Love is the Fulfilling of the Law
ON LOVE; PART XXVI
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).
But before the KNOWING came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the KNOWING which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our instructor to bring us unto the realization of the Christ Within, that we might be shown righteous by KNOWING. But after that KNOWING is come, we are no longer under the instructor. For we are sons of God by KNOWING the Christ Within. For as many of you as have been submerged into Christ have put on the Love and Power of the Christ within. There is neither any more separation between us as we are ALL one in Christ.
We have spent the last several posts trying to say what we see here above regarding the Apostle Paul’s words to the Galatians and through them to us who would be disciples an aspirants to discipleship. According to doctrine these words are a melody of ‘faith‘ in Jesus who removes us from service to the law. While doctrine paints this and most all such passages as faith in the person of Jesus Christ, which faith is a belief in historic facts, we paint this as KNOWING the Christ Within, the True and Inner Man, the Soul. Much of the doctrines of the churches have seized on the out of context words from the apostle’s Epistle to the Romans to characterize these words above and from which they believe that they are ‘saved‘ and ‘born again‘; Paul tells us there that “if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:9-10). While this can be a reality for the average person seeking personal salvation and justification, it is for us who would be True disciples merely the doctrines of men. And we KNOW that it is no easy thing to accomplish as this is what He told us is so; and His commands are to strive and to Love and to take no thought for the things of this world. In this realization that we have from the Master and from the words of the Apostle John telling us of the anointing that we have in us which “teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie” (1 John 2:27) we find the reality of our march toward perfection.
The Master tells us that we should “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48) and this is not a thing that we can take lightly as it is the culmination of ALL of our efforts toward His Kingdom and toward discipleship. At the same time as He teaches us this and the many other complimentary sayings of Love and personal expression, He cautions us not to get lost and waylaid in the illusion and the glamour, telling us of those who “…in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:9) and telling us to “Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given” (Mark 4:24); and in this word hear we should include the common understanding of believe.
In our restatement of the words of the apostle is the realization that we should have as aspirants and in this understanding we should be able to see that which we have been saying regarding one’s self analysis; as being under the law or in righteousness. We should remember also the ideas of degree as they affect this state of being righteous or under the law as well so that we can be partly one or the other or mostly one or the other; this is of course only seen in the most private matter of looking at one’s self with an eye to ascertaining his own place. Again we post those words that we devised for this purpose of KNOWING one’s place in this matter:
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.
We should not forget here the idea of this, as so many other things in our spiritual walk, working out in one’s Life by degree and we should understand that this increasing degree of accomplishment in things of the Spirit is the defining reality of the Master’s instructions that we “Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able” (Luke 13:24).
Having now completed our look at these words of the apostle to the Galatians, we now address the completion of our remarks on the affirmation of the disciple. We should remember that these words are the example of the thoughts of the disciple and therefore should become the thoughts of the aspirant to discipleship as well.
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 have noted that the first stanza is an affirmation of the Trinity of man and his relationship to the Trinity that IS God with the Light representing the Holy Spirit in both God and in man as the activity of the Soul of ALL things of God as it is expressed upon the Earth and in the psychological realms of mind and feelings and, also as the activity of the Life of the Soul in the form and in the personality of a man. We should understand that there IS NO separate part of God that is this Spirit; the Master tells us that “God is a Spirit” (John 4:24) which should be rendered as God IS Spirit as it is in most other translations of the bible and which should be seen to incorporate ALL Aspects. In this we should see that there is ONE God viewed from different perspectives and here the perspective is the activity of God in the world, of which His Life giving Energy is of paramount importance. From there we move on to the strand of Love within the stream of Love and we should see this as the Soul Aspect, the Christ Within as he exists withing the Christ Aspect of God which is the manifestation of that Love that IS God. Finally we see the point of fire that is the Spirit of man with in the Greater Fire as the Will of God. Thus this is the Trinity that is the man within the Trinity which is God and we should see this as each aspect within the corresponding Aspect of God as well as the whole of the Spirit that IS man being within, as part and parcel, the Spirit that IS GOD.
The second stanza is an affirmation of the nature of the Soul and its primary purpose for both the man himself and toward others in service. While we may think that we can achieve any thing as men in the world we should Truly understand that the only achievements possible are spiritual in nature and involve the advancement of a man toward his goal and objective of expression of the Life of the Soul through form. The writer of the Book of Ecclesiastes tells us of man in the world that: “As he came forth of his mother’s womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand“ (Ecclesiastes 5:15) and this is an understood Truth in the world but at the same time one that is ignored in the labors of Life. The Master addresses this same idea in the Parable of the Rich Fool which we covered in some detail in In the Words of Jesus parts 109-110. Here we have a man who is amassing much more that he needs of the things of the Earth:
“The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:16-21)
Here too we should see that most ALL get the point of this insofar as to build fortunes on Earth is of no profit to a man simply because he cannot take it with him, NONE can. Yet we strive for the things of the Earth a plenty giving little heed to the final verse above which tells us that the plight of the Rich Fool is our fate as well if we “layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God” So the Affirmation tells us that it is the Soul that is the way of True achievement for the form Life, that as the the Soul Life becomes the Life of the man in form he will reveal the treasure of his heart which are the things of God and of the Christ within. The Affirmation also makes the claim that it is the Soul that is the source of strength for the righteous Life of the man in form and that it is the Soul that provides the Light by which we can see the Truth and the reality of the Love and the Power of the Soul. Again, we should remember that these things are True from the perspective of the man himself; from the perspective of the form Life the Soul IS the way of achievement, it IS the source of strength and it IS the Light on the Path to God. And, these things are True in the service of the awakened disciple and aspirant as he chooses to serve and to help others to achieve, to give them strength and to share his own Soul Light with ALL.
Finally we have the last stanza which is the affirmation spoken by the awakened disciple and aspirant who can see himself in his role as the Soul infused personality, of the man in whom the Light of the Soul shines; and, again, we must understand that is too happens by degree. As an aspirant and as a disciple in a range from being newly realized up to the full realization of the Love and the Power of the Soul being expressed through form, that place where a man can be “as his master” (Luke 6:40) which is for us AS the Christ and of whom it can then be said that “in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9), we can repeat with confidence this last stanza. In the idea of revolving we should see the reality of the next lines as this man now does both, he treads this way of man in the world but from the perspective of the Christ Within; he becomes like the Christ then living in the world but no longer being of the world and is able to say with the Master “I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
And he KNOWS the ways of God in which saying we should see and understand here that this is possible to be as Christ, as the Master, who has overcome the world. It IS in this state of the awakened disciple that we can KNOW, again by degree, the WAYS OF GOD. This is ever our reality as Souls in His Kingdom, that we KNOW God and when that Life of the Soul becomes the Life of the consciousness in form, we can bring that KNOWLEDGE to bear on the world.
This completes our look at the saying at the head of our essays and this Affirmation of the Disciple. We leave again our chart for further discussion and we leave again our sayings on faith and believing which we hope to get back to in the next post.
|
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 |
- “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
