4.1. Sharing the Achievements of Individual Religions
In the following, I would like to talk about the possible spiritual gain through Jesus and the True Parents.
At first glance, it might seem as if I were leaving the interreligious perspective behind and retreating once again behind the walls of individual religions. For this reason, I treat this topic in a separate chapter.
From my point of view, however, I remain within an interreligious perspective.
Why shouldn’t we talk together about our faith in certain individuals and the unique theological achievements of different religions?
Do Buddhists truly have no Jesus, Christians no Buddha, and Muslims no True Parents?
In a quote I mentioned earlier, Sun Myung Moon says that he realized in the spiritual world that the founders of religions and many saints throughout history are friends – all belong to the tribe of God.
If all religions were initiated by God - as I am convinced - then it is we humans who build the walls between religions, not God.
Yet walls are not infinitely high.
At a certain height, they can be overcome.
Overcoming religious boundaries
Did Jesus come only for Christians, or for all humanity?
Did Buddha ever say that his teaching was intended solely for Indians and must remain closed to others?
Of course, spiritual achievements are given for all of humanity.
At different times, something new was spiritually opened through extraordinary individuals - something that had not existed before and was inaccessible to earlier generations.
These were victories for both God and humankind.
But then people came and divided between those who believed in one path and those who believed in another.
These divisions are human-made.
When we dissolve the walls in our minds, we realize that we are all brothers and sisters - united on the way to God.
Since Jesus, something has been opened in heaven that was won for all people.
Yet it is often said that only those who believe can benefit from it - a separation once again created by human beings.
But is this separation really absolute before God?
In many places, it still seems a taboo to engage with the spiritual achievements of other religions or to accept something that originates from a supposedly "foreign" or even "hostile" tradition.
What happens when we ignore the walls?
What if we simply cross the boundaries between religions?
Some might say, "It must stop at the sacraments."
Is it really a mortal sin before God to partake in a sacrament of another religion?
Yet there are Christian clergy who are also Zen masters. I know a Catholic who was blessed by the True Parents, and a member of the Unification Movement who was baptized by the Mormons.
Divine unity or human chaos?
"What a mess! Where would it lead us?" – some might think.
But what would God say about this "mess"?
Would he really reject us, Christians with Muslims, Hindus with Jews, standing hand in hand at his door?
I understand that not everyone shares these reflections.
There are certainly legitimate concerns - for example, that inexperienced people might be led astray.
Yet in a modern, globalized world, boundaries can no longer be maintained permanently - not even between religions.
Rather than fighting against this development, we can consciously help to shape it.
We only reach the goal together
This does not mean that everyone has to be able to do everything.
A team thrives on different strengths. It is not necessary for everyone to have the same abilities – rather, we should complement each other's strengths to achieve a greater goal.
God’s goal is not to lead one religion to success, but to create a peaceful world where people are united with Him in love.
On the following pages, I will share my personal understanding of faith and the experiences I have had in connection with the name "True Parents."
4.2. The Significance of Christ and the True Parents on the Spiritual Path
The Christian understanding holds that Jesus, through his suffering and death on the cross, made reparation for the sins of humanity.
As a result, people who believe in Jesus can be freed from their sins. They are thus also freed from a suffering they would otherwise have to bear themselves according to the principle of restoration through reparation.
In practical terms, this means that on the path to God, they experience less suffering and can reach unity with God faster than people who walk this path without Jesus.
The special power of the Jesus prayer
Applied to concrete prayer, this means that the Jesus Prayer should be more effective than a prayer using another phrase.
The name "Jesus Christ" in the Jesus Prayer brings us into awareness of his presence.
In spiritual unity with Jesus - which goes far beyond a merely mental belief - we receive the grace that was won through his course.
The meaning of the name "True Parents"
According to the understanding of the Unification Movement, Adam and Eve were created by God as a couple and as the original ancestors of humankind.
Together, they were created as the perfect image of God — not Adam alone.
Ideally, the second Adam, Jesus Christ, was also supposed to begin a sinless human history as a married couple after the fall.
Therefore, the crucifixion was not the ultimate goal of Jesus' coming, but the result of the disbelief of the Israelites of his time.
Thus, God's providence remained incomplete.
The resurrection was merely the spiritual fulfillment, while the establishment of the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth is still pending.
Since spiritual rebirth is not possible without a mother, the Holy Spirit took on the role of the only begotten daughter of God and the true mother of humankind.
The Marriage of the Lamb, which was announced in the Bible, should have taken place between the second Adam and the second Eve.
