Monthly Archives: May 2012

IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 334

Love is the Fulfilling of the Law

ON GOD; Part CXVII

My Soul has Purpose, Power and Will; these three are needed on the Way of Liberation.

My Soul must foster Love among the sons of men; this is its major purpose.

I, therefore, will to love and tread the Way of Love. All that hinders and obstructs the showing of the Light must disappear before the purposes of the Soul.

My will is one with the great Will of God;. that Holy Will requires that all men serve. And unto the purposes of the Plan I lend my little will.

We looked at the Will of God in our last post as it is presented to us in The Lord’s Prayer, the affirmation above and in The Great Invocation. While there is no real definition of His Will, this is a concept that we should be able to understand as being the way that ALL things work and from our little perspective we can see the order of ALL things except those things that man does or causes in this Earth existence under his expression of free will which is, for the most part, apart from the beauty and the order of the rest of His Awesome Creation. From the perspective of the man in form the Will of God can be seen as the Purposes of the Soul and this is idea we put forth in yesterday’s post in our conceptual statement regarding the ONENESS of ALL, a ONENESS that is testified of by the Christ. While this ONENESS is difficult to understand overall, it is ever more so when we look at man as being his phenomenal appearance and not as the Life that causes that appearance. The Christ speaks of this ONENESS in rather purposefully confusing terms and in parabolic statements but in sayings like “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one” (John 17:21-23), we should be able to see at least the idea. The Master is here speaking to His disciples but we should note that there is no special criteria attached to His sayings here as the church would have us to believe; it is the way of Life and the Constitution of Man that make this ONENESS possible. However, this is not in the realization of a man until he becomes a disciple, a state that he is driven to by the Will of the Soul, the Christ Within, which is his purpose. When we can realize that we are the Soul, the Life and the consciousness behind the phenomenal appearance, we can then realize that our singular purpose it to express that True Life and that Soul consciousness through this Life in form.

This is a very difficult idea to really comprehend, this ONENESS of Life, but we can glimpse it if we try in our saying above; our Life is ONE but we cannot see the reality of it because we are in this world of illusion and glamour and deception. There is not a separate Life of the Spirit or the Soul as it may appear to come across in some of our text or even in scripture, there is only the realization of the True nature of that Life. The conscious man is ONE with this Life; there is ONE consciousness which is attendant to the realizations that he has. If one’s realization is as a ‘savage‘ in the jungles of the most remote part of the world, then this is who he is in form; however, behind this, when the form and its personality attributes are removed, he still stands as the Soul and except for the differences in his ability to express his reality through form, he is the same as all Souls. All along the ladder of types of form Life and personality this same concept is at work; if one is of the intelligentsia then this is his realization, for the laborer, the same and for the spiritually inclined man the same as well. Looking at this only from the perspective of this current Life in form, a man expresses the consciousness that he is enmeshed in and while this is an ever changing part of form Life, a steady progression or digression, it is only when the man CHOOSES to Truly look at the spiritual aspect of his Life that he can begin that change in consciousness which will end with the Soul expressing his Life fully through the form. Let us look here as some ideas on these stages as they effect us as men in form and as they are applied for us in scripture. This is not a perfect look but we should be able to get the idea behind it and in looking at these things we should remember and understand that the teachings of the Master are intended to make each of us a disciple; to make each of us follow Him and keep His words.

