The Path: Searching for the Original Homeland

The people of this world are impatiently waiting for peace. Furthermore, everyone without exception wishes to enjoy freedom. Everyone wishes to live in a free society, a free nation, and a free world.

Without peace and freedom of mind, I can never have true happiness. If a man wishes to walk the path of true life, he will want to enjoy true happiness and will praise the blessings of liberty and true peace.

Assuming you want to walk the path of true life, what position are you in? The final days are when you have to be clear about whether you are acting in concert with this desire or not. That is my opinion.

We know too well what we are like, what society is like, what the world is like, what history has been, and that this is the reality now.

Since we must acknowledge that this is true, no one can dispute that we are not in the original homeland where we can rejoice. We cannot live in the garden of the original homeland where we can sing the praises of happiness. We cannot live in the world of the original homeland where we can move and have dominion as we please.

We wait impatiently for happiness, peace, and freedom. At the same time, our minds and the environment push us. You may feel this quite acutely in your life.

The world of the original homeland that we wish for has not been attained on either the internal or external level. Humanity is unable to live in that world. For that reason, humanity today is making frantic efforts to search for the original homeland.

We must know clearly that this is humanity's situation. Great men, as well as fools, must struggle hard to seek the original homeland. You must realize that no human being can escape the historical current of wandering on the path searching for the original homeland. That is why I speak on this topic.

Sages and wise men have come to this earth and pointed out the way to live. They have said, “Go this way” or “Live according to this principle.” In saying this, they would establish a direction for people. It might be a philosophical way; it might be a way established by the ideology of a sovereign power.

It might be a social and moral view. It might be a religious direction that tried to connect the eternal ideology to the external world. The ideology would instruct, “Individuals must go this way; families must go this way; personal relationships must be based on this.”

All such ideologies must prepare for the time of happiness that the comprehensive, cosmic ideology will point to. Otherwise, they will depart from the heavenly way when it is established through elucidation.

If that is the case, how can we find peace and freedom and a world of happiness on the paths that religions, codes of conduct, or philosophical ideas have led us to?

Human feelings are universal. The feelings people had several thousand years ago are the same as those that will arise a hundred million years from now. The world of feelings does not change.

Do you ever wonder if a world in which mankind has the same feelings and attains the garden of happiness is possible on earth?

Do you ever wonder if there is such a social standard or religious rite through which man can taste such happiness? If there is no such thing, where is God? If there is no such thing, God cannot be with humanity.

There are heavenly laws that unfold the dispensation by directing humanity to pursue goodness. This is done by setting up ethics and moral principles. There is no doubt that Heaven directs all that is related and connected to us.

Furthermore, the day will come when all people take a cheerful view of this in their hearts. The time will come when we say loudly and in unison that this is our happiness, this is our peace, and this is our freedom. If that does not happen, neither God nor any great man of thought will have anything to do with us. You must know this.

When we study a person, it is possible to analyze him or her both internally and externally. When we study society, we also learn that there are social organizations we know about and ones that we do not know about, although they are planned. Everything develops both internally and externally.

The same principle applies to man. Man is influenced simultaneously by external as well as internal circumstances. Therefore, the world has to become an environment in which people have mutual understanding and a sense of happiness in communion with one another. The path of our lives leads us to wander about searching for such an environment.

Many sages and wise men have come and gone in history. However, no one found the victorious motto and sang on his path, appealing to the world: “People of the world! Go this way!” No one has said, “Rely on me, and live this way with my heart and love.”

Although Jesus talked about love, he left without being able to shed light upon the happiness, peace, and ideology of freedom that are centered on love.

“Follow me, believe in me, and come to me,” Jesus said.

However, he could not say, baring his heart, “Let us act in concert with my heart and live, singing, centered upon the heavenly emotions.”

For that reason, although many prophets have come and gone in the course of history, no one has brought the message that could bring happiness centered upon the heart, which could unify the world centered upon freedom and peace, connected with the heart of Heaven.

Where does humanity eagerly yearn to be?

In the world of the original homeland, as I said before. It is the world from which you never want to return. It is the world you never get tired of, even after seeing it numerous times.

It is the world where the touch you once felt never disappears, the world where you could laugh forever. It is a world where once you find the master, you can never let him go. Such a place could exist.

This is where individuals with hearts can live. This original homeland is to be introduced in the final days of human history.

If not, this world will not be saved. You must realize that the time is coming when an ideology or doctrine should be established that can introduce the whole thing on a logical basis. We long for the world of the original homeland, where we can live forever as brothers and sisters and a family in the garden.

Is there anyone among you who can say, “I have found such an original homeland”? No.

Therefore, we are destined to seek it. Jesus came as the Savior and showed the way to the original homeland, yet he could not bring the garden of the original homeland into reality and invite us to live there together with him.

God is leading humanity forward, unfolding the dispensation. He says, “Let's go to the garden of the original homeland, the one we wish for and live for.” But he cannot say, “Come live there together with me” yet. Since God and Jesus are so destined, so are each of you living on earth today.

Members of the congregation, breathless from your journey, has anyone ever had such a day of happiness?

Has anyone had such a day and sung out of joy?

No, no one. Has God ever enjoyed such a day? No. Is there some kind of principle that can lead you to such a day? No. Even Heaven has not enjoyed such a day. This is about Heaven and Earth.

