Love is the Fulfilling of the Law
ON LOVE; PART XVIII
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α
GoodWill IS Love in Action
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α
On discipleship he says:
“If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath , he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26-27, 33).
In the allied saying from Matthew’s Gospel we read:
“He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it” (Matthew 10:37-39).
The Apostle John tells us this of the Masters words on discipleship:
“Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed” (John 8:31).
“Herein is my Father glorified , that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples” (John 15:8).
In yesterday’s post we discussed some of our perspective on hate as it exists in the world yet today and how its origins can be found in the illusion and the glamour that each of us as Souls in form suffers through as we make our way through a Lifetime in form. We noted again how these forces are intimately tied to the vanity of which the Apostle Paul speaks, a vanity that is incorporated into the apostle depiction of life in form which we have studied much over the last several weeks. We repeat a part here again for clarity an because it will help to lead us into today’s essay:
“For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:20-21).
We discussed this in the last post along with our accepted understanding of the word vanity as we get it from the lexicon and from Vincent and in the combination of these we find that the meaning is basically what we understand in the ideas of illusion and of glamour. When taken away from the understanding of personal vanity, the ideas put forth in our modern dictionaries are also appropriate to our cause and it is here we begin today. ALL that is wrong with the world of men today and in ALL of his yesterdays can be traced to these world forces which can be seen as the root of the evils of the world and the root of the attitudes of separateness that cause a man to believe the untrue and to separate himself from those who view the word differently and in so doing separate himself from the Truth of God. We should remember that it is our premise that this vanity is merely the ways of the world as they are enhanced by the individuals subjection to them and that this is the point that Paul is explaining to us in the citation from his Epistle to the Romans above.
As we have tried to simply state in past posts, these sayings by the apostle are a part of a dissertation on the ways of men in the world of form and in reading this thoroughly with the idea of the True man, the Soul, in mind, we can see the reality of the race in the world. The creature is alternately the individual and the whole of mankind and as the individual we should understand the creature as the form and personality of man that is in possession of the Life and the consciousness that IS the Soul. From this perspective then we can understand the words that the creation or ALL of the creatures as defined are “made subject to vanity, not willingly” which is in our simple interpretation that the True man, the Soul, is subjected to this vanity by means of his incarnation into Life in form. When we add to this the idea of “not willingly” we can then see the plight of ALL men. As Paul goes on we see in his carefully thought out words that this subjection is “by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope” and we of course note that this is God and that the whole of this saying denotes a part of the Awesome Plan of God. Many go out of their way to change this as the apostles intent and we cover this in some detail in In the Words of Jesus part 378. We should understand that doctrine places this vanity into the realm of the devil and the sins of Adam and the explanations vary dependent upon whose doctrine one reads; we however recognize that the devil is in the details and that the devil is the reality of this vanity as a force of Life in form and not a personality who has any control over man. Similarly Adam, as the ceremonial first man, is subjected to this same vanity by means of his own incarnation into form and this should be understood in our recognition of the first creation of man in Genesis as the True man, the Soul and we could add here, the creation of the Soul as the manifestation of the Spirit which is ever ONE with God.
With the inclusion of the devil and of Adam into this equation we find doctrine placing blame for the predicament of man onto some outside source and selling this placement as a reality which was generally accepted by the early church of emotionally based and rather superstitious men. Here in this context we have often professed that as the race of men has progressed, doctrine has not progressed and many there are in today’s world that cannot accept these ideas as the Truth of creation. We on the other hand view this subjection to illusion and glamour by means of the Plan of God as the simpler Truth from which we can garner an understanding that this IS the way that Life in form IS and that it is from this that we must escape, or rather it is this that we must defeat, in order to stand and say with the Christ that “I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). We should KNOW also that this overcoming is the predicted end; the word hope at the end of the twentieth verse from Paul above should be understood as expectation which is the translation offered to us by the lexicon that says that the Greek word elpis which is translated as hope means: expectation of evil, fear; expectation of good; hope in the Christian sense, joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation; on hope, in hope, having hope, the author of hope, or he who is its foundation, the thing hoped for2. Here then we have the idea that God, who subjected the entirety of this creation to Life in form which is Life enmeshed in the vanity, the illusion and the glamour that the world of things offers and He has done so in expectation that “the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God“. Here we KNOW that the bondage is the subjection and the corruption is the ways of the world and it is these things that we must overcome to enter into “glorious liberty of the children of God” which we KNOW is the Kingdom of God and the reality of discipleship. This is our individual goal and this is the goal and the objective of the entirety of the creation as well.
