The founder’s messages were delivered on the occasion of a Divine Principle conference for heads of state and government on the theme, “A Worldview for the Third Millennium.” The event was convened by the Summit Council for World Peace with co-sponsors, the Association for the Unity of Latin America (AULA) and CA USA Uruguay and held in Montevideo, Uruguay, January 14-18, 1996. In attendance were 12former heads of state, eight former first ladies, five former cabinet ministers, two former governors, seven ex-senators and congressmen, six ambassadors, two senior military officers, 12 other distinguished participants and spouses, and six observers for a total of 60 guests from 20 countries. “The Liberation of Conscience” was given at the farewell banquet on January 17, 1996.
I wish to speak from here because I don’t consider that I am on top of you, and I don’t want you to think that I am at a higher level. Therefore, I am going to be among you, at the same level. (Throughout the speech, Father walked among the guests, rather than standing on the stage.) I thank all of you deeply because through the testimony of these two gentlemen I can feel your feeling these days.
Originally these teachings should have been transmitted when I was 29 or 30 years of age. I had been receiving the content of these revelations since my adolescence, but unfortunately, due to misinterpretations and adverse environments, the world has ignored this message for such a long time. This has brought about a lot of damage to the world that could have been avoided.
THE KOREAN RELIGIOUS CONTEXT
Korea is surrounded by large nations, great nations. We have the former Soviet Union to the north, the United States across the sea, Japan close by, and huge China that is also so close. It was surprising for these important nations that out of a country such as ours, ignored by all of them, a philosophy would appear, a faith, a view of the universe of this importance. They had seen no previous reference to such new declarations coming from Korea.
At that time my country was controlled by Japan, and all the activities that I had to start were done underground. Japan is a country that worships a lot of gods and too many religions. There are about 180,000 different gods.
The nation of Korea, in spite of its small size, has survived a long history of 5,000 years and its people have maintained their homogeneity, their culture, their race, and their language. In spite of almost 900 invasions by neighboring countries, Korea has been able to maintain its qualities.
Why was this useful? Because Korea was invaded so many times by neighboring countries, its people couldn’t believe in any of its neighbors or other great nations. The only one we could believe in is God, and God had to show us the way.
Although Confucianism came from outside, it developed strong roots in Korea. Because the people needed to receive a message from above, the nation of Korea elevated Confucianism to a dimension that it had not reached even in China, and Korean Confucianism became more important than even Chinese Confucianism. However, Confucianism does not believe in a personal, living God, and it ignores the spiritual world.
After 500 years of Confucianism, we received Buddhism from India. Buddhism affirmed God and the spiritual world, something that Confucianism lacked. Those who received assistance through Buddhism started to adopt this religion, and for more than 500 years Buddhism was upheld in Korea.
When we started receiving influence from the Western world about 200 years ago, mainly the material and scientific development based on Christian philosophy, it brought teachings of a higher dimension than we had known so far. Korea opened itself to that new culture. Korea is the only Eastern country that is mainly Christian. Since the United States was the Christian leader in the Western Hemisphere, Korea tried to establish connections with it because of shared Christian beliefs. Korea received Christian inspiration from the United States when Koreans started creating an independence movement during the Japanese occupation.
In this nation nourished by Confucianism and Buddhism, Christianity developed very strong roots. Because of this religious background and with the strength received from Christianity, an eminent Korean scholar organized the founders of the March 1 Independence movement that fought against Japan in Korea’s struggle for independence.
The conclusion is that Korea has been strengthened religiously by the better expressions of the main religions of the world. Through all that preparation process, which bore fruit in deep faith and patriotism, Korea was chosen by God to play a main role at the end of this century.
Many of those religious leaders are still living according to the principles of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Christianity. The controversy about Rev. Moon has to do with their difficulty in accepting the fact that what they were following was precisely what I was preaching. I was persecuted mainly by the religious world: Confucianism, Buddhism, and Christianity. This formed a worldwide barrier. Leaders of all the religions that had influence over the Korean government united against me.
PEOPLE ARE SPIRITUALLY GUIDED TO ME
Here we are now in Latin America, where 30 countries share the American culture. Most of you feel like ancestors of modern civilization because modern civilization has been inspired by Christianity, and the Catholic culture considers itself to be the progenitor of Christianity. Doesn’t Catholicism consider itself the first church? In spite of the fact that Latin America should learn from and follow the United States and other developed countries, they take pride in their roots and tradition. Then how can these barriers be overcome?
