FOLLOW US
Session III: Quotes for Reflection
Written by UPF-International
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Quotes: Vision of Peace, One Family Under God
God and Human Beings Are Related as Parent and Child
Words of Rev. Sun Myung Moon
God and human beings are related as parent and child, but how did this relationship come to be? If you enter a mystical state and ask what the center of the universe is, you will get the answer that it is the parent-child relationship. What is the center of the universe? In short, it is the parent-child relationship.
If you pray and ask God, “What is the center of heaven and earth, and what is the root of the universe?” He will say that it is the relationship between a father and his sons and daughters, the parent-child relationship. People who are ignorant of this will think that this refers to the relationship between a physical father and mother, and their sons and daughters, but we are talking about the fundamental relationship with God.
God created human beings because being alone brings no stimulation. Joy arises through a relationship. Alone, you cannot receive the stimulation of joy. When we stand in the position of God’s partner, we can finally receive the highest love and God’s internal nature is made substantial. If God is sorrowful, mankind will inevitably be sorrowful. For this reason, the relationship between God and human beings is a destined relationship that cannot be severed. No matter how hard you research, this will be your conclusion.
I said that God and human beings are in a parent-child relationship, but what is special about this parent-child relationship? The highest place where father and son can meet is the central point where their love, life and ideals intersect. Then, love, life, and ideals are in one place. At that place, God is love, and so are we; God is life, and so are we; and God’s ideals are our ideals. The first place where these qualities can be established is in the parent-child relationship.
When God gives us love, how much would He want to give? God’s love does not have a set limit. He wants to give infinitely. Even after giving everything, God still says, “Because of you, I want to live in you.” What is the essential element that makes this possible? It is love. God would be happy to live as a servant if that life were lived inside love.
God has been continually extending His love to people, but that doesn’t mean He will complain saying, “I have given you everything without reserve. Why do you not give back? How can you be like this?” The God of absolute love is still frustrated that He has not been able to give all the love He wants to. God cannot assert Himself absolutely into our lives. If God’s purpose in creating mankind was to give perfect love, God would still want to pour His love into the human world even if He has been prohibited from doing so until now. The more we think of God as being so unconditionally giving, the better we feel. If God were someone who says, “I have given everything, so now you give back,” we would not need Him.
Cheon Seong Gyeong 1.1.4.1
As one whom his mother comforts, So will I comfort you;
Judaism. Isaiah 66:13
Thou art Father, Mother, Friend, Brother. With Thee as succorer in all places, what fear have I?
Sikhism. Adi Granth, Majh M5, p. 103
What father among you, if his son asks for a fish will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?
Christianity. Luke 11:11-13
Heaven and Earth are the father and mother of the ten thousand things. People are the sensibility of the ten thousand things.
Confucianism. Book of History 5.1.1: The Great Declaration
Once a man came to the Messenger with his son. The Messenger embraced the boy and said, “Do you have mercy upon him?” The father said, “Yes.” Then the Messenger replied, “Allah is more merciful upon him than you.”
Islam. Hadith of Bukhari
All ye under heaven! Regard heaven as your father, as your mother, and all things as your brothers and sisters.
Shinto. Oracle of the Kami of Atsuta
That breast of Thine which is inexhaustible, health-giving, By which thou nursest all that is noble, Containing treasure, bearing wealth, bestowed freely; Lay that bare, O Divine Mother, for our nurture.
Hinduism. Rig Veda 1.164.49
Our Father, it is thy universe, it is thy will. Let us be at peace, let the souls of the people be cool. Thou art our Father; remove all evil from our path.
African Traditional Religions. Nuer Prayer
You men are all my children, And I am your Father. For age upon age, you Have been scorched by multitudinous woes, And I have saved you all.
Buddhism. Lotus Sutra 3
Mother Earth have pity on us and give us food to eat? Father, the Sun, bless all our children and may our paths be straight!
Native American Religions. Blackfoot Prayer
Quotes: Understanding the Cause of Conflict
It is easy to do what is wrong, to do what is bad for oneself; but very difficult to do what is right, to do what is good for oneself.
Buddhism. Dhammapada 12:163
I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not; but what I hate I do. I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
Christianity. Romans 7.15
I know what is good But I am not inclined to do it; I know also what is bad, But I do not refrain From doing it.
Hinduism. The Mahabharata
Man prays for evil As he prays for good; Man is ever hasty.