We have covered this section of Paul’s words to the Romans many times in the last few months and since we have discovered these words we have been able to work them into so many of our essays and themes. There is a reality here which when combined with the ideas of the Truth of man, his constitution if you will, we can have a better understanding of Life and of mans role in the scheme of things and, most importantly, a better comprehension of the Master’s words as we read them above on discipleship. The Constitution of Man is an important part of the reality that we see as man in form; it is not a picture of the man in form but rather a picture of the Life that is the man:
|
Aspect of God |
Potency |
Expressed as Fire |
Aspect of Man |
|
Father |
Will or Power |
Electric Fire |
Spirit or Life |
|
Son, The Christ |
Love and Wisdom |
Solar Fire |
Soul or Christ Within |
|
Holy Spirit |
Light or Activity |
Fire by Friction |
Life Within the Form |
We tend to understand and accept the Trinity of God although this reality is not clearly taught in the words of the Master but only by reference to the Aspects of God as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This is without explanation and without the doctrinal additions that were originated in the early days of the church. We should understand here that it is because of the belief that the body and the personality are the man that the reference of the Trinity became one of Persons and hence then Three Persons where we say Three Aspects and this word aspect should be understood as nature; quality; character7, which is how this is expressed for us in our modern dictionary. Now if we can accept this reality of God as a Trinity of Aspects and we can understand the pronouncements of Genesis regarding the nature of man, we should be able to see and to understand that the man is NOT this form that has a Soul but rather that man is a Soul living for a time in a body….a body that is in possession of the Life and the consciousness that IS the Soul and that IS “made subject to vanity” through this Life in form.
There are many ways of framing this for our understanding and today’s is a bit different than we usually frame it. While the reality is ever the same, we see in today’s essay the idea of possession from the perspective of the form where we generally look at this as the Soul giving Life to the body and the personality and lending consciousness which word lending is used to try to emphasize that the form Life uses the consciousness as it will according to the Souls ability to exercise any degree of control. These are difficult ideas to express and to understand as we are fixed in our perspective and it is only on the Light of the Soul that clarity comes.
Returning to the Trinity, we should note that in our chart the same realities that are regarded as God are regarded as man albeit with slightly different terminology which difference is only for our better understanding. The correspondences are however accurate and this must be seen as True if we accept what we are told in Genesis. When we read “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Genesis 1:27), how are we to understand it? This is another disconnect of doctrine and this because the formulators of the doctrines did not see past the physical appearance of the man and this despite the writings of Paul that should have at least given pause to these ideas. We KNOW that the Master teaches in parables and that some of what He says is intentionally unclear; we should understand also that many of His sayings are so clear that the are hidden in their clarity much like when we hide a thing from others in plain sight. How do we understand a saying like “Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of” (Luke 9:55) or can we see what the Master means in saying that “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23-24)? Can we see in the latter saying the additional reality of “God created man in his own image“.
The apostles are also generally vague in their pronouncements and we can attribute this to at least two things, that first they are heeding the Masters ideas and His reasons for teaching in parables and are heeding His words as well as He tells us “neither cast ye your pearls before swine” (Matthew 7:6) which is a parabolic way of saying that we should not teach others what they cannot understand nor accept. Or, second, that the apostles are generally writing to disciples and aspirants and are writing in words that they should already understand the context of. Either way there are sayings such as “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16) which should need no further explanation but give to us the reality that we speak of above. If we can look at that saying from the Epistle to the Hebrews that we discussed just two posts back in this Light, we should be able to discern a Truer meaning than that which is commonly held…that in it is proof that there is no reincarnation or rebirth. When we understand the True nature of man and His likeness to God we can better see the delineation of thoughts as focused upon the form nature or upon the divine nature when they are presented.
