Hyun Jin Moon

 

The New Paradigm of Leadership for the Settlement Age

 

March 27, 2001                                      Quebec, Canada
Unofficial Notes

 

We start by doing our cheers, first our workshop cheer, then group by group.

This (the cheers) has really become good. It seems as if everybody is coming together as a team. Since everyone is coming together as a team there is great hope for what we can accomplish in the future. You have been engaged very diligently in this workshop until now, and although the workshop is coming to an end I want you to keep your spirit until the end. I don’t know if you remember the first time I talked to you I looked at the lake and I said that this is the time that the blossom of spring should sprout forth from the lake here today. You will have to set the precedent of a new type of leadership coming out of this workshop. Can you do that? Remember the standard by which we gather here today. Although we come from different backgrounds, I created one universal standard for all. You have nothing now, but you have to build something from now on. Just as the snow is white and clear outside, and there is something underneath with all vibrant colors waiting to sprout fourth. So should you be like this, and sprout forth the vibrant colors of our movement. Do you think so or not?

The change that you now have should be eternal and everlasting. Have you made that kind of commitment? What then, I ask you, is the new paradigm of leadership for the Settlement Age? In order for you to be reborn as a leader of our movement, in order to have a new commitment based upon the standard that I outlined, please tell me what the new leadership paradigm is. (Die for revolution!) Die for revolution? (Responsibility, accountability, initiative) These are all part of the puzzle, but what is it that we are really talking about here? As young people you like concrete directions, do you not? Do you think that there is more to concrete directions? We might look at the American democratic model, and we might say that it has good and bad parts, but what is the underlying principle of that democratic state? The manifestations of a democratic state has attributes. But what defines these attributes is the underlying principles by which that state was formed. Do you agree with this?

Let me say something else. The explanation that I’m trying to make is that: for you to make a substantive change, you have to understand the motivations behind that change. America is built not on just what you see today, but a comprehensive worldview and philosophy. Is that not true? Is that not why, although Korea has a democratic model, it is very different from the American democratic model, because behind that is a different culture, worldview? Is that right or wrong?

In other words, what is truly important when we talk about a paradigm is not the manifestation of this paradigm, but the worldview and principles beneath. Are they not the guiding principles by which you then guide that paradigm? What are we? Are we people that believe in heaven or not? In True Parents or not? If we really believe in heaven, we have to recognize that God is working through providence. And we have to recognize parents’ importance in that providence. Are not these two definitions guiding that paradigm that we are trying to set? Yes or no? Why is this workshop different from past workshops?

Up until this point this paradigm was not complete. What was the message that I gave you on the second day? What was Father’s original mission? To establish a true family, because that is what God wanted from the beginning of history. 6000 years of biblical history have been the work to restore one family. God as a parent, as any parent would do, wanted to prepare a foundation before he sent his son. I explained about the Israelites and their failure to receive Jesus. After that failure it took 2000 years to prepare for the Lord of the Second Advent. So when I talk about the history of the Unification Church, it begins with the failure of Christianity to receive Father. But you have to remember that the foundation of Christianity was prepared for 2000 years for the coming of the Lord of the Second Advent.

Do you know what the largest religion in the world right now is in terms of numbers? (Buddhism) No. (Mormonism) No. (Islam) No. It is Christianity. The Catholic Church has something like 1.2 billion members worldwide. You are talking about all of the people in South America and people in Africa. No religion has ever penetrated this much of the human population in all of human history. If you think about the story of Christianity it was a faith developed by the followers of a person who only had 3 years of public ministry. Please think about that. Do you think that Christianity could have risen to this worldwide level without God’s Divine Providence?

How many Koreans are here? Raise your hands please. Asia? Europeans? Westerners? Most of you here are Asians. We come from nations that suffer from the imperialistic powers of Europe. But do you know when Christianity really made its inroads in the world? Historically it was the 400 year period of European expansion throughout the world. Do you think that there is a clear line between "I’m a church leader" and "I’m a business leader or secular leader"? Huh? Is there such a clear demarcation line between religion and politics and economics? Did this European expansion not encompass a whole culture? Many of the European historians and thinkers will tell you this: Christianity missionized the rest of the world not just through a religion, but through a whole culture encompassing economics, capitalism, politics, democracy, and so on. They transferred a system through their expansion. The point I am making is that it was a transfer of culture and a way of life that affected every aspect of the way of life of those nations. What is then the new leadership paradigm? Do you think that it is one-dimensional? That it is just conceptual, theological? Or that it is all encompassing, culturally based and rooted, that represents God’s original culture of heart. Had Adam and Eve not fallen, what type of culture do you think would have expanded from that first family? Do you think that from that original first family only a political or economic transference would have taken place or that everything would have been encompassed in that culture. What do you think?