The man of conscience, who cannot live apart from the fate of Heaven and Earth, must feel and experience God's heart as he seeks the way. Your mind may be sincere in its pursuit of happiness, yet the further you walk, the more happiness itself is moving a far distance from you.

It might seem that you have arrived at the end of your hard journey, ardently wishing for freedom, peace, and happiness. Yet in the light of reality, your mind is full of indistinct contents, and happiness is at a far, unreachable distance.

That is the goal of history and the purpose of religion. The Creator Himself has such a goal in mind. Humanity has not yet been able to overcome this providence; therefore, everyone has to go this way.

Since both the great and the foolish must go this same path of human life, we must not brag about being great or having a fine environment. We must not vaunt ourselves for having influence.

Even with all of that, we still have to go on the path of human life. We still cannot attain the world of the original homeland, even with all of those things. Why? Because today's humanity must pursue a certain direction.

Heaven has unfolded the dispensation in this way. We have been taught which direction to take through righteousness and truth, not through emotion. Heaven could not teach us the actual emotions of happiness we could feel in real life, the peace, and the freedom we could attain while living. The providence of God has held these things out to human beings as a dimly perceived hope.

Whether we are great or foolish, sorrowful or happy, we may have freedom for a day or a year throughout our lives. Yet since one cannot escape human fate, happiness, peace, and freedom remain a vague hope. This is the way Heaven looks at it.

Because of this, everyone is in a pitiable state. The time has come for a man to stand before humankind and teach them how pitiable they are. This is needed. The time has come for a leader who can command the people to be concerned about themselves.

The time has come for a leader who can shed light on how lamentable it is to be in such a pitiable state and how the people must weep over this, clinging to Heaven and Earth. He must lead them to think about what their end is, where they are going, and how they can triumph over the ever-changing environment and reach the end of the journey.

Revolutionary new cultures have appeared during certain historical periods. The people who led them had a new ideology, a new purpose, new happiness, and new freedom. These people toiled to stop the patterns of the times in which they lived and to shed light upon the pitiable state of man.

They were people of mission who influenced their respective times and were needed during a specific era or age.

Our era is the age of a new world. Therefore, something new must appear that can galvanize the people of the world and say, “You should be an example for humanity. You should feel sorry for remaining as you are and not knowing where to go.”

Jesus came two thousand years ago and said that he was the Son of God. The Jews, who took pride in being the chosen people, could not apprehend the appearance of the Messiah, even though they had eagerly awaited him.

They had received the benefits of numerous prophets in their long historical course of four thousand years. Yet only after they sent Jesus to the cross did they realize that he was the Messiah, and they were placed in a sorrowful position.

We call Jesus the Savior. What kind of savior?

A confident savior who could say, "I will take your sorrow upon myself." He said, "Come to me, all who labor and are heavily laden, and I will give you rest." (Matt. 11:28)

We should be grateful for those words. Those were the words of the greatest prophet, for the sake of humanity.

If some young men and women are anxiously trying to understand themselves, with sorrowful hearts, they should step forward before those words with their hands lifted high.

They should say, “Thank you, Jesus, for having come and said those words before leaving two thousand years ago. God, thank you for giving us those words through Jesus.” They should be grateful for the spirit and direction of those words.

Now we need a central figure who can take charge of this nation and this world.

We need someone who can release that burden of the heart. Because such a need exists, Jesus promised he would come again.

Though he came to bear all the burdens, all the crosses of humanity, he could not bear the burden of the hearts of humanity alone.

That is why the people of the world today are eagerly waiting for the day when they can entrust the burden of their hearts to Jesus, saying, “Lord, we welcome you.”

We have inherited the historical misery. Someone must come who can block our way and block the way of the world in which we live; someone must block the flow of history, saying, “Recognize your sorrowful situation. Recognize how pitiable you are. Recognize your lamentable state.”

We are walking a course of life that we cannot comprehend. Therefore, we live in fear, which originates from our ignorance of what is going to happen to us. Where is the end of our journey? We are walking a course of life that we cannot explain.

We are being dragged forward without discretion. You must go on the course, knowing that you may run into a rock or go over a cliff. How will you feel? You will be sick to your stomach.

Among you are people who have lived forty, seventy, or eighty years. Some of you might brag that you have attained happiness, but no one has overcome the true life path. That is why we are all pitiful.

Now we must find someone who can link his pitiable circumstances with those of the world. My sense of loneliness must become connected with the world.

My sense of being stifled and wanting, which for some unknown reason penetrates deeply into my mind, must become connected with the world. The time is coming when this worn shimjeong will get connected with the world.

We must find the one who can elucidate the whole thing, someone who can take charge of my misfortune, my pitifulness, my loneliness, and my resentment.

Going a little further, we must find the one who can introduce the world of the ideal that I long for, the one who can let me enjoy fully and forever the heart I have wanted to feel in the world of happiness, peace, and freedom.

We must find the one who can let that heart, which is associated with eternity, bring happiness to everything in the corporeal world. If someone has met such a person, their life would be a successful one.

I know and believe that Jesus and God let us feel and that we can experience them in the sorrowful world. You should stop in your tracks if you think you know all there is to know. You should search for the one who teaches the secret method by which you can withstand what you must go through.

