IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 273

Love is the Fulfilling of the Law

ON GOD; Part LIX

There are many perspectives on the nature of the world that can range from a belief in the illusion of it all, that it is not a reality but is created in and by the mind of man, to a belief that this is all that there is, man is born and he dies and this brief existence on Earth is all of Life. There is a reality for us that is somewhere between these poles and from which one can see each depending of His perspective. The world is an illusion of sorts; it is real and it does exist but a mans part in it is of an illusory nature as the world is not God nor is the body the man; the world is the expression in time and space of God as the threefold body of man is the expression in time and space of the Soul, the True man. ALL things above the physical, the emotional and the mental are in perfect order, they are the spiritual realm, the realm of God where nothing exists but the Good, the Beautiful and the True and it is this that is manifest in imperfection with the goal of attaining that same perfection as its Creator. It is senseless to ponder the reasons for this ALL or the results of it but we should know and understand that in the Infinite Nature of the Life of God this has always be going on in some fashion and in some place and in that Eternal Nature of God it always will. Each man plays his part in this Great Drama but so little of his part is in this form as a man in the Earth. As we have said before in our posts, there is so much of Life that is below our threshold of observation and so much also that is above and we should remember here our discussion of the idea that Every Man and Woman is a Star (In the Words of Jesus parts 215-218) which can give us an inkling of the extance of His Creation and the future possibilities of our roles in it. We can however venture to say that it is in the perfection of Humanity, the reality of the Spiritual Life of man flowing through the outer form, that the perfection of the world at large can be effected and hence the commandment of the Lord that “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). Perhaps in this we can see the reality, the Truer meaning, of the dominion of man over the Earth; not as the man in form who can do as he pleases with the Earth and its resources and its forms of Life but rather as the Soul, created in His likeness and image, who can bring the perfection of the realm of God to bear on this little planet thereby lifting the whole of this piece of His creation into Heaven.

So seeing our real nature as the Spirit, manifest as the Soul, and expressing or attempting to express that Life through the form of man, a form that in ALL reality we are NOT, we will now look at the world and the form that we take in it. There are three keywords that we will use to try to understand through this all and these are illusion, glamour and deception and into these we will place all that exists in the world including those things that we defined at the end of the last post, Satan and the devil. As we begin let us frame our comments in this; the illusion and the glamour and the deception are not the in physical things that we see although these can and do greatly contribute but they are rather the way that we as Souls in form, as personality consciousness, view the physical and seek to use it and this continues upward to encompass our thoughts and feelings on our own spirituality and our God. Attesting to the ever so difficult to explain and to understand division of man, his duality if you will, are these words from the Master. How is it that we, as men in form, can have two distinct abilities of awareness but just one Life? How is it that we can be in and on the Earth and in the Kingdom of God at the same time: Let us begin here by looking at these words from the Master on this duality:

• “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you” (John 15:19). The Master is here speaking to His disciples, men in form who are in the world, but, at the same time, men who believe on Him, that is they follow Him and keep His words, which puts them simultaneously in the Kingdom of God. They are here on the Earth with other men but they are in the Kingdom of God and this is the objective of each of us who desires discipleship, each of us who considers himself an aspirant. The Master tells us clearly and plainly that this is so; He tells us to “seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33) and gives us much more also to help us understand this duality in Life. Remembering the parabolic nature of His words, we have in this verse the idea that the disciples are no longer of this world for if they were, those that they are in common with would protect them. This is much like His saying at the end of the Parable of the Unjust Steward: “Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail , they may receive you into everlasting habitations” (Luke 16:9); this is the same sentiment from the perspective of the man in the world. The Master tells them that “I have chosen you out of the world” which is their discipleship and the same for us as we are chosen by the Christ Within when we have come to that same point in our Faith; that is to follow Him and keep His words. There is likely a better understanding than chosen but such is the limitation of language.
• “And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world” (John 8:23). This verse is being said to the Pharisees and the Jews that were confronting Him for His claims and as was His manner, He did tend to speak harshly to those who were not only in the world but were at the same time convinced that they were doing the work and the words of the Lord. As we said yesterday He is speaking out against hypocrisy, against the lower attempting to play the part of the Higher which today we can expand to the understanding of “ye are of this world” as men focused upon this worldly Life and He, of Himself and the Christ Within, saying “I am not of this world”. We introduce again here our idea from early on in our posts and one which we have made much use of….focus. In these words from the Master we can see that a man can be religious and believe that He is doing what is His righteousness but it is a deception if he is not doing those things that bring one to discipleship and the Kingdom of God. This is of course as true today as it was then and requires no evil deeds nor thoughts and can include self proclaimed religious men and women who Truly believe that they are accounted worthy but who do not keep the words of the Lord. This is a type of glamour and of illusion that we will discuss in more detail as we proceed.
• “He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all“. (John 3:31). This saying is not from the Master but is a saying by the Baptist and one that we have covered before from the perspective of his grasp on the ideas and his understanding of the Kingdom. He is, according to our view, speaking simultaneously of the Christ, the Historic Christ, and the Christ Within (In the Words of Jesus part 255). Who is of the Earth but the personality of a man that is not focused upon the Christ Within, the Soul, and it is this same Soul, this same Christ Within, that is from above. This is another way to see the duality that we all face. When we focus upon the Christ Within, the Kingdom and our spiritual Life then we can bring that Christ Within, that Light of the Soul, into the personality consciousness; the man will then no longer “speaketh of the earth” but will become “he that cometh from heaven“. Again, this is the reality of discipleship and it is accomplished by following Him and keeping His words. 
• “Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven“. (Matthew 18:10). In this parabolic saying is much depth and much mystery. We covered this in some detail in In the Words of Jesus part 115 as it relates to angels and today we see it again as a note by the Master on the duality found in the Life of man. To the church and their interpretations and doctrines this is a verse that confirms the guardian angel; is this however what it is meant to be? There is no explanation of angels in scripture and the word itself means messenger from God; it is used in the Old Testament in a variety of ways including as the presence and the power of God which today we might call the Holy Spirit. The creation of vast doctrines on angels is just that, a creation of man; some is based upon the visions of Ezekiel, and the Apostle John that relate to the cherubim and the seraphim while others are based upon encounters by Abraham and Jacob and Moses in the Old Testament. New Testament encounters of Joseph and Mary, and Zecharias, the Baptist’s father, with messengers from God have also fed this mystery which has produced literature and art depicting the nature of angels. Can we not see in this our theme of illusion, glamour and deception as there is no real foundation upon which any of this doctrine is based. For us this verse takes on a totally different tone and that is of the Christ Within, the Soul, who for us can be considered that angel of which the Master speaks. We do not understand this concept of angels and language is a True impediment; this being said, why should this mystical approach of some extra-terrestrial beings  that are appointed by God to watch over the faithful and the children make any more sense that the idea that we are, in our True spiritual sense, this angel, this messenger from God. “These little ones” on the Earth are no longer in full communion with their Soul but their Souls are still there, in Heaven if you will, awaiting that time when the child will mature and the Soul can begin His call to full communion, to discipleship. Ponder on this.

