The Power of the Word

While honoring that we are indeed a masterpiece in God’s hand, the Divine Principle elucidates an additional layer of understanding. We are not just clay to be molded in the potter’s hand but we must play an active part in the creative process. Knowing that we are co-creators of our lives with God, helps us comprehend the power of the Principle to elucidate and inform us, so that we can discover our true potential. Isn’t that what religion is for?

It’s true that the genesis of our spirit and personality was in the mind and heart of God and He/She can definitely claim authorship of our lives. Our Heavenly Parent thought of us and longed for us even before we were conceived. God invested in our creation and gave us life through our parents. But that is only a part of the story.

We are nothing if we do nothing!

God is amazing because He releases us, regardless of God’s desire, so that we can become who we want to be. As any parent will tell you that takes courage. But there is no other path to perfection than to allow us to use our creativity, our portion of responsibility and our own effort. We are nothing apart from God, but we are also nothing if we do nothing!

The Principle of Creation offers profound insight into our nature, which comes from God. Unlike everything else in this world, we can only grow to maturity through exercising our portion of responsibility. A penguin will always be a penguin; there is no major decision making going on afloat an iceberg. But when it comes to the question of our humanity, it’s not a done deal.

A unique destiny

Our destiny is to reach spiritual maturity (perfection) but do we really believe that? Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:48, “Be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect.” That’s a tall order.

Along the way we can easily become discouraged. We try hard, we follow the rules, do the right things – go to church, give to charity, and the when we get discouraged with our spiritual growth we do one of two things:

•  We start faking it; pretend to be holy and look like we have it together but are really leading a double life
•  Or simply agree with one-another that the bar of holiness was set way too high and resort to feel-good televangelism.

The small compromises we make over the years end up snowballing us into hurt and cynicism. Or we are so wounded by the hypocrisy and unfaithful attitudes around us that we “give up on Church.”

A long time ago I promised to myself that I wouldn’t go down that path, and I attribute a lot of my happiness to taking the road less travelled.

The road less travelled

Last week we reflected on Jesus’ question, “What do you want me to do for you?” So, this week we reflect on an even bigger question, “Do I believe that I can reach perfection?” Why would Jesus say it if it’s not possible?

A preacher friend of mine was running a retreat and he happened to ask a participant that very question. The participant was probably put on the spot but responded honestly by saying that he didn’t believe it was possible to reach “perfection” or spiritual maturity in his lifetime.

The pastor responded by commenting, “Well, when are you planning on achieving maturity? Do you think it’s going to be easier after you die?” He went on to say, “You think it’s hard to impact others or achieve things now. The good deeds you perform with your physical body contribute to your spiritual growth. What will you do once you have passed on?”

He continued, “The only way to grow will be to influence people on earth toward goodness. If you think it’s hard to get your kids to do something now, imagine what it will be like trying to influence them from the spiritual world.” He pursued the idea further saying, “Imagine you are in the spiritual world. You want your grown kids to understand a certain idea through scripture so you huff and puff and eventually the pages of the book almost magically fall open to the right place, revealing the desired scripture for the kids to notice. The kids do notice the pages fluttering but put the whole episode down to a breeze and the only action taken is to close the window!” So if you are waiting for later to work on your spiritual growth you may want to re-think that.

So, how about you? If we don’t really understand the process of growth then I guess it is excusable to say it can’t be done. However, we don’t have that luxury as the Principle of Creation clearly articulates how we grow spiritually.

It establishes that like the body needs sunlight and air our spirit thrives on God’s love and truth. We need to know what is true. The Principle of Creation also has an interesting often missed paragraph at the end which deals with the difference between the conscience and the original mind.

The conscience is the faculty of the mind that always directs us, by virtue of its inborn nature, to what we think is good. Oh, does this sound familiar? I am sure both the Republicans and Democrats are acting according to their conscience but it leads them to very different places, hence the Government shut down.

Because we are separated from God we are unable to set a proper standard of judgment for our conscience. This explains why people with divergent opinions can all think they are right. That’s why we are told in Romans 12:2 that we have to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. Our conscience needs to develop and connect to a higher or greater truth.

However, our original mind is like an umbilical cord to God. It’s the part of the human mind that seeks absolute goodness. It’s sensitive to God and resonates with what is true. This is why when you hear something that is true you know it not just intellectually but in your gut. You sense the truth with your original mind. It’s important to care for our original mind and develop our relationship with it.