To achieve that, one has to overcome the circumstances one is faced with. He must go beyond his hope, be well acquainted with the circumstances, and be able to understand the heart. When our problems are resolved by God in reality, then we can believe in Him without anxiety.

Only when you are equipped with the ideology of such a heart can you stave off the emotion felt in such a world.

You can do this even when you run up against grief in the weary course of life. If there is something that grows stronger when struck and beaten, which can resist betraying Heaven, something that is felt through the relationship of the heart, it will not be taken possession of even if driven into the bottom of hell. Such a position must surely exist.

God's dispensation is directed toward one place, the original garden. That is why the providence of God, who rules over history, has come to establish the one standard through a course of many twists and turns.

Compelled to follow this, human beings have to go through much suffering. Only after that can they stand before the one standard. That has become the standard all creation has to attain in the corporeal world. We must know this. We are pitiable people who have to go through this course.

My beloved parents are in their original hometown. My beloved village, my beloved house, and my beloved brothers and sisters are there.

If we leave our hometown and go to a far-off foreign country and stay there, then the boundary of the original hometown expands. My country itself becomes included in the boundary of the original hometown.

What is more, seen from the viewpoint of the universe or the macrocosm, this whole world can become my original hometown. As your bounds grow greater, the boundary of the original hometown also becomes larger in proportion. You may well experience this in your life.

What kind of place is the original hometown we long for? It is not the same place you mean when you speak of your hometown. The original hometown is the original hometown of the mind, that place of shelter for my heart, where my mind can take pleasure, the nest of the world of the heart. You must know that.

We say that God has been unfolding the providence of salvation. If Heaven were to restore me and restore humanity, I would say to God, “Please restore me on the condition of my heart rather than my circumstances.”

Why is that? Circumstances can change, while shimjeong has only one condition. For that reason, I think the man who seeks the true view of faith would ask for this.

Jesus said, "Where is the Kingdom of Heaven? It is in your mind."

Where is our true original hometown? It is in the mind. Because the Kingdom of Heaven has a historical connection with the mind, we long for that original hometown in our minds.

Because our emotions are inextricably connected with our minds and are in a tangle, we long for our original hometown. Therefore, we must lead a life worthy of the original hometown, which can be connected with the original mind in the course of life. We must feel the garden of our original hometown.

Who will be there?

The lofty, great, and dignified God will be there. The Lord whom we have eagerly awaited will be there, too. The Holy Spirit will be there and the numerous meritorious retainers who have come and gone in providential history.

Don't you think so? What is more, there will be incomparably loyal subjects; there will be filial sons and daughters and virtuous women without peers. If you cannot feel something of the ideology of that world by expanding the bounds of your mind, you won't be able to connect with it.

That is why numerous sages have taught moral principles to pitiful, fallen human beings: moral principles like the three fundamental principles and the five moral disciplines in human relations.

Moses introduced the Ten Commandments. Numerous ascetics toiled to pioneer such a life. Any religious, ethical system, or ideology that does not expand the field of man's mind on the path leading to the original hometown will disappear from this universe. Even if they persist, God will brush them aside.

You are on your way to finding that original hometown. You are longing for it. Since we human beings are looking at the original hometown on the distant shore, we must be somewhere along the course.

What kind of path leads from hell to the Kingdom of Heaven?

It is the path of searching for the original hometown. You must know that it is this path. If there are people among you who have reached the age of seventy or eighty, you may feel concerned and anxious about your age, asking, “How far am I from the garden of the original hometown?”

We mean such a place that welcomes a man who comes searching for it with extended hands of bliss. We long for such a place.

On your way to finding the original hometown, you may at times be in a situation where you have been wronged. You may have reason to feel bitter grief in your heart or feel unbearably vexed.

However, since you have stepped forward searching for the original hometown, you must realize that such situations are inevitable. You can't turn back from that path. Besides, you won't be able to ignore all the great historical achievements established by your ancestors.

You won't be able to ignore the achievements of the founders of religions and ethical systems who made efforts to cultivate this path.

We must go on. We are fated to go on and cultivate the path of life before losing our vigor. Do we have the center of heart and mind with which we can have an unchangeable, dignified mien? This is the question you must ask yourselves today.

Jesus referred to this directly when he said, “The Kingdom of Heaven is in your mind.”

The parents, brothers, and sisters we long for live in our original hometown.

There are mountains and streams we are dying for the sight of. The original hometown is such that not all creatures will welcome us in our eagerness to see it.

On the way to see that place, you will feel that your life is sorrowful and that the path of your life is miserable.

Yet, since you are on your way to see the original hometown, even if you feel you have been wronged and feel vexed, even if there is a moment when you have to decide between life and death, you must not forget to think of the original hometown, shedding tears. Thus, you will not fall. This is the path of our life. We must not forget that.

All sages in the world of mind and ideology wandered the path that leads to the original hometown. To find that world, they forsook all humanistic reasoning and severed all connections, even with the surroundings to which they were emotionally tied. Then they struggled hard.

All of them struggled hard to walk this path, not to mention our ancestors, those prophets and sages who walked on behalf of Heaven, and Jesus, who came to resolve this. He set the goal of finding the original hometown after coming to a perfect understanding of it.

