Becoming a Responsible Person

Seen from the viewpoint of God’s providence, there are people responsible over internal things and people responsible over external things. Which kind of responsible persons are more important? Many young people think that they want to be responsible over a nation. Each one thinks that he wants to be the most important, capable leader of the nation. He especially wants to cause his nation to develop and progress more than ever, and thinks of many ways to do this. He must have the capacity, potential, or power to do this, and he will have many ways to apply the power. He must know how to organize and develop. Before taking action he must study the situation closely and see how things have been developing in his nation. Then he must use some power or capacity to cause progress to occur. He wants to leave what is already good and either improve or revolutionize what has been bad or not desirable.

A person who is responsible over others must have a certain capacity. He must have not only the power or capacity to take responsibility but also the power to cause things to develop. He must be efficient and capable, and he needs strong leadership ability; then he can cause his people and his organization to grow. His ability cannot be perfected in an instant, but he must have much experience. Through education we will inherit the knowledge which other people have accumulated, and then we must put it into practice ourselves. We must first have the knowledge, and then put it into practice until it is proven. Unless what you have is better than what others have, you cannot be responsible over others. Naturally we come to the conclusion that people who are more capable than others will be responsible over them. Whether the group is large or small, it doesn’t matter. The same principle applies.

As I said before, there are people responsible over external things or worldly things, and there are those who are responsible for internal or spiritual things. We can easily define that those responsible over spiritual things are more important. Then over what kind of things are you going to be responsible? You will say, “I want to be responsible over internal or spiritual things.” By spiritual things I mean you must be responsible for the eternal life of other people and the internal thing on the spiritual level. In the realm of external things you can go through experimental processes and if you fail you can repeat the task, but the spiritual level of things is different.

On the spiritual level of things, if you fail in your experiment, in your first attempt, then you cannot shift it easily to another process. As for the problems of life or love, we must be very serious in handling them. In order for you to become responsible persons over those problems, you must closely study what they are, and you must take them seriously. You must learn from predecessors or from those who are experienced in the field. You must learn good points from the leaders. For instance, if there are ten leaders, you must learn from all of them. Suppose you have ten such leaders or one hundred such leaders. You must absorb what they have that is good and you must discard what they have that is bad. In such a way you should learn.

Becoming A Responsible Person
Reverend Sun Myung Moon
July 14, 1974