whole." The right way of thinking is for the sake of the whole. There is a saying, "Work harder than ten people."

If there is a difficult, miserable situation that no one can deal with, I must take care of it. My hands must go there and my sweat and blood must be connected to there. This is the way of thinking we should keep, and in this way we must make effort.

How difficult it is to do so! Therefore we must be patient and endure. After going through such a course with patience and endurance, if we can keep a thankful mind and the heart to sing songs of gratitude, then we find we can make good relationships with others. All of this becomes the basis for partaking in joy. And then this joy is not just for myself alone; but it is all for the sake of God's Will. (44-38)

When we go out to Satan's world each morning, we must have our eyes, nose, ears, every cell, even our mind, all prepared like armament ready for battle. Go out with the prayer, "Please let me return home again today without any accident." What a dreadful place is this world!

Then in the evening when you come back home, look at your face in the mirror. This eye, these ears, this nose, this hand, this foot -- all the time these things are the problem. You should chastise yourself "You! Didn't you involve yourself in sin today?" Challenge yourself with such a question. Look at these members of your body. Chastise and exhort yourself. "Look! Speak! Act!" You need to possess the ability to change and persuade yourself forcefully. Truly, the education being taught by the Unification Church is just like giving people the best weapon to grab hold of and smash Satan. (122-266)

This Unification Church now has the ideology which nobody can defeat. I as the Father must be the first to be involved in any kind of situation. In every situation, I am the first one to step in. This is what I have been doing all along.

Am I the number one in wearing glasses? [Yes!] How about you, do you like wearing glasses? [Yes!] (Father laughs) Actually, I am number one both in wearing glasses, and in being able to take off my glasses and throw them away! (everybody laughs) So how about you Europeans? Why don't you put on three pairs of glasses, four pairs, even five . . . ! If you wear so many pairs of glasses, you can work as if you had no glasses. It's okay. If you are able to do better when wearing glasses than without them, then please do so. If you can work better with glasses, please do so.

Well, how do you like sleeping? Other people sleep eight hours. How about if I sleep 24 hours plus one more makes 25 -- how wonderful that must be! Why sleep only eight hours? We can add one extra hour to 24 hours, so let's sleep 25 hours! [No!] So then what shall we do? Let's sleep minus 25 hours. (everybody laughs) In that case, if some of you sleep minus 25 hours, it would become a much different, good kind of problem!

We must be better than Satan's world in even one thing. Every village we go and visit, we must insist, "I am different than you." In any way you care to imagine, we are different. Don't just add one -- add more! So how much better can you do that yourself? Ten times more is better. A hundred times more is even better than that! Be the best! To whatever degree you do more is great. (81-134)

You Unification people, brothers and sisters of the family of Heaven, you naturally unite, without anyone even giving an order. You should become stronger than the Communist Party. Do you understand? [Yes!]

First, in attending parents. Second, in loving brothers and sisters. Third, in acting. We must surpass the others. Don't be defeated by them. just as North Korea has sent spies to South Korea, likewise in the future True Father will order our Unification Church members to go to North Korea. There must be no one who would not be willing to go to North Korea. Anyone who does not have the determination to go to that place cannot become a Unification Church member. We must became sons and daughters of God who can surpass them in our substantial practice. (23-295)

We put our Unification Church members into the Satanic world. If we were to speak about wood, what kind of wood are you made of? [Beech] Beech is not that strong. Uujubel Jujube? [Oak] Oak? [Yes.] Okay -- oak. Everybody knows the oak tree. You don't know what kind of a tree jujube is.

A tree must not bend. Even if it does bend, it must not break. It must be tough. It must be tough and strong. Are you Unification Church members tough! [Yes!] Because we must go into this world, we must become tough. So! Looking at this, is Rev. Moon a tough person or a so-so person? [Tough person] How much tough? [Like an oak tree] (Father laughs)

We must be as tough as raw rubber, and hard as oak. Then you must be as resilient as steel. Are you as hard as steel! [A strong person] You should be like that. Then when the winter wind blows, when it turns to summer, or the spring rains come, through all this you must be unchanging. Are you still changing, or have you remained unchanged? How about stainless steel? Do you like iron or do you like stainless steel? [Stainless steel] What is the reason for that? Because it does not change. (100-194)

If the Republic of Korea is the country to which the Lord will come, Korea must grasp hold of all the countries of the world, and must not shake. It should become such a harbor. In order to do that, how firmly it must be established! It needs cement, gravel, sand, and iron reinforcement bars. In order to construct a seaport, first of all, before pouring the concrete, you must weave a very strong structure with iron rods. What does an iron rod symbolize! It means a person. Out of all the different types of people, an iron rod means a strong person. We need strong persons whom nobody can bend and no one can pierce. Centered on faithful persons of constancy, chastity and indomitable spirit, we must weave such faithful people together. In this way, let us construct a facility to save this world all at once at the push of a button. We have such an historical mission.

If our Unification Church plans to take on this incredible mission, then, in making the concrete, what kind of position will you take? Will you be an iron rod? Will you be the sand? Will you be the gravel? What do you want to be? Think about this. You must be an iron bar. Have you become an iron bar already? Even if you didn't become an iron rod, you should at least become a small pebble. If you didn't become gravel, you should even become sand. If you cannot become sand, then you should become water to be poured out for the sake of the others. Water can be absorbed into everything. You must know about that. (31-146)