These are but some of the many verses in the New Testament that testify to the duality of Life as we know it; Life in form. We take a departure here to look at the Quote of the Day that we have been carrying for some time now and which was intended to be a lead in to our discussion. In these words of the Buddha we find much the same idea as we find in the Christian bible albeit from a different perspective. Much like the parts of the Gospel of John that we have been discussing of late are words spoke to His disciples, so are these words of the Buddha spoken to His disciples. The can, as can the words of the Christ, be understood by the unenlightened but their understanding is on a very different level than that of one who is a disciple or attempting to become one…..aspirants like us. Here we will begin our dissertation on illusion, glamour and deception. 

• Do not live in the world, In distraction and false dreams. Outside the dharma. This is the opening line of this teaching by the Buddha and is an admonition to those who would follow Him, as we follow the Christ, that all that is in the world is of this nature. The world distracts the man from his spiritual purpose and enables his false dreams. These dreams can be of any purpose and type; they can be the dreams of the carnally minded or even the evil minded and they can also be the dreams of the spiritually minded that are built on the distractions of the world. We could equate this last part with the belief in some Christian circles that the Lord will reward a man for his tithes and offerings. The saying “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again” (Luke 6:38) is a good example of what we will call false dreams of the spiritually minded. Those who believe in this as the reward for giving miss the point of the Master’s overall teachings and while they may believe that they are focused upon the Kingdom, many are, in fact, focused upon the world. This is for some glamour and for some illusion but for all it is deception. This is a strong statement that we make here today and it is likely that in covering this topic it is but one of many. The word dharma here should be understood as the law and in this we should see the law as we would see the teachings of the Master whose word is for us the law although it is not codified as such nor as it is in the Old Testament; it may be better understood as the idea of His Righteousness as in the Master’s saying that one should “seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness“.
• Arise and watch. Follow the way joyfully through this world and beyond. Follow the way of virtue. Follow the way joyfully Through this world and on beyond! Here is an admonition to arise and watch which we should see in the Buddhist way and not in the normal sense of the words. To arise can be likened to what we have been calling focus and to watch can be seen as what we have been calling following Him. The idea here can be seen as to focus and follow Him, follow the Path through Life in this world and beyond to the Kingdom. This is, as we would say it, the Path to the strait gate to the Kingdom of God. It is said in esoteric circles that the disciple must become the Path and in many ways this fits well into our understanding in which we can go so far as to say that we ARE the Path; we will discuss this idea further as we proceed. Key words here are joyfully, a necessity, and virtue which we can see as the fruit of the Spirit in one’s Life.
• For consider the world – A bubble, a mirage. See the world as it is, And death shall overlook you. Here is the essence of illusion and glamour and the admonition to see it as such; a bubble, a mirage. These are the ideas that we will develop as we move through these topics; the world is to be seen as it is and not as it appears to be and in this vision we are free. We are free from death because we see the reality and the Truth of Life and that there is no real death. Seeing the world as it is is to see it as the Soul and not as the personality consciousness in form.

We will continue with these thoughts in our next post.

Note on the Quote of the Day