Love is the Fulfilling of the Law
ON LOVE; PART CCXLI
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
We often speak of the Soul’s ability to build his body for his use in a particular incarnation and our perspective on this is True and right but not from ALL perspectives and this IS a most complicated subject; Our premises here are just that, our own enlightened thoughts regarding Life, death and rebirth. The perspective from which we generally speak in this matter is of the Soul who has attained some degree of liberation from the wiles of the world and who can enter into the afterlife with the resultant degree of awareness that such accomplishment provides. It is this Soul who can help to create his own environment for successive incarnations while with the remainder of humanity that has not so achieved are subject to the law, the way that these things work out in a nondiscriminatory and rather automatic way. This is to say that for the unawakened there is a gravitation if you will, an attraction of the Soul’s Life giving energy and consciousness to a ‘suitable’ form and ‘suitable’ place in the Earth. What this ALL means is that there are some Souls who have achieved and who can play an active part in the selection and the building of the physical nature through which he will live and there are others who have not achieved to the needed degree who will be attracted to a particular form and environment that in the Plan’s own fulfillment will be the most potentially fulfilling for a particular Soul. In this is a Truth of Life that should encourage a man in form to achieve as much as he can in any incarnation and this IS a driving force in action in the lives of Souls in the world albeit an unknown and unrealized one for those who ARE NOT awakened, who have not yet recognized and realized the Truth of Life as the Life that IS the Soul. What we are saying here can be see by the awakened in their view of the world and the seeming randomness of Life therein; looking at the lives of great leaders and men of great power we should be able to see some force at work that IS NOT based in the idea of ‘blessing’ as we must understand that “For there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11) or, as the Apostle Peter frames this: “Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34). So then if the worldly benefits of Life, not those of the world but as the Soul bestows, are available to some and not to others, we should be able to see this force and understand that it stems from prior accomplishment and we should understand as well that this same force creates the Saint and the ‘sinner’ as there IS ever the need to take control of the self in the world in each and every Life. In this we can see the Life of the prodigy and of the tyrant, the universality of the Life of the apostles and True disciples and the Life of those with the more separatist views who have not been able to overcome the illusion and glamour of the world, the vanity as Paul states it. We could go on with examples but if we just look at history and at the world today with these ideas in mind, we can find similar and, at the same time, conclude that what we ARE today IS the result of ALL that we have ever been as Souls and this is a Truth in one’s individual Life as well as in the grand scheme of the Plan of God of which we are part and parcel.
This brings us to these words from the Buddha that we used yesterday as our Quote of the Day and which addresses, in the perspective of that culture, the idea of being awakened. We should understand in reading these words, and the words of most every world scripture, that language is a barrier to right expression of the thoughts intended and that with right discernment, which can be considered ‘in the Light of the Soul’, we can discern the Truths that we are ready for and this is the same as seeing or not seeing the deeper Truths in the words of the Master as we have been discussing over the last several days. Again, we should equate the Buddha’s word wakefulness as our own understanding of recognition and realization as these two are but degrees of the same idea of being awakened to the Life of the Soul and the Love and the Power that the Soul pours forth. And, as we move through the Buddha’s words here we should remember our own word which is focus.
Wakefulness is the way to life. The fool sleeps As if he were already dead, But the master is awake And he lives forever. He watches. He is clear. How happy he is! For he sees that wakefulness is life. How happy he is, Following the path of the awakened. With great perseverance He meditates, seeking Freedom and happiness. So awake, reflect, watch. Work with care and attention. Live in the way And the light will grow in you. By watching and working The master makes for himself an island Which the flood cannot overwhelm. The fool is careless. But the master guards his watching. It is his most precious treasure. He never gives in to desire. He meditates. And in the strength of his resolve He discovers true happiness. He overcomes desire – And from the tower of his wisdom He looks down with dispassion Upon the sorrowing crowd. From the mountain top He looks down at those Who live close to the ground. Mindful among the mindless, Awake while others dream, Swift as the race horse He outstrips the field. By watching Indra became king of the gods. How wonderful it is to watch. How foolish to sleep. The beggar who guards his mind And fears the waywardness of his thoughts Burns through every bond With the fire of his vigilance. The beggar who guards his mind And fears his own confusion Cannot fall. He has found his way to peace. 5
In the Buddha’s words above we see the relative necessity of being awakened in the Life of the man who desires spiritual advancement and we should note here that in this desire there is naught for the separated self; ALL is in the quest for Truth and for greater realization and this is clear in the totality of the Buddha’s words as well as in the words of the Christ who tells us that we should strive and that we should seek so that we can “know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). We should note here the relationship of terms used and understand that this freedom IS the reality of awakening as we accomplish this in that greater realization of the Truth. To desire this awakening for the Power that it will provide to the man in form IS contrary to the entirety of the teachings of the Master who tells us clearly that we should “take no thought” for any of the things of the world saying “And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on” (Luke 12:22). We should try to see, as aspirants and disciples, that the Master IS speaking to disciples who are expected to be able to understand what He says here and we see this in the combination of these sayings from the Apostle Luke and the Apostle Matthew, both spoken in the same context but in the one addressed to the disciples and in the other as a part of the Sermon on the Mount where we KNOW that He is speaking to the multitudes as well. And it may be that both are speaking about the same event but that in Luke’s rendition of this he understands that the Master is addressing this directly to those who should understand that there IS more in these words than eating and wearing, there is the matter of Life as well. Here, in this understanding of “Take no thought for your life“, we should try to see that reality and see also that the examples of eating and wearing are but examples that can be understood by ALL; while the deeper Truths are seen only by those who ARE ready to hear them. This understanding of accepting and of “take not thought” for anything in the world at all can be seen throughout the Master’s teachings. Luke adds in his writings another part that helps us to understand the totality of the Master’s intent in asking His question saying: “And which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit? If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest?” (Luke 12:25-26). There is, as we have said before, much confusion regarding the Master’s intent in these sayings and much misunderstanding regarding the idea of “take no thought” and it has been our premise that this is caused by that desire of men to be able to live in comfort and pleasure, to desire and want these things of the world.
