Section 2. What Kind of Place Is the Spirit World?

2.1. The spirit world and the physical world

2.1.1. The center of the spirit world and physical world

I imagine you must be very curious about the spirit world. The many religions of the world provide paths for us to seek eternal life, the world where we can live together with God eternally in the good regions of the spirit world. For religious people, attaining that world is their life’s goal. However, what has become of religion today? It is on the decline. In this modern age people think that religion is only for the weak; it is unnecessary for everyone else. They think that religions were created by people to push morality.
Even Christianity, the central religion, has declined. America is the representative of the world’s Christian nations, yet people who grew up in American Christian homes have lost their faith and are living each according to their own way.
Christianity upholds heaven, the dwelling place of God, who is the Lord of the universe and Source of all good. Why are so many Christians abandoning their religion? There are three reasons. First, people do not have a clear understanding of the reality of the spirit world. Human beings have the innate capacity to compare and would abandon a bad situation in favor of a better one. If they knew that the spirit world contained higher-dimensional realms of greater value, they would certainly seek them out. That is original human nature. Second, people do not truly know God. Our connection with God was severed as a result of the human Fall, and we have lived ever since as orphans.
Third, people do not understand the centrality of love. Love is what connects us to God and also to the spirit world. Even though many people believe in God and the spirit world, if they do not understand that the eternal world is ruled by love, they may well abandon their religion.
Where love abounds, you are happy. It doesn’t matter whether you are promoted to a high position or demoted to a low position or you just stay at your current level; in whatever state you are, you are content. Does a wife dislike her beloved husband if he has a higher position in society than her? Does a husband dislike his beloved wife because she comes from a lower class than him? When you are one with each other you can go anywhere, from the bottom to the top or from the top to the bottom, or you can just stay where you are. There are no limitations. It is based on this concept that many people in the world say, “This world can become one. There can be unity among all peoples. We can build a world of peace.” (91-140, 02/06/1977)

The same holds true for the spiritual and physical worlds and for spiritual and physical beings. God and His love are central to both worlds but not to the fallen people who we usually have in mind.
We have a mind and a body that exist in different dimensions. The mind differs from the spirit world. We speak of the spiritual and physical worlds in terms of God’s love. Accordingly, for both of them to unite, God must be involved. Without God’s love being involved, the spirit world cannot exist. It is linked to God.
We have a conscience. How does it differ from the spirit world? How do the mind and the spirit world differ? People may think the mind is the spirit, but they are confused about that.
Due to the Fall, the mind has nothing to do with the spiritual world. In other words, the mind of a fallen person is like a boneless body.
This gives you a realistic idea if you think of it taking that form. The spirit self has a spirit body and a spirit mind. The latter corresponds to the spiritual world. It definitely relates to God. Therefore, without establishing a relationship with God, the spirit mind will not come into being. Understand that spirit and mind are two different things. The fallen mind has no relationship with God – He has left it. God Himself can neither relate to our mind nor control it directly. Your mind changes, going one way and then another, but the spiritual world and spiritual beings do not. They set one eternal goal toward which they constantly move. Why is this so? It is because they stand on God’s side. The mind that resides within us as human beings vacillates. You may have learned it from studying the Principle, but what is the spirit mind? It is the union of mind and spirit, and it is moving toward its new goal. It is a motivational mind that can make us become our ideal selves by uniting with our conscience centered upon God. Thus, if we did not have a spirit mind we would be unable to search for its origin which can connect us to the spirit world and true love.
When the spirit mind sprouts up in us, our body experiences joy and everything follows it. Everything starts to unite automatically. Our biggest problem has been the separation of our mind and body. However, when spiritual energy comes into our body and creates the origin of our spirit mind, our mind and body become one naturally. Unless a revolution occurs at the root, and unless we discover the origin that can rectify everything from the root, we have no way to find the ideal. There is no result without a motivating cause.
The purpose of religion is to implant within us a spirit mind. There are many religions centered on the spirit mind. There are all kinds and forms of religion. (91-140, 02/06/1977)

