Love is the Fulfilling of the Law
ON LOVE; PART CCXXXIX
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•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•ΑΩ•Α
To the God Who is in the Fire and Who is in the waters;
To the God Who has suffused Himself through all the world;
To the God Who is in summer plants and in the lords of the forest;
To that God be adoration, adoration.
Sh’vet Upanishad, II.17.
Part of what we have been discussing over the last two essays is in regard to the readiness of a man in form to accept the deeper Truths and we used the idea of accept in an effort to clarify the idea of understanding what we see as the deeper Truths of the Kingdom and of spiritual Life, Truths that are contained in the words of the Master and His apostles and virtually every world religion but which are missed by the man who is yet engulfed in the vanity, the illusion and the glamour of Life in the world. We should try to see here that the differences between understanding or accepting the deeper meaning of a particular saying of the Master and seeing it in the common way of doctrine is a matter of perspective with the lower meanings based in the lower self, the personality with it attendant mind and emotions, and the higher or deeper meanings based in the Soul and communicated to the ready consciousness. This IS of course largely a function of the focus of the man in form, with focus being based in the True reality of Repentance. So long as the man in form is held captive by the illusion and the glamour that he himself creates based upon the illusion and the glamour as held by those that he may respect or admire for their words, he will be unable to rightly focus upon the Good, the Beautiful and the True which IS found streaming forth in the Light of his own Soul. Now we may hear from a man that He Loves, respects and admires Jesus and these are likely Truly felt emotions but we should understand here that unless this man is focused upon the things of God and heeding the words of the Master or is at least striving to do so, these emotions are but ‘feelings’, grounded in the personalty in the world. Like so many of the sayings of the Master and His apostles, there is a clarity to the words that we used to close the last post, words on the reality of discipleship from the perspective of the Master, words that define the very art of discipleship. However, there are many who read these words without ever seeing what we see as the Truth of His sayings and yet believe themselves to be disciples of the Lord, a claim that we do not even try to make because of the ‘severity’ of His definition, a ‘severity’ which is only perceived by the man grounded in the world. Much the same is the Master’s words on a man’s Love for the Christ, a Love that He clearly defines but which definition is lost in the illusion and the glamour created by doctrine which is trusted by the many who realize the difficulty in living as He defines this Love.
In these ideas is the Truth of what we have been saying about being ready to understand and to accept the realities of Life in form and one’s True relationship which God and the God within each and every man regardless of race, creed, religion, culture or nation and regardless as well of what a man may call this divine nature or what may be his understanding of or the Name he may attribute to God. We should understand here as well that much of the problems of humanity as seen in history and seen yet today are based in the man’s dysfunctional approach to this understanding and acceptance, a dysfunction that is based in the separatist doctrines of the world’s religions which have their roots in the illusion and the glamour of the world. This must change and will change as a part of the advancement of the race of men and the time WILL come when the Wisdom from above and the Fruit of the Spirit will reign above these separatist doctrines whose only power is found in the pronouncements of men who live and act much like the Pharisee that the Master teaches us so much about….a teaching that we fail to see in our own actions and beliefs in the world of men. So we begin here today with this as our topic as we move closer to Wesak, the Festival of the Buddha, that Great Brother of the Christ both historically and yet today. Could we but imagine their relationship in Love and Wisdom, we would likely be ashamed by our own failures to relate to each other which is based solely on our personality approach, an approach of self and selfishness which IS in turn based in the deluded beliefs that we are fed and that must be overcome if we are ever to make spiritual progress. Of course we must understand here as well that there are many who are not ready to even entertain the possibility of spiritual progress as this time and these would not profit from our blog nor any spiritual information and so we address our comments and remarks to those who can and those who do under the guise of religion, those who do believe that are on the Path but who, beset by the illusion and the glamour that cloud their view, still see things from the perspective of the self in form.
