Unchanging and eternal, the Absolute Being in all religions is depicted as having these qualities. Conversely, all beings, things, and phenomena in the world are transient, impermanent, and relative; from that perspective, they cannot have a reciprocal relationship with the Absolute Being.
Human beings have both types of qualities: we value what is unchanging, but at the same time we have changeable elements that make us less than trustworthy.
Becoming a person of steadfastness and unchanging devotion is thus a key ingredient in making a relationship with God.
Father Moon’s teaching on this point focuses on true love, which likewise has the qualities of unchangeability, absoluteness, and eternity. He explains that even in God, these attributes exist mainly for the purpose of relating to His creatures in true love.
Moreover, the demands of love test God’s unchangeability every day as He relates to human beings who are inconstant and treacherous.
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. Revelation 22.13
He is the First and the Last,
the Outward and the Inward;
and He is Knower of all things.
Qur’an 57.3
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Hebrews 13.8 Nothing can ever destroy the Buddha Nature.
Mahaparinirvana Sutra 220 (Buddhism)
The great, unborn Self is undecaying, immortal,
undying, fearless, infinite. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4.4.25 (Hinduism)
Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them,
‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’
and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’
what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I Am Who I Am.
Exodus 3.13-14
Subhuti, if anyone should say that the Tathagata comes or goes or sits or reclines, he fails to under- stand my teaching. Why? Because ‘Thus Gone’ (Tathagata) has neither whence nor whither, and therefore he is called ‘Tathagata.’20
Diamond Sutra 29 (Buddhism)
With the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
2 Peter 3.8
Who knows the Eternal’s day and the Eternal’s night,
Each lasting a thousand ages, truly knows day and night.
At daybreak all things are disclosed;
they arise from the unmanifest.
At dusk they dissolve into the very same unmanifest.
Again and again, the whole multitude of creatures is born,
and when night falls,
Is dissolved, without their will, and at daybreak, is born again.21
Beyond that unmanifest is another, everlasting Unmanifest Which has no end, although every creature perish.
This is called the Imperishable Unmanifest and the Highest Goal.
Who reaches it does not return. It is my supreme abode.
Bhagavad-Gita 8.17-21 (Hinduism)
All that is on the earth will perish: But will abide forever the face of thy Lord— full of Majesty, Bounty, and Honor. Qur’an 55.26-27
In primal time, in all time, was the Creator; Nothing is real but the Eternal. Nothing shall last but the Eternal. Adi Granth, Japuji 1, M.1, p. 1 (Sikhism)
All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.
The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it…
The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. Isaiah 40.6-8
Even ornamented royal chariots wear out.
So too the body reaches old age.
But the Dhamma of the Good grows not old.
Thus do the Good reveal it among the Good.
Dhammapada 151 (Buddhism)
By detachment from appearances, abide in Real Truth. So I tell you, “Thus shall you think of all this fleeting world: A star at dawn, a bubble in a stream; A flash of lightning in a summer cloud, A flickering lamp, a phantom, a dream.”
Diamond Sutra 32 (Buddhism)
There is, monks, a condition where there is nei- ther the element of extension, the element of cohesion, the element of heat, nor the element of motion, nor the sphere of the infinity of space, nor the sphere of the infinity of consciousness, nor the sphere of nothingness, nor the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception; nei- ther this world, nor a world beyond, nor sun and moon.
There, monks, I say, there is neither coming nor going nor staying nor passing away nor arising. Without support or mobility or basis is it.
This is indeed the end of suffering.
That which is Selfless, hard it is to see;
Not easy is it to perceive the Truth.
But who has ended craving utterly
Has naught to cling to, he alone can see. There is, monks, an unborn, a not-become, a not-made, a not-compounded.