Jesus was not forced from the path by other positions. Jesus did not seek the silent mountains and streams to pray because he was afraid of rejection and oppression.

Jesus did not fear Roman tyranny and the path of the cross. On the path of life, he had to go at all costs; he was prepared for such situations. He had to endure, and he was ready for every tyranny, every cross, every lonely path, and every pitiful situation he had to face.

Jesus felt the shimjeong of the original hometown. Jesus was the Messiah, who had to assume the position and exercise the rights of the welcomed central figure of that original hometown. Therefore, the more he longed for the original hometown and felt the nearness of that world of the mind, the more miserable his heart felt.

We must know that if some kind of enemy exists, Satan, then there will be a fierce battle to the end in the course of going down this path.

The democratic camp has arrived at the worldwide level with a new world of ideology that ought to seek the path of the original hometown. Therefore, unwanted spears and swords will block the way.

Even if they block the way, the democratic camp must go over them bravely, keeping in step with the direction of the fate of Heaven and Earth.

Therefore, the democratic camp must now take a resolute, worldwide step. Individual nations also must take resolute action.

The people, all organizations of society, and all individuals will have to make courageous decisions. By doing so, you must be self-confident as you walk the path leading to your original hometown.

Heaven will require this kind of man and call for such a family, such a society, such a nation, and such a world.

Let's say that the day of the Second Advent we long for is coming. Let's say that the day of our ideal is coming. What kind of day will it be?

Seeing you, who have come to restore the heavenly love, dragging your wounded legs, tired and shoved about, struggling hard on the path leading to the original hometown, how will Heaven relate to you?

Ladies and gentlemen, have you ever thought about it? I had this kind of thought: “I wish to see the moment when pitiful God can laugh. I wish to see the Father who knows my heart of adoration and desire for Him and who sheds tears holding on to me.” Hearing that, how would God feel in His heart?

Heaven will weep bitterly, clinging to the man who is wounded in a miserable environment, wronged and mortified, while going the path of life.

If such a man walks forth on the path searching for the original hometown for the sake of the Father rather than for his good, Heaven will weep bitterly, holding him.

We are wandering, searching for our original hometown. We are people who lie at anchor on the course of fate. We cannot help but go. However much one might boast of himself, no one can proudly say, “All people! The whole of the macrocosm! Act in concert with my words.”

Where can we turn our steps to seek the original hometown today?

The original hometown is the place where the parents of true love are. It is the affection-filled nest of true love. That is the place where we are to stay and rest. That is the world of peace, overflowing with happiness and hope.

It is the garden of freedom. The stronger your admiration for that place, the greater your mind will burn with indignation on the earth. You will resolve that you will live cleanly on the earth. The historical men of the past were the people who lived that way.

Even in the world today, some people run a thousand miles, not noticing the distance, searching for their lost parents. Some people go seeking their loved ones, despising a distance of ten thousand miles.

If you have less determination than that in going the path that leads to your original hometown, you should have a guilty conscience.

For a moment, an hour, or a period of your lifetime, have you ever wandered searching for the path leading to your original hometown?

You should not allow yourselves to be irresponsible. Only when you can leave behind a responsible life can you gain your honor before the heavenly principles that re-created the history of the original hometown and established the will of providence. Don't you think so?

The ancestors who lived such a life became historical figures. The ascetics who lived in such a manner formed religions. Therefore, we today should also long for the parents of the original hometown, the mountains and streams of the original hometown, and the family and world of the original hometown. Such a time has come.

Communists today are dreaming of the worldwide original hometown, but centered on a materialist concept of history. It won't work.

Ladies and gentlemen, we should not send away the man we met in the world of the internal shimjeong (where external circumstances are not critical). It does not matter if he is Black, white, or yellow.

If we find a man of such a world, if we find a man who belongs to such a place, then we will be able to live intoxicated, aloof to external things like eating and clothing. Any idea or thought will be evaluated and judged according to such a man. It will be judged according to his standards.

The great point of Christianity is the emotion that can lay the heart bare and the bitter tears that seep out of you after you start believing in Jesus. This emotion has formed Christianity in the course of history.

For Christianity to enter into a stage of reform, there has to be a man who can connect to this shimjeong. There has to be an unchanging man.

If a thinking man can control his vivid emotions by the intoxication of an idea, if he can find something that establishes eternity, transcending time, he will be a happy man. He will be the man who stood the test in the historical view of the Heavens and earth. He is a successful candidate who can wield the heavenly principles with a heavenly heart.

In studying the original nature of man, we find that man is intoxicated. Think of a great, world-famous scholar. A man who says, “Oh! I will study in this manner and become a scholar like so-and-so,” cannot become such a scholar.

It doesn't work that way. If one continues to study hard, intoxicated with it, without knowing it, he will become a world figure. That is how it should be.

Without intoxication, we cannot discover any rules or formulas greater than those we already have.

Since we call Jesus the Savior, what kind of central figure was he?

Human circumstances did not intoxicate him. He was a man who was intoxicated with God's shimjeong of love, with the historical shimjeong, the shimjeong of the period, and the shimjeong of the future. He was engrossed in it. He was completely taken up with it.

Regardless of whether he was chased, cornered, or killed, he said, “Father, please do according to Your will.” There should be men like this. Yet, looked at in the usual way or from a rational standpoint, Jesus was a crazy man, a lunatic.

