Love is the Fulfilling of the Law
ON LOVE; PART CCXXXIII
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•Α•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things” (Romans 1:18-23).
We spent some our words yesterday discussing what we write here on this blog; we were both bemoaning our difficulty caused by our consistently being opposed to the established centuries old doctrines of the churches which in turn causes that human tendency to have doubt creep into one’s thinking, as well as then setting forth again our rationalization of it ALL as based upon our own beliefs and those sure measures of the Wisdom from above and the fruit of the Spirit that we are given by the Apostles James and Paul and our current endeavor may have been a part of the reason for these words from the apostles. That is, that they devised these ideas so that men CAN KNOW that what they are thinking and what they are doing is in reality a Truly spiritual endeavor. What ever their motivation, we are using their words and the theme of their writing to measure what we are saying and doing and we are writing about these things so that others may grasp this same realization that we have and be able to see that ALL things for the self in the world are contrary to both the Wisdom and the fruit of which they so eloquently speak. We do realize that our writings are hard from the perspective of one’s attainment of the Kingdom and of becoming a True disciple and at the same time we try to show how this IS a part of the Plan and that this difficulty in attainment IS spoken of by the Master who clearly tells us this in several ways. He also gives us the reality of the requirements and the necessary criteria for achieving both. That we may be telling many who may come across our writings that they are not in the spiritual position that they may think themselves in is a necessary part of setting forth the Truth of the Master’s words and in this we bring their attention to the words of the Apostle James who tells us clearly and succinctly that it IS ONLY in keeping the words of the Master, the word of God, that we can achieve; James tells us: “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22).
We should note here as well that in the Life of the aspirant, the True aspirant who is ready and willing to look past all that he had ever KNOWN and believed, that there IS that duality of which we frequently speak, that this man is betwixt and between the True focus upon the things of God and that carnal focus upon the self and the things of the self in the world. While this may be a most difficult position, it is at the same time a necessary phase in the spiritual development of a man in the world, a position where there are times during a day when one is again lost in the illusion and the glamour and other times when one Truly realizes his position and his state and sees and KNOWS the Light of the Soul in his Life. This reality sets forth the purposes of meditation and prayer and the frequent pauses during the day to reflect on the Truth as well as the need for reading and/or writing as it is these times of ‘spiritual activity’ that enhance those times of True realization and, in fact these ARE those times. We always hesitate to call ourselves disciples and we KNOW the self imposed requirements of being such. We must realize that these requirements are those same that the Master and His disciples tell us of and in which we should try to see that one CAN NOT become a disciple if the self and the things of and for the self in the world are of any importance as these things WILL then take one’s attention away from one’s True focus upon the things of God. It is the Natural Law of Life that imposes this requirement of True focus and not the words of the Master who tells us of these Truths. We can find this Truth in His words in many places but none more succinct than the simple saying that: “Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24, Luke 16:13). Of course we must understand here that mammon is more that the riches and possessions of the world, it IS our focus upon the these things as well as our thoughts and attitudes and actions that regard the self in the world as the important part of Life. And we should understand that the Master’s words tell us that we “cannot” and in this as well we should see Him speaking to us about the Natural Law of Life. Noting that this word mammon is almost always attributed to riches and thereby possessions, it is difficult to get our point across, which is that the Master’s intent here is not only in riches but it IS as we are saying….the totality of ALL things of the world and one’s focus upon them so that they become the treasures of the heart and here too the idea of treasure IS NOT only in riches and possessions. And it is we who must tie the Master’s thoughts together, it is us who must break down His parabolic sayings which most of His teachings are, even when the word parable is not used, and we should see this in the apostle’s words that tell us this saying: “All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them” (Matthew 13:34) and again “And with many such parables spake he the word unto them, as they were able to hear it. 34 But without a parable spake he not unto them” (Mark 4:33-34). This said, can we see the parabolic value in the idea of “Ye cannot serve God and mammon” and can we see it as well in His words “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Luke 12:34) where we should see treasure as what IS important to the man and see heart as the consciousness of the man in form? Can we see the reality of our use of the word focus to distinguish the difference between God and mammon and to set forth the reality of one’s treasure?
Returning to our topic which is the saying at the top of our essay for the last several days, we should try to see the objective of the word wrath as it is used here in declaring the “wrath of God“, that it IS NOT the anger of God in heaven nor the anger of the Master. In this creation that IS founded and grounded in the Love that IS God, we should see that the prospect of an angry God is not even feasible and while this statement discounts much of what is written in the Old Testament, we should see that this discounting is necessary for our proper understanding of the teachings of the Master who came in Love and as Love and whose expression IS Love; we should understand as well that anger IS a carnal word and not one with a spiritual counterpart; we should note here as well the difficulties of language in trying to express the reality of the apostle’s words. The purpose of the words of Moses and the other Patriarchs that give the impression of the anger of God may have been an important teaching tool for the superstitious and emotionally driven men in those days which begin more than 4000 years ago with the story of Abraham. The dynamic of God speaking to man in that day is most likely the same as it is today which is that the God Within speaks and He speaks through a one who can see and live in the Light of the Soul. For the spiritual men in those days, their thoughts and words are measured against the same Wisdom from above and fruit of the Spirit even though these words were not yet pronounced to the world. And so Abraham, and Isaac and Jacob and eventually Moses are hearing God as the Inner Voice of their own Souls which are part and parcel of God and it IS their interpretations of their hearing God in their time and way of Life that we are reading yet today. And the Master Himself testifies to this reality of the interpretation by the Patriarchs in that exchange with the Pharisees where He explains the teaching that Moses uses in relation to adultery saying:
- “The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away? He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so. And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery” (Matthew 19:3-9).
