The Third Principle: Learn true love in the school of the family

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LESSON 17: The Authority of True Love

A. The governing authority of true love.

1. By passing through the four great realms of heart and embodying true love, we gain the nobility and authority of king and queen.

• The achievement of true love, not power, is the highest purpose of life.
• Being a secular ruler is just a role, like any other job. It is a secondary purpose. But becoming a king of love is the primary purpose of life.
• This is true for everyone. In this primary arena of life, everyone is equal.
• We grow our love through completing the four great realms of heart as children, then as parents, and finally as grandparents.
• Hence, we possess the nobility and authority of royalty.

2. The glory and power of love in a true family.

• The nobility of love. True love demonstrates and teaches the highest virtues and the highest dignity. The British Royal family was one of many examples of the embodiment of courage, responsibility and nobility, particularly Edward VIII, who remained in London during the blitzkrieg to suffer with the people. But today this family has lost its authority because of the corruption of love.
• The person of true love fulfills three roles:
  • A teacher (of virtue).
  • An owner (a leader who takes responsibility for his realm).
  • A parent (in his sincere concern for the people).
• The authority of love.
  • Secular authority is feared; it is backed by physical force. Godly authority is based upon love. In Mark 1:22 it is stated that Jesus "taught them as one who had authority."
  • By virtuous character.
  • By self-sacrifice for the people.
  • Without intimidation or threat.
  • The people revere such a person.
  • If one feels some indulgent and selfish joy, they feel uncomfortable, even judgment, to face an example of godly love. Such fear born of respect promotes proper ethics.
• True love governs with joy. True authority is not just to control but to govern with love. True love guarantees the people's welfare and protects the spiritual standard of the public sphere. True love elevates those who serve the public, and advances the public interest. People find joy through living under the authority of true love.

3. The home is a palace of love.

• Even a hovel can be a palace if God's love is there.
• The palaces of secular rulers are whitewashed tombs if love is absent.

4. True family life is a life of true nobility, or kingship. Kingship is defined: "The power of true love given to all people through true family relationships."

• Kingship expresses the glory and preciousness of love in the family. We can be overwhelmed with the grandeur of God's love expressed through the beauty of a family. Secular kingship often relies upon external beauty, display and pageantry.
• Kingship expresses the authority and awe which derives from love. Grandparents and parents authority is imbued with true love; it induces awe and respect from the youngers. Secular kingship too often uses force to implement authority, and controls by fear, not respect.
• Kingship expresses the power of true love to attract the cooperation and solidarity of others joyfully. We naturally are attracted to cooperate and work together with the leader who is working for the sake of everyone. Secular authority utilizes coercion of law and police to keep society in line.
• Kingship expresses the respect due grandparents, parents and children who have the authority of true love. Secular authority exalts external skills, not family values, as the basis of respect.

5. In our family, the grandparents are kings and queens of the past, the parents are king and queen of the present, and children are kings and queens of the future.

• With democracy, the age of royalty is over. In democracies, it is the people who confer respect and authority on the king. If they withhold it, the king ceases to be king.
• Today we proclaim that all men are created equal, so there is no political or social basis for exalting one person as king.
• But as a result, in democracy we have no models of true morality, dignity, virtue, and value. As perceived by Alexis de Tocqueville, in Democracy in America , democracy destroys "the natural superiority of reason and virtue." It is "silent on the most important question facing us Quid sit home? or What is man? It therefore can provide no coherent answer to the question of the limitation of human will. It can provide no answer to those who, for reasons of efficiency or malevolence, want to dispose of the society's weakest members, the aged and the unborn. It can provide no fertile source for the creation of beauty. . . . The democratic regime threatens to obscure every reference point that transcends the sovereign individual. When this occurs, Tocqueville suspected, democracy is doomed. We will no longer fathom the true, the good, or the beautiful, and our institutions will crumble." (Brian Anderson, Ibid.)
• Indeed, we look up to celebrities based upon physical beauty or strength, intellectual cleverness or business savvy, and gain vicarious pleasure watching their goings-on.
• Our presidents often are little better; their virtue is further compromised by the demands of partisan politics.
• Notwithstanding, some exceptional men and women have arisen within the democratic world by God's will.
• But now we are entering a new age, in which each person can have the dignity of king and queen.

Our next lesson will discuss the specific qualities of nobility and authority which belong to grandparents, to parents, and to children.

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