Who is a man seeking, longing for, and wishing to meet?

It is a leader who introduces him to the world of the heart, the world of happiness, peace, and freedom. Such things are necessary. If there is a leader who can show direction to those of us who are going the path of life with shimjeong today, he will be a true leader. The person who goes the path of life with such a shimjeong should exist on earth.

Earth and Heaven, our ideology and reality, are in opposition. The mind and body are always fighting, having become each other's object of struggle. That is because of the Fall. We cannot deny this.

Look at any of the great names; they are all in the same boat.

Seen in this light, Jesus, who is in the spirit world, is also a pitiful man who clings to the earth and prays, “Father, please forgive humankind.” Why is Jesus a supplicating figure, not a figure of sheer glory?

Because of his untimely death, he could not complete the path of life he had to go through on earth. Thus, he is destined to come back again. That is why he is in paradise.

Although Jesus was intoxicated with God's will, he could not experience that intoxication with humanity. That is his lamentation.

The difference lies in the fact that humanity, centered on the will, can be intoxicated in their hearts while relating to Heaven. Jesus is seeking this. This is the situation Jesus is in, and you should know that.

One may praise oneself: “I have studied a lot, and I know a lot! This is enough for me to get by anywhere I go. I can be called a teacher and establish the authority of an instructor.” But such a person should not brag. By contrast, there may be people among you who concede, “I haven't learned much, and I am ignorant and awful.” But all of us are the same in the course of life. There is no such thing as one being great while the other is foolish.

Why is that? All men are the same in that they move based on shimjeong. The mind of a president who loves his or her child is the same as the mind of a mere laborer who loves his or her child.

You must know that the more humble a man is, the stronger his loving mind toward his wife and children. He feels strongly in his mind that he is insufficient. He feels sorry in his mind for not being able to fulfill the duty of a parent and a husband toward his children and wife. But the man who thinks he is great would say, “I do all I can…”

Which is more lofty in heart? Men on the lower end are more lofty. So don't brag about yourselves.

You should be intoxicated by such connections and by the shimjeong of the original nature, saying, “Thank you.” Jesus asked us to go that way. He also asked us to pray ceaselessly.

Why did he tell us to pray ceaselessly? He said so, fearing we would diverge from the right way. For the one who can go the path of the will with confidence, heedless of day and night, prayer is not necessary.

Why did Jesus go up to the Garden of Gethsemane and pray?

Why did he go to the Mount of Olives and appeal to Heaven with his lonely shimjeong?

If he had been able to share the joy with humanity, moving together with them centered on shimjeong, would he have had to go to the Garden of Gethsemane and appeal to Heaven? He did so, didn't he?

Is there anyone who has confidence in going the path of life, searching for the original hometown? If anyone knows how to go the path of life with confidence, intoxicated in their heart, let's see who you are. This is judgment. If God exists, I believe He will call such people out on the day of judgment.

History will back up the person who went with confidence along the path of life, intoxicated. Jesus confidently went on the path, bearing the cross after a life intoxicated by the will of God.

On the national level, people who knew the fate and direction of the nation and went along the path of death, prepared to sacrifice themselves, intoxicated in their efforts to fulfill their responsibility, were called loyal subjects and patriots. We cannot deny that such people change the course of history. The course of seeking heavenly love responds in the same way.

Who can stop the mind that longs for the original hometown?

Who can stop the yearning shimjeong that seeps out of my mind?

No matter how dignified one is, no matter how knowledgeable, one cannot reject this mind that pursues something new.

Only when one waits eagerly and sincerely for such a thing and speaks from intoxication with such an emotion can he or she lead a doctrine or thought.

If there is a leader for humanity, what kind of person will he be?

He has to be a man with confidence in the course of life. He will be a man who goes forward intoxicated with God's shimjeong, having raised himself with confidence not only before humankind but before God and all creation as well.

If there is such a man, intoxicated with such a shimjeong, everybody will wish to go to him and rest, leaning on him. If there is a man with such a character, everybody will want to worship him.

Why?

Because our original nature perceives that it is fated to go such a path. Our original mind realizes that the path is to be taken without fail. Our mind cannot help but always lean toward it. Therefore, please don't be disappointed. Please don't brag about ourselves, either.

Those who know the pitiful and miserable situation people of our kind are in and who weep bitterly upon seeing them falling are close to Heaven's side.

If there is a man who, seeing his brothers and sisters becoming stragglers in the course of life, frets, “When will you come?” he will be a heartistic leader. Such a leader is in demand among church members today; the sheep are looking for their shepherd.

For that reason, Jesus shed tears for humankind. "Come to me," said he, shedding tears. Sighing for grief over Jerusalem, Jesus spoke out of his sorrowful heart, saying, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!" (Luke 13:4)

Are there young men and women today who are trying to embrace this nation? Is there any man who has the mission to lead the nation, opening up a path for it to go forward?

Is there one who feels responsible for that mission? If there is such a man, he should look at the real condition of this struggling nation and know that the tears Jesus shed, appealing to Heaven, are historically linked to it. He should appeal to Heaven for the sake of this nation, as Jesus appealed for his.

