The Significance of Danbury

Hyo Jin Moon August 20, 1988 World Mission Center

I am sure all of you know that today is the third anniversary of the victory of Danbury. What are you feeling on this occasion? Are you feeling grateful? It is important for us to know the significance of Danbury and what it has to do with us.

You have heard in many testimonies from our elder brothers and sisters how Father's life was a path of much suffering. He went to prison six times, and the reasons why he went were always the same. I wasn't there during those times, but I have learned about them and I know those experiences were very deep and painful. The time Father spent ii- Danbury was a turning point in my own life, honestly speaking, because of what I saw Father go through. After I started to understand Father more, I saw a deeper side of Father's life and the reason for his suffering.

There is a difference between Father's realization of the Principle and my understanding of the Principle. Father started out with the desire to find the ideal. He received a revelation from Heavenly Father, the understanding of the purpose of life, and he determined to live according to that standard. We in True Parents' family have been following the example set by True Parents, and only as we grow are we gradually coming to understand the essence of what Father has been teaching us. As the days go by, I am realizing more and more of the depth of the Principle.

The Way of Supreme Sacrifice

Most of you know that after Danbury, the American people's attitude toward Father changed almost overnight. Prior to Danbury, people were saying that Rev. Moon had to have an ulterior, selfish purpose behind all his idealistic desires to save the people of America. The people didn't think they needed anyone to tell them to change. They said, "How can we believe Rev. Moon? Isn't he just like all those other 'prophets' who manipulate their followers under the guise of ideals?"

But after Father went to Danbury, the people no longer had a case to prove his manipulation. Why? Because Father voluntarily decided to go through the trial that led him to Danbury. There were options left; he could have avoided going to prison, but he didn't. That is the significant thing. He knew he had to let the American people know exactly where he stood. He was in America for a reason: to bring about the fulfillment of Heavenly Father's will, the Kingdom of Heaven, and to propagate the message of God at the cost of any sacrifice to himself. He had a purpose and he was determined to carry it out. To secular eyes, choosing to go to prison is crazy. When people compared that supreme sacrifice with their own standards, they were stunned. In many philosophies, both Eastern and Western, there is the concept of yin and yang, of two opposites becoming one. Continuity comes from circular motion. A man needs a woman to start a relationship. Let's be frank. When do we feel happiness? It's when we are making love with our husband or wife, right? Lovemaking brings us joy. People want that physical give and take of love in marriage. Let's face it, that is pure joy, because in that act a man and woman literally become one.

But in America today, the value of a relationship is so small, so external. Divorce is so wide-spread that people are starting to think of divorce as a norm, as a part of life. If a relationship doesn't work out, you just leave and start a new one. But a relationship that doesn't have an eternal base cannot last. We want to avoid this. When we step into marriage, our vows are meant to last forever. People just don't understand the meaning of eternal value, that absolute, unchanging value -- which is true love.

Our Lives Have to Be Based On an Ideal

Do you think a relationship can function without the ideal true love value? For many American couples, sex is the most important part of marriage. Communication, forgiving, understanding -- these are not seen as essential. But in order to bring us joy, our relationships have to be based on an ideal. If I am a composer writing a song, and the notes I write do not satisfy my original mind absolutely, I cannot get any joy out of it. But if I work hard enough to reach that ideal in a song, then I can feel happiness. If your ideal is based purely on the physical, then when you are satisfied physically, you feel temporarily happy. When that ideal starts to deteriorate, you are not satisfied anymore. But if your ideal is true love and that is your emphasis, then once you are absolutely united with that goal, your happiness and joy will be eternal. Obtaining that absolute goal of "true love, isn't easy, is it? What was the fall? It was an individual effort without an absolute standard.