Hyo Jin Moon

 

Salvation & Growth through Experience

 

Tarrytown, New York

August 27, 2006

Edited Transcript by Joe Kinney

 

Good Morning!

They're a lot of young people here. (Members of a 2nd generation workshop being held at Camp Sunrise were in attendance.)

Salvation is a concept of the Divine.  That's where we can understand salvation; that's where it comes from.  It's not mankind's concept unless you are in connection with God.

So its not mankind's concept alone, so if you think and look around the world and see that things need saving, the answer will lie not in your own heart, but when you are connected to God ultimately you will find the answer.

How do we learn? You are forced to go to school and you learn something, I guess even when you're forced. (Laughter) Some kids do like studying and reading, but most kids, especially boys like to be active and they don't come around to see the importance of studying until its too little too late. Most likely when they're a little older than you gals (Referring to some 2nd generation sisters.)

In America it's kind of unique that you do kind of encourage your children to be independent and to be equal, to some degree to the point of fault. They're a lot of Tom-boys out there, even the girls you know. You have to be competitive and you're kind of encouraged to do so, even on a social level.

That's kind of an American phenomena and it does get spread around the world because of the influence America has through pop culture. Because pop culture is powerful you see it every where. Nowadays you can't stop it because all the kids have to have a computer just to do their homework; and they're connected to the world-wide web.

So it's very difficult to take care of that situation, in other words to monitor constantly. You can't. It's impossible. Who knows what kind of what kind of information your kids are soaking up while you are not vigilant?  We learn things through experience. Experience is very important. For instance, when I was growing up all I can remember is a kind of persecution and just fighting, fighting, fighting. Someone would try to steal something or put you down because of who you are or literally threaten your life.

Every phase of my (early) life that's all I can remember just fighting, fighting, fighting, fighting; One conflict after another. For me, you know, living well, it doesn't matter. Life is short.  Life is very short. You come to realize how short life is when you have to constantly fight all the time whether you like it or not. Nobody likes to fight but you are forced to by being in that circumstance because of your uniqueness. I certainly didn't choose to elect myself and give myself this position or this circumstance.

So you are kind of a product of your experience. So in a certain way of thinking having to deal with that kind of stuff, it ended a long time ago, but I do kind of have a kind of morbid way of looking at things. I do talk about dying a lot because it's important to me. Your life is short. You never know when you turn the corner what kind of other struggle is waiting for your sorry butt. (Laughter).

The end is coming, one way or the other, it will always be there for me. It will never change. Some things will never change for you and for me. It might be different in your case. I don't know, because I don't know you that well. Everybody has some kind of experience that molds them into something.

There is a kind of cycle (stages of life); a ten year cycle, twenty year cycle, thirty year cycle, forty year cycle. For members the forty year cycle is mid-life crisis. What the heck am I doing? Who am I? Where am I? (Laughing.)  The thirty year cycle normally happens in the family setting (on the family level) in the conjugal or married situation. For example for a woman starts to think that her biological clock is ticking.

At twenty your cycle peaks in terms of finding your limits. When you're twenty you challenge yourself in all sorts of areas. You think that you can do anything. That's when you're invincible you're superman and you go out for the biggest thing possible that you can tackle. But as you get older in the valley of the cycle you start valuing simpler things, right? Simple things matter to you.

The ten year cycle is like an individual growth pattern.  (You go through) the individual, family tribe, society, nation, and world, (levels) because you feel those things. You think about those things. Those things become important to you. There is always this kind of basic pattern for us to measure ourself based on what we learned and what we learned through experience.

So God gave you a certain kind of system or pattern that you can always check and balance yourself. You just have to understand how to adopt yourself to the plan. Always something like that is there because God is loving. Whether you understand that or not it's up to you.

You have to figure that out. You have to experience that. Otherwise it's not going to be yours. You can't be taught something that will last forever. You have to experience it. It has to become part of you. The things that you experience, that literally become part of you, are the things that you are going to die with.

You can experience something just for fun and say that I did that. I'm not talking about that kind of experience. That kind of thing just comes and goes. It's not important because it won't stay. You have to try really hard to recall that experience for it to matter to your life.

But if something became part of you, literally became part of you through experiencing it, that's the stuff that you take on to the final resting place, or final dwelling place or whatever. That's why you look forward to that stuff (spirit world) but I'm not about to strap a bomb on my self and blow myself up (laughing).

I'll pay my dues. I'll pay the price. And when I'm gone, I'm gone. Bye-bye. I won't look back. And hopefully everything is taken care of. My kids will take care of themselves and take care of their children. Hopefully I will get to see my grandchildren.

I sent my wife to attend the wedding of Father's grandchildren. They're getting married. Father is going to be a great-grandfather soon. I don't know it I'm looking for that kind of opportunity. (Laughing) Short and sweet (lifetime) is better for me. (Laughter from Hyo Jin Nim and the audience)

If you want to connect with God, you have to really know how to kind of… because in the end you're in control… be the captain of your own ship. You have to steer it to the kind of experience that you choose to have.

Balance your cycle according to the system that is out there, made by God in order to protect you and give you wisdom and natural guidance. Hear that, look for it, find it and make it yours. That's the way of learning because it is literally yours. That is the creative process. You take a certain concept and apply it and you kind of make it yours. People consider that the creative process. You can literally become a product of your own creativity.

When you experience this it really lasts. You can literally take that home.  This was simple, short, bang!  That's how I like it.

See you next week, okay?