2. Restoration by Going in the Opposite Direction

World Scripture

Whoever seeks to gain his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve it.
Luke 17.33

To yield is to be preserved whole. To be bent is to become straight To be empty is to be full. To be worn out is to be renewed. To have little is to possess. To have plenty is to be perplexed. Therefore the sage embraces the One And becomes the model of the world.
Tao Te Ching 22 (Taoism)

I will teach you Dhamma: If this is, that comes to be; from the arising of this, that arises; if this is not, that does not come to be; from the stopping of this, that is stopped.³⁴
Majjhima Nikaya 2.32 (Buddhism)

The world, O Kaccana, is for the most part bound up in a seeking, attachment, and proclivity, but a monk does not sympathize with this seeking and attachment, nor with the mental affirmation, proclivity, and prejudice which affirms an Ego. He does not doubt or question that it is only evil that springs into existence, and only evil that ceases from existence, and his conviction of this fact is dependent on no one besides himself. This, O Kaccana, is what constitutes Right Belief. That things have being, O Kaccana, constitutes one extreme of doctrine; that things have no being is the other extreme. These extremes have been avoided by the Tathagata, and it is a Middle doctrine he teaches: On ignorance depends karma; On karma depends consciousness; On consciousness depends name and form; On name and form depend the six organs of sense; On the six organs of sense depends contact; On contact depends sensation; On sensation depends desire; On desire depends attachment; On attachment depends existence; On existence depends birth; On birth depend old age and death, sorrow, lamentation, misery, grief, and despair. Thus does this entire aggregation of misery arise. But on the complete fading out and cessation of ignorance ceases karma; On the cessation of karma ceases consciousness; On the cessation of consciousness ceases name and form; On the cessation of name and form cease the six organs of sense; On the cessation of the six organs of sense ceases contact; On the cessation of contact ceases sensation; On the cessation of sensation ceases desire; On the cessation of desire ceases attachment; On the cessation of attachment ceases existence; On the cessation of existence ceases birth; On the cessation of birth cease old age and death, sorrow, lamentation, misery, grief, and despair. Thus does this entire aggregation of misery cease.³⁵
Samyutta Nikaya 22.90 (Buddhism)

The sage awakes to light in the night of all creatures. That which the world calls day is the night of ignorance to the wise.
Bhagavad-Gita 2.69 (Hinduism)

The Way out into the light often looks dark, The way that goes ahead often looks as if it went back. The way that is least hilly often looks as if it went up and down, The virtue that is really loftiest looks like an abyss, What is sheerest white looks sullied.³⁶
Tao Te Ching 41 (Taoism)

Sights, sounds, tastes, odors, things touched and objects of mind are, without exception, pleasing, delightful, and charming—so long as one can say, “They are.” These are considered a source of happiness by the world with its gods, and when they cease, this is by them considered suffering. The cessation of phenomenal existence is seen as a source of happiness by us Aryans—this insight of those who can see is the reverse of that of the whole world: What others say is a source of happiness—that, we say, is suffering; what others say is suffering— that, we know, as a source of happiness. Behold this doctrine, hard to understand, wherein the ignorant are bewildered.
Samyutta Nikaya 4.127-28 (Buddhism)

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon

The path of indemnity is to deny oneself and go opposite the way of the world. In the beginning in the Garden of Eden, Adam fell because he rejected God and followed Satan. Now in reverse we must reject Satan and return to God.
(73:93, August 4, 1974)

When someone has lost his original position or state, he must make some condition to be restored to it. The making of such conditions of restitution is called indemnity.

For example, to recover lost reputation, position or health, one must make the necessary effort or pay the due price. Suppose two people who once loved each other come to be on bad terms; they must make some condition of reconciliation before the love they previously enjoyed can be revived. In like manner, it is necessary for human beings who have fallen from God’s grace into corruption to fulfill some condition before they can be restored to their true standing.
(Exposition of the Divine Principle, Restoration 1.1)

A snake cannot grow without shedding its skin. To shed it, the snake crawls between narrow rocks. It needs an opposing force to push off the old skin. Likewise, the force of darkness has soaked through our body and blood. We cannot just go along with it; how do we get rid of it? We need the wisdom to go the opposite way entirely.
(46:83, July 25, 1971)

Humanity went astray from the very beginning when Adam and Eve went in the wrong direction. Now we have to turn it completely around. Our conventional attitudes, our ways of thinking, and our desires in all areas of life must be changed into their opposites. What, then, should be our way of thinking?
(308:244, January 9, 1999)

Thus far we have been thinking about our family for how it can benefit ourselves, and we have been dealing with our nation in ways that advance our self-interest. However, from now on we should think, “I exist for the greater whole—for my family, not for me; for my nation, not for me; for the world, not for me.” Do you understand what I am saying? We must change fundamentally. White people should live for black people and yellow people, and yellow people should live for white people and black people. Likewise, Christianity should live for Islam, and Islam for Christianity.
(May 1, 1978)

The Human Fall took place because the first human ancestors were caught up with consciousness of self. Conversely, restoration requires that our awareness be reoriented away from the self and toward the cosmos and its ideal purpose. Therefore, the path to liberation requires that we willingly bear other people’s burdens and take responsibility for the common good.
(396:178, November 7, 2002)