When you understand the three blessings, the only way that these blessings make sense, practically make sense, is if that culture resonates through all of the different aspects of humanity. This is absolutely right. In other words, from the original first family would have been a true culture of heart that would have been substantially based. Until now you have worked to attend True Parents, but what does it mean, the realm of the Fourth Adam? Rev Hwang says that it means that we pray in our own name, but what is the implication? It may be nice for you to hear this, but why is it that you have the ability to pray in your own name, as a central blessed family. What do we mean by central blessed family? The meaning is that you have engrafted upon the lineage of True Parents, that you stand in God’s direct dominion, as part of God’s direct family. That is why you have been given the blessing of having being able to pray in your own name as a central blessed family. When you receive a blessing there is certain responsibility and expectation that comes with that blessing. What is that expectation? We have three days to get into that. The important thing is that we realize that it is time to build a new culture. When I talk about a new leadership paradigm, I talk about building a new culture.

As leaders of our movement, what position do you stand in? You stand in the Abel position. Up until now many people did not understand the real meaning of Abel. The blessing was not given for Abel, but for Cain. When Cain killed Abel, did not Cain say: "Am I my brother’s keeper?" This phrase is telling, because it shows the crux of what Cain failed in. Siblings are born for siblings. The parental heart is to give the blessing to the one that will take care of all the other siblings. That is the true Abel, that is the heart of a true elder brother. When Cain said that it was indicative of what he did not understand. The younger brother should live for the elder. The most important is the one who has the responsibility. The responsibility of the Messiah is to restore the position of true elder brother, of parents, and of kingship, because these are the positions that were lost in the first family. During the restorational course, you as leaders were infallible, right? Condition for Cain was to unite completely with Abel, right? We always talked about Cain uniting with Abel. But Abel, as a true leader, also has responsibility. So when I talk about the new leadership paradigm, I’m talking about a culture of heart, I’m talking about a true leader, a true Abel. Before we talk about all the substantive changes, we have to understand the concept, the idea of a true leader. So what is a true Abel? Standing in the elder position. In a family, the most important position to educate the family is the elder brother position. Do you think so or not?

Why do you think that God set up this tradition in Korea? Did it come about by chance? Is that position just something you create, or is there a certain expectation to that position? There’s an expectation. As leaders in our movement, you stand in the elder brother position. Therefore, you have to understand the expectation that heaven and True Parents have of you. Koreans like positions, right? I don’t like positions. If you see it from the view of a true Abel, there is nothing good about responsibility, about position. I am also a Korean, but this I cannot stand. If you really see things from the view of Heaven, from Parents, from the true culture of heart, receiving the position of elder brother is the most difficult position to receive. There is a clear expectation because if the elder brother cannot fulfill his responsibility that gets passed down to the younger brothers and sisters. It is the same from an organizational point of view. If you as leaders don’t pass down the traditions, the members will not know True Parents heart and traditions. How have True Parents lived their whole lives? They have lived it for the sake of others. The position of True Parents, how close is that to Heavenly Father, but if you really understand, it is the worst, the most difficult position to be in, you have to sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice. Seen from this point of view, God’s position is the most difficult one to be in. So that is why I asked you, how can we liberate our Heavenly Father? By fulfilling our responsibility. Think about it, if children fulfill their responsibility in a family, parents are the most happy.

What you don’t know is that if we fulfill our responsibility we can liberate Heaven and True Family. As parents you know this very well. When a son is born, how much expectation do parents have of this newly born son? But if this son is not able to fulfill his responsibility, then the parents will be the most sad. Have you seen this before, or are you hearing it for the first time?

