Founder’s Keynote Address at the Opening Ceremony of World Culture and Sports Festival 2003 with the theme Building a World of the Culture of Heart Based on True Love at Yu Gwan-soon gymnasium in Chonan, Korea on July 10, 2003
Respected present and former heads of state, eminent religious leaders, leaders in various fields from countries around the world, young people representing each major religion, ladies and gentlemen:
I sincerely welcome you to the ninth World Culture and Sports Festival, here in the Republic of Korea. The Korean Peninsula is my homeland and also the place where God will bring His providence of restoration (salvation) to its final conclusion.
From when I was a boy, I have had remarkable spiritual experiences that have enabled me to know God and commune with Jesus and other saints. Through these profound spiritual experiences, I have plumbed the depths of God’s will and heart and examined the heavenly way and the original path of human life.
Human life does not end with the death of the physical body on earth. In the heavenly world, that is, the spirit world, the saints and sages and also all of our ancestors live as spirit selves, which is a form of existence that is of a higher order than that of the physical body. Compared with the fundamental world that God created–that is, the infinite and eternal world–this physical world where our physical bodies dwell is a small one.
The spirit world is an eternal world, and it is also the fundamental and essential world that is the subject partner to this present world we experience. I have invested a great deal of heart and dedicated effort to recover principled communion between the earthly world and the spirit world, which was severed by the human fall. This has been a truly difficult task that would not have been possible unless the appropriate conditions had been established on earth and in heaven. Recently, in accordance with God’s will, I am able to work through mediums to send instructional messages to the spirit world, and receive exact responses to those instructions and reports on the actual situation there. What is even more remarkable is that the representatives of the five major religions gathered together there and declared that God is the Parent of humankind, declared that I am the Savior and Messiah of humankind, affirmed that the Unification Principle is a message of peace for human salvation, and affirmed that the peaceful unification of the cosmos will be completed through true love and through lives lived for the sake of others on a level transcending religion, nationality, and race. They further resolved that they would attend the True Parents and harmonize, unite, and devote themselves for the sake of God’s Kingdom and world peace.
These events happened in the spirit world as the new millennium was beginning. God’s will in the providence of restoration has been prolonged through the Old Testament Age, the New Testament Age and the Completed Testament Age, but now I am indemnifying this completely in order to bring it to a final conclusion within this current generation. That is why good spirits in the spirit world centering on the five great saints are testifying to these things and actively cooperating. The spirit world is the fundamental world and in the subject partner position to the physical world, so whatever happens there is sure to have an impact on earth. Many spiritual phenomena have begun to take place, and resolutions containing the same content are being made with increasing frequency. The World Culture and Sports Festival was not initiated on the basis of human thinking alone. The motivation for its inception lies within the will of God, and it is conducted with the full cooperation and support of the spirit world. It is a celebration in which we will offer the champions of love to God.
I ask you to remember that the good ancestors of all participants and the religious leaders in the spirit world are sending you their encouragement from there. One of the important missions of religions is to educate people properly about the spirit world. If people knew with certainty about God and the spirit world, they would fulfill their divine callings and responsibilities with conviction and hope, and become whole.
In the present age, many countries are realizing that the security of their country is not an issue that can be addressed at the level of one country alone. No country is free from international issues such as war, terror, and the threat of nuclear weapons. World leaders agree that harmony and cooperation among religions is necessary for the sake of world peace, and this is even more the case following the events of September 11, 2001. For the past fifty years, I have warned about the dire threat of conflict and war among religions, and finally now people are beginning to understand the seriousness of these.
Reconciliation and cooperation among religions is a prerequisite to world peace. The important events of the World Culture and Sports Festival are intended to foster permanent harmony among religions.
Leaders, particularly religious leaders, must understand the importance of a person’s true love lineage and teach this correctly. God’s will in creating the first man and first woman as the ancestors of humankind was that they would each become perfected in true love and bring about a healthy ideal in their marriage relationship, and establish a family with God at the center. In this way, their descendants were to have multiplied generation after generation as God’s people.
The first human ancestors failed to perfect the first family created through God’s marriage blessing. They fell due to the bonds of Satan’s false love, and were expelled from the garden of Eden. As a result, they established a family that had no relation to God’s true love. Our first ancestors failed to become God’s son and daughter of goodness, a husband and wife of goodness, and parents of goodness. For this reason, humankind had its origin in false parents and false ancestors, and has multiplied evil descendants by passing on a false lineage.
The first human ancestors failed to pass on God’s true love, true life, and true lineage. As humankind is descended from false ancestors, we must, by destiny, endeavor with true love to recover the true family that God desires. True love, true life, and true lineage are all important. But among these, true lineage is particularly precious, because it transcends the life of a single person and connects one generation to another.
