A steady spring rain fell all last night, ending a winter drought.
It was so nice to have had the rain that I spent all this morning
walking about in the garden. The ground had that fragrant
aroma of moist earth I had missed all through the winter, and the weeping
willow and cherry trees were showing signs of new spring buds.
I felt I could hear the popping sounds of new life sprouting here and
there around the garden. Before I knew it, my wife, who had followed
me out, was picking young mugwort shoots that had managed to poke
their heads up through the dry lawn. The night’s rain had turned the
whole world into a fragrant spring garden.

No matter how much commotion there may be in the world, when
the calendar turns to March, spring is on its way. The older I become,
the more it means to me that in nature spring follows winter and brings
with it flowers in full bloom. What am I that God, in each season, allows
the flowers to bloom and the snow to fall, so I might know the joy of
being alive? Love wells up from within the deepest recesses of my heart,
and I am overcome with emotion. I am moved to tears to think that
everything of real value has been given to me freely. In my life, I have
circled the globe many times over in my efforts to bring about a world
of peace, and yet it is here in this garden in spring that I am able to taste
real peace. Peace, too, was given to us by God, but we lost it somewhere and
now spend our lives looking for it in all the wrong places.

To bring a world of peace, I have spent my life going to the most
lowly and secluded places. I met mothers in Africa who could only
watch helplessly as their children died of hunger, and I met fathers
in South America who lived by a river full of fish but couldn’t support
their families by fishing. At first, all I did was simply share my
food, but they granted me their love in return. Intoxicated with the
power of love I went on to plant seeds and cultivate forests. Together we
caught fish to feed hungry children, and these trees were used to build
schools. I was happy even as mosquitoes bit me all over as I fished
all through the night. Even when I was sinking knee-deep into mud,
I was happy because I could see the shadows of despair disappear
from the faces of my neighbors.

Seeking the shortest path to a world of peace, I devoted myself
to inspiring change in the political process and to changing people’s
ways of thinking. I met then-President Mikhail Gorbachev of the
Soviet Union as part of my effort to bring reconciliation between
communism and democracy, and I met then-President Kim Il Sung
of North Korea for a serious discussion on how to bring peace to
the Korean peninsula. I went to a United States in moral decline
and played the role of a fireman responding to a call in an effort to
reawaken its Puritan spirit. I dedicated myself to resolving various
conflicts in the world. In my work for peace among Muslims and Jews, I
was not deterred by rampant terror. As a result of my efforts, thousands
have gathered for rallies and peace marches, with Jews, Muslims, and
Christians all joining together. Sadly, however, the conflict continues.

I see hope, though, that an age of peace is about to be inaugurated in
Korea. The Korean peninsula has been trained through endless suffering
and the tragedy of division, and I can feel in every cell of my body
that a powerful energy has been stored here and is ready to burst out. In
the same way that no one can stop a new season of spring from coming,
no human power can stop heavenly fortune from coming to the Korean
peninsula and spreading throughout the world. People need to prepare
themselves so that they may rise with the tide of heavenly fortune
when it arrives.

I am a controversial person. The mere mention of my name causes
trouble in the world. I never sought money or fame but have spent my
life speaking only of peace. The world, though, has associated many
different phrases with my name, rejected me, and thrown stones at me.
Many are not interested in knowing what I say or what I do. They only
oppose me.

I have been unjustly imprisoned six times in my life-by imperial
Japan, in Kim Il Sung’s North Korea, by South Korea’s Syngman Rhee
government, and even in the United States-and at times I was beaten
so hard that the flesh was torn from my body. Today, though, not even
the slightest wound remains in my heart. Wounds easily disappear in
the presence of true love. Even enemies melt away without a trace in the
presence of true love. True love is a heart that gives and gives and wants
to continuing giving. True love is a love that even forgets that it already
gave love and gives love again. I have lived my entire life intoxicated
in such love. I wanted nothing aside from love, and I threw my entire
being into the effort to share love with my impoverished neighbors. At
times, the path of love was so difficult that my knees buckled under me,
but even then I felt happy in my heart, dedicated to loving humanity.

Even now, I am filled with love that I have not yet been able to give.
It is with a prayer that this love will become a river of peace saturating
the drought-stricken land and flowing to the ends of the earth that
I now place this book before the world. Recently a growing number
of people have been seeking to know more about me. For the sake of
those who are curious, I have looked back on my life and recorded my
candid recollections in this book. As for the stories that could not be
included in this volume, I hope there will be other opportunities for me
to convey them.

I send boundless love to all those who have put their faith in me,
remained by my side, and lived their lives with me—and especially to
my wife, Hak Ja Han Moon, to whom I am deeply grateful for struggling
with me to scale the most difficult peaks.

Finally, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Eun Ju
Park, president of Gimm-Young Publishers Inc., who poured out much
sincerity and dedication in the process of bringing this book to publication,
and to everyone in the publishing company who labored in editing
the words I spoke so that the often complex content could be easily
understood by readers.

Sun Myung Moon,
Cheongpyeong, South Korea, March 1, 2009