Taking this a bit further we should try to see that in the reality of speaking to disciples there IS a greater reality that they must see and, in our role of being aspirants and disciples, we must see this as this IS a part of that awakening that we seek. And here again IS that reality that NOT ALL men are ready for this awakening and therefore cannot and will not accept some of these deeper Truths of which we speak and, taking this into the ideas of doctrine we can see this as an example of how this readiness can effect the thinking of even presumably spiritual men. Vincent, while giving us his understanding of the overall complexity of the words used, a complexity which in our opinion is based in the worldly thoughts of men and not it the reality of his first thoughts; we read from Vincent that: Take no thought ( μὴ μεριμνᾶτε ) The cognate noun is μέριμνα , care, which was formerly derived from μερίς , a part; μερίζω , to divide; and was explained accordingly as a dividing care, distracting the heart from the true object of life, This has been abandoned, however, and the word is placed in a group which carries the common notion of earnest thoughtfulness. It may include the ideas of worry and anxiety, and may emphasize these, but not necessarily. See, for example, “careth for the things of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 7:32). “That the members should have the same care one for another” (1 Corinthians 12:25). “Who will care for your state?” (Philemon 2:20). In all these the sense of worry would be entirely out of place. In other cases that idea is prominent, as, “the care of this world,” which chokes the good seed (Matthew 13:22; compare Luke 8:14). Of Martha; “Thou art careful ” (Luke 10:41). Take thought, in this passage, was a truthful rendering when the A. V. was made, since thought was then used as equivalent to anxiety or solicitude. …. The word has entirely lost this meaning. Bishop Lightfoot (“On a Fresh Revision of the New Testament”) says: “I have heard of a political economist alleging this passage as an objection to the moral teaching of the sermon on the mount, on the ground that it encouraged, nay, commanded, a reckless neglect of the future.” It is uneasiness and worry about the future which our Lord condemns here, and therefore Rev. rightly translates be not anxious. This phase of the word is forcibly brought out in 1 Peter 5:7, where the A. V. ignores the distinction between the two kinds of care. “Casting all your care ( μέριμναν , Rev., anxiety ) upon Him, for He careth ( αὐτῷ μέλει ) for you,” with a fatherly, tender, and provident care.”
In his final analysis Vincent tells us that this word should mean as the Revised Version renders it, “be not anxious” though his reasoning of: It is uneasiness and worry about the future which our Lord condemns here IS contrary to his initial ideas regarding how in original thought was explained accordingly as a dividing care, distracting the heart from the true object of life. It is in this rejected understanding that we find the Truth of these words for the aspirant and the disciple and the thoughts that are contrary are based firmly as thoughts of Life in the world. While this may all seem to be off of our topic, we should see that this idea of not caring for the things of the Earth, not desiring them or even thinking about them is the a part of our awakening and if we are to consider ourselves as aspirants and disciples, we MUST view Life in this way and consider this dialogue of the Master is the same Light as His telling us, again as disciples and aspirants, that “Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see , and hearing they might not understand” (Luke 8:10). This is the reality of that divide between those who are ready for the Truth and the freedom from illusion and glamour that the Truth provides, and those who are grounded in the world of things and the self in that world. Again we must remind ourselves that there is no intent here to disparage any but only to highlight what we see as the greater Truth.
