The Way For Students

by Rev. Sun Myung Moon

When I was young I came to Seoul to enter middle school. (153-33)

I left my hometown at the age of 18, and I risked my life in order to restore the Satanic world by forgetting about it. (147-253)

In my student days I did my own cooking for seven years. In those days Seoul was very cold. Although it has good weather these days, in those days the temperatures reached minus 20 degrees Centigrade, and on the average it was minus 15 degrees Centigrade. It was that cold in Seoul. When we got water from the well often the string broke because of the weight of the iron bucket with water in it.

We also had to live in a very cold room. In my days as a middle and high school student I slept in a very cold room. It was colder then than it is now.

I put my sleeping bag in a cold room and slept, and when I woke up in the morning there was a mark on the floor that did not disappear even after one week. So you may think I was miserable as a young man having to live without heat. When it was very cold I used electric heating. I often got burnt here and there. I'll never forget that. I never said that to my mother. But I had burns on various parts of my body. I also economized my living expenses and saved money so that I could pay for my friend's school expenses. So in order to make money, I sometimes worked by pulling a wagon or a cart with baggage. (137-283, 51-262)

In my middle school days I did not eat lunch, not because I had no money but because I wanted to know how the hungry felt. Also, I did not eat lunch because there was no food. I did that because I felt I had to train myself during the normal days of my life.

In those days it was a great pleasure to do that, even greater than eating something. Young people naturally want to eat as much as they can. Still on my own volition I did not eat lunch. At lunch time it was very difficult to control my desire for food. While my friends ate their lunches, I sat in a remote comer not eating, just meditating. It was a serous place. (50-308)

I am very stingy toward myself Until I turned 30, 1 never bought a new suit. I would always buy a secondhand suit in a secondhand store and wear it. In my student days all my clothes were student uniforms. I patched them when necessary and continued to wear them. I often went to a secondhand shop in Seoul and purposely chose the uniforms which other students would not dare to choose because they were too old, stained with oil, or too smelly. Also, I did not get my hair cut, nor did I shave.

Why? Because in that way I was able to do whatever I wanted wherever I went. I made all my own undershirts and underpants. I did that because I wanted to train myself so that I could do the will of God even if I had to live alone. So, by living in that way and saving money I helped many poor and miserable people. And sometimes when the families of patriots in the resistance movement had difficulties because the husband was in prison, and so on, I went to help the family members without giving my name. I lived such a life. (51-262,31-260,137-235)

In those days while I was attending school, I also served as a Sunday School teacher at the Heuk-suk-dong and Seo-bin-go Churches.

In the winter the Hangang River froze at night. One could hear the sound of the ice breaking. I was scared when I was alone. Still, I had to cross the river by walking over the bridge in order to teach at the Seo-bin-go Church Sunday School.

I taught the Sunday School students very well. Nowadays, I cannot make my sermons as interesting or as funny as I did then. In those days I made my teaching very funny and interesting, and when I shed tears, the students also cried out loud. I thought once they had cried, it would be enough for them. But, I was asked to talk again. I often attended Sunday School and taught them in that way. (15-182)

I served at the Sunday School and taught the young. I was the Sunday School teacher at a well known Sunday School. Why? Because I knew the minds of the children very well through my own experiences.

When I was a teacher I told them sorrowful stories. The stories could have become long novels. I improvised novels.

So people like me have no difficulty preaching or giving sermons ten times or even a hundred times a day. That's why I can do this work. So I make a living serving as a preacher or as a teacher. Am I not the Reverend Sun Myung Moon? I am the Reverend Moon of the Unification Church; I am Reverend Moon in front of elderly people, like grandfathers, and I am Reverend Moon even for Dr. Yun, and I am Reverend Moon even in front of his grandfather.

I am also Reverend Moon to children. I often play with children. I am also good at sewing. I made all of my underwear. I can even knit. I can make my own clothes. I can make my own socks, even four pairs of socks a day. (139-51)

When I was a student I didn't go to school by streetcar. I never rode one. The fee was only five won. Yet I always walked to school to save the money and to give it to the beggars in the street. I observed those beggars very closely. There were many. When I passed them I looked at them, and then on the way back I looked at them again. I made distinctions among the old and the young. I did not give my money to the young, but only to the poor elderly people. I also served the old people. So when I make offerings I do it in that way. (50-308)

I remember one day walking from Heuk-suk-dong to Seoul station. In the summer all my friends used the street cars wherever they went, but I walked. I thought: "I'm different, I should not go this way." When I got to the train station I gave that money to the beggars, and I prayed for them saying, "Although I can give them only a small amount of money, please make the day come that the beggars of this nation can have a day of liberation."

