The Three Great Blessings: To Be Fruitful
Lesson Objective: Understand that the 1st Blessing means becoming a mature person through mind and body unity and developing a personal and intimate relationship with God.
Divine Principle Reading
God created human beings as the final step in creating the universe. He created them in His image, in the likeness of His internal nature and external form, and gave them sensibility to all feelings and emotions because it was His intention to share joy with them. After their creation, God blessed Adam and Eve:
Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.-Gen. 1:28
The key to God’s first blessing is the perfection of individual character. An individual’s mind and body are discrete projections and object partners of God’s dual characteristics. In order for an individual to perfect his character, he must form a four position foundation within himself whereby his mind and body become one through give and take action with God as their center.
Activity: Being Fruitful/ Mind & Body Unity
1. Explain:
- A tree becomes fruitful when it becomes mature, blossoms and bears fruit.
- For human beings this means becoming a mature person who lives with mind and body unity centered on God.
2. Draw and explain the 4 position foundation: God- Mind- Body- Ideal Person
- When we are able to become mature individuals we become a perfect object for God and bring joy to our Heavenly Parent.
- Becoming a mature person means bringing an end to the inner division within ourselves and finding an inward God-centered harmony and unity.
3. Discuss: Have you ever had a moment where your mind and body were one?
- Sports/ Being in the zone
- Performing/ Zen state of harmony
4. Explain: The key to achieving the first blessing is to have mind and body unity with God at the center.
5. Do a meditation exercise as a means of practicing mind and body unity. Use this excerpt from Cheon Hwa Dang by Hyung Jin Moon. Read it aloud so the youth can participate as a group:
- Sit comfortably with back straight in a chair or on a cushion. Keep hands on knees in a relaxed manner. Relax completely. Be prepared to not move your body (except for the things not in your control) for the entire duration of the training. Don’t let yourself be tempted; notice even subtle things like when you are being tempted to swallow saliva for comfort or when your are craving to scratch an itch. Once you committed the time for formal training stay strong and disciplined in unity. Resist these small temptations and over time, this training will help strengthen the spiritual muscles that help to notice and resist larger and more difficult temptations.
- Breathe deeply and naturally three or four times allowing the abdomen to rise as you inhale and contract as you exhale. While exhaling, empty all the “stale air” out of your body (you will have to gently contract your abdominal and pelvic muscles to expel all the “stale air” out).
- Return to normal breathing and try to stay with the breath. Continue to take note in your mind repeating, “Breathing in—I know I am breathing in. Breathing out—I know that I am breathing out.”
- Now, extend your awareness and notice the texture, the tone and the temperature of the breath. Notice how it flows in the nostrils down the larynx, how the chest and/or abdomen rise and fall, etc. Try to be as perceptive as possible (we are trying to notice with detail what God gives us to experience but what we are usually completely unaware of). We are increasing our awareness of “God’s gifts” to us (this leads naturally to a greater gratitude of the value of God’s Love).
- Notice, that at some point, your concentration will be broken. This is normal at this stage (our unity is weak). Satan will distract you from increasing your awareness and Love for God. Your mind has wandered away, lost on a thought-train. When this happens do not be violent to yourself or your mind. Just let go of feelings of failure and gently guide your awareness back to the breath and to the Life that God is giving you at this moment. Stay fully present.
- If your mind wanders use the technique of “mental noting” by not judging yourself but noticing where your mind has gone. For example if your mind is wandering in thought, label it in a calm and peaceful mental voice, saying, “wandering—wandering—wandering.” If you are becoming anxious, say, “becoming anxious—becoming anxious….”; if your attention is drawn to your knees or legs, gently say, “knees—legs—knees…”; if you are getting frustrated or angry note it saying, “angry mind—frustrated mind, angry mind—frustrated mind” and so forth. You will find that once you mentally note where your awareness is, that distraction will slowly weaken and fade away. Then you can naturally let go of the distraction and gently return to the breath. Breathe deeply and evenly exhaling all the “stale air” out and continue this prayer of mentally noting and returning to the Divine.
