Eternal life – the downside

After humans decided to deviate from the original design major problems arose. The Principle calls this devitation the ‘Fall’.

Due to the Fall no human ever fulfilled his/her potential. People in the movement seem to make an exception for Jesus here, though even he could not accomplish all he came to do, because the people of his time didn’t cooperate.

As a result, heaven is empty. Until recently no human being ever sat foot on it. The highest realm accessible to humans is paradise – kind of a very pleasant middle realm, which has many levels. If you know nothing else you might consider it heaven. But in reality only people who perfected their capacity of love on earth by living for others can enter heaven – as a couple. According to the old man, Jesus has been residing at the top of paradise until recently.

This is in stark contrast to the Christian belief that all those that accepted Jesus Christ in their life on earth will enter heaven, which is a synonym for paradise.

But the movement has more surprised in store. Sang Hun Lee, a scholar, researcher and long time teacher of the movement, who died several years ago, has been speaking extensively through a medium about his observations in the spirit world.

According to him, some people in paradise didn’t believe in Jesus, some even didn’t believe in God. Apparently, living a conscientious life for the sake of others gets us farther than most people think – even into paradise, even if we don’t believe in it.

Most people, according to the old man that includes many Christians, don’t make even paradise. A reason for the fact that even Christians don’t make it is the fact, that on a spiritual level, innermost motivation is of central importance. It is what truly determines the quality of our actions.

There is this story about a man who was very dedicated to the church for the sake of his own salvation, like giving tithing as the Bible suggests in order to secure his seat in heaven - living by the book, so to speak. That man ended up watching paradise from afar unable to enter, like Moses on Mt. Nebo, watching the fruits of his work but not able to harvest himself. I believe it’s just a story, but this kind of thinking is what the old man preaches and what guides the members of the movement.

According to Sang Hun Lee’s observations, most people go to the massive middle realms of the spirit world or even hell. Details are not important here, but the problem is obvious - this kind of environment is not the original design.

A large part of the book is dedicated to apply the principles behind the creation towards the reconstruction of the ideal out of the rubble resulting from the fall. For the moment it is enough to just state that, according to the teaching, God will not rest until all mankind has entered heaven, fulfilling the original ideal.

This teaching really elevates God, mankind and human life itself more than any other teaching or religion has ever done. It has a fundamental, far-reaching implication: There is no eternal hell, no eternal damnation even of the filthiest sinner. In eternity there is only goodness. Everything else is temporary.

This awareness puts the love of the enemy in a completely new context. That enemy will ultimately, without doubt and escapes, be a companion in heaven and evil not even a distant memory. It is hard to think of a more holistic teaching than this.

Anyway, at the moment the situation is much less than ideal. The movement teaches that billions of spirits occupy the middle and lower realms of the spirit world. They ultimately will leave these places and make their way to heaven somehow, but until recently their situation has been pretty miserable with little reason for hope.

Actually, as teaching explains, the only solution is for a savior to appear on earth and open the way to heaven, first on earth and then in the spirit world. That person was Jesus 2000 years ago. He could not succeed, because he was rejected by the people at that time and thus said he will come again sometime, somehow.

The movement believes that Sun Myung Moon is the second coming of Christ. The details are extensive. I focus on the stuff relevant for the spiritual aspects.

People are designed to grow spiritually during their physical lives, while they have a physical body. The fall was a possibility, but it was simply not supposed to happen. So there is no prime way for people to reach perfection in the spiritual world after they didn’t make it on earth.

Still, evil being temporary, they will have to grow now in the spirit world to reach heaven and live there eternally. That can be  accomplished through a mechanism which the teaching calls ‘returning resurrection’. Spirits return to earth in order to cooperate with people living there to support them in their efforts to attend God, live a conscientious live, build a better world. This type of interaction has occurred at all times but according to the teaching it happens in more intense way during important historical time periods. One of these time periods was the time of Jesus, another one is today.

This site has some pages that deal with Cheong Pyeong. Cheong Pyeong ( or Chung Pyung ) is a city in central Korea, close to the border between South and North Korea. But what I mean is an area close to the village Sung Ri at Cheong Pyong Lake, where the movement has been purchasing land for decades. For the last ten years or so they have been constructing ever larger meeting halls, a hospital, a school and other functions. A university is in planning, a palace under construction, a few kilometers away in viewing distance.

Impressive things are going on there. Even if you don’t believe in spirits, you will still find the scope of the project impressive and the number of people who visit the place – not all members of the movement.

The place is considered the gate to heaven, the ‘restored and perfected garden of  Eden’, the gate to the spirit world, like the pearly gates of the new Jerusalem. Jesus, Buddha, Confucius, all major religious figures allegedly have been seen there by people who see the spirit world.

I am not one of those that see spirits. However, I have my own share of internal experiences there. If you check out the pages on Cheong Pyeong, you’ll need to remember what you read here.