The Words of Sun Myung Moon from 1983

The Essence of Religious Life

Sun Myung Moon
May 13, 1983
Unofficial Translation

Excerpt from Japanese language God's Will and the World - Three Spiritual Children as a Foundation for a Family

One thing I am most concerned about you today is that your commitment to a religious life may fade. This is very fearful. You have a tendency to fade away from religious life when your life is inundated with having to deal with ever increasing loads of practical matters. I worry very much about that. Properly speaking, when you are meeting with me like today, it should follow the proper order -- it should begin with prayer and singing holy songs. But, under a different circumstance, we started without them.

So when you conduct a conference, you should not just start (without preparing the spiritual environment first). You need always to follow the proper liturgical order of our church. Do you follow? If you focus only on external activities, your religious thought and attitude will fades away. If your commitment to religious life declines, then you will be completely disconnected from the assistance of the spirit world, and eventually, you will have no relationship with the spirit world. It is essential for you to seek spiritual assistance whenever you gather together. This is the Principle of Creation. The relationship between the spirit world and the physical world is like the relationship between parents and children. You must know this clearly.

This is true of me, also. Living such a hectic life like mine, I always go to a quiet place in order to maintain my religious life. In this way, it is necessary to train yourself to return to the course of the original mind at some time during a 24-hour day. For example, when I am fishing, if I catch a big fish, I immediately offer it first to God as a Heavenly sacrifice, saying to the fish, "You are great fish. You must be the first fish to be caught by Rev. Moon in the history of all fishes." I think in such a way and conduct a special ceremony for it.

Another instance, when I caught a boar in the mountain, I conducted such a condition. This is the essence of the religious life. We are fighting against Satan now. If you are in a fighting environment in the frontline, you must maintain your religious life by checking always the original motivation in your heart. This exercise is always necessary. You must think how to return to your original mind every single day, as this is what I do, constantly. Without making such efforts, you may develop bad habits (that underestimate and fade from religious life). This is a grave mistake. You must find a time to pray by yourself and maintain your religious life, correcting your motivation back to your original mind. 

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