What is the role of a leader standing in the position of a true leader? It is the one who inherits the tradition of his parents. When we use the word true, we mean that the word true comes from the fact that it is connected to God. So what is the expectation that heaven and true parents have of such a leader? Do you think that that standard is based upon a leader that only thinks about himself? Or only his own members, and not about Parents? There are some elder brothers like that, no? If the responsibility of Abel is to unite with Cain, then maybe they can just unite based upon a standard that they agree upon, but not necessarily what Parents and Heaven agree with. I’m asking a question. If Abel has to live for Cain, and Cain and Abel agree on a foundation, if God and True Parents don’t like this foundation, is that foundation good or bad?

The authority that Abel has as a true leader is in order to bring the Cain type to the vertical center, to God and True Parents. You have to understand this point very well. Those compacts created upon human will have never lasted. Only those created upon God’s Will can last. The notion of world peace, economic equality, social equality, are these not all good things? Who dislike these? Yet, if you look at communism, was it not a solution to bring about world peace, social equality, and economic equality? What was the missing element? God. Throughout history you will see that men have tried to aspire to these goals. But those who have done it for humanistic reasons have always brought about greater inequality and greater injustice. Those who have done it centered upon God have been able to establish something greater. Providence has to move in accordance with God’s Will. As leaders you cannot be so arrogant as to think that you can dictate how providence should manifest itself. You cannot think: "The mood in the movement is like this so we should move like this etc." This is something you really have to be careful about. You have to understand this very well. God’s providence moves central axis line. Younger member often think as long as I accept True Parents and maintain my blessing, even though I go off and do my own thing, I am still connected to providence. Do you think like this? Maybe even you thought like this before you came.

I’m going to speak to you honestly. I explained that you now have the right to pray in your own name before I left. We have now written our covenant in blood. Why is blood important? Did you choose to be born? (HJN speaks directly to a Japanese brother sitting in the front row.) Did you choose to be a man? Did you choose any of your brothers and sisters? How many brothers and sisters do you have? (I have one younger sister.) Did you choose that one younger sister you have? Did you get married? (Yes.) Did you choose your wife? Do you have children? (Yes, two.) Did you choose them? (No.) If you haven’t chosen anything, what have you been doing so far in your life? The point is: we don’t choose that much in our life. Don’t be deluded by the arrogant way of the outside world; "I choose this and I choose that". What should the standard or criteria be by which we decide whether we lead a good life versus a bad life? I’m asking you, what is the standard? I already gave the answer away. There is a certain expectation that God has of you and your life, and your spouse, your children, your parents also have expectations of you. Do these expectations originate from you or from those around you? So what do you choose? The question should be: what can I do to fulfill the expectations for my life as a true husband, Father, brother, son. The answer can only come from God, in accordance with God’s original ideal. So what is a truly good man? What is a truly good woman? It is he or she who fulfills the expectation of God. By substantiating a true sonship or daughtership, true husband or wife, true father or mother. Qualifying true I mean in accordance with God’s expectation. Do you think this expectation can only be fulfilled by Koreans or by Japanese or is it for all of humanity? For poor or rich? Is it only for powerful men? Irregardless of your circumstances this is for everyone. It is an expectation for all men and women, irregardless of race, power, education and all the other different definitions and demarcation lines that we make to differentiate men. How do you think heaven views this? Do you think that God will value the man or woman with the most knowledge in the world, or the man or woman who has fulfilled the expectation in accordance with God’s will? How about the one with more power versus the one who fulfills the expectation? And so on… The answer will always be the one who fulfills God’s expectation.

If that is the case, if that is the universal truth, what kind of a question should we ask to become a good man? I always ask difficult questions, don’t I? Do we have to know our responsibility or not? Should we be accountable for this responsibility or not? Your conscience should hold you accountable. You need to know this well. The point I’m making is that we do not choose who or what we are, or even what our responsibility is, but we should do our best to rise to the occasion and do our best. For we will be held accountable by history. So having responsibility is not a good thing. You have to understand this clearly. Why am I talking about this? I am building a new paradigm of leadership. It is not just a political change of leadership or an economic reallocation of resources, it is all of the above. It is a change of culture. The culture of leadership in our movement. That is why you will all need to sign a pledge. For those of you who want concrete, the pledge will be concrete. But before you understand the substantial paradigm, you have to understand the concept and the viewpoint behind it. That means as leaders of our movement you have to take upon a new covenant individually, personally. That you will faithfully execute and represent the tradition set by God and true family in whatever mission or responsibility that you may have. Based upon whose tradition? Yours? Your own standard? Or that of your friends? Or the standard of God, True Parents and True Family?