Islam. Qur’an 17.11
Then Satan began to whisper suggestions to them... by deceit he brought about their fall: when they tasted of the tree, their shame became apparent to them...
Islam. Qur’an 7 20 24
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye she took some and ate it ... then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked.
Judaism. Genesis 3.6-7
It is better to die than to indulge in partaking of forbidden lustful pleasure.
Jainism. Uttarangasutram 22.42
From lustful passions comes the confusion of the mind, then loss of memory, then negligence of duty... the ruin of reason and this leads to destruction.
Hinduism. Bhagavad Gita 2.63
Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.
Christianity. I Corinthians 6.18
Do not come near adultery: for it is a shameful deed and evil, opening the road to other evils.
Islam. Qur’an 17.32
The man who goes to the wife of another ... digs up the very roots of life.
Buddhism. Dhammapada 18.247
Quotes: The Principles of Restoration
If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink: for thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the Lord shall reward thee.
Judaism. Proverbs 25:21-22
Repent ye, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you; whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.
Christianity. Acts 3:19-21
Whoever of you sees something of which God disapproves, then let him change it with his hand; and if he is not able to do so, then with his tongue; and if he is not able to do so, then with his heart; and that is faith of the weakest kind.
Islam. Forty Hadith of an-Nawawi
It is as if a man traveled through the forest, through the great wood, should see an ancient road traversed by men of former days…. And that man brings word to the prince, “My lord, as I traveled through the forest, I saw an ancient path, an ancient road traversed by men of former days. Going along it I saw the ruins of an ancient city, an ancient prince’s domain, wherein dwelt men of former days, having gardens, groves, pools, foundations of walls, a goodly spot. Lord, restore that city.” The prince or his minister then restores the city, so that it becomes prosperous and flourishing, populous and teeming with people who thrive and reach old age. Even so have I seen an ancient Path, an ancient road traversed by the rightly enlightened ones of former times.
Buddhism. Samyurta Nikaya 2.106
It is not always physical bravery that counts. One must have the courage to face life as it is, to go through sorrows and always sacrifice oneself for the sake of others.
African Traditional Religions. Kipsigis Saying (Kenya)
Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed.
Preamble to the Constitution of UNESCO
All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.
Edmund Burke, Irish statesman
With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us move on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan—to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations.
Abraham Lincoln, US President, Second Inaugural Address
Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
Judaism. Psalm 85:10-11
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven... A time to get, and a time to lose, a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
Judaism. Ecclesiastes 3:1, 6-8
If you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
Christianity. Matthew 5:23-24
Let there arise out of you a group of people, inviting to all that is good, enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong; they are the ones to attain happiness and prosperity.
Islam. Qur’an 3.104
Let your aims be common, And your hearts of one accord, And all of you be of one mind, So you may live well together.
Hinduism. Rig Veda 10.191.4
When the personal life is cultivated, the family will be regulated; when the family is regulated, the state will be in order; when the state is in order, there will be peace throughout the world.
Confucianism. The Great Learning
Do not seek to benefit only yourself, but think of other people also. If you yourself have abundance, do not say, “The others do not concern me, I need not bother about them!” If you were lucky in hunting, let others share it.
Native American Religion. Yamana Eskimo Initiation
I see no hope for permanent world peace. We have tried and failed miserably. Unless the world has a spiritual rebirth, civilization is doomed.
Dag Hammarskjold, Secretary-General, United Nations
All humans are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
World peace is inconceivable unless the world’s leaders come to recognize that interdependence in itself demands that abandonment of the politics of blocs, the sacrifice of all forms of economic, military or political imperialism, and the transformation of mutual distrust into collaboration.
Pope John Paul II
For the development of a peaceful, friendly human family of nations with a rich variety of faith and political and economic systems, each of us has the responsibility to strive towards such harmony. There is no alternative.
Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
If you find this page helpful and informative please consider making donation. Your donation will help Universal Peace Federation (UPF) provide new and improved reports, analysis and publications to you and everyone around the world.
UPF is a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization and all donations are tax deductible in the United States. Receipts are automatically provided for donations of or above $250.00.
|
Donate to the Universal Peace Federation: Your donation to support the general programs of UPF. |
Donate to the Religious Youth Service (RYS): Your donation will be used for service projects around the world. |
Donate to UPF's Africa Projects: Your donation will be used for projects in Africa. |