We began today with our saying at the top which is also our Quote of the Day; in these rather ancient words is the reality of God and the understanding that there IS but ONE God and that no matter what Name one may use, no matter what picture one may have in mind of His being, and no matter what one may believe to be His attributes, there IS ONLY ONE. We see this ONE God in the saying that There is one Boundless Immutable Principle; one Absolute Reality which, antecedes all manifested conditioned Being. It is beyond the range and reach of any human thought or expression**. In this description which we read in one of the books dictated by our Tibetan brother we should see the rather undefinable word that we use and that the Master uses to tell us of our God…..SPIRIT, of which the Master says that “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). In this saying we should understand two things; first that this Spirit that IS God is that same Boundless Immutable Principle; one Absolute Reality which, antecedes all manifested conditioned Being and second that to “worship him in spirit and in truth” tells us that we too are Spirit and that it IS in this INNER SENSE of True being ONLY that we can Truly worship Him, which word can be better understood as to KNOW Him, to reverence Him in regards to our intimate relationship with Him and ALL that IS. We should see here that the saying from the Apostle John’s Gospel does not say these words by leaves the idea of worship to the worldly understanding and here again we note that language fails to give us the proper tools for expressing spiritual thoughts and ideas. In another place Vincent gives us this understanding of this Greek word proskuneo that is rendered as worship; he tells us: Worshipped ( προσεκύνησεν ) An unfortunate translation, according to modern English usage, but justified by the usage of earlier English, according to which to worship meant simply to honor. Worship is worthship, or honor paid to dignity or worth. This usage survives in the expressions worshipful and your worship. In the marriage-service of the English Church occurs the phrase, “With my body I thee worship. ” So Wycliffe renders Matthew 19:19, “Worship thy father and thy mother;” and John 12:26, “If any man serve me, my Father shall worship him.” Here the meaning is that Cornelius paid reverence by prostrating himself after the usual oriental manner 4; this should be our understanding.
And the same idea should be present in the word Adoration from our saying at the top of today’s essay: reverence and honor and the idea that we bring forth here is found in the Master’s words saying: “If a man love me, he will keep my words” (John 14:23). This IS the essence of reverence and honor as we look at the word Love in the context as is revealed by the Master. It is in this reality that one can Truly worship God as we take this out of the context of emotion and feeling and into the context of reverence and honor which IS, from the perceptive of the Soul, Love. And we should be able to see in this the reality that is taught us by the Master, that using the idea of Love in place of the items that He enumerates by example, we can show that honor and reverence for Him through the realization of His words that tell us: “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me” (Matthew 25:40). So then Jesus’ message to the world is that this worship that we can see above as reverence and honor which in turn means for us that Love that He teaches is expressed, not through those things that we invent as men, but rather in keeping His words and this He does tell us plainly saying: “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15).
Here again we find our most recent theme of being ready as the man in the world to express the Light of the Soul, a Light that IS expressed by degree but which is not likely seen nor understood by the man until that first accomplishment of Repentance. And this same dynamic plays out in the lives of ALL men regardless of race, creed, religion, culture or nation and regardless as well of what a man may call his divine nature or what may be his understanding of or the Name that he attributes to God. It is here that a man MUST break away from the separatist attitudes that he has learned and there can be NO True focus on God and the things of God until a man can Truly understand this reality that we cite above, that there can be no Love for the Master nor for God without Love for one’s brother, one’s neighbor and the stranger who qualifies as both. It IS in this Love that we Truly worship, Truly reverence and Truly honor and it IS in our expression of this Love to ALL, regardless of those points above and including, as the Master tells us, “the least of these my brethren“. In this regard we should take to heart the words of John who tells us clearly that “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen” (1 John 4:20). And we should take and use this saying as it is intended and not in accordance with the separatist attitudes of some doctrine that tries to explain away sayings like this by claiming that the intent is one’s Christian brothers. Can we say here that this idea of universal Love and brotherhood and the Truth of the saying here on Love are the KEY ingredients of Repentance? That there is none possible without this fundamental change which encompasses the reality of this universality as to include ALL men and again regardless of of race, creed, religion, culture, nation or ANY OTHER IDEA OR CONCEPT THAT TENDS TO SEPARATE.
