Perseverance and Patience

Accomplishing anything truly worthwhile requires perseverance and patience. Patience is not merely waiting for fate to intervene; rather, it means to continue on one’s path until the goal is achieved.

Once the resolution is made and the task is begun, it should not be abandoned, for the result is often not decided until the very end. Perseverance requires long-suffering endurance of opposition, setbacks and delays, while maintaining steadfastly to one’s original commitment.

It requires forbearance, resisting the temptation to change course or take a shortcut that would violate one’s principles.

The scriptures express the virtue of perseverance through various metaphors: digging a well, boring to the root of a tree, and water slowly but inexorably carving a hole in solid rock.

In this light, Father Moon speaks of God’s forbearance as He has endured millennia of evils and sorrows, putting up with His fallen children’s sins and rebellions out of love and hope for their ultimate liberation.

Therefore, by demonstrating perseverance and patience, we take after God’s perseverance and patience on our way to becoming God’s sons and daughters. For the story of Job’s patience amid suffering, see Chapter 15: Testing.

Though he be ever so tired by repeated failure, let him begin his operations again and again; for fortune greatly favors the man who perseveres in his undertakings. Laws of Manu 9.300 (Hinduism)

Perseverance prevails even against Heaven. Talmud, Sanhedrin 105a (Judaism)

Prosperity forsakes those who always dream of fate and favors those who persevere. One should therefore always be active and alert. Matsya Purana 221.2 (Hinduism)

Once when the Master was standing by a stream, he said, “Could one but go on and on like this, never ceasing day or night!” Analects 9.16 (Confucianism)

If fishermen, hunters, and farmers, thinking merely of their own livelihood, endure the sufferings of heat and cold, why am I not patient for the sake of the world’s joy? Shantideva, Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life 4.40 (Buddhism)

In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider; God made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him. Ecclesiastes 7.14

You who believe, seek help through patience and prayer; God stands alongside the patient! We will test you with a bit of fear and hunger, and a shortage of wealth and souls and produce. Proclaim such to patient people who say, whenever disaster strikes them, “We are God’s, and are returning to Him!” Such will be granted their prayers by their Lord as well as mercy. Those are guided! Qur’an 2.153-57

Nanak, for man it is idle to ask for pleasure when suffering comes; Pleasure and suffering are like robes which man must wear as they come. Where arguing is of no avail, it is best to be contented. Adi Granth, Var Majh, M.1, p. 149 (Sikhism)

Obstacles cannot crush me. Every obstacle yields to stern resolve. He who is fixed to a star does not change his mind. Leonardo Da Vinci, Notebooks (Humanism)

One should preserve, without the slightest diminution, the faith which one had at the time of renunciation. One should not be swept away by the eddies of a mercurial mind. Acarangasutra 1.36-37 (Jainism)

Rabbi Akiba, illiterate at forty, saw one day a stone’s perforation where water fell from a spring, and having heard people say, “Waters wear stones,” he thought, “If soft water can bore through a rock, surely iron-clad Torah should, by sheer persistence, penetrate a tender mind”; and he turned to study. Talmud, Avot de Rabbi Nathan 6 (Judaism)

It matters not what you learn, but when you once learn a thing, you must never give it up until you have mastered it. It matters not what you inquire into, but when you inquire into a thing, you must never give it up until you have thoroughly understood it. It matters not what you try to think out, but when you once try to think out a thing you must never give it up until you have got what you want. It matters not what you try to sift out, but when you once try to sift out a thing, you must never give it up until you have sifted it out clearly and distinctly. It matters not what you try to carry out, but when you once try to carry out a thing you must never give it up until you have done it thoroughly and well. If another man succeed by one effort, you will use a hundred efforts. If another man succeed by ten efforts, you will use a thousand efforts. Let a man really proceed in this manner, and though dull, he will surely become intelligent; though weak, he will surely become strong. Doctrine of the Mean 20 (Confucianism)

The Lord waits to be gracious to you; therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him. Isaiah 30.18

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
Look at the Chinese character meaning ‘patience’ or ‘forbearance.’ The top half is the character for sword, and the bottom half the character for heart.20 From this, you can see that ‘patience’ means ‘to set a sword over your heart.’