“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.” Albert Einstein

We can feed our original mind which guides our conscience through the word.

Become the word

One time, Rev Moon’s son, Rev Hyung Jin Moon, asked his father to share with him what Chinese character was most precious to him. Rev Moon identified the Chinese character that communicates, “Become the word.” Ultimately our job is to become the word.

The word is the medium through which we grow. The trouble is that we have too many “thought trains” speeding through our head, taking us on side trips with the result that we don’t take in the wisdom we need to absorb! How many thought trains have sped through your mind, distracting you, in the course of reading this blog? This is a reality we all have to deal with.

The power of the word in your life

I want to introduce you to a practice that can inspire you to absorb God’s words into your life while developing your original mind. To help me through the process I use the acronym, W.O.R.D.

For this exercise you can choose a passage from any of the sacred texts. Read the passage through a couple of times and then use W.O.R.D to guide you.

• W– It starts by selecting the words that jump out at you as most relevant, or thought provoking. Write down the words in a journal.

Rev Moon used this process as he immersed himself in the study of the Bible seeking to understand the many mysteries hidden between the lines of this sacred text. He wrote later in his autobiography, “On my desk in the boarding house, I always had three Bibles lying open side by side. One was in Korea, one in Japanese, and one in English. I would read the same passages in three languages again and again. Each time I read a passage, I would underline the verse and make notes in the margins until the pages became stained with black ink and difficult to read.” (As a Peace Loving Global Citizen, 2009, 67)

• O – Next, write down your observations about the sentence or words that you chose. What do they mean to you? What thoughts struck you?
• R– The next step is to allow those words to take root in your heart. To “know” in the spirit requires that your understanding is more than simply intellectual. This is a process that requires prayer or meditation.

Rev Moon spoke of this, “I would like to advise you who are studying the Principle. I have shed so many tears in discovering the Principle. …I not only understood the Principle, but lived it. When I came to the fall of Adam and Eve, I felt as if it were my own business. I felt the sorrow of God to see Adam’s fall. I felt Adam’s sorrow in himself. It was not Adam’s story, but mine. I felt the story of Cain and Abel as my own. Through their mistake, God felt so much sorrow, and I felt the same. So with Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Jesus. In each event, I put myself in the position of those involved and felt with them, and with God, all through the history. It is not someone else’s history, but my own life.” (Way of Tradition III, 539)

• D– Represents “Discover.” For words or truth to become integrated into our lives we have to discover their relevance and application. We have to start to live them and discover how they can manifest in our life in a unique way, with the goal of “becoming the Word.”

What does this look like in practice? Every Friday morning a friend and I meet at some ungodly hour to study the word. Surprisingly, despite my usual last minute battle about whether or not I want to get out of bed so early, I always end up having a wonderful time and thinking I should do this more often!

We start by selecting a passage from the Bible. In our most recent get-together we chose to read James 3. The first part of the exercise consists of reading and journaling side-by-side. The first task is to respond to the W – find some words that jump out. In this instance I picked, “For if we controlled our tongues we would be perfect and could control ourselves in every other way.” James 3:1 with the addendum, “Sometimes it praises our Lord and sometimes it curses those that have been made in the image of God.”

This passage just struck deep in my heart. Gossip is such a huge thing. It’s everywhere! I thought every time I gossip I am cursing people who are made in the image of God. I may not like everyone, but I have to honor that they are in the image of God. That’s a game changer.

I then went on to journal and complete the O in W.O.R.D. which stands for observation. I wrote, “Perfection is such a huge goal but is something I can work on everyday as I make a thousand, million choices to control my tongue and purify my heart!

Finally, the D in W.O.R.D. is Discover which means discover the difference that is made in your life as you put your observation into practice. I’m still working on it….. It’s exciting to make spiritual growth real and realize perfection isn’t as impossible as I once thought. Practicing the word takes truth from the head to the heart. Once the word is in your heart you no longer have to work everything out intellectually; you know what to do.

Spiritually maturity (perfection) is possible! Don’t give into the skeptics around you but work on it a little bit every day. Perfection or spiritual maturity isn’t just a mystical state but the result of discipline and practicing mind-body unity. It comes from thousands of small acts over time – and yes, it is possible!