You representatives of youth who have gathered transcending nations and religions, you are the most important participants in this festival that seeks the realization of a new world of the true-love culture of heart. You possess some truly precious things. You possess qualities such as youth, fervor, purity, righteous spirit and courage–qualities that are closest to God’s own nature. Because of this, God desires to be with you. You should use your open minds to go beyond the barriers of exclusivity, antipathy, conflict and hatred to put down the roots of religious harmony firmly into the ground.
One thing I have practiced and taught throughout my life is the breaking down of barriers. We must rise above differences of race, religion, and nationality and live together. We are all members of a one world family of brothers and sisters, with God at the center. This must not remain a mere slogan or rhetoric; we must actually live this way. God places His greatest hope in the young university students. We must transcend the consciousness of belonging to a particular race, language, religion, country, or culture.
I would like to pass on to you a truly precious teaching today. People, particularly young people, must understand correctly about the value of the love organs, and treat these preciously. The love organs in their original state are the center and origin of love, life, and lineage. The completed fruit of love, as well as the conception of new life, is possible only by means of the love organs. Without utilizing the love organs, the parents’ lineage cannot be passed down to the next generation. For this reason, the love organs are the most important parts of the human body. Unfortunately in fallen modern society, the love organs are misused in too many instances.
The global trend is that social and cultural environments, manifesting particularly through movies, music, journalism and the Internet, are misleading people into the misuse of their love organs. Young people are easily swept away by the waves of free sex that are ruining countries, and families are breaking apart. This is a tragic reality. It is time that religious leaders and other leaders of conscience raised their voices loudly in support of what is right.
In every instance, the preciousness of the family must be recovered, and a proper standard of ethics for love relationships between men and women must be established. It is here that we find the reason that both the marriage blessing ceremony of true love through True Parents and a movement of young people for pure love must spread throughout the world in a manner that transcends nations and religions. The precious significance of the interreligious and international Blessing Ceremony that will be held on July 13 can also be found here.
I have encouraged people to participate in blessed marriages that transcend nationality, race, culture, and religion. I particularly promote blessed marriages between people of nations that were formerly enemies. I have done so for Koreans and Japanese, white and black Americans, Christians and Moslems, and Israelis and Palestinians. When this undertaking becomes universal, think how much it will shorten the way to a world of peace. By practicing love for our enemies, we can make our leadership apparent, tear down the barriers between our minds and bodies, and bring about God’s world of peace in which sincerity and devotion are offered in love.
Respected world leaders, we have long spoken of the United Nations as the most representative organization for peace. However, as we can see from the UN’s growth from 51 member states to 191, and from its history over the past 58 years, the internal and external environment of this organization has changed enormously. The UN has many accomplishments to show, but it now faces many challenges both from within and without. There are many limitations and problems, including issues concerning special rights in the Security Council, fairness in matters relating to both powerful and weak countries, the imposition of sanctions, and budgetary matters.
In particular, the UN in its activities has ignored the spirituality and importance of religion, thereby bringing on itself a fate similar to that of a body that has no mind. In this multipolar world, the UN has become a body without a head, as it has become unable to deal effectively with the problems facing the world. It has lost its impartiality in analyzing world issues, causing it to favor one side over another. If the UN continues on this path, it will not achieve the purposes for which it was originally founded, and, far from developing further, may face a crisis that will determine whether it can continue or be forced out of existence.
For the past thirty years, I have watched the UN with hope and concern to see whether it would become an organization for true world peace, and over the past four years I have taken every opportunity to call for the renewal of the UN. My plan for the renewal of the UN is the establishment of an interreligious council within its structure, as an organ of superior position. Fortunately, representatives from the Philippines and the United States, with the support of several countries, are going to submit a plan for the renewal of the UN to the 58th General Assembly in September. I am confident that many countries will cooperate so that the United Nations can become an energetic structure centered on God, bringing about true peace.
In the spirit world, the five great saints and other leaders have already resolved that they will cooperate. The delegates to the interreligious council that will be created within the UN will have the opportunity to accomplish the lofty ideals that the founders of their religions attempted to achieve, but to do so they will need character and wisdom that are models of true love. To do this, religion itself must stand firmly on the path of other-centered practice. If religion cannot do this, the interreligious council will have no value. Today’s world needs religious leaders who go beyond denominationalism, the self-interest of their own religious groups and fanaticism, and practice true love.
The events that make up the World Culture and Sports Festival–the International Blessing Ceremony, the Interreligious Peace Sports Festival, IIFWP Assembly 2003, the World CARP Convention, Service for Peace, and so on–are all convening in the interests of world peace. I have, additionally, built worldwide foundations in the areas of education and the arts. These, together with the 2003 Peace Cup football tournament–that will begin on the 15th of this month with well-known clubs from around the world participating–are all activities aimed at building a peaceful world of the culture of heart. I believe that over the next few days, under the watchful eyes of the spirit world and this earthly world, we will make manifest for all to see our vision for peace, our resolution, and our leadership. I am confident that we will inspire the people of the world, and create a common bond of heart that will plant a message of hope.
I pray that God’s blessing will fill you, your families, and the world.