Notes on Spirituality – Part 1
Spirituality is concerned with matters of the spirit, much like nutrition, fitness, and other branches of the health sciences are concerned with questions of the body.
In a narrower sense, spirituality is about cultivating our relationship with God and with our original self. These two key relationships (with God and self) are instrumental in teaching us about love. We want to live lives of genuine or true love. Spiritual practice helps us discover true love and overcome false love, which is fake, pretentious, self-centred, conditional, or manipulative.
One key message of the Chapter on the Human Fall in the Exposition of the Divine Principle is:
To get life right, we need to get love right.
What then is the Family Federation’s unique approach to a spiritual life?
Simply put:
God, the creator, is our Heavenly Parent.
God is my Heavenly Parent.
True Father explained that the parent-child relationship is the axis of the universe.
In Peace Message 1, he explains that the quickest way to cultivate a character of true love is to develop a parent-child relationship with God and live by attending to God as one’s parent.
More recently, True Mother, Holy Mother Han, coined the term Hyo-Jeong to expand on this understanding.
Korean: Hyo-Jeong, 효정 or 孝情
English: Filial Heart or the Heart of a Child
If love is water, the heart is its spring. Like water gushes forth freely from a well (it is not forced out via a pump), love springs forth freely from the heart. Cultivating a child’s heart that freely and autonomously – out of itself – loves God and others is the real secret. A heart-powered life is a good life.
Developing a love relationship with God is the key to that secret. Spirituality, therefore, is about relationships (with God and self). A spiritual life is not about
- a specific set of beliefs, the profession of a certain creed, doctrine or dogma.
- performing a particular ritual or following a certain tradition.
So, what does it mean to develop a parent-child relationship with God? How do I recognise a heart of Hyo-Jeong? We can better appreciate the value of these insights and realisations if we understand the journey that led to this designation.
Friedrich Nietzsche on the Spirit’s Metamorphosis
Let’s start in an unlikely place, with Friedrich Nietzsche, a 19th-century German philosopher. He remains relevant today because, among other things, his thought is foundational to an important strand of self-help literature and the current self- improvement industry.
You may know Nietzsche for coining the term Übermensch (Superman). The main idea is that by rejecting other-directed influences, such as conventional morality and the idea of God, man can liberate himself and evolve into the self-determined superman.
He introduces the idea in his 1883 book, Thus Spake Zarathustra. Nietzsche’s imagined secular prophet named Zarathustra descends from the mountain and preaches human liberation:
Lo, I teach you the Superman!
The Superman is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: The Superman SHALL BE the meaning of the earth!
The superman is characterised by his will to power, affirmation of life and liberation from so-called master-slave morality, which, according to Nietzsche, blocks us from finding our higher self. (On master-slave morality, see also Nietzsche’s 1886 book, Beyond Good and Evil.)
Why is this relevant to exploring the ideas of the parent-child relationship with God and Hyo-Jeong? Thus Spake Zarathustra presents a compelling image of a three- stage spiritual transformation.
- Camel: The human spirit becomes a camel that kneels, carries the heaviest load, and grows lonely in the desert.
- Lion: In the loneliness of the desert, the camel becomes a lion who rejects “thou shalt” and embraces “I will”. The lion speaks a “sacred NO” to duty and so creates freedom for himself.
- Child: Ultimately, the lion cannot create anything new. In a third transformation, the lion becomes a child characterised by innocence, forgetfulness, playfulness and a “sacred YES” to life.
Nietzsche describes three stages of growth: the camel, the lion, and the child. While he has a lot to say about the camel and the lion. His description of the third-stage child is more vague, maybe indicating that it points beyond his personal experience. (It is worth taking the time to read the full passage here.)
Innocence and playfulness are important characteristics of the child stage. However, there is more; we cannot remain children when we serve a master or when we are in rebellion, fighting against that master. We can only be playful and innocent children in a relationship with loving parents.
On Being and Becoming a Child
Jesus of Nazareth experienced his relationship with God as a father-son relationship and frequently spoke about his close personal connection.
In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus cries out, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.” (Mark 14:36). “Abba” is an informal, intimate Aramaic word for “father,” similar to “Dad,” and was a radical way for a Jew to address God. In the “Our Father”, Jesus taught his disciples a pattern for prayer, beginning with “Our Father in heaven”.
Apostle Paul later conceptualised the Christian relationship to God as an adoptive child (Ephesians 1). In many of his letters, he emphatically describes the experience of grace, which liberated him from the chains of his old way of faith, “for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Corinthians 3).
True Parents’ teaching is one of growth, describing our relationship with God as developing through up to eight stages, both individually and collectively as humanity. The Exposition of the Divine Principle presents four stages, which I will summarise here. Each stage is characterised by a different primary medium that mediates the relationship between God and humankind.
| Man’s position | God’s position | Medium |
| Servant of Servant | Relation to a servant of God: Angel, Divine Power, Nature | Offering |
| Servant | God as a master or lord | Law |
| Adopted Child | God as an adoptive father | Grace |
Is there a way of relating to God that encompasses and yet goes beyond God’s grace and mercy? True Parents say yes. According to them, this path is open to all faiths and believers. This next stage can be characterised through the following points:
- We experience God as a Heavenly Parent and ourselves as true children of God.
- Human beings are maturing children who share, understand and comfort their Heavenly Parent’s heart.
- The reciprocal heart of Hyo-Jeong is the primary medium of the relationship between God and man. This is a child’s heart characterised by co- responsibility and co-ownership with God.
- In this fourth stage, we can transcend our denominational and religious entities and live together as a family: humankind as brothers and sisters and God as our Heavenly Parent.
True Mother has used the metaphor of getting off the bus at the final bus stop. Once we have arrived at the destination, we can live together with God as a family. This is the vision of FFWPU: God’s Dream of One Family living together.
So what?
How can understanding that our relationship with God develops in stages be helpful?
Life is not about climbing a ladder, but frameworks like this can be helpful. They can help identify blind spots and highlight our limits. These limits are the edges of our growth, the places or situations where our heart and mind feel uneasy, uncomfortable and challenged.
- You may be at peace with ideas such as “mother nature”, spiritual forces, “infinite human potential”, or a loving energy, but something feels odd or wrong when thinking of God as a person. You can ask yourself why that is.
- You might feel strongly about the greatness of God, the creator, and your duty towards divine law, but the idea that something could be greater or more important than the law or the correct interpretation of God’s Word gives you the shivers. You can ask yourself why that is.
- You might not be able to imagine that God would forgive someone like yourself easily or often. You might not feel worthy, although you know that you are in God’s image. You can ask yourself why that is.
- You may have experienced God’s grace but feel uncomfortable when someone speaks of responsibility, commitment, or filial piety in your relationship to God. You can ask yourself why that is.
Observing the stirrings of the heart when matters of forgiveness or responsibility arise can offer us profound spiritual insights. Forgiveness and responsibility are crucial elements of any parent-child relationship, and they provide a great starting point for developing an authentic relationship with our Heavenly Parent.
