Friday, February 19
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 19th – THE FOUNDERS’ BIRTHDAY EXCURSION
Introduction
Good morning, everyone!
Today, as you know, we are making an excursion out of Seoul to the Cheongpyeong Peace Village, which is about 50km northeast of the capital. Once we get there, we’ll be joining over a thousand other people in the celebrations of Rev. Dr. and Mrs. Moon’s birthday.
I’d like to begin by giving you a little historical background about our destination, the peace village. Before I do that, let’s watch a short video. (coming soon)
History
Going up into the mountains for meditation and prayer has long been a tradition among the peace-loving people of Korea. In the early days of his ministry, Cheongpyeong Lake was a spiritual retreat for Rev. Moon. It was a time when the world was in the throes of the Cold War, his country was rebuilding from the devastation of war, and his church had limited resources.
As he prayed in the hills nearby, his conviction grew that one day there would be a peace village here and people from all over the world would come to his homeland to learn peace. Today, that prayer is being realized.
The Peace Palace and the Cheongpyeong Peace Village are places of beauty for communing with God, nature, our fellow human beings and the realm of spirit. This is a place that is dedicated to peace, the harmonization of all these dimensions.
In the past ten years, more than a million people from six continents have come here and found insight, clarity, and healing.
Since the early days, the first wood pavilion has grown into a large campus, with a graduate theological seminary, several schools, a conference center, prayer hall, thermal bathhouse, hotel, senior citizens’ residence and more. Its modern hospital draws on the best of Oriental and Western medicine to bring healing to the spirit and body.
The Peace Palace is the latest addition to the complex. In addition to its conference and banquet facilities, it also houses a museum. Since its opening, the palace has hosted various peace conferences organized by the Universal Peace Federation.
On a clear day, the views of the lake and the mountains are of outstanding beauty. We hope you find time during your visit to enjoy the setting and to experience a moment of peace for yourself.
What to Expect at the Birthday Celebrations
Once we arrive at the Cheongpyeong, we’ll join in with the ongoing birthday celebrations which got underway with prayers and a religious service at 8am this morning. As many of you know, Rev. Moon is well known for speaking at some length on these occasions, so we’re never quite sure how the schedule is running.
However, we can be reasonably sure that at some point during the day, Rev. Moon will offer some remarks. Most likely, he will not stick to the conventional and short expressions of appreciation and welcome typical of a birthday party, but will use the occasion to speak on the subject of his undying passion—the lonely heart of God and His intense longing to see all of humanity return to Him as “one family under God.” Our translators will do their best to keep up, but even native Korean speakers are known to have difficulties with the speed, intensity and depth of his message.
When the Peace Palace was opened in June 2006, Rev. and Mrs. Sun Myung Moon took the opportunity to outline the following guidelines for life in the coming kingdom of peace:
- Live for the sake of others, which is the best way to practice true love. Establish a true family and raise true children who are sinless and pure, keeping God’s lineage intact from generation to generation.
- Follow your conscience. Live with your mind and body united as one. Place your conscience in God’s position over your life and establish resonance between your mind and body and perfect their unity.
- Receive the Holy Marriage Blessing from the True Parents and share and multiply it with others until the day when all humankind is restored to God’s lineage.
- Live in harmony with the spirit world. Communicate in prayer with the heavenly world with sincerity and dedication, so that you may become perfected in your spirit self while you are living on the earth.
- Offer your talents and abilities for heaven, casting off the mask of selfish individualism and offering all you own to God with joyful hearts.
- Return to nature and enjoy a life of liberation and complete freedom. To love nature is to love God and humanity. When human life resonates with nature, human character can blossom in perfection.
- Serve humanity under the banner of the Universal Peace Federation, which is working to establish the position of the Abel-type United Nations.
Rev. Moon has been asked on more than one occasion why he always likes to speak for a long time. His answer is disarmingly simple: “As I get older, I never know whether I will ever meet an audience again; so please forgive me for sharing everything that is in my heart.”
Some General Points
We’d like to ask you to refrain from using your cameras or video-cameras during the program, as the flash and the movement can be disturbing. You can take some souvenir photos before and afterwards: there is a particularly fine view of the lake from the first floor terrace at the back of the banquet hall.
After the program concludes, we will be boarding the same buses for our return trip back to Seoul. Please be on time so that we can all leave promptly. Once back at the JW Marriott Hotel, our final gathering of this conference will be for dinner at the Millennium Hall. We’ll have some more announcements at that time.
Thank you once again!