We are reminded here of the words of the Apostle Paul who, speaking to the Greeks, non-believers and heathens if you will, tells them and us through them of this universality of God, as there IS but ONE, and of mans view of God. Paul says:
“For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring” (Acts 17:23-28).
Now we have covered these words several times throughout our posts as they address for us many of the conflicting ideas of Christian doctrine. We should first of all see here that the apostle is declaring the same God that they are and this is regardless of whether they may KNOW Him or not and regardless of whether they worship Him ignorantly or unknowingly. In this we should see that regardless of His name or their vision of Him, that this IS the SAME God as in the Truth of ALL nature, there IS ONLY ONE. And we should not let the religious and cultural effects of the common worship in some religions of many gods effect our judgement here as the reality of these many is likely to accommodate the multiplicity of potencies that are seen by men. While perhaps broader in scope, this is not really different from the Christian idea of the Trinity as in most ALL of these forms of religion, ALL the lesser gods are resolved into the ONE although this reality may disappear in the revisionist history thorough which we see these sometimes superstitious and emotional views of God. The apostle teaches here that this ONE God has created ALL and this ONE God is “Lord of heaven and earth” and he is revealing this ONE God in much the same way as our saying at the top and our Quote of the Day. Perhaps more important than this however is Paul’s revelation and teaching that there IS NO separation of the human race which IS of “of one blood” and includes “all nations of men“; ALL men who “dwell on all the face of the earth“. Here is the apostle’s testimony to the universality of God and the homogeneous nature of mankind; that there can be no True separation except in the emotionally driven minds of men….driven by the vanity, by the illusion and the glamour in which we live. And we must not forget here the final Truth in our sayings above, a Truth that cements us ALL together in the heart of God as well as in the body of God from the perspective of the human family in this Earth; this Paul tells us saying “ in him we live, and move, and have our being” which can be seen as one of the most profound sayings in the entire New Testament.
We close today by repeating our understanding of this Love, an understanding that we have not expressed for quite some time:
Of all that the Master told us, He considered this as the Greatest of Commandments. So much of what we are to understand as aspirants or as believers is found in the precept that we must KEEP HIS WORDS:
“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).
We ask ourselves 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.
We add to this THE EVER IMPORTANT AND HIGH IDEAL TAUGHT TO US BY THE CHRIST which can serve to both give us an understanding of what it means to Love oneself and how it is that we can Love our neighbor:
“Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12).
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.
To the God Who is in the Fire and Who is in the waters;
To the God Who has suffused Himself through all the world;
To the God Who is in summer plants and in the lords of the forest;
To that God be adoration, adoration.
Sh’vet Upanishad, II.17.
Today’s Quote of the Day is from ancient Hindu scripture. This book, the Sh’vet Upanishad, is from a group of books on the Philosophy of God that date back to more that five hundred years before Christ. Like many religious texts, and religions for that matter, there is a great variety of interpretations; Hindu scriptures are no exception. Our selection of this as our Quote of the Day is because it fits well into our discussions in this series called ON GOD and although we take most of our information from the Judaeo-Christian tradition, we do believe that all sources of spiritual revelation should be considered. The common Christian understanding regarding God as being outside of His creation is rather opposite of this saying and is opposite much of the reality of Christian Scripture as well. In this saying God is immanent in His creation as He is immanent in man, as the Spirit within the form. In today’s text is some commentary on worship and the lack of understanding that we have regarding the intention of the Christ in our saying from the Gospel of John. Here the word adoration is used; ponder on this.
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
- ** A Treatise on Cosmic Fire by Alice A Bailey © 1951 by Lucis Trust