Can we see the point here regarding the teachings of Moses and likely of ALL the Patriarchs? We should note here that our choice of words, interpretation, has a twofold reality; one is found in the words of the Master that imply that Moses did this particular interpretation with the intent to cover the sins of the people and the other is found in our understanding of the psyche of man as it processes the Wisdom from above according to the personality equipment that he has. By yet another way we can see our own example, that there are times in our own lives as aspirants when we see a revelation or have a realization that IS for us as clear as day but is at the same time one that we cannot express in this same clarity and we are forced to use language which is insufficient to the task. Then, between the ideas that we have here regarding interpretation and the reality of parabolic teaching by both the Master and His apostles, we can find the space to reinterpret their words into our proper understanding; we should remember here that it is the translators that chose these words for us such as “wrath of God” and without explanation as this idea fit well with the established doctrines. Strong’s tells us a bit more on this Greek word orge saying that it means: wrath, anger, the feeling and expression of strong displeasure and hostility this can range from the petty human anger to the righteous anger of God toward sinful disobedience 3 and while this is a strictly doctrinal perspective, it does offer us the reality that there is more to this word that merely the defining words of wrath and anger. What we find here is displeasure which agrees with our perspective and that of Saint Augustine and the philosophers of his day as we have been discussing over the last two essays.
Seeing then this displeasure as the wrath of God and seeing the idea here of God as the God Within, we are ready to continue through the rest of this verse as we started in the last essay. Our verse tells us of a reality of Life in form, especially in the Life of the man who IS NOT focused upon the things of God and for us as well, as aspirants, who are likely only partially focused. Paul tells us “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness” and here, based upon what we have been discussing as well as our general understanding, we have the displeasure of the Soul, the God Within, and this is made KNOWN to the man by conscience, revealed if you will, and this revelation is against “all ungodliness and unrighteousness” which we should see as our focus upon the things of the world. In the apostle’s words we should understand that this IS all happening from the perspective of the Soul and is being revealed to the consciousness as the conscience which is not heeded by the man whose focus IS upon the things of the world. Here the apostle continues in his thoughts to define the self-righteous man who sees himself as righteous in the eyes of the Lord but who IS in Paul’s reality ungodly and unrighteous. In this class we can likely find a good deal of men in and out of the churches who, by their own doctrines believe that they are doing the Will of God when in reality they are doing the will of the personality in the world. And in this is the reality of ungodly which we should see in similar light to how we see sin and evil so that ungodly is not only those gross thoughts, attitudes and actions but ALL focus upon the things of the self and the world. So then it matters not who one may be, in the church or out of the church. a staunch believer or a casual one, even to the level of the appointed minister of the word of God; if one IS NOT focused upon the things of God, he is to be considered as ungodly or as a sinner and this should not be seen in the derogatory way that this is painted by doctrine as against others but rather it should be seen in its True Light of the treasures of the heart and we should realize this in the Master’s words from above: “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also“; we should try to understand here that if one is to be considered as godly then one must have HIM for that treasure and thereby as his focus.
Continuing, the apostle tells us that the reason for this wrath, this displeasure of the Soul or the God Within, is “Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them“. Here in the apostle’s words is the reality of the God Within, the Christ Within and it is within this divine nature that: “that which may be known of God is manifest in them” and this despite the original statement that he is speaking about the ungodly who believe themselves godly. And this is his intent; he says that those who find the displeasure of their own Souls working in their conscience, of course this is only if one is listening, are finding this because they KNOW the Truth as it IS in the promptings of one’s divine nature to the Good, the Beautiful and the True; the Truth IS there and awaiting the time when the personality will heed the prompting and discover it. What we should try to see in these first two verses is not the wrath of God to anger against a man who is focused upon the self, or as doctrine would have it, non believers, but the displeasure of the Soul, the God Within, who KNOWS the objective and the goal of this Life in form IS that one will come to eventually express the Love and the Power of the Soul through one’s Life in form. The True man is the Soul and the True man KNOWS of God; the True man, the God Within, is not pleased with the struggle to get the attention of the personality that is controlling his consciousness and these things ARE True of ALL classes of men regardless of their Earthly religious affiliations or lack thereof.
We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.
| Aspect of God |
Potency |
Aspect of Man |
In Relation to the Great Invocation |
In relation to the Christ |
|
GOD, The Father |
Will or Power |
Spirit or Life |
Center where the Will of God IS KNOWN |
Life |
|
Son, The Christ |
Love and Wisdom |
Soul or Christ Within |
Heart of God |
Truth |
|
Holy Spirit |
Light or Activity |
Life Within |
Mind of God |
Way |
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 are again at a time of year that includes the three Spiritual Festivals which are yet largely unrecognized by the Christian churches except for the one that recently past called Easter. We know about these festivals through the teaching and the efforts of the Master’s of the Wisdom who we should see as advanced disciples of the Christ, a group which may yet include those Souls that appeared with the Master as His Apostles, disciples and others who aided and assisted in His Great Mission such as the Baptist and His natural mother Mary. Each of these festivals is celebrated at a Full Moon and the cycle begins with Easter which is celebrated on the Sunday following the first Full Moon of Spring. At the Full Moon of May, which occurs on the 5th day of the month, is the Wesak Festival which is the Festival of the Buddha and at the Full Moon of June, which will occur on the 4th of June, is the Christ Festival also known today as World Invocation Day. As we progress toward the Wesak Festival we will post Quote’s of the Day that are, in our view, conducive to the view of the Buddha and the Christ as regards the spreading of Love and GoodWill throughout the world; we begin with the Affirmation of the Disciple.
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 repeat again what we had previously said of this Mantram:
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).
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!
- 3 Strongest Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible – 2001
