How Jesus Led me to Rev. Moon

I don’t know why I had this tendency, but ever since I can remember, I have had some feeling of being interested in religion and making a peaceful world. I also had some very deep experiences of an inexplicable love coming to me as a child, especially when running around out in nature, the woods and the back yard – it was so strong I almost found it overwhelming at times. I think it made me extremely energetic. I could not stop running from place to place exploring everything I could get my hands on. As a child I used to read the Bible to animals and other such silly things.

Those of us who went to college in the late 60’s and early 70’s remember all the peace movements.  I took these very seriously and I went to one huge rally in Washington, D.C. in 1971. I had (at first) a wonderful experience carrying a candle during a peace vigil where the demonstrators walked across the bridge from Arlington Cemetery into DC. We were surrounded by “marshals” who had organized the vigil and were very eager to keep the march orderly and peaceful. As the day went on I became more and more curious to find out who were the organizers behind this wonderful peace march. As I went from group to group, I met the Yippies, who were one of the main organizers. They were meeting and boasting about their ties to Moscow. I thought that was really cool at the time. However it bothered me that they called all the policemen “pigs.” Later that night 2 of my friends went to the Yippie-led part of the demonstrations at Dupont Circle, where they were shouting “pigs” and throwing rocks until finally they got tear-gassed. To them this was proof of the evils of our government. To me it made me question thoroughly the validity of the entire “peace” movement all in one day.

After attending these peace marches I came home to my college dormitory and thought deeply about it. I came to the conclusion that there can be no world peace without God. Human beings are not capable of peace by themselves. We are too much at war even deep within ourselves. I wanted to make a relationship with God and find an inner solution, and so I decided to take a year off from college in the middle of my sophomore year and plunged into a search into all kinds of religions.

As a culmination of all my searching, I had an amazing life-changing experience with Jesus. Amazingly enough, my mom had been searching for a church where the minister could speak about their own real experience of God in a convincing way. The minister whose church I had attended (First Congregational) admitted to my mom that he was an agnostic when she questioned him. Finally she found a wonderful Presbyterian minister.

I was deeply moved by his capacity to come back again and again with, “God loves you, Christine! Jesus loves you!” even when I rejected him bitterly many times. At this time, my dad had his first heart attack and Rev. MacFarlane had the whole church pray for his recovery. The doctors said my dad’s recovery that time really was miraculous.

Then one night I had an amazing experience where Jesus came to me in a dream. I was standing before him under a big tree, as he turned the pages of the “book of life.” He was speaking to God about me. I was filled with fear until he turned to me and handed me his staff.  He told me I had a mission to fulfill, though he did not tell me what it was. I woke up at 3am and furiously wrote down everything that had happened in that dream. It was so real it was truly a life changing experience for me. From that day I began more and more to feel a calling to give my life to God.

I found hope and I found the capacity to forgive. That was the essence for me. I thought that if Jesus could forgive and love his enemies on the cross as they killed him, there must be something I can learn from him. I wanted to develop that same capacity. I saw that as absolutely the only hope for me, for the world, for anybody to pass from hell to heaven, from inner turmoil to inner peace. That was the key. Here was the true man I could believe in. Through this wonderful minister I experienced incredible love from God. I repented a lot and decided to change many things in my life. I also decided I had to give something back to God and to Jesus, but I did not know what yet.

The following year I went back to college and finished the last 2 1/2 years at Wesleyan University. At graduation I had a crazy plan to go to India. I wanted to study music there and see Asia. I had come to the conclusion that western civilization had reached its limitation and could go no farther on its own. I also felt that America had become a great spiritual desert. I was spiritually famished.

I said good bye first to my mother and then to my dad. My mom cried and my dad got mad, saying I would go to India only “over his dead body.” I went to NY City to get my visa, on the bus, carrying my sitar (stringed musical instrument of India I was learning to play) and a suitcase of my best clothes and other musical instruments. I did not know why but I had a profound feeling that I would meet someone important that day. I went to the Indian Consulate, and as soon as I had the visa stamped I looked around the room and began to think further about my plan. There were Hari Krishna’s everywhere. Suddenly I felt very uncomfortable. I had a belief at that time that in the eyes of the old people one could see the wisdom and contents of a culture…There was an old man sitting there but when I looked into his eyes he looked completely spaced out, a vacant expression. For the first time I doubted my own plans!

I decided I had better go take a walk and think some more about this. I headed down 64^th street toward Central Park. Just at that moment a very short Japanese lady, named Tomiko, came up to me on 5^th Ave. She was very confident and friendly. I thought she was very brave to come up and talk to me, a stranger, in the middle of NYC when she was having difficulty even to speak English very well. I concluded that she must have something very important to say.

From the first few minutes that I met her, she asked me:

“Are you searching for truth?” I said yes!

“Do you think the religions of the world should be united?” I said yes!

“You know there is an Old Testament, New Testament – do you think we need a Completed Testament for this age we are living in?” YES!

