“Il Shim” is a Korean term that translates to “One Heart” or “One Heart and Mind.” The Il Shim program is our coming-of-age program for Unificationist 8th grade youth. Il Shim offers tools for family level inheritance of the traditions and teachings of our True Parents within the context of the parent-child relationship. We have designed fully-unique Il Shim Rings with the engraving “Love, Life, Lineage” that a participant receives after completing the program and committing to the Il Shim Pledge.
Il Shim Pledge
I promise to make a sincere effort to develop my relationship with God and my life of faith through prayer and through my lifestyle.
I will strive to inherit the Unificationist traditions of honoring True Parents, upholding the value of the Blessing by maintaining my sexual purity until the Blessing, and living for the sake of others.
I commit to the process of growing and deepening my relationship with my parents by practicing healthy and open communication.
I will strive to find ways to serve the Heavenly Parent Holy Community and wider society with my unique passions and talents.
The Three Pillars: Love, Life, & Lineage
We chose this phrase, often taught by True Parents, to be engraved in the Il Shim rings. It reflects a bigger vision for our lives and the impact it can have. True love is about understanding God’s original vision for love, leading to ultimate happiness for everyone because of its nature to live for the sake of others. True life is about our values that make us who we are: embracing growth and learning at every stage in one’s life and always remembering that we are our Heavenly Parent’s son or daughter. True lineage is about our family, now and in the future with our Blessing, and how it is bigger than just me - my family, by practicing the ideals and traditions of True Parents and Heavenly Parent, can truly bless the world.
True love, true life, and true lineage are interconnected with each other and deeply reflects the values that are taught by our True Parents and through our Il Shim program.
True Parents’ Words on Love, Life, & Lineage
"Lineage is more important than life and more precious than love. Life and love come together to create lineage. Lineage cannot be established if either is missing. Therefore, among the three—love, life, and lineage—lineage is the fruit. God's lineage contains the seed of true love and the body of true life.” (CSG p 1386)
“The fundamentals of the universe are love, life, and lineage. We are their fruit. Within us is the center of love, which safeguards life. Based on that, history and tradition are connected through lineage. This is why you need all three. You have all three of them within you, do you not? You have love, life and lineage. The three combine into one to give birth to a new person.” (190-223, 1989.6.19)
“God’s absolute, unique, unchanging, and eternal love, life, and lineage are the unchanging model of true love to be inherited by infinite generations of our descendants. True love is central to oneness between parents and children, husbands and wives, and brothers and sisters. Parents become the owners of love through their children, husbands through their wives, and elder siblings through their younger siblings.”
How can I explain this to my friends?
Sharing your faith can be scary, but it can also inspire others. Be bold and proudly share what these three words mean to you. Practice with a close friend or family member so you can discover for yourself how to authentically share from your heart.
The three pillars of Love, Life, and Lineage can be explained as three commitments, or three values. You should have received a card that went along with your ring, explaining how to break down each word:
LOVE: I want to practice true love by living wholeheartedly for the sake of others.
LIFE: I want to live a true life rooted in becoming a true child of my Heavenly Parent.
LINEAGE: I want to form a true family that can make the world
a better place by sharing the traditions of True Parents.
I’d like to order another il shim ring!
We are currently in the process of finding a new company to help us with our Il Shim Rings. (Thank you YUBIWA for all your support!)