The Wisdom of Giving is the topic of passages in this section. When we give to one another freely and without conditions, sharing our blessings with others and bearing each other’s burdens, the giving multiplies.
We receive far more than we give. Even when there is no immediate prospect of return, Heaven keeps accounts of giving, and in the end, blessing will return to the giver, multiplied many-fold. We must give first; to expect to receive without having given is to violate the universal law. (See Chapter 2: Duality)
Conversely, giving with strings attached—to receive, to curry favor, or to make a name for oneself—is condemnable. Father Moon’s extensive teachings about giving provide a philosophical basis for this universal moral wisdom.
Giving is rooted in the Creator, who invested Himself utterly to create all things in heaven and earth. He goes on to explain several reasons for giving’s paradoxical power to yield increase the more it is spent: first, because in giving we pattern our lives after the Creator; second, through the concept of give-and-take action as seen in the cycles of the natural world; and third, in the investment of parents in their children, with its joyful yield over the years—growth, prosperity and grandchildren. To encourage us to give without any conditions, he counsels us to “give and give and forget what you have given.”
01The Way of Giving and Its Rewards
It is more blessed to give than to receive. Acts 20.35
You will not attain piety until you expend of what you love; and whatever thing you expend, God knows of it. Qur’an 3.92
He who gives liberally goes straight to the gods; on the high ridge of heaven, he stands exalted. Rig Veda 1.125.5 (Hinduism)
Give not with the thought to gain, and be patient unto thy Lord. Qur’an 74.6-7
One must pour cold water on the ground before he can tread on soft soil.25 Yoruba Proverb (African Traditional Religions)
One man gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want. A liberal man will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered. Proverbs 11.24-25
Verily, misers go not to the celestial realms. Fools do not indeed praise liberality. The wise man rejoices in giving and thereby becomes happy thereafter. Dhammapada 177 (Buddhism)
The accumulation of wealth is the way to scatter the people, and letting it be scattered among them is the way to collect the people. Great Learning 10.9 (Confucianism)
He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must do as he has made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance so that you may always have enough of everything and may provide in abundance for every good work. 2 Corinthians 9.6-8
The Buddha said, “When you see someone practicing the Way of giving, aid him joyously, and you will obtain vast and great blessings.” A novice asked, “Is there an end to those blessings?” The Buddha said, “Consider the flame of a single lamp.
Though a hundred thousand people come and light their own lamps from it so that they can cook their food and ward off the darkness, the first lamp remains the same as before. Blessings are like this, too.” Sutra of Forty-two Sections 10 (Buddhism)
Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
True love begins with investing and forgetting. (225:15, January 1, 1992)
Is the essence of [ordinary] human love the same as the original essence of God’s love? Out of human love, people seek to receive; but when we embody God’s original love, we seek to give. (130:118, January 1, 1984)
Goodness You is the driving force that advances life. Therefore, we must give. What shall we give? We should give life. More than your life, you should give your love—the one love that is of God—parental love.
That is why our motto is, “Go forth with the heart of the parent, in the shoes of a servant, shedding sweat for earth, tears for humanity, and blood for heaven.” Do this, and you will not perish. You will not perish. (34:246, September 13, 1970)
The universe’s motion began with an act of giving. I teach that all motion arises according to the principle of give-and-take action.26 Does “give-and-take action” mean we first give and then take, or first take and then give? When you give first and then receive you feel good, but when you receive and cannot give you feel ashamed. (239:222, November 25, 1992)
In give-and-take action, does “give” come first, or “take?” Giving comes first. Do parents first give for the sake of their children, or children for the sake of their parents? Parents give first. Then it is logical that the act of giving began with the One who is the origin of all existence, and through the links of the chain of existence it has been passed down to us. (239:59, November 23, 1992)
Unity takes place where people invest creative energy—where there is giving. It does not happen where people mainly seek to receive. To receive can be good if after receiving, you add interest to it and give out more than you received. But even God dislikes the person who receives and only seeks to receive still more. No more will be given to him. (82:326, February 1, 1976)
Take an illustration of a good man and a bad man. Each begins with ten friends.
The good man unselfishly serves his friends day in and day out, this year, next year, for ten years, for his whole life. All ten people say he is their very best friend.
Since they like him, they introduce him to their mother and sisters and all their relatives.
The bad man thinks that his friends exist to serve him. By the time he tells them three times, “Hey you! Serve me!” every one of his friends would run away; they would want nothing more to do with him. Isn’t that true? It is universally true: A self-centered way of life leads you down the road of self-destruction, to hell. But those who give, living their lives in service to others, will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. They are living following God’s Principle. (69:86, October 20, 1973)
God created all creatures in heaven and on earth by investing His heart of love completely. It means He gave. Because God has this nature, a counterpart will certainly come into being who also has such a heart. As a result, human beings can form a relationship with God and, through that relationship, manifest God’s love. By living this way, we can only prosper.
Our conscience does not understand this fact logically and with certainty, but it tells us to love each other and live for the sake of each other. Similarly, religions teach us to sacrifice ourselves for the sake of others.