2.1.2. Unity of the spiritual and physical worlds

God in His majesty decreed that the spirit world and the physical world must be united. However, because true love was not established, the spirit world and physical world could not become one. This resulted in the separation between mind and body. Also, because true love was not established, there has been separation between religion and politics.
Where true love is present, everything comes together as one. Everybody is linked together, from the individual to the family, society, nation, world and cosmos. We have to make this a reality with our own hands. Otherwise, we cannot inherit God’s original Kingdom in heaven and on earth.
How do we establish resonance between the spiritual and physical worlds and make them one? It is with true love. (216-101, 03/09/1991)

2.2. The spirit world clearly exists

Eighty percent of the world’s population does not know about the spirit world. Even many believers aren’t sure whether the spirit world exists, or even if God really exists. But the spirit world does exist.
Imagine a wealthy person who willingly invests his entire fortune to build a garden of happiness for himself. With that in mind, we can surmise that God, the Creator of heaven and earth, made enormous effort to create His dwelling place – the spirit world – to be a world of beauty beyond imagining.
You could gaze at even just one tiny part of it for a thousand years and never grow tired of it. The world’s most prized possessions are nothing compared to the things in the spirit world. Therefore, I have no desire to accumulate possessions on this earth. If you were to force me to say which I prefer, I would say that this earthly world does not conform to my purpose, and I would rather live in the spirit world. (15-149, 10/07/1965)

People generally do not think about the spirit world. They think only, “I am alive because I was born. I serve my parents because I live in their family. I will live just the way my parents lived.” What are such people’s central concerns?
It is how they can eat and earn a living. They consider food, shelter and clothing to be the most important things in life. Most people’s main concerns are how to support themselves, how to feed themselves, and how to clothe themselves.
Of course, people also uphold the principles of morality and the obligations within human relationships that enable them to develop their character as individuals and find satisfaction together.
However, the norms of morality differ from one nation to another. Moral standards and social systems vary among world’s diverse cultures. In this light, we recognize that there is a huge difference between the original standard that God originally envisioned for humanity to attain and the norms of ethics and morality that people adhere to today. Yet, these must be made the same. Where is it that we are supposed to go, having been born and lived out our lives on earth in keeping with the original standard? People are not clear about this. For this reason, people are doubtful about the spirit world and are not certain whether God exists.
However, people who have studied the Principle clearly know that the spirit world exists. They do not just believe it; they know it. Why is this? They know it through countless spiritual experiences. The members who labored to construct the global foundation of the Unification Church went through a course that included many spiritual experiences. If you learn the Principle, I am certain that you, too, will have experiences such that you will no longer be able to deny the existence of the spirit world. (140-121, 02/09/1986)

Once we know the Principle, what should be our path? We must follow the path that God desires for us. We must follow the path to fulfill God’s will. What is God’s will? First we must follow the path to fulfill God’s will for us as individuals. Next we must follow the path to fulfill God’s will for our families. God has also set up paths for the society, the nation, the world and the spirit world. I am the expert on this. As you follow these paths, you will see for yourself that the spirit world definitely exists. (121-146, 10/24/1982)

Why is it important to acknowledge that God exists and that the spirit world exists? Some people may think, “Even if God exists, He has nothing to do with me,” but they are wrong. To say, “Even if the spirit world exists, it has nothing to do with me,” would be like a person who, satisfied with his family, claims that he doesn’t need his country and doesn’t need the world.
But since there is a God who is greater than us, and since there is a spirit world that is greater than us, we want to have a relationship with these greater entities. Just having a relationship is not enough. What do we do in this relationship? We should strive to become one. We should move in step toward the same goal. (104-118, 04/22/1979)