She invited me to take a walk up 5^th Ave, towards the building where the Unification Church was located at that time. I walked into the building on 71^st Street and felt like I had entered the United Nations. There was every nationality and language there before me – German, French, English, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Belgian, Mexican, and so on. They all looked so harmonious and were very excited and animated in their discussions. I felt such a peaceful atmosphere and a sense of being in the right place at the right time. I thought right away, “Who is the leader who could bring people together like this?” I turned around as I looked about the room and there was a picture of Rev. Moon.  

Who is this man? I asked myself… His face looked so peaceful. Then, Tomiko asked me if I believed in God and began to speak about God’s hopes for humanity. She said that something so tragic had taken place for God and tears involuntarily came down her cheeks– I was really surprised. I had never met anyone as sincere as she was. When she asked me to hear a lecture I said no at first. I was sick and tired of lectures. I had just graduated from college. But I could not say no after a while because she was so sweet and I didn’t want to hurt her feelings.

The first thing I heard that day was called “God’s Ideal of Creation.”  It struck me then that I must not only know who is God – but what is God’s will and desire? If we love God, then we would naturally want to become closer to God, as God’s sons and daughters, who know God’s hopes, God’s will and what God feels and plans for us to do in this life.

During this lecture I had a “This is it” experience. There was a popular book out at that time, called This is It, by Alan Watts… I thought of that book as I had a kind of spiritual experience…

The lecturer drew a diagram on the board of the “4-position foundation” – the ideal family with God at the center as the basis for harmony in the family, and a society, nation and world of peace, and this is when I heard as a shout in my mind, “This is it! This is what you have always been searching for – and not only you, but all of your ancestors have always been searching for!” I began to feel a great flood of tears coming up, but I did not want to cry in front of them yet.

She finished the lecture and I was just quiet. It struck me with such a peace inside. I thought, “This is not an ordinary truth. This is not the postulation of a theory, nor the defense of a position or the argument of someone’s opinion, or just some information about life and the world. This is really a message, some words from God.” That is what I felt. It was a truth about life, rooted in the heart of God – not just an intellectual exercise. I just cried with joy; I had found a spiritual oasis in the desert. Tomiko asked me, “What do you think?!” I could only say, “Well this is true! I would like to study more.”

That was all for that day. But within 2-3 hours I was actually on a bus to Washington DC! I was invited to join my new friends to go to see the Christmas tree lighting ceremony where the President was going to light the big Christmas tree! That is another story I will save for another day.

The Injustices of Religious Conflict and the Way to Peace

Perhaps one of the most disturbing issues of these times is the violence we find in conflicts between religions. Acts of terrorism; terrible injustices done in the name of God... What could be a worse irony than the use of religion for hatred and division?

Below is an excerpt of a wonderful autobiographical memoir of Rev. Sun Myung Moon, As  A Peace Loving Global Citizen. In this first chapter, he shares his poignant reflections on our universal longing for peace - which many of us feel even from childhood.  He goes on to comment as a religious leader, and a global citizen, about the need for genuine inter-religious, inter-racial, international work for peace and reconciliation.

What I Learned about Peace While Being Carried on My Father’s Back

I have lived my life with just one thought. I wanted to bring about a world of peace, a world where there are no wars and where all humankind lives in love. Perhaps some may say, “How is it possible that you were thinking about peace even when you were a child?” Is it so astonishing that a child would dream of a peaceful world?

In 1920, when I was born, Korea was under forced occupation by Japan. Even after liberation, there came the Korean War, the Asian financial crisis, and other numerous difficult crises. For many years, the land of Korea has not been closely associated with peace. But these times of suffering and confusion were not matters related only to Korea. The two world wars, the Vietnam War, and the wars in the Middle East show that people in the world continuously treat each other with enmity, point guns at each other, and bomb each another. Perhaps for people who experience these horrors of bloodied bodies and broken bones, peace has been something that could be imagined only in a dream. Peace, though, is not so difficult to accomplish. To begin with, we can find peace in the air we breathe, in the natural environment, and in the people around us.

As a child, I thought of the meadows as my home. As soon as I could wolf down my bowl of rice for breakfast, I would run out of the house and spend the entire day in the hills and streams. I could spend the day wandering about the forest with all the different birds and animals, eating herbs and wild berries, and I would never feel hungry. Even as a child, I knew that my mind and body were at ease anytime I went into the forest.

I would often fall asleep in the hills after playing there. My father would be forced to come find me. When I heard my father shouting in the distance, “Yong Myung! Yong Myung!” I couldn’t help but smile, even as I slept. My name as a child was Yong Myung. The sound of his voice would awaken me, but I would pretend to still be asleep. He would hoist me onto his back and carry me home. That feeling I had as he carried me down the hill—feeling completely secure and able to let my heart be completely at ease—that was peace. That is how I learned about peace, while being carried on my father’s back.

The reason I loved the forest was also because all the peace in the world dwells there. Life forms in the forest do not fight each other. Of course, they eat one another and are eaten, but that is because they are hungry and need to sustain themselves. They do not fight out of enmity. Birds do not hate other birds. Animals do not hate other animals. Trees do not hate other trees. There needs to be an absence of enmity for peace to come. Human beings are the only ones who hate other members of the same species. People hate other people because their country is different, their religion is different, and their way of thinking is different.