  • A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh” (Luke 6:45). This is a rather straightforward saying except that we should not see the idea of evil in the way that the word is understood today and this is a caution that we frequently give. Evil is not merely the absence of good either; it can be seen as a large range of thought and behavior that goes from indifference toward righteousness to actual evil thoughts that are spurred by the selfish nature of the man as compounded by the illusion and the glamour by which he is deceived. Strong’s tells us of the Greek word poneros, which is translated as evil in this verse, that it means: bad, the negative quality of an object; evil, wicked, crime, the negative moral quality of a person or action opposed to God and his goodness3. We have here the reason for our present thinking about this word as well as the reality of a quality of a person or action opposed to God and his goodness which we should be able to see in the totality of the Master’s words as any thought or action that is not in accordance with His word. This is an understanding that is missed in modern Christianity. In this saying by the Master we should see, as we have often said, the idea of the heart being the consciousness of the man which, as we see in our premise above, is the same ONE and only consciousness that we have. He tells us that we have good treasure or we have evil treasure which is to say we have treasure from the Soul or treasure from the world and it is based upon this source that the man will speak and will act. Insofar as our theme on stages we should see here the range of thinking men in the world who are indifferent to things spiritual and ignorant of the need to live in accordance with the precepts of God.
  • O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things” (Luke 6:34:35). While this is remarkably similar to the saying above, we are told by our source of chronology of the gospels10 that this is said in a different place and at a different time. There is no certainty to this and, in the scheme of things it does not matter; we use it only to illustrate the marked difference in the tone of the Master. In the saying above from Luke’s Gospel we have the context of Jesus speaking to a rather general audience as this is in Luke’s writing a part of the Sermon on the Mount while in this saying from Matthew’s Gospel we have the Master involved in a discourse with the Pharisees and likely others who are against Him and His teachings and deeds; these men were well beyond the idea of indifference, they were openly antagonistic toward the word of God. We should note here that the Pharisees did not believe this to be True; captivated by their own illusion and glamour, they believed that they were right and did not and would not see the Truth because of their self deception. The same idea of the heart is here as is understanding of what is feeding it; these men are convinced of their righteousness but are wrong and though some may do evil things they are not per se evil men; they are rather enmeshed in or even entombed in their sense of Truth as it flows though their consciousness from their own personalities. Were they to have the benefit of James’s words regarding Wisdom from above, would they have acted any differently? Does the man of today?
  • And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.  He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said , Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal , Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God” (Matthew 19:16-24). In posting the entirety of his encounter between the Master and this man who is known from the other gospels as the rich young man or the rich young ruler, we should be able to get the idea that he is in accord with the precepts of God, he keeps the law. The Master however tells him that this is not enough and if we read between the lines we can see the idea that the young man’s heart is not in those things of righteousness that he does; his heart is in the things of the world. He would like to be with the Master but the price is for him too high; he is not ready to forsake the things of the world. Millions there are today that are in similar straits; they do the law, even the law of Christ, as they see it and insofar as they understand it and are taught it by the church but they too lack one thing or another that keeps them from His Presence. For some it is riches, for others prejudice, for others the pull of family and the social life; whatever it may be it should be seen in this same Light; they are trying according to their own sense of righteousness and not according to the Wisdom from above. This is as we well KNOW a hard saying especially in those societies and cultures where the success of one’s Life is measured in wealth and where the sense is that if one does not have some degree of wealth, he will desire it and strive towards it. The more of this sense that is built into the personality by birth and nurture, the more difficult it is to escape the constant striving for more and for better. One could say that a large part of the church’s movement away from the words of the Master and into the more comfortable words of the Apostle Paul is related to this teaching and we mean of course by church those people who organize and assemble doctrine. We should know that the Master does not teach ascetic Life as this is not evident in any of His words but He rather shows us the very opposite of indulgence to the ways and things of the world. His saying is a bit more tempered in its repetition in the Apostle Mark’s Gospel saying that “Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!” (Mark 10:24) and here we should see the reality of His message which is not so much about trust as we see it today but rather the overall of what Strong’s says regarding the Greek word peitho: to convince, persuade; to trust in, have confidence in, be persuaded3; the King James Version translates peitho as persuade 22, trust 8, obey 7, have confidence 6, believe 3, be confident 2, miscellaneous 7 3. Can we see this as persuaded by or believe in (much the same as believing in the Master is to follow Him) and to obey. This is, simply put, the act of putting riches and the pursuit of them before the pursuit of the Truth, the Life of the Soul, the Christ and the Christ Within. And, riches should not only be seen as  pertaining  to money and to wealth but as a symbol for anything that takes a man’s attention away from his True objective and Goal.
  • There were then and there are now men who can not appreciate the depth of the spiritual Life and who are by way of their constitution not prepared to enter into it as we are speaking, as disciples of Light and of Wisdom. There are many that are still today grounded in an emotional response and not capable of a mental response based solely upon their inability as Souls to build and express through what we can see as the higher type of body. In this we should remember what we say above; that as Souls we are ALL the same except for the differences in one’s ability to express his reality through form and to this we add here to build the form as well. In discussing this in previous posts we made note of the role of one’s current state of experience insofar as it results from his own string of incarnations as well as the role of karmic responsibility in this building and using of form and personality and we should note here also that the Will aspect, as it effects the Soul, causes that this ALL works under the law; a law that we can but glimpse as fleeting thought. This goes to the masses in the time of Christ of whom we read “And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick” (Matthew 14:14) and also to those in groups that heard Him but did not understand “That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them” (Mark 4:12). Can we understand what is happening in Jesus’ day and today as well? Many see the miracles of Life and of God and feel them in their lives and it is to this that they must respond; to the inner sense of the origin of these things and not to the straightforward explanation of the reality of Life. In the grind of Life a man can awaken from the strictly emotional and devotional response and come into an awareness of the Truth but he must accomplish this on his own and make his own communion with his Soul so to speak and short of this we should understand that there is a devotional way to God and we should also understand that this too  is a way of austerity. This is a way to discipleship for many and those of us who are reading and understanding these posts should understand that we are likely past this point in our journey and are on the more modern way that 2000 years of evolution have provided for us.
  • Our last point here is the Life of the disciple and the aspirant who come to that point of realization at some time during their Life and from there “Strive to enter in at the strait gate” (Luke 13:24). For some it is a struggle to get to this point and for others it is the eventual ‘giving in’ from the perspective of the personality and yet for others……there are likely endless scenarios and stories. Our best gospel related understanding of this is in the story of the Apostle Peter who is likely a spiritual man based upon his own confession “And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon’s, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship. Now when he had left speaking , he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net. And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake. And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came , and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken: And so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from hence forth thou shalt catch men” (Luke 5:3-10). It is said that Luke gets most of his understanding of the Life of Jesus from his association with Peter and in this we can see the reason for the detailed story as it appears here. There are several differences across the gospels on the matter of the calling of the apostles this this is of no matter as the reality is that they were called and they did follow. This however is not our point; the story itself is. We have a man who is spiritually minded enough to allow the Master to use his boat for to teach the people and spiritual enough to recognize Him as a Master; spiritual enough to recognize that he is with a man of Great Spiritual Power in Jesus and spiritual enough to shy away because of his own feeling of inadequacy; and then to follow the Master willingly and wholeheartedly. The rest of Peter’s story we have spoken of in past posts; we have witnessed his struggle as a disciple and his accomplishment of what we can only call perfection as understood by us who read and understand that he heals by his mere proximity…..by his KNOWING.