I also faced the same problem, and I had to fight and overcome all the barriers of Buddhism, Confucianism and Christianity, particularly all the points that had not been clarified and solved in those religions.
You already heard that I am promoting the Inter-Religious Federation for World Peace that has integrated Buddhism, Confucianism and Christianity. Then how was it possible? With strength? With power? To tell them that I have a religion that is higher than theirs wouldn’t be enough. The strength to overcome those obstacles and to integrate these religions comes through the help of the spiritual world.
The spiritual world even told the religious leaders, “Look, you have to learn from Rev. Moon and follow his teachings.” Shouldn’t they obey, then? Those who were teaching people not to follow us received so much oppression from the spiritual world. Their followers and disciples sought me out and tried to talk with me.
In climbing a mountain, you can see the whole landscape when you reach the top; there the north, south, east, and west mingle into oneness and you cannot differentiate them. How-ever, each religion that has climbed the mountain believes that it is the only one in existence and the only possible direction to follow. God looks on and asks, “Who do you think you are?”
(To a member of the audience:) It is not impolite for me to give someone a knock on the head. I am doing this so you don’t forget. Most of you may be surprised by this, but don’t feel uncomfortable. I am using this as a textbook.
Many Buddhist leaders who cultivated their spiritual lives by kneeling and praying in their temples and churches were knocked on the head spiritually and told to listen to Rev. Moon. Then they came to me and I gave them the book, the teaching contained in the Divine Principle, and told them to go back to the mountain and pray about the contents. I told them that before opening the book they had to pray and show reverence. Could they escape, or did they have no choice but to do it, considering the pressure they had received?
Many Christian leaders were deeply convinced that Rev. Moon was a heretic. The spiritual world pushed them to go and meet the man they believed to be a heretic, and they had to go. Leaders who were honest in their search were guided by God to meet me.
HAVE A TRUE PERSPECTIVE
In general, when you become a president you feel you are on top of the world, that you cannot reach any higher. But there is still a spiritual world above you to which the presidents of the world are blind. After fighting against the world, the time has arrived for me to lead the spiritual world. Although for decades we have been working together with presidents and politicians, academicians and Nobel Prize winners, as well as leaders in different areas, they have never listened to the essence of my teaching, which is the Divine Principle.
Thus, none of them had any spiritual experience of God indicating to them what they should do on behalf of their nation. Is there any leader who has received such a revelation from God? Although people may think they are in the top position of the world, in God’s eyes they are not; instead, they are fighting on behalf of their nation. If I had to give you spiritual missions and push you to do the things you should do, you would run out of this room. That’s the reality.
There are internal realities and facts, but who knew these facts? I did, and although world communism opposed me, I overcame communism with my own theory-not with strength or power but with logic. They had no logical way to defeat me. For 2,000 years the world has believed in Christianity, but who knew the deep secrets of God’s heart? There are 360 large volumes of sermons I have given in my lifetime; they contain so many secrets about God and the spiritual world. Do you want to continue studying?
You have been here for three days, and some of you do not wish to continue; that’s okay. I know that it’s not easy for most of you to spend time here, with a pain in your back, but what you understand you find worthwhile. We may think opposite things, you and I. Perhaps you thought I was going to say beautiful words, but I am saying things that you might not like.
If you participated in a one-week program and afterward wanted to leave, God would take you by the hair and sit you down again to listen, although you may not like it. I want you to investigate and study this before you go to the spiritual world, so you can tell your people to research Rev. Moon’s thought.
To be able to establish that foundation on earth, I was imprisoned six times and shed my tears, sweat and blood. Do you think I have a smaller brain than yours? When I was a child, I used to read 180-page books. I felt I would have to prove the existence of God. I was born the son of a farmer, a peasant, and today I have defeated the world’s opposition. I can tell anyone, even the president of the United States or leader of Europe, to learn from the teaching of Rev. Moon.
Why should I say this? Because whether you like it or not, it is for your benefit. Some day you will go to the spiritual world, and if you didn’t know this before you got there you would blame me for not informing you. You would also be blamed by the citizens of your nations because they would say that you had heard about this and you never told them. If you invite people to participate and they don’t, it is their responsibility; you have fulfilled your share. The same applies to me.