Thus, our conscience, in agreement with morality and ethics, tells us to live for the sake of othersHis heart of love completely, sacrifice ourselves for the sake of others, and love others. (112:300, April 25, 1981)
02The Virtuous Cycle of Giving and Receiving
Give, and it will be given to you… For the measure you give will be the measure you get back. Luke 6.38
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Matthew 5.7 Those who act kindly in this world will have kindness. Qur’an 39.10
Who is honored? He who honors his fellow man. Avot 4.1 (Judaism)
When a greeting is offered you, meet it with a greeting still more courteous, or at least of equal courtesy. Qur’an 4.86
There was presented to me a papaya, And I returned for it a beautiful keu gem; Not as a return for it, But that our friendship might be lasting. There was presented to me a peach, And I returned for it a beautiful yaou gem; Not as a return for it, But that our friendship might be lasting. There was presented to me a plum, And I returned for it a beautiful kew stone; Not as a return for it, But that our friendship might be lasting.27 Book of Songs, Ode 64 (Confucianism)
Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
The more you love God, the more of God’s love you will receive. This is the principle for expanding the love of God in your life. You will receive God’s love because you have loved God. (40:244, February 6, 1971)
The more you love, the more you receive love—not only from God but also from the people you love. Hence, your investment yields a two-fold return, and even more. Your one effort at giving love yields a many-fold return, because it connects with multiple dimensions. (90:21, December 5, 1976)
A good person is someone who adds to what he receives and passes it on to others. For that reason, parents want their children to grow to be better than they are.
Likewise, a husband wants his wife to be better than him; a wife wants her husband to be better than her; an elder brother wants his younger brother to grow up to be better than him, and so on. (315:211, February 2, 2000)
Which is more joyful, the joy of owning something precious or the joy of giving your prized possession to someone else? Giving leads to multiplication. What you give with a sincere heart will be returned to you many-fold.
You have initiated give-and-take action, a virtuous cycle of ever-increasing giving. It comes back to you, and the next time you want to give more. That is how giving expands. (248:96, August 1, 1993)
Look! When there is air at low pressure, a corresponding region of high pressure is created and circulation necessarily occurs. God is the king of wisdom. Why do you have to give and give and forget what you have given? It is because it guarantees circulation, which becomes an eternal circulation.
This is the logic of the theory of eternal life. When you invest, invest, and invest more, the principle of eternal life operates. When you live for others, you do not perish. (204:107, July 1, 1990)
When flowing water comes to a depression, it must fill that depression before moving on. The same is true with air. Loves also flows, and if there is a depression, it works to fill that depression before moving on. (241:306, January 1, 1993)
The power of true love comes from investing. It is the power of giving, not just receiving. When we give totally, we ultimately reach a point where there is nothing left to give. That is the ‘zero point,’ where we become completely empty. Then we have the capacity to receive anything that comes to us.
Whenever we give even more returns. By continuing in this way we generate a never-ending process of giving and receiving. This forms an eternal balance. A world where everyone lives for the sake of others centering on true love is perfected through countless such relationships of giving and receiving. (315:210, February 2, 2000)
Why does the person who gives flourish?
Why do you grow larger when you give? It is because giving connects you with the origin—with God’s principle by which He created the universe.
God created by giving, and what was given kept on growing. You Americans will continue to prosper only if you change your concept of life to the way of giving. Then the universe will help you, since you will be living in accord with the Principle of Creation. But if you continue to take and take, your life will shrink.
The root of true love is the eternal cycle of giving. The power of giving multiplies; taking only makes things get smaller. It is a mysterious fact. In ordinary physics, energy dissipates when it is put to work, but the principle of love is that giving leads to increase.
Everything you give moves in a cycle and ultimately comes back to you—with interest! For example, Abraham left his home as one man carrying a blessing, but after thousands or years it has multiplied to touch billions of people. (183:324, November 9, 1988)
Your partner is the foundation for your hopes, the foundation of your happiness, and the foundation for your everything. When God created heaven and earth, He created all things and human beings as His object partners.
The principle of give-and-take action governs action, movement, and law in the universe. It states that nothing comes back until it has been given completely. Isn’t that so? For a wife to love her husband completely, she first must feel that he loves her completely.
Only then will she say, “I’m going to really love him.” You begin to give back completely when you receive. That is the principle of heaven and earth… If you begin to return before you have received it, then it will not come back to you in its entirety. (60:232, August 17, 1972)
03Giving Without Any Conditions or Concern for Past Slights
He who gives his wealth to purify himself, and confers no favor on any man for recompense, only seeking the Face of his Lord the Most High; He shall surely be satisfied. Qur’an 92.18-21
A gift is a gift of integrity when it is given at the right place and time to the proper person, To one who cannot be expected to return the gift, and given merely because it should be given. But what is given to get a gift in return, or for the sake of some result, or unwillingly, That is a gift in the sphere of passion.
A gift is called slothful when it is given not at the right time and place, Nor to a worthy person, nor with proper ceremony, but with contempt. Bhagavad-Gita 17.20-22 (Hinduism)
A man who is out to make a name for himself will be able to give away a state of a thousand chariots, but reluctance would be written all over his face if he had to give away a basketful of rice and a bowlful of soup when no such purpose was served. Mencius VII.B.11 (Confucianism)
“If I give this, what shall I [have left to] enjoy?” Such selfish thinking is the way of the ghosts; “If I enjoy this, what shall I [have left to] give?” Such selfless thinking is a quality of the gods. Shantideva, Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life 8.125 (Buddhism)
Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
True love is love that gives and forgets what it gave. Having forgotten what you gave, you want to give again and again. (162:239, April 12, 1987)
You give and then forget. You do not keep an account of what you gave but forget it. When you give and forget, you are elevating your beloved above yourself. Give and forget—that’s the idea.
As soon as you remember what you gave, it breaks the circuit of giving. Unity does not exist where there is self-assertion—where a husband asserts his rights or a wife asserts her rights. God created the universe by investing without limit.
Therefore, when a man gives limitlessly for the sake of his wife, and the woman likewise gives limitlessly for her husband, they can achieve total unity. Your couples can become completely one by giving and forgetting, following God’s pattern. (267:301-02, February 5, 1995)
God desires a free, peaceful, and happy place where giving has no accusers and receiving has no conditions attached. God’s purpose is to expand this place worldwide and bring all humankind to live there. (13:249, April 12, 1964)
END OF BOOK CHAPTER