This is the historical trend of thought today. This is the future outlook of the nation. Since we cannot deny that humanity is longingly expecting the time when we are united to the heavenly ways, we must realize that we are struggling hard on such a course. Therefore, we must be able to have confidence in the course of life we follow. We cannot do without it.

If there is a man who goes running with that confidence, having the shimjeong that yearns for the original hometown of hope deep in his mind, he will say, “Mountains! Obstruct my view. Seas! Cross my path. Enemies! Make your appearance. Who is going to block my passage?”

Even if the winds of persecution blow, they will last only for a time. Even if the arrows of trial come flying, it will be momentary. Even if the fear of death sweeps over, it will be transient.

If there is one who, knowing this, runs to overcome this passing time, forgetting about his own short life to seek the time of greater value, he will be a success in the course of life.

Looking at your journey, the Father should be able to weep. The Father turned away His face when Jesus was being crucified. He didn't look away because He was joyous. He turned away His face because, at that moment, Heaven's bones were melting.

Jesus was thinking of the will of the original hometown even while facing death, and he feared that he might not be able to fulfill his filial duty. He was concerned about the parents of his original hometown.

Because Jesus' heart was of such a standard that he could connect to Heaven and Earth, he was resurrected, advancing through the line of death. The same condition applies to you, too. Without such a heart-stirring within you, you cannot surmount the world of death.

You cannot sing in triumph. You cannot become princes of victory.

If we think we should attend to such a person today, we must strive to do so. Since we are not connected to and intoxicated by such a shimjeong, we must strive to attend to one who is. Since numerous ancestors in the course of history struggled hard, and God also has had a tough struggle in directing history, how can we expect to stand still?

To open up such a path Jesus said, "Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you." (Matt. 7:7)

If the providence of Heaven were comfortable and easy, why would we need such words?

People walk the weary path of life, believing that the path they take is the right one to their destination. But later on, they realize that they have walked in the opposite direction.

This is the sorrow of Heaven. While the direction the parents wish their son to take is something like this, the son, having turned profligate, walks in the opposite direction and then loses his rights. We should understand the hearts of the parents who watch their son's miserable situation. Parents watching their son in such a situation would weep bitterly.

The direction that man is taking and has taken in history is not the direction of Heaven. It is the opposite. For that reason, Heaven more than once blocked the way to put humanity to right.

God set up the familial standard by raising Noah. Even if Heaven had to annihilate the whole of humanity, Heaven blocked everything that was not right and tried to lead Noah's family in the direction of Heaven. However, owing to Ham's mistake, Heaven could not restore Noah's family.

What about Abraham?

Heaven had led Noah out to restore the original hometown. Noah was pitiable. Abraham left the mountains and rivers of his homeland, the land of the Chaldeans, and wandered about to find the blessed land of Canaan. He was pitiable, too, wasn't he? Not only Abraham but also Jacob and Moses were in the same pitiable situation.

How would God have felt in His heart after driving Moses out of Egypt into the wasteland of the wilderness to store the people of the original hometown? Nobody knew the heart of God, who was more grieved, more mortified, and more deeply pierced with lamentation than Moses was when He drove the Israelites out of Egypt.

If Moses, who was leading the nation out, had gone forward unchanged, intoxicated in God's heart, the incident of striking the rock twice would never have occurred. We know the lamentable fact that because Moses could not connect with Heaven's heart at that moment, Moses himself blocked the way of the nation.

Heaven drove Noah out to restore the original family. He, too, was pitiable and fell short. So was Abraham, whom Heaven drove out to establish the land of blessing.

What happened to Jacob, who was pining for the land of his original hometown?

When death came near in Egypt, his dying wish was that his bones be buried in his hometown.

How much pining for his hometown does that show?

He did not want even the water trickling down from his decomposed remains to be left in the enemy's land. You must know that Jacob felt such precious pride in being one of the chosen people.

Let's look at Moses again. God drove Moses away to restore the original nation.

How much do you think God wished to live in that nation? However, Moses could not realize God's will.

The people who were raised to do so could not uphold the will of God and failed.

God intended to restore the whole of the world by building a people and a nation after restoring the family and mountains and rivers of the original hometown. Yet even with these failures, the will emerges in its own way, outfitting itself conditionally for a bigger scope.

Even if the realization of the will of God was to be delayed, Heaven sent the Messiah to straighten things out and build an original nation. But then what happened to that Messiah?

How ardently do you think Jesus wished to establish heavenly sovereignty for God on this earth? Yet how did the Israelites treat Jesus?

The Israelites were to build a nation of original nature centering around Jesus. They were to become the heavenly soldiers marching toward Satan and his minions and to be the elite soldiers of Heaven. What did they do?

Jesus' death was a forced separation, an unreasonable parting. I think of it that way. Therefore, the fathers of our faith have absolutely nothing to be proud of. The chosen people were not supposed to kill Jesus. Jesus' path was not supposed to be like that, a path of arbitrary separation.

The grievous resentment over the unreasonable death of Jesus has remained on this earth. That is why Heaven has dealt with man through a heartistic ideology from Jesus' death until now.

The reason that the Jewish people have been able to gain victory in the world is because of the heartistic connection of looking forward to the one future time.

If the Jewish people had attained heartistic unity by centering upon the people who were searching for and looking toward the heavenly goal, a doctrine of cosmic significance, which could have had a greater impact on the heart of man, would have emerged. If this had been the case, a unified world would have been accomplished through the Israelites. I believe so.

