Love is the Fulfilling of the Law
ON LOVE; PART XXV
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
“But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed . Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:23-29).
There are nearly one hundred different English Bible versions listed on the wiki site and, as we have discovered in our texts, the very nature of the intent of some verses can be changed from version to version. Our point here is only to expand briefly upon our understanding of the points above from the Apostle Paul’s words to the Galatians and to point out again what we are told by the Apostle John regarding teaching. Let us look first here at Galatians and try to see that the idea presented of law does not only include those things that we touched upon in the last essay, the common law, the Ten Commandments, cultural norms, etc.; this idea of law should rather encompass ALL that we, as men in form, believe to be true and to have some effect on our lives. There are lawyers who can interpret the common law for us as we need it interpreted and this is useful and helpful for the man who is grounded in form; the man who is free from this grounding, the one in whom faith is revealed as the apostle tells us above, already KNOWS the True meaning of the law. The former is seeking a way to allow for himself to not be adversely effected by the law and the latter is understanding of the law and seeks no special advantage. So also as we move beyond the specifics of the laws as stated above and into the presentation of scripture which we have suggested is done according to doctrine.
Many of these bible versions are translated and produced with a specific aim of satisfying the teachings as a particular doctrine understands them and in so doing, this scripture then becomes as the law, as a man can pick and choose what it is that he wants to believe and to use in his Life or he can change to a different doctrine. This is especially true with those versions that are referred to as paraphrase where entire verses are given according to the meaning intended by the translators. As we have discussed throughout all of our essays, the understanding of the bible and the teachings of these writings in any translation does occur according to the beliefs of the denominations and on their individual statements of faith. We should also see that many of the different denominations have their own schools, bible colleges and seminaries that teach according to their own individual doctrines and ways of belief. As we have also said, most all of these teachings are based upon the original teachings of the church fathers and the religious organizers of the early centuries and the reformation period
Our view of ALL of this has been markedly different and our own doctrine is the reality of the words of the Master interpreted in an atmosphere of Universal Love and without any constraints on the reality of God and of man, especially those constraints that are based purely on the doctrinal approach and not on any biblical fact. Prime examples of this are the varying teachings on heaven and hell and the doctrines that concern original sin. It is here that we must remind ourselves that when a man is ready to accept and to live according to the law because it is the right thing to do in the face of God and of man, and no longer because it is the law; when there is no choice in one’s Life but righteousness, then that man is sensing, and using in his form Life, the Light of the Soul and it is in this Light that flows this very righeousness. It is in living in this Light that John tells us about teaching and about each man’s several ability to understand the Wisdom of the Ages. He tells us: “But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him” (1 John 2:27)
It is here in these words from John that we should see the Life of the aspirant and of the disciple who by their nature will eschew any separatist teaching and any fundamental jargon that limits the possibilities of a man to the teachings of such doctrines. And, in understanding this we should lean on the Master’s words regarding God and our own God Within who is part and parcel of the Greatness of God and who, according to the Master, can do those greater works and can be as He IS. Jesus tells us:
- Speaking to His disciples about the limitations of men and we will add here the limitation of their doctrines as well, the Master says: “With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible” (Mark 1027).
- And to make this a more personal thing as we say in the preceding paragraph, the Master, speaking to the man whose son is ‘possessed’, says: “If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth” (Mark 9:23).
Can we see the similarity in terms here? and can we understand this in Light of our recent essays regarding faith and believing? In the context of John’s words we can see that it is this KNOWING and the reliance on that KNOWING which gives us the abiltiy to “need not that any man teach you” and that at the same time offers us by degree the reality that “all things are possible“. It is in this realization of our own divinity that a man can find the wherewithal to overcome the lack of True faith and the inherent doubt that comes out of the illusions and the delusions with which the form Life and the personality are beset. Here, in the realization of divinity, flows the confidence of KNOWING and the certainty of no doubt that can build to that point in which the mountain can be moved or the sycamine tree cast into the sea; to that state of being where “all things are possible“. We should remember that these ideas are based upon the words of the Master and the teachings of His apostles and, in both of these thoughts above, there are no idle words. When the Master tells us that there is a state that a man can come to where “all things are possible” or where one can “say unto this mountain, Be thou removed , and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done” (Matthew 21-21), then we must believe what it is that He is saying. And moreover, we should believe and understand the concept of which He speaks and the criteria of accomplishment; He says to us “all things are possible to him that believeth” and He tells us that “If ye have faith, and doubt not……ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed , and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done“. This is the reality of faith and believing and this is a reality is only realized by one’s focus upon the True man’s Life, the Life of the Christ Within, the Soul, and this is the same source from which proceeds that KNOWING of which John speaks, that anointing that “teacheth you of all things, and is truth“.