If you are going to shoulder a large burden and accomplish a great task, your patience must be a hundredfold, a thousandfold, even infinite. (124:155-56, February 6, 1983)

The Chinese character for patience indicates that one should endure even under the threat of a knife to the heart. It is painful to have a knife stuck in your heart. Yet a person who endures that a thousand times can hope to triumph in a thousand battles. (93:320, June 12, 1977)

On your quest, you will be hampered by innumerable foes, but you must fight them and fight them again, advance and advance again, clash and clash again.

Thus supporting the altar of patience with your shoulders, feet, hands, torso, and head, you must become a living offering who can climb over the hill of perseverance. (6:92, March 29, 1959)

A mature person makes an effort to discover the sweet taste in all things bitter. That way, he knows their real taste. It is a law that things are sometimes up, sometimes down, as they go through their cycles.

Likewise, sweet things leave a bitter taste, while bitter things have some sweetness in them. (98:205, August 1, 1978)

No matter how tired I may feel, once I think of the responsibility I have yet to fulfill, all that feeling of fatigue dissipates. (Way of God’s Will 1.5)

The way of religion is prolonged endurance; the way of religion is continual sacrifice. When in faith we endure and sacrifice, we can find the world of great love that God has been working towards. This is definitely true. Therefore, when we say that God is love, we should understand that sacrifice and endurance dwell in it. (112:51, March 29, 1981)

Which is the good side? The good side waits for a long time, keeps patience for a long time and keeps hope for a long time. The evil side has no patience. If it is at a disadvantage, it will try to punch the other and jump to action at once.

The good stays patient and endures even through struggle and frustration. Whatever comes, it maintains hope and does not fall into despair. A good person is patient and enduring not only for himself, he is also patient and enduring for those who are not patient. (93:112, May 21, 1977)

What was the secret of Jesus’ victory over death? He lived for the sake of others and established a path of endurance through his own example. If in the Garden of Gethsemane he had said, “Father!

Take this cup away from me! Please, I insist on it!” he would have lost everything. Yet instead he said, “Nevertheless, not my will, but Thy will be done.” Because he endured and went on, he was victorious. That is his greatness. (76:227, March 2, 1975)

No torture or punishment could make me deviate from the heavenly path. Nor could six imprisonments stand in the way of the True Parent’s search for His children.

As I sat in a cold prison cell and watched drops of water fall from an eave, I pledged to myself, “Just as those droplets will eventually bore a hole through a boulder, the day will certainly come when these hot tears that fall from my eyes will melt God’s heart that is frozen in grief and bring Him liberation and release.” (May 1, 2004)

God has the mind to forbear with patience, in order to one day embrace the satanic world and even hell. That is why even the demons in hell will bow their heads before His presence.

Therefore, if you desire to become champions at the last, the Father’s sons and daughters at the last, then in your minds and bodies you must feel God’s patience as your patience and God’s endurance as your endur- ance. (4:243, May 18, 1958)

Father, what Thou doest, we Thy children should do, and on the path Thou goest, we too must go—it is a destined way.

Therefore, please do not allow us to become exhausted on the way, and give us unwavering hearts… to persevere and endure until the day we can receive the blessing, the day of Sabbath when Thou canst say, “You have won the victory, and you are Mine; all heaven and earth belong to you, My sons and daughters.” (13:236, March 22, 1964)

Scripture credits with performance not him who begins a task, but him who completes it. Talmud, Sota 13b (Judaism)

He who endures to the end will be saved. Mark 13.13 But Lot’s wife behind him looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. Genesis 19.26

Let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we do not lose heart. Galatians 6.9

You have crossed the great ocean; why do you halt so near the shore? Make haste to get on the other side, Gautama; be careful all the while! Uttaradhyayana Sutra 10.34 (Jainism)

To try to achieve anything is like digging a well. You can dig a hole nine fathoms deep, but if you fail to reach the source of water, it is just an abandoned well. Mencius VII.A.29 (Confucianism)

