The following are excerpts from a speech called “Way of Life”, by Rev. Sun Myung Moon.
“Each of you as an individual is born and raised in the love of your parents. You go through kindergarten, primary school, high school and university, and eventually your view of life is broadened to a wider scope. You want to see what the society is like and what the people around you are doing.
In the worldly sense, there are happy and unhappy people. Some are unhappy because they have no children, and some are unhappy because their families are being broken up. Still others are unhappy because they have been discharged from a high position or because of the bankruptcy of their company.
Everyone Seeks Happiness
We can well see that in the world there are people who are happy, but there are more people who are unhappy. There is not a single man in the whole world who would choose to have unhappiness or misery; everyone wants happiness. However, some things are not within our reach. We cannot always do what we would like.
In the United States people are seemingly happy and have an abundance of everything, but in their hearts there usually is unhappiness too. To a certain extent, the people of the United States have been happy and blessed, but when one experiences misery after having had happiness, one feels even more miserable.
Suppose a certain couple seems very happy. But inwardly, they may be very unhappy. In homes, especially, there is often a breakdown. Also, you may be successful in your worldly career, but that can become a failure in the next moment.
What is true happiness?
By giving and receiving with other people, you feel happy. On the other hand, if you cannot give out to others, they cannot receive, and they feel unhappy. You are happy when you can give things to other people, when you can share the position, wealth, knowledge, and whatever you have that is virtuous with other people. If you are satisfied with what you are, with the position and everything else you have, then you can call yourself “happy.” If you can share love with each other, that makes you feel happiest of all.
Comparing yourself with successful people, you often ask yourself, “Can I be that way? Can I ever be that kind of person?” You find yourself limited by your knowledge, your position, your authority, and many other things; but your desire and ambition have no limit.
When you have limitless desire and limited circumstances, how can you find the balance between those two? This is what gives all of us agony. Thus, we find there is only a small difference between the commoner and the prince. Everyone has to solve this problem.
There seems to be no solution. That’s why people look for the key in philosophy and religion. In philosophy you search outwardly, and in religion, you look for the key inwardly, or spiritually. Motivated in this way, people have developed philosophy and religion, and today we experience the maturity of this history of search.
Can Religion or Philosophy Create Happiness?
Is there any religion in which we have not been disappointed? People have become disillusioned by all of these. Democracy, Communism, and even religion have failed people. They feel that now everything has been tested and all have failed. We have come at last to this point on the way of life. Now what should we do?
There is natural law ruling in human society. We cannot change our sexes. Men must remain men, and women must remain women. Their natures and desires are different. But what do they have in common?
They have the desire to enjoy something virtuous. However far-ranging our human thought, or however varied life around the world may be, we must be set truly on one common goal. We have got to find the ultimate goal which both man and woman are headed for. If we find that goal, we will be the happiest people.
People may think that happiness is something that we only wish for, but which can never be attained. Who can give us happiness? Can our nation give us happiness? Can any ideology or “ism” bring us happiness? We can only be scornful of past ideologies which promised to do so.
Real happiness is something that we can never exhaust, something we can enjoy forever.
So what is the source of such happiness? Can any individual be the source of happiness? Can another person give everlasting happiness to you?
After thinking about it, we can come to the conclusion that if there were no God, we would have to create one. We must have God at least in our imaginations.
Even though we might be deceiving ourselves, if we had that God in our imaginations, and if by serving Him we felt that we were given ultimate happiness by Him, then we would be happy. Because no other human being can give us that. We have got to have God transcendent of human life, or life has no meaning.
At this point, if we discover that God really does exist, how happy we must be! We should feel as if we could turn the whole world upside down. If a group of people can really know God and work in the love of God and for the cause of God, society will be attracted to that group and will watch it and be anxious to see the group successful. We have to put this into practice, and we are happy to carry out our mission.
Everlasting Happiness Comes From God’s Love
In the external world, the ideologies of democracy and Communism have been struggling for so long. They are both so worn out that people don’t know which one they belong to. But in the world of higher dimension, the more we struggle the more valuable the achievement.
In the love of God, we will enjoy everlasting happiness. So it is only too natural for us to reach the conclusion that we can attain the goal of human happiness in a higher dimension, and that it will last forever.
We know only too well that God is love and that we will enjoy God’s love in doing everything. In going through education and enjoying even high positions and wealth, we know how to return all things to God, and we can enjoy things as having been given by God, our Father. That’s what makes us happy.
In giving, too, we must not be narrow-minded; we will not draw small circles around ourselves. We must be generous people. We want to give out things not only to our family members, but to friends and neighbors and the society around us. We want to give out not only things, but our whole being to the last person alive, stretching ourselves until we can reach the other end of the world.
In human society some people want to possess more than other people, and they want to invade others’ ownership to possess more people, more land, and so on. That’s what makes people fight each other. If you want to possess things with self-centered motive, we know you are liable to ruin.
Only God owns everything. What we have belongs to God.
When you work for the love of God, you cannot be made to feel tired. Therefore, however hard we have to toil and labor, we are happy to do it. This is the secret to possess love. The more you labor for the person you love, the more love you will receive from him.
Love is something precious that you want to keep deep inside yourself like a secret. This secret between you and God will make you great. In giving out the love of God to other people you are sharing your love with them, and your love rather than being diminished, will be multiplied. You will be proud of what you have given.
Only by giving can we receive. So we want to give out our whole being. We want to give out our family, our clan, our nation, and our whole world to God. In return He will fill our hearts with such love that can embrace the whole world and the whole cosmos. We are rich; we are the happiest people. Then, are you going to be really generous givers? In giving to others, never expect to receive anything directly in return from them. But let them return what they have received, to God.
You are returning everything to God through those people, so God will be sure to return something to you. That something is His love, which is greater than anything else in the world. You will receive things of more value than those you have given out. Through the love of God, you will be in the position of God’s son or daughter.
The more you labor for the love of God, the more you can receive love from Him in abundance. When we live in God’s love, we have nothing to be afraid of. Knowing this, live your life with gratitude and return joy to God.” – Sun Myung Moon