You are aware that the Cold War started with the division of Korea into a free area and a communist area, and the Cold War finished with the participation of both sectors in the Seoul Olympic games. Korea was divided according to the wishes of the United States and the Soviet Union, so Korean unity must be resolved by them.
Kim Il Sung, the former leader of North Korea, said he was the father of mankind. In South Korea, Rev. Moon appeared and calls himself the father of mankind. Therefore, in the same peninsula we have two fathers. We can’t have two fathers, so each should find who is the true father. This cannot be determined by a contest of force and strength but by loving and by logic.
Only God knew how much influence we had on preserving Korea. I don’t want to speak in a proud way, but I want to tell you about the facts.
Now I am an old man, a grandfather. You really don’t know how charming my grandchildren appear to me. After every-thing I have gone through, I find that my grandchildren have become my reason for living. I can lean down and ask my grandchildren what they think about something; I can teach them what is good and bad and be sure that the Moon family will be perpetuated.
Consider yourselves my grandchildren. (To one participant:) I will put my hand in my wallet, take out whatever I find there, and give it to you. If I draw out a dollar bill, it’s yours. You might get more.
If only loneliness is in your future, what was the benefit of becoming a president? What is the use of being a president? How are you going to live? Instead of dreaming about embracing a woman, you have to take care of yourselves.
At this farewell dinner I have already said everything I wanted to say. We are all a family here so why should I keep talking? We are friends.
VARIOUS BASES FOR DOMINION
Where do blessings come from? They come from above. All human progress, development and benefits have come from God. History has disregarded this. Until the appearance of imperialism, brains had ruled the world. Those who had a brain ruled over the world.
Among the five physical senses, we have four allocated to the head. Why do we move our heads? The eyes decide. When a human fetus forms, the first sensory organs to develop are the eyes. The eyes are the symbol of God. The eyes can investigate all the secrets and mysteries of God’s creation. later; and the mouth represents the creation. That’s why everything received from the creation that becomes a part of our body enters through the mouth. The number of teeth is a result of the ideal number, four, multiplied by eight, which represents a new beginning.
As people eat the things of creation with their mouth, creation becomes a part of them. Furthermore, through the eyes we can get to know the interior of a person, and through the nose and mouth, we can learn about their fortune.
It used to be that those who had a good head dominated the world. Then Nietzsche said that the strongest person controls the world. Your shoulders give you strength. God blessed men with strong shoulders and stomach. Men need courage, and strength symbolizes courage.
Am I courageous? I have seized the United States by the neck and called them to repent. Such a courageous leader is not afraid of any Latin American country. Do you trust your-self? Are you convinced of your own strength? If you do not have faith, then leave.
The age when the legs and arms dominated the world followed the age of the shoulders. In other words, the era of labor came after the era of power. Communism proclaimed that workers were the owners of the world. The worker does not need a head or shoulders-just hands and feet.
Now violent groups are ruining the world. Everybody has had their turn at dominating the world: the head, the shoulders, the hands and feet, and now the Mafia, through violence. All of them have had their ages of world dominion.
DOMINION OF CONSCIENCE
Who has not yet dominated the world? What’s missing? The conscience. People of conscience have not yet dominated the world; people of conscience have been relegated to another plane. After the eras of dominion through intelligence, strength, and labor, people of conscience should dominate the world. Would you like that era to come quickly or slowly?
We are at the age of declaring the role of conscience. Maybe even at the thought of it, that age will come. That age needs to be centered in religion, so our conscience can adapt to God’s conscience. In the era in which our conscience connects with God’s conscience, we can conquer God’s heart. Thus, con-science brings about the age of love.
Lift up your hand if you consider yourself to be person of conscience. Don’t raise it just a little or keep it half hidden. Is your conscience in conflict with your physical body? Are they not in harmony or disharmony?
Suppose there are three people and three pieces of gold which would you take, the largest or the smallest? Don’t take any of them, because they are of no use. When we are faced with choices, our conscience tells us what we have to do. But we end up doing something else and betraying our conscience.