I have been to almost two hundred countries. There were not many countries where I would land at the airport and think to myself, “This really is a peaceful and contented place.” There were many places where, because of civil war, soldiers held their weapons high, guarding the airports and blocking the streets. The sound of gunfire could be heard day and night. Several times, I came close to losing my life in places where I went to talk about peace. In today’s world, there is an endless series of conflicts and confrontations, large and small. Tens of millions suffer from hunger, with nothing to eat. Yet, trillions of dollars are spent on weapons. The money spent on guns and bombs alone would give us enough to end hunger for everyone.

I have dedicated my life to building bridges of peace between countries that hate each other as enemies because of ideology and religion. I created forums where Islam, Christianity, and Judaism could come together. I worked to reconcile the views of the United States and the Soviet Union when they were at odds with each other over Iraq. I have helped in the process of bringing reconciliation between North and South Korea. I did not do these things for money or fame. From the time I was old enough to know what was going on in the world, there has been only one objective for my life: that is for the world to live in peace, as one. I never wanted anything else. It has not been easy to live day and night for the purpose of peace, but that is the work that makes me most happy.

During the Cold War, we experienced the pain of having our world divided in two because of ideology. It seemed then that if only communism would disappear, peace would come. Yet, now that the Cold War is past, we find even more conflicts. We are now fractured by race and religion. Many countries facing each other across their borders are at odds. As if that were not enough, we have situations within countries where people are divided by race, religion, or the regions where they were born. People think of each other as enemies across these lines of division and refuse to open their hearts to one another.

When we look at human history, we see that the most brutal and cruel wars were not those fought between nations but those between races. Among these, the worst were wars between races where religion was used as a pretext. In the Bosnian civil war, said to be one of the worst ethnic conflicts of the twentieth century, thousands, including many children, were brutally massacred. I am sure you remember the terrorist incident of September 11, 2001, when thousands of innocent lives were lost as the World Trade Center buildings in New York were completely destroyed after passenger planes were crashed into them. Recently, too, in the Gaza Strip in Palestine as well as in southern Israel, hundreds have lost their lives as a result of that intense conflict. Homes have been destroyed, and people are living on the brink of death. All this is the grim result of conflicts between ethnic groups and between religions.

What makes people hate and kill each other like this? Of course there are many reasons, but religious differences are almost always connected. This was true with the Gulf War, which was fought over oil. It is true with the Arab–Israeli conflict over control of Jerusalem. When racism uses religion as a pretext, the problem becomes extremely complex. The evil ghosts of the religious wars that we thought had ended in the Middle Ages continue to haunt us in the twenty-first century.

Religious wars continue to occur because many politicians use the enmity between religions to satisfy their selfish designs. In the face of political power, religions often waver and lose their way. They lose sight of their original purpose, which is to exist for the sake of peace. All religions have a responsibility to advance the cause of world peace. Yet, lamentably, we see that religions instead become the cause of conflict. Behind this evil we find the machinations of politics, with its power and money. The responsibility of a leader, above all else, is to keep the peace. Yet leaders often seem to do the opposite and lead the world into confrontation and violence.

Leaders use the language of religion and nationalism to hide their selfish ambitions. Unless their hearts are set right, countries and nationalities will wander in confusion. Religion and love of one’s nation are not evil in their essence. They are valuable if these impulses are used to contribute to building a global human community. When the claim is made that only a particular religion or ethnic group is right and when other religions and ethnic groups are treated with disdain and attacked, religion and love of nation lose their value. When a religion goes so far as to trample on others and treat other religions as worthless, it no longer embodies goodness. The same is true when love of nation is used to emphasize the righteousness of a person’s own country over others.

The truth of the universe is that we must acknowledge each other and help each other. Even the smallest animals know this. Cats and dogs do not get along, but if you raise them in the same household, they embrace each other’s offspring and are friendly toward each other. We see the same thing in plants. The vine that winds its way up a tree depends on the trunk to support it. The tree, however, does not say, “Hey, what do you think you’re doing, winding your way up my trunk?” The principle of the universe is for everyone to live together, for the sake of one another. Anyone who deviates from this principle faces certain ruin. If nationalities and religions continue maliciously to attack each other, humanity has no future. There will be an endless cycle of terror and warfare until one day we become extinct. But we are not without hope. Clearly there is hope.

I have lived my life without ever letting go of that hope and always kept alive the dream of peace. What I want is to wipe away completely the walls and fences that divide the world in myriad ways and to create a world of unity. I want to tear down the walls between religions and between races and fill in the gap between the rich and the poor. Once that is done, we can reestablish the world of peace that God created in the beginning. I am talking about a world where no one goes hungry and no one sheds tears. To heal a world where there is no hope, and which is lacking in love, we need to go back to the pure hearts that we had as children. To shed our desire to possess ever-increasing amounts of material wealth and restore our beautiful essence as human beings, we need to go back to the principles of peace and the breath of love that we learned as we were being carried on our fathers’ backs.