If you take this seriously and recognize your responsibility in this era, you cannot turn you back on this. It would be like spitting on your own blood. Who here wants to cut off their hand? Raise your hand. I’ll cut it off for you. How about your ear, nose? The second generation needs to understand this clearly. If the second generation do not fulfill their responsibility, it is the same as this. That is why when the second generation thinks like this they really are far away from True Parents. When I hear this kind of talk, I think about all of the sacrifices that I’ve made in order to stand in this position. I’m a Moon, so when I get angry I really get angry and I could even take on all 300 in this room. Why am I saying this? Do you like hearing what I’m saying? Young members have to know this well; you cannot just live according to your own desire. When you receive the blessing you become my family. By just turning your back and walking your own way you become the worst enemy of my family. In the orient, the worst person is the one who betrays his family or his country. Why are they considered the worst people? It is like cutting of your essence, your own being. Blood relationships are absolute and eternal. It is like cutting off a part of you. You have to know what responsibility means.

Heaven must be the center, so we have to be connected to the True Family; otherwise what we do has nothing to do with God. So when I study the history of Christianity, I come to ponder on how it is possible that Jesus’ three years of ministry created such a church? It is because it was aligned with the will of God. What is our true faith, what do we really believe in? What is the substantial element of our faith? Do we want to keep the Unification Church as a denomination and separate religion forever, or is it something else? What was the meaning of the Old Testament? The Mosaic Law was set up for Jesus so that he could substantiate the true love, true life and true lineage. Why did the Jews kill Jesus? Do you think that the Israelites were used to what Jesus was saying? Jesus said: "I am not here to go against the Mosaic Law, I am the fulfillment of that law." Jesus answered this in response to the Jews who questioned him. The reason they even asked this is that they thought that Jesus was saying something different.

So too did Christianity, when Father came, ask: "Why are you teaching something different from our theology?" It is because what Father was teaching was the fulfillment of Jesus’ mission. But every step of the way the thing that blocked them was the very faith they had in the old law, and they could not realize that Jesus was the fulfillment of that law, just as the Christians could not realize this about Father. They were too tied to the institutions of Judaism, of Christianity, to realize that God was using these for the Messiah. Is the Unification Church something that needs to last forever, or is it a tool to further God’s providence? The Unification Church was created because the foundation was lost, it was created in order to restore 6000 of history. Do you think that Father’s original mission was to create Unification Church? That God intended for Father to loose the prepared foundation of Christianity? That is why the history of our movement has been restoration through indemnity. Do you think that that was God’s original intention? The incredible thing about our True Parents is that even though the foundation was lost, they were able to overcome death and come as far as they have. Our second generation: the original mission of True Parents was to do what we are now going to do, to establish the Kingdom of God on earth. The settlement age was delayed for 40 years. Principle was the restoration formula. Think about it, had this foundation not been lost, then those born in the 1960s would have been the Christian second generation. Instead Satan used this idealistic generation to legitimize free sex, drug use, homosexuality, etc. They were the Christian second generation born after 1945. Is that not the case? Where did all of these things come from? The democratic Christian nations. This generation should have been God’s generation.

What are the major problems of the world today? Many people are saying: "I wish that the cold war era would come back because it was more predictable." What is the source of all these world problems? Where were the seeds sown? You have to think about that. How many of you come from CIS and newly democratic nations? You should know that the problems that we see now were sown from that generation. And the new democratic nations have the same potential as those Christian nations had after World War II. But instead in the United States, we hear of things that were totally unheard of just a few years ago, of kids going to school and killing their classmates. Totally unheard of!

Why did I call all of you to gather here for a new revival workshop? Why am I trying to educate you on a new paradigm of leadership for the settlement age? We have to be the new second generation. The second generation Christians could not fulfill this mission, of bringing in the true Settlement Age. That means we have to bring in the culture of the Settlement Age. Let me tell you the historic significance of the age we live in. We’ve entered right now the seventh millennium from a providential viewpoint. We’ve entered the third millennium after Christ; we’ve entered the 21st Century. Three is the number of perfection, seven the number of completion. 21 means seven threes. This age numerically suggests a new era, the fulfillment of God’s providence. Especially the work that I’m initiating right now, I don’t see it as a distinct or separate mission, but a continuation of the work of God and my parents. That’s why last year I prepared the groundwork for which you can receive this message today.