But where did that kingdom, that nation of the original hometown that was to be built around Jesus, go? Where did it go? Where did the land of Canaan go? Where did that original hometown go?

Where did the land and the holy temple where Abraham received blessings and made sacrifices before God go? Where did Adam, over whom God could have a direct dominion, go?

Where did Noah, whom God selected with his family inside the ark, disappear to? The world of the original hometown, the heavenly haven, does not exist. That is why it is written in the Bible that we are like orphans and widows.

There is a legend in Korea about a man named Saht-gaht Kim. He wore a conical bamboo rain hat and wandered about, a lone traveler, throughout the whole extent of Korea. He was considered great. So even if you who are walking this course of life appear miserable, you must become men of character.

You must become those who can sing of the cosmos with Heaven, who can be paired with Heaven along with all things in the universe. Your loving shimjeong must match the heavenly emotion. If I had met such a man, even if he was reduced to beggary and carrying an empty can, I would have attended to him with my utmost devotion.

We human beings have repeated the history of sorrow. We have bound up, beaten, and destroyed ourselves many times. The same thing happened at the time of Noah and also at the times of Abraham, Moses, and Jesus.

This is the final period of history today, when it is forewarned that human beings must work out their destiny, fulfill their mission, and open up the path of life.

Where will God drive humanity?

In the time of Jesus, God drove humanity to restore the kingdom of the original hometown. From now on, God is driving them for the sake of the world of the original hometown He wishes for.

To build and govern the world of the original hometown, it is said that the king of kings would come. He is the Lord whom we eagerly await. If a man were to fall in the course of life, yet drag himself on, and then die for the sake of restoring the kingdom of the original hometown, he would remain a loyal subject and meritorious retainer in the kingdom.

Heaven will surely raise him. That was why Saint Paul abandoned all of his social authority and walked the path of miserable death without a single human tie. He could do that because he was confident that such a time would come.

Since God is confident that such a time will come, He has come forth, unfolding this dispensation. You know that your life is fated to go this kind of path and that you must go this path with confidence. Are you confident? Are you sure?

The place we must go is the original hometown that Noah and Abraham were looking for. We must find the people of the original hometown that Moses was looking for and the kingdom of the original hometown that Jesus was looking for.

Since God and Jesus have been fighting for the world of the original hometown, are you connected with that world? Do your emotions flow with that world? If not, the day when you receive the seal of a failure in human history will come to you.

We pine for the world of our original hometown. We also long for the ark of Noah.

The two great camps of the world today are coming near the moment of striking the reefs and are being confronted with a difficult situation where they have to choose between life and death.

We have learned through the Divine Principle that good and evil each have a starting point. Since good and evil began with the placement of God, their resolution also should be attained with the placement of God. That is the hard and fast rule. This falls under the same rule that to find a thing that was lost, one must go to the original place where it was lost.

The garden of the original nature is the ideal garden. It was a world where people were mutually complementary, a world where brotherly and sisterly feelings could be connected everywhere in the universe.

It was not a world where there was nationalistic sentiment. It was a world where people could discuss matters, transcending all such problems as racial discrimination, national sovereignty, etc.

It was a world where people could convene without differences in economic situations or cultures. They would convene with heart.

Let's suppose that there is a family with two sons. The elder brother is the president, and the younger brother is a laborer. Still, the elder brother cannot demand of his younger brother, “Hey, you rascal! Since you are a laborer, why don't you come to my house and do manual labor?”

If he is a true elder brother, he will lament that his younger brother is not on the same level as him and be inclined to hold the younger brother in high esteem. That is the true elder brother's mind. Because God longs for this kind of familial ideology in the home of the original hometown, humankind also longs for such a home in the original hometown.

This is the historical elucidation point, the humanistic elucidation point, and the providential elucidation point of the fate we have to go through without fail.

What gap is there between me and that standard?

If the gap is wide, we must lament at the top of our voice. We should pray, “God!

Please forgive me. I didn't know anything at all. I didn't know the flow of history, the direction, and the purpose of the providence that history points to. I didn't know that the path of life is torturous. I didn't know about the mental suffering of the prophets and sages and my ancestors and their inner hearts. I didn't know the path Jesus went. I didn't know the path God had taken either.

Please forgive me for the sin of ignorance!” We should pray, “One can be forgiven, even if he was in a position of knowledge. Yet, I didn't know. So please forgive me all the more.”

Men must pray like that, without any condition whatsoever. That is why men are taught in religion that arrogance works against you. Men are told, “Be humble. Keep your place. You are your enemy.” Why is that? Because I am in debt.

When we raise our eyes quietly and look at ourselves again with this shimjeong, we find our hearts revolting. As we experience emotion along with Heaven, looking from the historical perspective, we feel our hearts revolt. As we look at that historical sorrow and the curtains of adverse fortune that are blocking the way, we shake in our shoes.

The Father has come forth, enduring many such crises. Even while meeting their ends after many such crises, the prophets and sages emerged fighting, longing to restore the freedom, happiness, and peace of that kingdom and world. I think that way. I think it is natural that the Unification Church receives opposition today.