If somebody says that for most of his life he has been following his conscience more often than his physical body, he is a liar. Your conscience says, don’t drink; don’t leave your wife for another woman. However, you did it, didn’t you?
I am going to believe you, but I’m not responsible for the time when you go in front of God. When you are in front of God, He’s the one who judges. You’re not going to say it so freely in front of God.
The core role of religion is to awaken the human conscience so it can be in the position of subject. You never ask your girl-friend or your fiancée whether she loves you internally or whether she loves you just physically. She will say, “I love you with my heart,” but one week after that, she is with some-body else. You were kicked out.
Do men live like that? Don’t you live like that? I like you. I feel a lot of sympathy for you.
THE ORIGIN OF CONFLICT
So what is the fall? The fall brought conflict between our mind and body. How did they split? When did they split? What was the cause of such a division within an individual? Many wars have ended, but this struggle in each human being has never stopped.
We have to ask how this conflict started. In order to release our conscience, our inner aspect, we have to know for certain the origin of the problem-whether it was mom and dad, our parents, our grandparents, or Adam and Eve. Where did such a beautiful woman come from? The union of lineage between her father and mother.
Was the love that Adam and Eve shared joyful or sad? It was sad. Why? Because it was not a relationship of love that developed properly over time. Because it was not the desired relationship. Their consciences told them not to, but their bodies led them into that relationship.
(To a member of the audience:) Is that your wife? (It’s the only one I’ve got. For 46 years she has been the only one.) But if we were away from your wife and I were to ask you whether you really treat her well and really love her, you’re going to say, “Let me think …. ” (Laughter.) Why are you laughing like that? It’s a fact that our mind and our body are in conflict. When is that struggle going to be over?
THE ROLE OF RELIGION
The seed of love for evil was planted in our bodies. This struggle between good and evil has to finish. That is why God was forced to establish some method to punish, or weaken, the strength of the physical body. That method was religion. That is why religion asks us to fast and to sacrifice for others. To become an offering means to shed our blood and give our lives.
For those who believe in a religion, is religion much fun? Is it beautiful to believe in religion? If there had been no sin, no fall, we wouldn’t need religion. We must be very clear about that. Only God’s sons and daughters, only those who live in harmony between their mind and body, can enter heaven. Regard-less of whether you are a pauper or a priest or an archbishop, if you have a conflict between your mind and your body, you won’t be able to enter heaven. Those who do not believe this will find out the truth the day they go to the other world.
Because I know spiritual reality and this principle of existence, I have had to continue with this path in spite of all persecution and attacks. I could never consider the world that opposed me to be my enemy.
The path of religion is the path of creating habits. Life becomes a habit, and we get used to the fact that our mind and conscience should lead our physical bodies. Our flesh always seeks its own satisfaction, but our conscience insists that we do things for others. For thousands and thousands of years, God has been trying to establish this habit on earth, so people can stop experiencing this struggle. Today not only can I pro-claim this truth, I declare that I have made it become a reality in myself.
PROCLAIM THE LIBERATION OF CONSCIENCE
The time has come to proclaim the liberation of conscience and proclaim the path to follow. We have to follow it with no hesitation-in Uruguay or wherever we may be. In any environment, we have to continue this path. Let’s kick whatever opposes us and pass on to a national and worldwide level. We can overcome hell and everything else, because that age has come.
Jesus said that those who bear the burden can come to him for relief. What did he mean when he said that we should take up our cross and follow him? Our bodies are our cross.
I want to emphasize that the era of dominion by intelligent people, powerful people, or laborers, or the Mafia has passed. The time has come for God-centered people, people of con-science, to dominate the world.
I have followed that path. From the individual to the worldwide levels, people have been hitting me. However, no matter how much they hit me, my mind will never deviate or change. That’s the way I have followed until today.
What did Uruguay think of me when I came here? What did you believe that I was? Who did you believe that I was? I’d like Uruguay to have dignity in front of the United States and the rest of the continent. That’s our motivation in working with this nation. I don’t want to continue to explain this because it will take too long.
I was going to speak until 10:00 p.m., and it’s already 10:40. This is the time for the liberation of all who have suffered any kind of troubles or burdens, if they lived according to their conscience.
