After a seed has been planted in the ground, it has to go through various stages in order for it to bear fruit. First it has to grow roots, then the trunk, the branches and the leaves, and then it has to flower before the fruit can come out. The trunk growing out of the roots is a different thing. The branches growing out of the trunk are different. The leaves growing out of the branches are different. The flowers growing out of the leaves are different. And the fruit growing out of the flowers is a different thing. But we look at all this as one process.

Although the trunk growing from the roots is a different action, we cannot reject this process. If there is somebody who wants to reject it on the basis that it is different, that person won't be able to see the fruit. It is one process, one event. It is a destined process which has to be realized for the perfection of the plant. The trunk has to grow from a new roots. There is no other option. The leaves have to come from the branches and then the flowers have to bloom. The fruit exists inside each one of the flowers. This is a natural process.

The growth of a tree from the roots to when it bears fruit, all of these processes have to be gone through in order for the desired fruit to appear. When seen in this light, in the world of humans for one individual or one nation to reach perfection or for this world to reach perfection centered on the providence for God, in this whole process we cannot just look towards the good times. (59-227)

The tree itself doesn't only need the roots and it doesn't only just need to follow the required order. The whole tree itself with its branches and leaves spreading in all directions has to become one. So this means that if you stand in the position of East, the West, North, and South all have to grow in equilibrium. Then the tree has to bear fruit before it can become a tree of perfected form, and if one side is more than half-way out of shape, this tree will bear fruit that is lacking. If you plant a seed from such a tree, the same kind of tree will grow again. This is why equilibrium is absolutely essential. (141-180)

Once I went to an apple orchard, and although I am not an expert, I thought that some of the branches of the apple trees needed pruning. From the point of view of reason as well, it needed doing. If the branch comes out like this, it needs to spread out like this (showing with actions). This branch needs to be thick like this; but if this branch is thick like this in comparison to the other branches, then it needs to be cut off. When it's growing, if only this side is thick then many problems will arise.

I felt that I had to do something, so I made this branch spread out like this and this branch spread out like that. If I cut this branch, then I have to leave that thick branch. If you cut both of them, then the tree will die. You have to prune the tree so that the branches going down and the branches going up, the horizontal branches get as much air as possible.

Anyway, I felt that at least two-thirds of each tree had to be pruned. What do you think about that? However, I didn't do it. Why didn't I cut off the branches? [Because the flower buds had started to appear.] Actually you shouldn't just look towards this years fruit. You have to think, "How will this tree be next year?" I think we have entered the stage where the trees are almost useless. In fact we need to cut off all the rotten branches. You should begin again from now. This branch is full of bugs, such as the mayfly which has made its house in the branches. These rotten branches need cutting off; there is no other way. You have to choose a new branch and nurture it. This is what I think. If possible, you have to cut the tree so the air circulates well around the branches. All the restricting twigs and leaves need to be cut off. You may say, "I'm not an expert, but..." I tell you, do it today! (66-82)

If you are the fruit of 6,000 years of history, there probably would have been fruitful ages and shriveled ages, and if these ages bear fruit which slowly starts to ripen, what happens? The leaves shrivel up and fall to the ground and only the fruit is left.

Autumn needs to come in order for the fruit to ripen. The autumn winds need to blow. The autumn winds are different from the summer breezes. They are not the type of helpful winds that help us to overcome trials or distinguish between right and wrong. They are the kind of wind that can suck out all the hidden things, the kind of wind that adds minus to the whole rather than plus. Nevertheless, that kind of wind is necessary.

When that kind of truth, that kind of principle, that kind of religion appears, it has to be able to withstand the autumn frosts of this weak world. I think like that. The Unification Church has endured many hardships, many frosts. But that is not the end. The frostbitten buds have to be able to overcome the winter winds and only the thin branches need to remain. In that process, it doesn't matter if all the fruit falls to the ground if within the fruit there is one hidden seed.

The true owner doesn't think about the fruit; he thinks about the seed. Salesmen desire fruit from the orchard, but the true master of the orchard seeks to find the true seed within the fruit.

We in the Unification Church have suffered countless hardships and difficulties from the surrounding environment and have become the fruit hanging from the thin branch. But we shouldn't be concerned about the external appearance of the fruit; we should worry about whether there is a true seed within that fruit. So when we are judged in the coming new spring, the question is whether or not our seed contains without doubt the power of life representing the No. 1 Unification Church disposition. If it doesn't have this, then there is no life.

In order for life power to exist, until the tree grows up it has to endure all the winds and frosts. It has to have all the frosts of history. With the life power which has the power to pass through the rugged trials and hardships it has to have hope for the future in order for it to be able to greet the new spring where the buds of new life can appear. Then passing through the summer and the autumn it will become the seed which contains the power of new life. Have you become that kind of seed? Not just become a seed, but do you have the natural power within you to be able to develop infinitely so that no one can knock you off your course? When the new age arrives do you have the life power within yourself to be able to stimulate yourself? The person who doesn't have this is like a dead person. The seeds and the fruit and such things have to go within the fertilizer. Do you understand?

All the hardships I have endured until now have been to make this kind of seed. Even if we have to overcome the gales of the summer season, the cold winds of the autumn season, the snows of the winter, it is no problem. After you have passed through all these stages, then your seed which contains the power of the ideal life has to bud.

In the same way that God has helped me to cross over all the critical paths of history in my struggle to realize God's ideal, can you also renew your bond with God? From now those in the Unification Church have to make a new beginning so that no matter where you are put, no matter what storms blow, you can take my place and tread down this wretched environment and become the living body which can grow and prosper. Can you do that? (19-42)