The mission of Sun Myung Moon and Hak Ja Han
On Easter Sunday 1936, 16-year-old Sun Myung Moon had a visionary encounter with Jesus, during which he was entrusted with the mission to continue the unfinished work.
His most important task was to find the God-prepared true Eve and thereby enable the marriage of the Lamb.
In 1943, Hak Ja Han was born in Korea as the only child of a special religious family. There were numerous revelations about her birth, proclaiming that she would appear as God's first-begotten daughter.
In 1960, the marriage of the Lamb finally took place, in which Sun Myung Moon, who represented Jesus, and Hak Ja Han were united.
Thus, for the first time in human history, there existed True Parents - a restored divine couple who renewed the lost legacy of Adam and Eve.
While Jesus came 2000 years ago as the Son of God, in whom the Father dwelled, today there are True Parents, in whom both God the Father and God the Mother - the feminine side of God - are present.
4.3. The Connection to God through His Incarnation
Why does the connection to the incarnation of God help us find God more quickly?
Christian views
In Christian terms, the soul can more easily bind itself to God because it recognizes in Christ a living and tangible image of God. Through His incarnation, God becomes visible, touchable, and experiencable for humanity.
In Jesus, God's love has become concrete.
Mystics like John of the Cross or Meister Eckhart teach that Christ acts as a "bridge" or "way" that overcomes the infinite gap between God and humanity.
Aspect of the bloodline in the divine principle
In Unification theology, the aspect of the bloodline is also taught, according to which a person can free themselves from the sinful line, which originates from the Fall, through a sacrament on the one hand and a restoration process on the other. This corresponds to the process expressed in the biblical metaphor of grafting. Complete salvation and liberation from the sinful nature occurs through a spiritual rebirth by sinless spiritual parents.
The grace of inheriting the reparation
I have already explained the point that Jesus made reparation for humanity - including non-Christians.
In addition, the True Parents have taken upon themselves extraordinary indemnity. Here are just a few examples: Sun Myung Moon’s imprisonment for several years in a communist death camp, torture, slander, five further unjust prison sentences, and countless spiritual battles he and his wife Hak Ja Han endured.
The aspect of bonding
Another important aspect is bonding. Psychologically, there is a bond between parents and children that provides emotional security and closeness. The deeper and more secure this bond, the more trust and emotional connectedness can develop.
Bonding requires openness and engagement. It becomes especially evident in moments of closeness but also in times of separation. Separation from an important attachment figure can trigger grief, while the absence of a bond can make a separation emotionally insignificant.
The goal of religion - the reconnection to God - can also be understood as the restoration of the emotional bond between God and human beings.
For people, it is difficult to restore a bond to an invisible God. Through a mediator who has already perfected this bond, we can reconnect to God more easily.
In the same way, children should experience God's love naturally through loving parents in order to later develop a relationship with God themselves. The heartfelt experience and bond with the parents allow the children to naturally inherit the parents' bond with God.
Transition
These were some brief reflections on the value of God's incarnation for our inner journey toward Him.
Doctrinal beliefs can offer us guidance, but we also need a spiritual practice that enables us to truly engage in the inner process.
Rituals or sacraments, as practiced in various religions, can have a profound spiritual effect - but this often occurs only on a largely unconscious spiritual level.
But that alone does not necessarily lead to a profound transformation of our entire being and life. True transformation must take place in all dimensions of our being. No one can take this path for us - we must walk it ourselves, consciously and step by step, as an inner process.
In the following, I would like to share some of my experiences in prayer.
4.4. My Experiences with the Prayer of the Heart using the Name “True Parents”
When I first learned the Jesus Prayer, it felt natural for me to apply it to my personal understanding of faith and to try it with the names 'True Parents,' 'True Father,' or 'True Mother.'
My first mantra was 'True Father.
In the first few weeks of practicing the Prayer of the Heart with this name, something unusual happened.
Toward the end of the meditation, I briefly lost consciousness. In that moment, a face appeared before my inner eye. Shortly afterward, I was wide awake again. The face was so close that I could only see the eyes and the nose.
At first, I didn’t recognize who it was, even though the image remained clearly in my memory. But suddenly, I realized: it was the face of Sun Myung Moon at the age of 16.
This experience surprised me, as I had never had a vision before.
I interpreted it as an encouragement to continue on my path. Later, I also had a few significant dreams involving him, some of which I have described in this book.
I see these signs along my path as expressions of heavenly guidance.
