Thank you. Everywhere I go people ask me, one way or the other: are you blessed? :) Then I have to explain why not and it's not an easy matter, but I try to take it lightly or to find a way to laugh at it. Inevitably, after a while I found myself doing the same to others, especially to second generation children!? So, from now on I will answer - yes, I am blessed but I am not married yet :) And I will try to refrain myself from asking others if they are blessed but instead ask if they are married.

Good thought William !

Actually this is symptomatic of group slang, which in it's worst aspect could be called cultish. I don't know now in Britain, but in the past people would answer the phone with'Manchester/Cardiff centre' - centre of what, or what centre. Similarly, are you a member? And using a word in DP that was probably found in the dictionary when translating: subjugate, great word, but not in current usage sine before WW1, except how East European emigres described they country subjugated by Communism. But, re blessing & marriage, one can, I think beautifully, talk of being 'blessed in marriage'; I guess any religious persomn might say this, how about 'blessed by True Parents / Rev. Moon in marriage' - but in short, I guess 'married' is best - not that I think it was wrong to use 'blessed', it's just that the circumstances and external culture are somewhat different than they were, say, 10 years ago - and I suggest that Hyung Jin Nim is helping greathy in clarifying this, internally as well as externally.

Good topic. I looked up the meaning of the word and found this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blessing Interestingly the UC meaning of the word is mentioned as equaling marriage. Another set of definitions: # the formal act of approving; "he gave the project his blessing"; "his decision merited the approval of any sensible person" # a desirable state; "enjoy the blessings of peace"; "a spanking breeze is a boon to sailors" # grace: a short prayer of thanks before a meal; "their youngest son said grace" # benediction: a ceremonial prayer invoking divine protection The latter may be what the traditional "blessing" means as in benediction of marriage. It is true that is sounds rather ambiguous when someone comes up and asks : "Are you blessed?", if feels like "not being blessed" is so very undesirable, like missing something. God's grace is abundant and all encompassing, no one should feel like they are out of the loop, so to speak. The option to say "I am blessed but not yet married" for the young people as Robert T. suggested seems a very good alternative.

Thank you very much for raising the issue, and all the comments, so far). I never thought about it in this light. Very sensitive topic. You are right, William, to use the terminology seems to be very problematic. As a result, I am thinking now of creative ways when I want to say that 'I am blessed,' in terms of 'I am married'. One method is, like the youngish feeling grey-haired generation among us used to say, 'I am from XYZ blessing,' or, 'I am from the blessing of ABC year' (but this runs quickly out of fashion, I believe, as there so many 'blessings' already being held; and many, many more will come in the future - and, are we not all the same?) Another method might be also, to just show your distinctive golden ring on your finger (without saying anything), or simply show a photo, you and your partner.

Well Christopher I think the term 'centre' fizzled out a long time ago too as they have all closed. In any case it was always a very utilitarian word as in 'Job Centre', Shopping Centre'etc. What a lack of imagination! So too subjugate - although the choice of this word and also 'dominion' as in 'dominate with love' reveal the limitations of the English language. In this respect Hebrew does much better - it has a larger religious vocabulary that has many words that reveal a richer and more nuanced understanding of restoration etc.