Yet, we must have a scheme in our minds, saying, “If you want to persecute me, go ahead,” with the firm conviction that we have to cultivate this path. Jesus, too, went out with an awe-inspiring attitude.

Because of that, when he appeared before Judas Iscariot and the others, they all hung their heads before him.

Jesus' aspect said, “If you want to challenge me, go ahead.”

In the world of shimjeong, there is no place you cannot reach, no matter how far it is. Don't you agree? Suppose that there is a certain hooligan who is trying to stop the love between parents and children. Can he succeed? No, he can't.

This is the place where man feels with automatic, natural emotion. Therefore, this place cannot be invaded by Satan, no matter how hard he tries. Satan's interference here would put him in serious trouble. Satan would pay dearly for it.

The man who feels such emotion on the path of life will go to the Kingdom of Heaven.

We are striving in the course of life, searching for our original hometown.

Jesus said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but by me." (John 14:6)

But I'd like to add one more word to this. That is “I am in love.” Jesus excluded this word.

Thus, if there came a man who could connect to Heaven's heart, who could say with confidence, “God, I am the love, and the truth, and the way, and the life; no one meets with God but by me,” no one would be able to put him on the judgment stand. No one would be able to say, “Hey, you rascal! You are betraying Heaven.”

God is eagerly waiting to see many such sons and daughters emerge on this earth. This is why we hold Jesus in such high esteem.

We, the Unification Church believers, have come here today. We have experienced every inch of the surging waters in the course of life. We have wandered about, searching for Heaven while being pushed here and there.

I need a place where I can entrust my body, my mind, and my heart. Since the original Adam is the central figure of all things in the Garden of Eden, how would they think of him? All things under the sun are to say to Adam, “Please, quickly become my master.”

What kind of being is God that we human beings call on Him? God is the being who is in a position where everything can say to Him, “Please be my master.”

That is why we call Him God. Otherwise, how could He govern all creation?

Humanity today should be able to say, “Since I wish to offer to You everything I have, God, please be my master.” We should become the people who have built the history, the providence, and the character to do so.

If you meet a man like that on this earth, you must say to him, “Please have dominion over my body, my mind, and my shimjeong. Please be my master.”

Only then will you have the mind to attend the master as he has been appointed to be attended. You should become people like that.

If the body, mind, and shimjeong of each of you in our Unification Church today change into such a state through the truth, this truth will come to rule over the world in time, even in the teeth of opposition.

If there is a place where you wish to be, where you wish to live, and where you wish to go, that is the place of the original nature. The members are brothers and sisters to each other.

You must have the mind to yearn to see a member if he or she is missing. That mind should seep out of you. You must be able to cry out for a member and take care of their wounds. You have to be like that. You must become people who can cry with a full heart if one of us gets wounded.

It is the place where the Father can cry for me, taking hold of me. It is the place where Jesus, too, can cry. Heaven tries to relate to human beings in every kind of relationship.

Heaven relates from the position of a companion, from the position of a friend, and from the position of a bridegroom. All this is in the word “Heaven.” That word awakens our gratitude and reverence.

Since the Lord and Father are crying for us, seeing how unworthy we are, we feel overwhelmed with awe. Thanks to such a Father, I can more than forget all the wounds I have incurred in the course of my life.

The emotion that sings of the unthinkably great love of the Father should take precedence over everything. Only then can people go to the Kingdom of Heaven. Don't you agree?

Members of the congregation! Students who go to a foreign land for the first time will come to miss their hometown by the end of school. If their minds are pure and of the original shimjeong, then they may be able to picture the place: the village and mountains and rivers.

Hometown is where they can, upon their return, reveal all of their past hardships. They can shed tears, holding the hands of their mothers and brothers and sisters, sitting up all night, unaware of the passage of time.

We have not been able to dissolve the bitter resentment that originates from having to go through the restoration process. Have we ever had a moment when all things in the universe could shout for joy, “Hallelujah”? Have we ever had a moment when we could say, “Oh, Lord! Father!” in our course of life? You should have such a moment.

You certainly need it. Without it, you must know that Heaven cannot help but be sorrowful and pitiable.

Ladies and gentlemen, happy is a man who has many people who can cry for him, holding him. Why do we say it is good to have children? It is because when the parents are challenged, the children shed tears and cry together with them. Isn't that right?

Furthermore, they rejoice when their parents rejoice. For that reason, the man who has people around him can share both his sorrows and joys.

Ladies and gentlemen, please don't boast of having friends. It is not easy for them to cry for you when you die and cry together with you when you are sorrowful. The people who can do that are your parents. Heaven is parental.

A leader who is responsible for the ideology of the path of righteousness should know how to cry for the sake of the flock of sheep. He should have a mind that takes pity on them, weeping bitterly.

Thus, when the flock of sheep makes a full confession to the leader and thus starts having opulent feelings of joy, those people are the happy people who have met the true shepherd. That is why we like Heaven. Therefore, we must know that the day will come when all historical sages and wise men and Heaven can receive us in great delight.

The day will come when we will appear with victorious contentment in our tired bodies. We should be able to usher in such a day, esteeming it a great honor.

We have to move forward, feeling grateful for the day, able to forget all of our faults on that day, wishing to realize completely the hope that we had waited so eagerly for. You must know clearly that the people who will experience that are the people who go the way of righteousness today.