The mantra "True Mother"
My relationship with True Mother was not always easy in real life. I only experienced her as a public figure who bears great responsibility for the providence, and not personally as a loving mother.
Yet in the moments when I penetrated to the consciousness of the True Mother in prayer, I suddenly felt a radiant, pure spiritual love.
This experience has transformed my inner relationship with her.
The mantra "True Parents"
The term “True Parents” feels more neutral to me and less shaped by my personal experiences with specific individuals.
“True Parents of humankind” is a universal concept that refers to the incarnation of God as the Heavenly Parents – Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother. In my view, it is so broadly applicable that it can be used across religious traditions.
A prayer using these words, which brings me into the awareness of the presence of the True Parents, opens me in a very direct and accessible way to the love of God.
Scientific perspective
I am more of a scientifically minded person than a believer. Belief in Jesus and the True Parents has always been a challenge for me.
Today, it is comparatively easy to identify with an idealized portrayal of Jesus. But during his lifetime, it was a much greater challenge to believe in him. Society stood united against him. It required enormous courage to break away from the majority opinion and to stand in solidarity with him - despite the foreseeable negative consequences.
It was and is similar with the True Parents in their time.
Motivated by my doubts and scientific interest, I treated the mystical experience with the name of the True Parents as a touchstone to examine its spiritual significance.
Out of my own doubts and scientific interest, I made the mystical experience with the name of the True Parents into a kind of test.
The central question was:
“Does connecting with the True Parents actually bring us closer to God - faster or more easily - than without them?”
For myself, I have found an answer to that question.
Through consciously focusing my mind on the True Parents, I experienced rapid inner transformation.
Within just four years, I came to the mystical experiences described earlier - a grace granted to only a few in such a short time. Even more, a deeper understanding of the inner path to God opened up to me.
I can attribute this special grace only to my connection with the True Parents. Anyone who knows me will confirm that it cannot be due to extraordinary faith, a particularly intense religious life, asceticism, or personal purity.
Now the question arises whether this result can be reproduced for other people when they practice this prayer.
While that would not constitute scientific proof, it might encourage more people to try this practice for themselves - and to find out whether it helps them noticeably progress on their path to God.
4.5. A Brief Summary of the Mystical Path
I would like to conclude this chapter with a simplified summary of the inner path to God. This insight once opened up to me in meditation and was subsequently put into words.
Very briefly, the inner path of prayer to God could be described as follows:
We let go of everything - our thinking, feeling, and willing - until we reach the state of zero point. In this place, only pure being, pure awareness remains.
When we dwell in this emptiness, free of images and content, our mind opens to the intuition that God is present in this nothingness.
We cannot perceive God directly, because He is pure spirit. His presence can only be recognized through pure awareness - not through perception in the usual sense.
Buddha said: "Thoughts are empty, feelings are empty, even perceptions are empty."
In the awareness of God's presence something wonderful happens:
In the experience of emptiness, we realize that we love God immeasurably in the deepest part of our hearts - and to love God means to love everything.
This love then becomes tangible in our hearts.
This is followed by a further profound realization: the “love for all” that we feel in our heart is God Himself. God manifests within us.
Basically, this is a simple path.
What makes it difficult for us humans is the necessary restoration through reparation on the way to the zero-point state.
This process cannot take place without suffering.
Buddha spoke of the teaching of suffering and the overcoming of suffering. Jesus called on us to take up our cross.
In Christianity, the path of Jesus’ suffering is understood as reparation for our sins. About 800 years after Buddha, the first Christian monks in Egypt opened an inner path that offered a shortcut: a prayer that, by invoking Jesus Christ, allowed them to inherit His grace.
In this way, they benefited from the reparation that Jesus accomplished for humanity.
With the advent of the True Parents - as it is stated in the Divine Principle - the divine providence was elevated to a new level.
By invoking the name “True Parents,” the one who prays - after their appearance and based on their work of reparation - can benefit from the blessings of this age and draw closer to God more quickly.
Today, everyone can benefit from this on their inner path.
Conclusion to part 2
This concludes both the theoretical reflection and the personal account of the inner path of prayer.
Now follows the essential part – the answers to the questions:
- How do I find my way to God?
- What is the first or next step for me?
- What daily practice leads to personal spiritual experience?
It is about a practice that is independent of religious affiliation and is intended to support and enrich one’s personal life of faith.
Anyone can practice this mystical path within the religion in which they are rooted. It supports a universal inner process of human transformation.
It is equally suitable for people without a religious background who are seeking a practical and accessible path to an experience of God.