We couldn’t believe communism’s promise to establish paradise. No labor union can solve the problems of this nation. The situation has to be reversed. To reverse the situation and achieve progress for this nation, you need to have a strong con-science, and you are going to find this in the teaching of Rev. Moon, nowhere else. I have obtained the secrets from God. Nobody else is going to obtain this license, this patent.
Who is 77 years old or older here? Only one. I have to be careful with him, but I can shout at the rest of you because you are younger than me. I am your older brother. I am the elder brother, and please listen without becoming angry.
Whoever doesn’t wish to proclaim the liberation of conscience, raise your hands. You have nothing to say. Amen.
Those who live centering on con-science and the love of God now have a chance to liberate the world. Those who have always lived for the internal values taught by any religion will be liberated.
Do you like me? Unless we establish cl basis that will launch us to the cosmos and God, how will people’s expectation be fulfilled? Do you acknowledge that what I say is true? I have suffered so much more than you. I have worried so much about this. I have had the chance to know the spiritual world.
ASK ME TO HELP YOUR NATION
Now you know what I suffered and you know what people have tried to do to me. Isn’t it time to ask me to help your nation? Don’t you want to open your nation for me? There is nobody in your nation who doesn’t wish to listen to deeper things. Consider deeply what I am saying out of love for your nation. If you welcome this concept, please applaud. (Applause.)
Raise your hands, those who would be satisfied to invite me to visit your home and share this with you. If you invite me to your homes, will you take the best room and let me sleep in the car? Do you want me to sleep in the bathroom? Even if I don’t sleep, please leave a good room for me. You are committed to this?
Think about this: please gather people from each academic field and people from all aspects of society and invite me to come and share my ideas with you. If you welcome me with _such a reception, I will come to visit you. I know you can do it.
I know many artists, professors and notable people around the world besides yourselves. If I wish to hold these meetings in your countries I could do it anyway with my contacts and with my methods. But you are my guests: we have shared this time together. We have become familiar, we have become friends, and it is you who will honor me through this invitation.
Those of you who would like to have a drink and enjoy the wine, go ahead and do it. Please don’t complain that I won’t drink in your homes. I will fill your glass with mine. I will try to make you sleep very well at night. If we work in that way, nobody can have a bad result.
Let’s state a declaration of conscience. As you have heard, human beings fell from the perfection level of the growth stage. The human conscience never surpassed that level; it never entered God’s ideal. The shortest way to make contact with God is for our conscience to have an unchangeable attitude toward Him.
MAKE YOUR CONSCIENCE YOUR MASTER
Whose conscience is this? It belongs to God. It is not mine. To make it really belong to God, we have to live as God lives. You should know that our conscience is closer to ourselves than our own parents. It comes before our parents.
There are many things that our parents can decide for us or tell us, but our conscience is very clear. Our conscience is our master of masters. Perhaps nobody detected the fact that our conscience is like our master of masters because no teacher, no master in this world can teach us what our conscience can teach us. The conscience belongs to God.
Therefore, if God put His conscience into us, let’s act as God should act. Our conscience is the owner of all owners, the lord of lords. Our conscience operates faster than any power in our nation; it is more correct than any law or authority. If I wish that conscience to be mine, then I have to behave as God intends me to behave.
People have not known the ideology of the three subjects, which states that we need parents, teachers, and authorities-not lords. For us, God fulfills all those conditions because God is the father of fathers, the teacher of teachers, and the king of kings. With that content, we can cause that revolution of conscience.
All of us have disregarded and even rejected the precious gift that God has given us through our conscience. We didn’t know that to betray our conscience was to deny our parents, teachers, and leaders. If we can follow absolutely and fully the direction of our conscience, this is the more direct path to heaven.
Furthermore, as this gentleman said, our conscience provides a clear orientation for us to follow. We don’t need to ask our parents or teachers or any leader where we are supposed to go. Our conscience knows; therefore, it is more precious. The day we obey our conscience and consider it more precious than our parents, our teachers and our leaders, then we will be able to act properly and become the king of kings and god of gods-each one of us. Amen. Mansei.
Let’s liberate our conscience and bring about this revolution of conscience. Let’s liberate Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil, and the whole of Latin America. Amen.
I want to leave by saying that if I don’t live long enough to visit your homes and your nations, don’t close your doors to the people of the Unification Church, because they will be the doors for your freedom and for the relief of your nations. Thank you, and may God bless you.