Or is it a random trip through time? If there is a purpose than that purpose had to be there before the life began, that purpose caused the life to emerge and that purpose shaped the nature and character of what a human being should be. A life that is in agreement with that purpose should be fulfilling and satisfying. A life lived contrary to that purpose should be restless, searching, uncomfortable.
I was once confused about human life and it's purpose. I studied many ideas but never found a totally satisfying reason for me to be alive, or in some cases a comprehensible reason to be alive. Then I encountered the teachings of Rev Sun Myung Moon. His words are simple, straight to the point and completly comprehensible. Let's look at a very brief snipet of a speech that just goes right to the point of why we are alive, the purpose of human life.
"God's ultimate purpose in His creation of man is to give to him all His love, all His life, and all His ideal. You are to occupy the entire love of God, to the depth of His heart. By becoming His true sons and daughters, your desire will be fulfilled. That is your ultimate destiny. Then you will be saturated with the love of God. You will be filled with joy and feel overwhelmed by a total satisfaction in life.
ow wonderful, how simply wonderful it is to live this perfected life of God! This is the true life of joy unequaled by any earthly joy. Once you reach this state of perfection you don't need prayer. Why should you? You meet God face to face, and you live heart to heart with Him. You converse with God. You no longer need religion, and you don't need a savior. All these things of religion are part of the mending process, the process of restoration. A man of perfect health does not need a physician. The man in perfect union with God does not need a savior. Life in union with God is the one great way to live, life with God, life in God, and God living in you. This was the spiritual state of Jesus when he said, "Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? ..." ( John 14:10 ) God and man will embrace in one all-consuming love. This is the state where God is made the living reality. You no longer believe, but you know. And you live the truth. If you really experience this kind of love and oneness with God, then you have tasted the supreme experience of life. There are probably many Christian leaders among you, yet how many of you have had that wonderful experience, receiving the profound love of God?
God made man to live his life in intoxication. Man is meant to be intoxicated by the love of God. Since men lost this original capacity, they seek unnatural, artificial intoxication, getting drunk on alcohol, marijuana, or drugs. The perfect man, however, is created to be intoxicated in the love of God. There is nothing that can go beyond this feeling of joy. Every cell in your body will explode with joy. Your eyes and ears, the tissues in your face, your arms and legs, everything will be newly alive in a rapture of joy. Nothing else can ever match this quality of joy. This is the plan of God's original creation. When you say, "Heavenly Father", do you really have a living and vibrant feeling of God's presence? Don't you want to hear God answering, "Yes, my son"?"
You bet I do!
I'm not the only one, am I? But Rev Moon is the only person I have ever heard who asked that question. Maybe he's asking us because he has already heard God answer him, "Yes, my son?" The way that Rev Moon presents God makes me think that a living and vibrant feeling of God's presence is just a normal day for him. And if it is a normal day for him, why can't it be a normal day for me? I sure would like to trade in a lot of my other "normal" days for that kind of day.
"So far in Christianity, we placed God so high up in heaven, and pushed man so low in hell, that there has been an uncrossable gap between them. A wide and raging river has separated man from God. Men do not dare to reach out to God as a living reality. Man has been unable to realize that God is so close, so real, so approachable, that we can even dwell with Him. We are supposed to be the living temples of God. Yet conventional Christianity has been unable to make that a reality."
That explains a lot of things
Not just conventional Christianity- all religions have struggled to make God so close, so real, so approachable. The word religion actually means to "reconnect", to reconnect man and God. All religions exist because they, at some time, brought people closer to God. But what is the value of religion when it cannot complete that purpose, to directly connect men and God?
Everybody has a hungry heart. After all we were created to live in the intoxication of God's love and untill we do people will fill that void with artificial intoxication, like drugs and alcohol. The world of people intoxicated with drugs and alcohol is self-destructive, nasty, brutish and short. It is the world of broken families, crime, injustice, war, poverty and lonliness. It is the world as we know it today. I can't say for sure but the world of people intoxicated with God's love sure sounds like a much better alternative. But we'll never know till we try.
It doesn't get any better than this!
"Today is the time when we must fulfill this fundamental relationship between God and man. The subject and object must be one just as cause and effect are one. Therefore, the Bible says, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end." ( Rev 22:13 ) Within God, two are one. He is the beginning and we are the end. He is the first and we are the last. And the relationship between God and man is a circuit because beginning and end come together in oneness. Peace, happiness and joy are the fruits of harmony in love. Therefore, in God's ideal of creation, He planned the relationship between God and man to be lived with harmony in love, with harmony in life, and with harmony in ideal. Thus we know that God is subject and we are the objects. We also know that the object is just as important as the subject."
O.K., I'm in!
I know some of you are thinking how can man be the Omega to God's Alpha. It's not so unusual actually. Think of it - men and women are dramatically different, not just physically but tempermenatlly as well- but they share the same essence of humanity. In the same way man and God are dramatically different yet we share the same essence of divinity. We share the capacity to love. The ability to love is Divine. The ability to love as God loves is what distinguishes humans from the rest of the universe.
What a wonderful and dramatic relization this is! God created us as objects of His love and in order to be the objects of God's love we must be able to return love fully to God. To return love fully to God we must be endowed, that is given at birth, the capacity to love just as much as God loves. Just because we are human beings we are God's objects of love. This is why God loves us, "just the way we are." All of our likes and dislikes, all of our uniqueness, all of our peculiarities are actually our divine inheritance.
What a wonderful and dramatic relization this is! God created us as objects of His love and in order to be the objects of God's love we must be able to return love fully to God. To return love fully to God we must be endowed, that is given at birth, the capacity to love just as much as God loves. Just because we are human beings we are God's objects of love. This is why God loves us, "just the way we are." All of our likes and dislikes, all of our uniqueness, all of our peculiarities are actually our divine inheritance.
"God created man and woman as His son and daughter. He wants to see Himself in human beings. Therefore, the Bible says, " ... God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." ( Gen 1:27 ) Man is created in the likeness of God. In other words, God made Himself incarnate in man. Man is the mirror of the living God, and His every virtue, characteristic and quality is reflected in this mirror. God surely wants man to reflect His love, life, and ideal. Man is the fruit of God's love, life, and ideal. "
I feel like today is a great day. Today I am crossing that wide and raging river seperating me from God. Today I am not placing God so high up in heaven and putting myself so low down in hell. Today I agree with Jesus, that I, "therefore, should be perfect as God is perfect." Today Rev Moon has given me the following realization and awakening- I am the temple of God, God's dwelling is with me, God is so close that when I call out for Him, He answers, "Yes, my son?" Will you join me, today?