We have gone rather long with this and will close for today; we will try to pick up our thoughts from here in the next post.

Note on the Quote of the Day

This daily blog also has a Quote of the Day which may not be in any way related to the essay. Many of these will be from the Bible and some just prayers or meditations that may have an influence on you and are in line with the subject matter of this blog. As the quote will change daily and will not store with the post, it is repeated in this section with the book reference and comment.

Keeping the Lord’s Prayer as our Quote of the Day, we post an excerpt from the writings of Emmet Fox, a renowned Christian Writer of the New Thought movement within Christianity. While his writings set him apart from the normal doctrinal approach to Christianity, the movement has some doctrinal positions of its own. We can see in the teachings a much more mental approach to God as compared with the devotional and a straightforward belief that Christ IS for ALL. We have posted from his writings before and this is from his interpretation of The Lord’s Prayer:

The greatest of all prayers was designed with still another purpose in view, quite as important as either of the others.  Jesus foresaw that, as centuries went by, his simple, primitive teaching would gradually become overlain by all sorts of external things which really have nothing whatever to do with it. He foresaw that men who had never known him,  relying, quite sincerely, no doubt, upon their own limited intellects, would build up theologies and doctrinal systems, obscuring the direct simplicity of the spiritual message, and actually erecting a wall between God and man. He designed his Prayer in such a way that it would pass safely through those ages without being tampered with. He arranged it with consummate skill, so that it could not be twisted or distorted, or adapted to any man-made system; so that, in fact, it would carry the whole Christ Message within it and yet not have anything on the surface to attract the attention of the restless, managing type of person. So it has turned out that, through all the changes and chances of Christian history, this Prayer has come through to us uncorrupted and unspoiled.

Our Father, which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done,
in earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive them that trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
[For thine is the kingdom,
the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever.]
Amen.*

We will leave this prayer for a few days and try to get a better understanding of it and then move on to The Great Invocation which is, as we are told, given to us by the Christ as well. More than 2000 years separate the receipt of these invocations by the world of men and their language and tenor reflect the changes in the nature of man and his societies over this course of time. The Lord’s Prayer and a brief interpretation are included in the Prayers and Meditations section of the front page of this Blog.

  • *     From the Gospels of Matthew and Luke; this version is from the Book of Common Prayer of 1662
  • **   From the book The Sermon on the Mount: The Key to Success in Life and The Lord’s Prayer: An Interpretation by Emmet Fox; © 1932 HarperCollins Publishers Inc
  • 3   Strongest Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible – 2001
  • 4   Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
  • 10 A Chronological Harmony of the Gospels; Stephen J. Hartdegen, O.F.M., S. Scr. (1942)

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