
INTRODUCTION
โจ In this profound and illuminating teaching, Master Woo Myung explains why nothing material can last foreverโnot the stars, the Earth, nor even the body. All things that have form inevitably return to the origin, the place of absolute emptiness from which everything arises. ๐ฟ
He clarifies that eternal life does not refer to the continuation of the physical body but to the soul reborn in the land of Truth, the world of the Creator. Only what is born in this true land is everlasting. The false self cannot live forever because it is not realโit has no essence of Truth. ๐
Through this writing, readers understand that enlightenment and eternal life come through becoming Truth while living, not by theoretical belief. When one truly repents, discards the false self, and is reborn in the land of Truth, he awakens to all the laws and principles of the Universe.
ORIGINAL WRITING BY MASTER WOO MYUNG
It Is Not the Material Body That Lives Forever, but the Soul
Nothing that is material in the world is eternal. The sun, the Earth, the moon, and all the millions upon millions of stars in the sky are material entities. Scientists estimate that stars have life spans ranging from five to fifteen billion years. At this very moment, there are some stars in the sky being created and some disappearing. Everything that is material in the world is the origin, the sky before the sky or the original foundation. It is the place of absolute emptiness – when everything in the Universe that one thinks exists is taken away. All material things come from and return to this place. This is the way of the world and Truth. Because all material things have a life span, there is nothing that is everlasting.
Heaven, or paradise, refers to the world where this world has been born in the land of the origin. Only this land is Truth and does not disappear. There is no eternal place unless one is reborn in this land as the elements of Truth. The word eternal is only applicable to the land of Truth.
Some religious sects believe that man and the world can live forever, but this is because they do not understand the true meaning behind the religious scriptures. They think that to live forever means man can live in this land eternally as a material existence. However, only the soul that has been reborn in the land of the Creator that is this land, can live forever. Once again, the fact that anything that is material eventually disappears is Truth and the law of the world. Coming from the origin and returning to the origin is the way of the world. The land of the origin, of Truth, is heaven. When one believes Truth, becomes Truth while living, and is reborn in the land of Truth, then he can live forever in this land where the true world exists.
Although many people are curious about where they go after they die, if one is not reborn as the elements of Truth he will die because he does not have the soul of Truth. When one actually repents instead of talking theoretically and he is reborn in heaven, he will come to understand all the ways of the world. One will know Truth as much as he has repented, as much as he has become Truth – this is enlightenment. When one becomes Truth, he will know the principles of the world. However if he just reads the words of Truth without knowing their true meaning, he will think his understanding is correct but he will die forever. If one changes his way of thinking and goes to the place where one can become Truth and truly becomes Truth, he will know that the true soul is the true everlasting never-dying immortal.
Truth knows both Truth and falseness, but the false self knows neither. The false self does not know the true meaning of the holy writings and just interprets them with his human mind. Thus he cannot know or understand their true meaning. There is nothing higher, more supreme or more perfect than becoming Truth. Therefore, if one achieves completion by becoming Truth, he will know all the laws of the world.
โ Woo Myung
REFLECT AT SANTA CLARA MEDITATION
At Santa Clara Meditation, practitioners learn how to discard the false self made of pictures and be reborn in the land of Truth. ๐ Through this awakening, one discovers the eternal soul that lives forever as the elements of Truth.