If, monks, there were not this unborn, not-become, not-made, not-compounded, there would not here be an escape from the born, the become, the made, the compounded. But because there is an unborn, a not-become, a not-made, a not-compounded, therefore there is an escape from the born, the become, the made, the compounded.23 Udana 80 (Buddhism)
Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
God is eternal. He was eternal in the past, He is eternal in the present, and He will be eternal in the future. (22:317, May 11, 1969)
Eternity cannot be captured within time, but time exists within eternity. (41:285)
God’s ideal is eternal. God is the center of absolute and eternal life. Yet the center of that ideal is true love, with “me” as its counterpart. (216:115, March 9, 1991)
To love means to take responsibility for eternity. Love is unchanging. If God changed the way people do, how could we ever trust Him? But God is unchanging and eternal. He wants to make a relationship with mankind through true love.
Nevertheless, people are constantly changing, day in and day out. How can God trust us? (31:210, May 31, 1970)
Eternal life is essentially an attribute of love. Even God, when He created the universe, adhered to the standards of absolute faith, absolute love and absolute obedience.
God lives this way, always desiring to invest more love for the world, even though everything in the world is transient. For this reason, every creature without exception attends Him as the absolute, unique, unchanging and eternal Lord. (330:262, August 18, 2000)
How old is God? For billions of years He has been growing old, waiting. If God had a beard, I am sure it would have grown down to His feet, and if God grew taller every year, there’s no telling how tall He would have grown. By what power has He been able to endure and wait for so long? It is nothing but love.
(111:77, January 25, 1981)
If your day-to-day life has only a transient value, you cannot make a connection with eternity. Your life should connect with God’s eternal love. Only then will the eternal God be with you. (2:13, January 6, 1957)
When God decides something, His decision is unchanging for eternity. Can you meet God’s stan- dard if you change your mind a dozen times a day? Truth is truth whether you live or die; it is eternal. Truth is beyond death, beyond changeability.
Thus, in order for you to be a true person, you should be beyond death and be unchangeably steadfast.
This means there will be a collision at some point between your changeability and unchangeability. Unchanging elements will overcome changing elements.
Changing elements will vanish. It is as if life and death collide. When you overcome death you will have life. Once you pass through this stage, then you can have a connection with God. (66:43-44, March 18, 1973)
Being absolute, God is tested continually by the world. Everyone—even Satan—tests whether God’s love is unchanging. If God were ever unable to overcome a test and stopped loving, then He would be changeable.
Yet God remains calm and unperturbed by anything. When I contemplated why God permits Himself to be put through intolerable difficulties, I realized that He had to endure them in order to secure His unchangeability. Satan and God are completely opposite.
God is eternal, while Satan is transient; God is unchanging, while Satan is ever changing; God is unique, while Satan is not. There is a clear contrast between the characteristics of God and Satan. Is your mind changing or unchanging? An unchanging mind is closer to God.
You prefer to be unchanging, not changing, to be absolute, not relative, because you want to take after God’s character. You would resemble God because you wish to be His object partner.
God is unchanging, eternal, unique and absolute, but for what end? If God possessed these attributes purely for His own sake, they would have no meaning.
These attributes are for the sake of His object partners. Likewise, we seek to be unchanging and absolute for the sake of our counterpart, not for ourselves. Therefore, no matter how many people in the world oppose God, He must endure in silence.
Evil people swear, accuse and lash out at God, but He just takes it all in and remains silent. All people are meant to make the journey to true love. Therefore, even evil people seek to become absolute, unique, eternal and unchanging. Were we solitary beings, what difference would it make if we were changing or unchanging?
When we say we want to be unchanging, we automatically have a relationship in mind. Because of the unchanging relationship between God and human beings, love can be possible. And love—true love is eternal.
(123:330-32, January 9, 1983)
All the ideologies, doctrines, and rights that people hold all these will disappear. But Father, we yearn that Thou dost put in our minds power ever flowing and ever bursting forth, the Eye of resurrection, that our minds and bodies may rise to the place where we can live eternally. (4:65, March 9, 1958)
END OF BOOK CHAPTER