Thus you should know what the conditions are in this miserable nation which is in great difficulty and in trouble. Also you have to know your own tribe. Who are the members of your tribe who are shedding blood, sweat and tears during the days of tribulation of the nation, and you have to know your own family and your own parents.

When I went to Japan, I still remember, I cannot forget, how many days I spent covered by my overcoat from Seoul station to Shimonoseki station. In those days, the Koreans on the train were those going to Japan where their parents lived. So I prayed to God saying, "Oh God, I understand that I have to pass through the path of tears by going out with burning love and a burning heart so that I may lay the foundation on which I can go forward with all my forces along the path of your Will, so please let me follow that path."

I did not follow that path from a high position. I walked it from the lowest position, from the ghettos of the people, from the bottom of society. I experienced everything in every field in order to know the situations of the suffering people of the world. I also experienced doing physical labor, doing farm work, and working on a boat. There was nothing I did not try to experience.

I prayed to God, "Please let me inherit all the sorrowful hearts and miserable resentments of people through my life, and if You still have any sorrows or resentments please go ahead and strike this son of yours, and please feel in Your heart that you can solve those resentments by striking me." I have been following that kind of path. (127-230)

During my student days I shed tears while reading a page of a book. I learned things thinking that on each page there may be included a secret which could influence the destiny of our nation. You should pray in that way. (39-62)

I am a man with ability in various fields. I have ability in drawing and painting. When I was twelve, I went to a calligraphy school and drew the model of calligraphy. I felt there was nothing I could not do. When it comes to studying, I memorized a book of 200 pages in one day. I am a man of such great talent.

So if I had chosen to become an academician I would have become superior to everybody. Everybody would have envied me. I had that kind of a brain. (68-66)

I majored in electrical engineering. At school I asked a lot of questions and put my teachers on the spot. They thought whenever they saw me, "What kind of question is he going to ask me today?" Since I asked them so many questions, they thought of me as a troublemaker. So because of those things, I was able to establish a foundation for controlling this world now. That is why the titanium factory exists today. In the field of chemical engineering we are going forward toward the position of king. I was also interested in ceramics. In the future the scientific civilization will use ceramics as material, so we have to take the most advanced position in that field. (165-186)

In those days I thought like this, "I'll show God that I love him like a crazy man, and I will prepare myself to become a person who can testify to that." Then what is the limit of love? It's not the point you think. It's not as trifling a matter as you think.

Therefore I made haste wishing that my youth, like a flower, would pass away fast. When I was a student, I walked not with my face looking up but rather looking down.

In my student days whenever I came home from school I took off my student uniform, and I went to do physical labor, not because I had no money, but because I wanted to experience those jobs. I carried coal and I experienced the work of a construction laborer. I experienced everything. In other words I wanted to know everything about human suffering and human joy. I thought that my responsibility was to liberate all those people completely by becoming the man responsible for liberating those people who are living in suffering and joy. (37-36)

Was there nothing that I was envious of when I was your age? You go to movies often, don't you? But in those days, you must know, I never went to see movies, I never went in front of movie theaters.

We must equip ourselves with such subjectivity that no matter how ugly the behavior we may see is, we are not infected by it. We have to be able to guide the people who act like that. In order to do that we have to go through those things. Why?

Because we have to stand in a position transcending the line of committing crimes and sins even if we have to go through circumstances that are like movies or ugly places without being accused. (93-278, 184-247)

Yes, there is nothing which I have not tried. I learned everything, even how to make charcoal in the deep mountains. Also I learned how to dig a hole. So I can take responsibility for physical laborers. I can even use swear words. I can befriend those who use swear words, and I can control them. I am not a person to be controlled. When I went to a construction site there was a leader. If I had defeated him by knocking him out, he would have been embarrassed. So I said, "Hey, don't speak like that. Listen to me. You are bad. You are no good because you are exploiting students for money." I spoke to him like that.

But after saying things like that, you should also be able to flatter them. You must be able to do all those things. If you want to lead people, you should be able to do both things. Life is not just a one way road. Do you understand what I mean? In dealing with those things, you should deal with them quickly.

When you have to retreat you have to retreat. You have to be able to do those things freely and flexibly depending upon the situation. In order to be able to do those things you have to be experienced in many things. Do you understand? (143-297)

I am good at sewing as well as knitting. There is nothing I cannot do. When my older sister got married I taught her how to knit. . . I can learn everything through books. (86-310)

I'm good at doing small things. Once I observe something, I can do it. If I am told to assemble something, I can do it. I have also experienced carpenter work. I went to Pusan and made my living by doing carpenter work for US servicemen. I learned how to do carpentry by watching carpenters. I was able to understand, so I went there and on the first day I did all the work. If I watch a construction job, I can under, stand instantly how to build the house. By clarifying the principle and reason in doing the work, I could become familiar with all those things. (68-67)