And this has ever been our point, that it IS necessary that as aspirants and disciples we seek the greater Truth, that the common understandings of doctrine ARE NOT sufficient for our needs or, as the Apostle Paul frames our thought, ARE NOT “meet for the master’s use” (2 Timothy 2:21). And, while we may be contradicting the writings of esteemed members of the church and their doctrines, our objective is Truth, Truth as it is presented by the Master to disciples and to aspirants who can and do look past the pronouncements of the established doctrines. John Gill in his Exposition of the Bible 8 interprets this part saying: Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, &c.] Since ye cannot serve both God and “mammon”, obey one, and neglect the other. Christ does not forbid labour to maintain, support, and preserve, this animal life; nor does he forbid all thought and care about it, but all anxious, immoderate, perplexing, and distressing thoughts and cares; such as arise from diffidence and unbelief, and tend to despair; which are dishonourable to God, as the God of nature and providence, and uncomfortable to men 8. This is the understanding of doctrine for the world to use and understand and, as we can see if we but look around us, this has not been accomplished in the lives of many; this is at the same time contrary to our view that as aspirants and as disciples we are to “take not thought” for any worldly thing and in attaching this to the previous verse in Matthew’s Gospel we can read this as, take no thought for mammon.
From our perspective this is a grand part of the awakening of the man to the Light of the Soul, the recognition and the realization of the Truths that are presented in the Master’s words and the words of His apostles, the Truths that are presented by ALL world religions and in this understanding we should see that these ALL MUST merge into one Truth as there are not separate Truths for the Christian and the Hindu nor for the Buddhist and the Muslim. In the Buddha’s words above we should see these same realities and from a less emotional perspective than we can interpret into our understanding of the Master’s words. The very first verse IS the KEY to our understanding; Wakefulness is the way to life should be seen in our context of awakened and should be related to the revelation of the Love and the Power of the Soul to the waking consciousness of the man in form. This is the Truth of Life in form, the expression of the Love and the Power of the Soul; the Buddha goes on to tell us that: Live in the way And the light will grow in you. By watching and working The master makes for himself an island Which the flood cannot overwhelm which is the same as we are saying from our Christian text. By our focus upon the Way of the Christ and the Christ Within, the Way of God, we progress spiritually from Repentance to Transformation to being Redeemed and ultimately to the Transfiguration. This IS the growing Light and the growing of the mustard seed into the tree and as we continue in the Word, as we maintain our focus by watching and working, the master, the Soul of each man, shields the man in the world from further encroachment by the illusion and the glamour and sets him in a place where the flood cannot overwhelm.
Simply put, a comparison of the words of the Apostle Paul and some of these words from the Buddha can suffice to show yet more of the similarity, the sameness when rightly discerned, of the teachings of these two religions.
- Paul tells us: “For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh……And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:14-17, 24-25).
- The Buddha tells us: The fool is careless. But the master guards his watching. It is his most precious treasure. He never gives in to desire. He meditates. And in the strength of his resolve He discovers true happiness. He overcomes desire – And from the tower of his wisdom He looks down with dispassion Upon the sorrowing crowd.
Looking at these two we should see the same message on Love, on overcoming desire and the Wisdom of right discernment of the realities of Life in the Spirit versus Life in the world. We will pick up here again in the next post with our summation of this sameness of teaching; in the meantime this IS food for thought.
We will continue with our comments 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 repeat this selection from the words of the Buddha, the Dhammapada, from an essay published last year at the time of the Wesak Festival along with our comments as they were then.
Seeing that our theme is on the Wesak Festival, the Festival of the Buddha, let us look today at some of His thoughts.
In this world Hate never yet dispelled hate. Only love dispels hate. This is the law, Ancient and inexhaustible. You too shall pass away. Knowing this, how can you quarrel? How easily the wind overturns a frail tree. Seek happiness in the senses, Indulge in food and sleep, And you too will be uprooted. The wind cannot overturn a mountain. Temptation cannot touch the man Who is awake, strong and humble, Who masters himself and minds the dharma. If a man’s thoughts are muddy, If he is reckless and full of deceit, How can he wear the yellow robe? Whoever is master of his own nature, Bright, clear and true, He may indeed wear the yellow robe. Mistaking the false for the true, And the true for the false, You overlook the heart And fill yourself with desire. See the false as false, The true as true. Look into your heart. Follow your nature. An unreflecting mind is a poor roof. Passion, like the rain, floods the house. But if the roof is strong, there is shelter. Whoever follows impure thoughts Suffers in this world and the next. In both worlds he suffers And how greatly When he sees the wrong he has done. But whoever follows the dharma Is joyful here and joyful there. In both worlds he rejoices And how greatly When he sees the good he has done. For great is the harvest in this world, And greater still in the next. (Dhammapada; on Choices)
These words are from the Dhammapada or the sayings of the Buddha; our verses are compiled and translated by Thomas Byrom who brings us the Buddha’s words in a beautiful and easy to understand rendition. In these sayings above we should understand the dharma as the law or, from a Christian perspective, the commandments. There is really no difference between the teaching of the Buddha and the teachings of the Christ and the apparent ones are more a matter of our understanding than of their intent. The Buddha and the Christ are Brothers who cooperate with each other and the Great Plan of God; there is no separatist attitude in either of their teachings and the time has come to stop allowing the illusion, glamour and deception of the world tell us that there is. As we move toward the Festival, this will become abundantly clear.
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!
- 5 The Dhammapada Translated by Thomas Byrom
- 8 Bible commentaries on BibleStudyTools.com