6. Discuss:
- What did you learn about your mind and body through this exercise?
- What “thought-trains” came your way?
- What are some other ways of practicing mind/body unity?
Concluding Point: Having mind and body unity can be challenging, however, by centering our mind on God we will be able to grow to become mature people.
Divine Principle Reading
Such individuals become the temples of God,15(I Cor. 3:16) achieve complete oneness with Him,16(John 14:20) and acquire a divine nature. They experience the Heart of God as if it were their own. Hence, they understand His Will and live fully attuned to it. When a person abides in the state of individual perfection, he lives as the substantial object partner to his mind. Because the center of his mind is God, he also lives as the substantial object partner to God. Both the mind and God rejoice as they experience their internal nature and external form through the stimulation which their object partners give them. Accordingly, when people realize God’s first blessing, they become God’s beloved who inspire Him with joy. Sharing all the feelings of God as their own, they would never commit any sinful acts that would cause God grief. This means they would never fall.
Activity: Intimacy with God
1. Explain:
- The 1st Blessing is about creating an intimate relationship with God in which we become one with our Heavenly Parent.
- Once we achieve this oneness we would experience God’s heart as our own and thus naturally treat people the way God would treat them.
2. Explain: There are three parts of Gods heart that the Divine Principle talks about:
- His heart of joy and hope at the time of creation
- His heart of sorrow and grief when he felt humankind, His children whom He could not abandon, rebel against him
- His heart of suffering while striving to save His children throughout the long course of history
- God’s heart of joy and hope at the time of creation
3. Watch this video as a representation of this part of God’s heart: What to Expect When You’re Expecting Adoption: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFpCBpdRKFM
4. Reflect on this Quote: God did not create human beings as the Bible seems to imply, simply by saying “Let there be you!” In reality, God put all His life, love and hope on the line to create human beings. His was an unconditional, total investment…. He invested everything, holding back nothing, because even the tiniest thing would become the flesh and blood of His beloved sons and daughters and therefore would be His own flesh and blood and body.
Cheon Syeong Gyeong, Book 6, Chapter 1, Verse 13 & 14
5. Write in a journal/notebook: What is your reaction to this part of God’s heart?
- God’s heart of sorrow and grief at The Fall
6. Watch this video as a representation of this part of God’s heart: Crash- Shooting Scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxBw8RB1H54
7. Reflect on this quote: “God exists in a state of confinement. He has been living with a painful heart as the Parent who long ago lost His only children, His son and daughter Adam and Eve. He is the God of bitter sorrow. He has been endlessly shedding tears, beating His chest. God, while following after human beings, has experienced countless deaths. He has endured this over and over again, even to this day. There are so many nails driven into His heart that they could cover the whole world. Nowhere in the world can there be found a sorrow as profound as His.”
Cheon Seong Gyeong, Book 1, Chapter 4, Section 1, Verse 10
8. Write in a journal/notebook: What is your reaction to this part of God’s heart?
- God’s heart of suffering and striving throughout history
9. Watch this video as a representation of this part of God’s heart: LOTR- I can’t carry it for you, but I can carry you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKIgv8AhffA
10. Reflect on this quote: “God’s feet are scarred from walking the thorny paths of His children’s struggles throughout history. When individuals sought Him and fell down on the way, God took the blows on their behalf. He chose one people even as other peoples fell away, but when even that people betrayed Him, He allowed Himself to be struck on their behalf in order to continue the fight….The twists and turns in God’s story of relating with human beings are beyond description. He is out of breath, running after people and trying to save them.”
Cheon Syeong Gyeong, Book 1, Chapter 4, Section 1, Verse9 & 13
11. Write in a journal/notebook: What is your reaction to this part of God’s heart?
Concluding Point: Developing an intimate relationship with God is an important step in achieving the 1st Blessing. To create this intimate relationship we should try to connect with the different aspects of God’s heart through our everyday experiences.