2.3. The spirit world is the driving force for faith (Saint Paul’s vision of the third heaven)

In the Bible, Paul explains about the third heaven, which he had seen fourteen years earlier. How did he live during those fourteen years? He carried on for fourteen years, gaining strength from his experience of seeing the third heaven. He knew more than what he talked about then, and that enabled him to go on even after talking about the third heaven. (62-45, 09/10/1972)

The Apostle Paul’s experience of seeing the third heaven became the driving force that empowered him in his missionary activities for fourteen years.9 You, too, need to have such experiences. This also holds true for me. (27-128, 11/30/1969)

I don’t fear death. What made me this way? Love did. It doesn’t matter how many times I am put in jail; I can digest that. My experiences of God’s love have enabled me to digest and overcome the opposition that surrounded me. To this day, I am overcoming every adversity with my own hands. (202-27, 05/01/1990)

2.4. When God created the spirit world

The spirit world is equivalent to the angelic world. Today’s world is in the same position as the world at the time of Adam and Eve. God created the spirit world before creating Adam and Eve.
The satanic world came into being because the spirit world went against God’s will. Therefore, today’s fallen world can be restored only after the spirit world welcomes God’s will. Similarly, the Lord cannot come to the earthly world unless he first subjugates the spirit world. That is why the Unification Church has worked until today to bring the spirit world to natural surrender. Hence, the spirit world must help the Unification Church. (25-233, 10/04/1969)

2.5. Where is the spirit world?

Where is the spirit world? It is within your bodies. You walk around carrying the spirit world on your shoulders, attending it. So there is no escaping it. (162-116, 03/30/1987)

The spirit world exists. It exists for the sake of this world, and this world exists for the sake of the eternal world. People question, “Where in the world is God? Can God be in this world? Where on earth is the spirit world?” I say, God’s dwelling place is the spirit world. (117-306, 04/11/1982)

2.6. What kind of place is the spirit world?

If we could be finished with life after seventy to eighty years on earth, we would not really have any problems to worry about, but as we will be living eternally, it is a different story. As the spirit world exists, and you are going there after death, what is there to think about? The spirit world is a vast world. You have no idea, but it is a vast unchanging world.
On earth, there are racial discrimination, cultural clashes and other contentious issues. In spite of life’s frictions, people want to maintain their assertions and values, which do not pass away but live on vividly when they go to the spirit world. (187-285, 02/12/1989)

The contemporary interest in electricity and space exploration helps accustom humanity to the ways of the ideal world of love. We can say by analogy that the spirit world is a world filled with the electricity of love. The electricity of love makes everything possible. For this reason, in the spirit world we can govern the form of existence through the structure of our thoughts.
Then, what is the spirit world? It is a place that values eternal elements. It is a world of harmony, where everything is filled with love. Thus, the universe goes into operational mode with just a push of the love button.
What is God’s Kingdom on earth? It is the place where we can open all the valves of love. Then what about the Kingdom of God in heaven? It is the place where we can open all the valves of true love.
As long as you maintain a loving heart, when you tug on the rope of love, everything will come to you. When you release the rope, everything will go back to where it came from. When you pull the rope sideways, everything moves sideways. You can steer the universe any way you like. It does not resist, but moves automatically. Thus we can understand the meaning of the concept that the spirit world is filled with the air of love. If the God of love, who with the loving heart to feed all humanity at once and make them happy, says, “Let there be food!” then food will appear.
In the spirit world you eat the food of love. People look at each other with eyes of love. There are no words to express the mystery of the spirit world. The more you hear about it, the more you want to hear. There is no concept there of being sleepy or tired. The spirit world is the place filled with the electricity of love. These days, people try to link everything to love. Why is that? It is to be in tune with the spirit world. The spirit world operates in this way, and people on earth inevitably respond to it.
They cannot escape from its influence. When you see me in your dreams, I appear to you through the waves of God’s love. For that to happen, you cannot be asserting your ego. You have to become like pure gold, which has a very low resistance. There can be no self. In this state, you create a vacuum. When there is a vacuum, you can create a realm of resonance. (112-16, 03/15/1981)