This is also the truth of the baptism which Paul speaks of the the Galatians in our saying at the top of these last several essays. This baptism is no ceremony and it is no ritual but it is rather the realization of the Christ Within and the working of the Love and the Power of the Soul through the Life in form or, as Paul states it, to “have put on Christ“. Here we realize our divinity and here we realize our ONENESS with ALL and Paul all but spells this out for us saying that in the reality of the True man, the Soul, the Christ Within, there is no separation and there are no barriers and, most importantly, as a Soul we defy the labels of men and there is no longer a reality to the Earthly existence that we have. From the perspective of the Soul there is no such thing as “Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there there is neither male nor female” for in our divinity we exist as told us in Genesis where we read that: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them“. And we should understand that for as long as a man holds to the doctrines that he his brought up with and the ideas of his carnal Life as the reality of a man, he will never understand the simplicity and the complexity of this saying.
Paul gives us the reality that the faith that we need to have if we are to progress away from this Life in form and our focus upon it as the True Life, is found in the realization of Christ and this is the Christ Within. In reading and doing the words of the Master we are brought to communion with the Christ Within and we should understand that they are ONE and this too the Master tells us. In His prayer near the end of His time with us He says, speaking of His disciples: “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; 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” (John 17:20-21). This is of course a realization of ONENESS which ever exists in the realm of the Soul, the Kingdom of God, and this realization is brought to us who believe on Him and we KNOW that this is not that merely to believe the facts of His historic life or of His saving energy as facts but it is, as we have oft said, to accept and adopt His precepts and example as binding upon the life4. This is to keep His words, and to follow Him as our Shepherd and our Lord; it is doing what He says.
When one looks at the entirety of the Life of Jesus it is difficult to find much of what is taught by the varied doctrines of the churches; it is nearly impossible to find a place where He asks for our worship, especially as we understand the word today. What He does do is teach us and He teaches us in ALL things that are of importance in the Life of a man in form who is trying to realize his own divinity and to accomplish the commandments and the entirety of the words of Christ. His teaching should be seen as the steady reminder of the reality of the Christ Within, the Soul, and should serve to draw a man away from the lures of the flesh. The reality of this ALL works in strange ways and likely in different ways for each. This reality only works however when the consciousness that is working out its Life in the personality of the man in form is ready to listen to the ever prompting impulses of the Soul which can be seen as the higher side of conscience. Most ALL of us who are ready do understand the ideas of right and wrong in most ALL things and this realization should be seen as one’s own thoughts of the things that are of God and the things that are of the world; of righteousness and of sin or evil.
This brings us back to where we started a few days ago regarding the law and faith as it is painted for us by Paul in his letter to the Galatians. We painted this in yesterday’s post as a matter of choice and so this should be seen as such; under the law a man will choose to comply or not to comply and under righteousness a man will do what is right from the perceptive of the Christ Within; this is the reality of the Master’s teaching on the treasure of the heart as we have discussed much in these posts.
From the perspective of the man in form these sayings on treasure are his indication that it is the Light of the Soul that is flowing through into his Life and it is in this Light that we realize the Good, the Beautiful and the True.
We leave off today with these thoughts from yesterday’s essay regarding faith and the law again as this is a concept that can help a man to understand his own position in his journey to and on the Path: We as men who choose daily and on a case by case basis must be seen as under the law and those who consistently do right for no benefit or reward can be seen as righteous and we must ever understand that from the perpective of the disciple and the aspirant, this must include ALL that can be considered as one’s focus on the things of the world which we can translate into the idea of focus upon the things that benefit the carnal self.
|
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 |
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.
We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.
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 again for today. In this is the reality of discipleship and the selflessness, the willing selflessness that is its hallmark.
“He who faces the light of His Soul and stands within its radiance is blinded to the issues of the world of men; he passes on the lighted way to the Kingdom of God. But he who feels the urge to pass that way, yet loves his brother on the darkened path, revolves upon the pedestal of light and turns the other way.”
“He faces towards the dark and then the seven points of light within himself transmit the outward streaming light, and lo! the face of those upon the darkened way receives that light. For them, the way is not so dark. Behind the warriors—twixt the light and dark—blazes the light of the Kingdom itself.“**
We previously posted this saying in In the Words of Jesus part 367 and did so in conjunction with the Master’s teaching on the idea that “But many that are first shall be last; and the last first” (Mark 10:31) and His teaching about the mustard seed where, in Luke’s Gospel, he says: “So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do” (Luke 17:5-10)”. In this context we say about the words above: Remembering that the Master is speaking to His disciples in both instances above and both are, in our view, explanatory of the nature of the disciple; that he will accomplish what he has to do, his duty if you will, but will continue on in the service of the Lord and give his ALL in service to his fellowmen. There an ancient aphorism which states this truth in a different way and on which we have taken the liberty of rendering in a more understandable language;
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
- ** Discipleship in the New Age – Volume II by Alice A Bailey; © 1955 by Lucis Trust