Bringing this ALL back onto our beginning remarks in today’s essay, we should say that we are trying to grasp these ideas of illusion and glamour as they effect the nature of the Life of a man in form. In today’s essay as well as those past we are trying to show that these forces are the ways of the world and the nature of Life in form or as we should say the nature of a Life that is focused in form. This is because when we can change our focus away from the things of the world we can begin overcome the pull of the flesh and the necessity to deal with the forces of the world to which we are subjected. The ultimate of this accomplishment is found in our verses at the head of our essay which is another repetition of the criteria that the Master places upon discipleship and which we see as the same criteria that is placed upon being accounted worthy of His Kingdom.
Again this is not where we thought we would go today but these points are important to understand if we are to see the reality of Life and of divinity and in such seeing can become that which the Master implores us to be in His many words that tell us that we should not be focused upon the things of the flesh. Most importantly, when we see the reality of Life and the equality of ALL as Souls who are expressing Life through the panoply of forms and abilities in form, we should be able to better understand the foundation for the Love that the Master teaches us and which we take the liberty of repeating here again today.
“And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these”. (Mark 12:30-31)
WHAT THEN IS LOVE?
In a general sense love is benevolence, good will; that disposition of heart which inclines men to think favorably of their fellow men, and to do them good. In a theological sense, it includes supreme love to God, and universal good will to men.
PLUS THE EVER IMPORTANT AND HIGH IDEAL TAUGHT TO US BY THE CHRIST:
“Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12)
We leave again our sayings on faith and believing which we hope to get back to in the next post.
- “But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matthew 18:6).
- “The baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven, or of men? And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say unto us, Why did ye not then believe him?…..For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him” (Matthew 21:25, 32).
- “Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not…….” (Matthew 24:23-26).
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.
We leave our quote of the day for another day as in it we find some of the realities of what is man as Spirit, Soul and the Life within the form. In this affirmation we find our understanding of our relationship to God and our relationship to man. Our relationship to God is as Part and Parcel of Him; our relationship to man is in service.
I am a point of light within a greater Light. I am a strand of loving energy within the stream of Love divine. I am a point of sacrificial Fire, focused within the fiery Will of God. And thus I stand I am a way by which men may achieve. I am a source of strength, enabling them to stand. I am a beam of light, shining upon their way. And thus I stand. And standing thus, revolve And tread this way the ways of men, And know the ways of God. And thus I stand.Today’s Quote of the Day is called the Affirmation of the Disciple and is spoken from the perspective of the Soul and not from that of the man in form. It is the Soul that we are in this life on Earth, housed in this ‘temple’ of flesh and it is the Light of the Soul that must flow through this ‘temple’ in order that we may say with the Christ “I have overcome the world” (John 16:33) which is our goal and our destiny. Speaking then as the Soul we affirm our reality and true existence in God and in His Three Aspects of Light and Love and His Will. As this Light and Love and Will flow through our conscious personalities and forms we, as disciples, take on the nature of the second stanza being able to offer to the world a better way through our service and our Love for all, encouragement to righteousness through our strength of purpose, and the Light which shines in accordance with the Master’s instructions to “Let your light so shine before men” (Matthew 5:16) and illuminates the Path. Finally we realize that we are standing in this world and walking as men but, as conscious Souls in form, we know the way and the ways of God and are able to say with the Christ that “I am not of this world” (John 8:23).
Looking at Life as we depict it above in relation to this affirmation we can see the idea presented that we are a part of God and that this is true on multiple levels, the levels that we call the Trinity. Relating these first three lines to the chart above can offer some clarity as to the nature of God and of man. For more on the ideas in this Affirmation of the Disciple please refer to the Quote of the Day from In the Words of Jesus parts 179-181.
- 2 New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
- 7 Dictionary.com Unabridged based on Random House Dictionary – 2011