Suppose a man goes to the forest to get some of the pith that grows in the center of a tree and returns with a burden of branches and leaves, thinking that he has secured what he went after; would he not be foolish? A person seeks a path that will lead him away from misery; and yet, he follows that path a little way, notices some little advance, and immediately becomes proud and conceited. He is like the man who sought pith and came back satisfied with a burden of branches and leaves. Another man goes into the forest seeking pith and comes back with a load of branches. He is like the person on the path who becomes satisfied with the progress he has made by a little effort, and relaxes his effort and becomes proud and conceited. Another man comes back carrying a load of bark instead of the pith he was looking for. He is like the person who finds that his mind is becoming calmer and his thoughts clearer, and then relaxes his effort and becomes proud and conceited. Then another man brings back a load of the woody fiber of the tree instead of the pith. Like him is one who has gained a measure of intuitive insight, and then relaxes his effort. All of these seekers, who become easily satisfied after insufficient effort and become proud and overbearing, relax their efforts and easily fall into idleness. All these people will inevitably face suffering again. Majjhima Nikaya 1.192-95: Simile of the Pith (Buddhism)

Master Tseng said, “The true Knight of the Way must perforce be both broad-shouldered and stout of heart; his burden is heavy and he has far to go. For Goodness is the burden he has taken upon himself, and must we not grant that it is a heavy one to bear? Only with death does his journey end; then must we not grant that he has far to go?” Analects 8.7 (Confucianism)

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
The Bible records… that in the Last Days, even people with faith will find it hard to survive. Therefore, you must endure and forbear until the very end if you are to overcome this age of chaos and become victors. (4:237, May 18, 1958)

Our endurance should not end midway; it should go all the way. God has endured for six thousand years for this. Who is God? He is our Father. Because we inherited His flesh and blood and His virtues, we must be like Him. (44:28, May 4, 1971)

You cannot complete your life of faith in one morning or one day. It is a lifelong path. In a life of faith, the main issue is to maintain your dedication with a constant mind and heart with a view towards eternity, beyond death.

Your center core must be unchanging. No matter how difficult, sorrowful or painful, it can never change. To follow the path of faith, you must discover this core in yourself, something you can never deny. (59:234-35, July 23, 1972)

Even though you have forbearance, you may realize that it is far from the terminal point. Today many who have been supporting our church say that they are too tired to go on.

You hear people say that the Unification Church is good, but its way is too difficult to follow… Indeed, it is hard to go this way. It is a path of tears—tears over what we see, tears over what we feel, and tears in the midst of struggle.

Some think that now the time has come for the tears to stop, but it is not yet. I know that the tears must continue; I know that the heart of God is waiting for more tears of forbearance, waiting for us, the plaintive ones. I cannot lift my face before Him even though I have endured thus far.

Though I have endured from 1945 until today,21 I have never thought about when I might reach the limit of patient forbearance. I do not even wish for the days of endurance to end.

It is a normal experience in the life of faith that once you start wishing for something to end you start looking after yourself, and from that point on you feel anxious. (6:89, March 29, 1959)

God is eternal. Once He determines to do something, He never alters His course in the middle. What about you? You may be determined, but how long will you continue?

For a month, a year, several years, ten years? Or will you continue for your entire lifetime? Your determination is bound to change. Sometimes you say to yourself, “If I like it, then I will do it. If I do not like it, I will not do it.” However, the truth is truth whether you live or die; it is eternal. Truth is beyond death, beyond changeability.

Therefore, in order to be a true person, with the steadfastness of unchanging truth, you have to be beyond death. To be beyond death, you first have to conquer death. This means there will be a collision at some point between your changeability and unchangeability. When they collide, your changeable elements will shatter and only your unchanging elements will remain.

It will be a collision between life and death. At that time, you must overcome death; then you will have life. It is reasonable that you must pass through this stage on the path to making a relationship with God.

When will the moment of truth come for you? It will be the time when there arises an opportunity to be unchanging and changing at the same time. Both life and death appear before you. That is when the truth emerges. (66:43, March 18, 1973)