What was the theme of my tour lasts year? "Inheritance and Development". Settlement age is where the family is the central model. Therefore the historical differences and difficulties between the generations should be resolved. I opened up the idea that the first generation, that you too can come to the land of Canaan. Why did I do that tour? If I did not prepare that tour, you would not be able to receive this message today. This message signifies the role and responsibility of the second generation today. Whatever standpoint you want me to explain it from I can do that. But more than the explanation, you yourself have to become the owner: An owner of God’s providence, as a blessed family. I want you to realize that today, since I’m only going to be here for three more days.

We also need a pledge to fulfill our responsibility. Are we going to win or are we going to lose? Originally I wanted to make this workshop much more difficult. What would have happened if I had been here the whole time? Probably I would have made the workshop much harder. Maybe half the people here would be in crutches, and maybe half of the sisters would even have passed away, if I stayed here for the full 21 days. You’d probably ask me to leave.

Originally I was thinking about taking all of you to Alaska for training there. In Alaska there are no roads, no lights, no food. In fact, you are the food. A bear might just eat you! The fact that you can be dead makes it so much fun. Do you want to do it? What’s more important to me is not physical stamina but rather internal strength. I don’t know if you know about the story of a workshop I had for some 20-year old Blessed Children in Alaska. Because they’re just 20 years old, think how fit they are! Jin Man Kwak, Young Jun Kim and I were the chaperones. So, I created a very very difficult schedule. Of course they had a very very difficult time. You had some special challenge days here too, right? One of the things they had to do for a special project was the following. I broke them up into teams of four and I gave them one bottle of water and three sandwiches. I gave them all fishing poles and one rifle, a map and a compass. And I told them that there’s a stream maybe three miles past that mountain, a salmon stream. I said: "I want you each to catch two fish. And I want you to bring them back. Catch two fish and come back before nine o’clock."

Actually, this was a workshop where the Korean team did really well. Why do I say they did very well? Because they got lost! There were a total of five teams. One Korean team, one Japanese team and three American teams. This is why this time at this workshop I mixed the teams. Because I realized once again how the unique characters that each nationality have matter for the teams.

Anyway, the American team went over the first mountain, and realized that there was no trail. So after the first mountain, they decided to come back. So, one of the American teams came back. I was watching them with binoculars. I saw another team coming back on the ridge, and I was wondering which team it would be. When they came back I realized it was the Japanese team. Finally, the only ones that weren’t back was the Korean team. The American team wanted to raid the fridge and eat before all the teams were back. And I said no. You do Hoon Dok Hae until they come back. And they did Hoon Dok Hae until three o’clock in the morning, but the Korean team still had not returned. So now I was getting a bit worried. I took a flashlight and a gun and I went to the top of the mountain. And I was yelling: "Yo! Where are you guys?" I even shot my gun a few times in the air. But there was no reply.

Luckily we were on an island. I purposely chose an island so there’s no possibility that they would be really lost. There was nowhere to be except on the island. So I decided to come back and take a boat and go in a circle around the whole island in order to find them, since we thought that they might be camping on the beach. We went around the island first light the next day. But we didn’t find anybody. I was like "Oh, oh." So we eventually had to call the coast guard. Eventually we found them. The coast guard found them and picked them up by helicopter. They were all the way on the far tip of the island. So when they came back, I asked them: "Where did you go? The river was right in the middle of the Island, how comes you guys went so far?" They told me that when they came to the river, they fished, but they didn’t catch any, so they went further to find another river, because of the direction to bring back two fish. But then when they reached the end of the island they became so tired with only three sandwiches and one bottle of water that they couldn’t continue and just slept. Then I asked why didn’t you come back the next day? They said they had tried, but were too tired, so they just couldn’t move. That was when the coastguard found them.

The reason why I tell this story is: I don’t care if you fall flat on your face but I want you to get up and keep going. That ‘s the kind of conviction that I want to see. With that kind of dedication nothing is impossible.

Strangely enough, the captain of that team ended up becoming my nephew in law. He married Shin Mi.

Let’s do three cheers of Mansei.