Branching Out in Spring

Longer days. Warmer nights. Sun-soaked trees and plants sprouting new life. These are just some of the things we look forward to with the spring season officially upon us on March 20. 

The late Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon, co-founder of Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU), often spoke of nature as “our first parent” and to “love all nature and the entire universe as your parent.” In particular, he talked about the importance of spring, calling it a season of planting seeds and branching out.

Below is an excerpt from Rev. Moon’s speech, “Spring,” which he delivered on April 16, 1978 at Belvedere Estate in New York. Let’s internalize these timeless words as we embark on this new season.

Speech excerpt:

You have to know how to adjust your mood to the seasons… Spring brings new vitality… Spring is the season of planting seeds. A seed planted in the earth has a sleeping feeling at first, but then moisture seeps in through its shell to waken it. Spring brings many changes in all of nature, adding a developmental and advancing element…

A true Unificationist becomes like the branches of a tree… A branch produces leaves. It is important because the blossoms and new growth come from the branch, not from the leaves. The branch is the connection to future life. It not only brings flowers but bears fruit, and through the fruit other trees will be produced. That is the process through which the life of the tree continues, and that’s why the branch is so important…

You must know what goes on before the flowers appear, and think of the leaves and branches. More than that, you have to think of the atmosphere, water, earth, and all other necessary conditions for sustaining this tree. A tree does not just come up suddenly; preparation is needed. Various elements must be harmonized, and that same kind of thing has to go on in the world.

The same thing applies to the five different races if they are ever to come together. Instead of fighting, they must harmonize. The water inside a tree is circulating and then in spring the flowers come. Instead of fighting, the various elements must exist in harmony and beauty and peaceful connection; this preparation must be made before the glorious flowers and branches and leaves come out.

It won’t work if one branch of the tree insists that its water should not go to another branch. The roots can’t insist that their nutrients not go to the topmost branches… The world cannot flower without this harmonized unity among its peoples. In this perspective, no other organization parallels the Unification movement.

The roots of trees never stop growing, but spread everywhere, even through rock, splitting it apart. No hindrance can stop them… Persist, penetrate and march forward and your root and branch will be the ideal branch for the whole world. We can easily declare to the world that we WILL possibly be the worldwide branches, roots, and beautiful flowers to save the world… —Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon

You can read Rev. Moon’s full speech here.

Comments are welcomed and encouraged on this site, but there are some instances where comments will be edited or deleted. Please see our comments policy here.