Love is the Fulfilling of the Law
ON LOVE; PART CCLI
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
“Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart” (Ephesians 4:13-18)
In our last essay we began again with our theme of the revelation of the mysteries of the Kingdom and thereby the mysteries of Life. There are many mysteries and there are many understandings of them and it IS our premise that as one progresses upon the spiritual Path, the revelation of these mysteries becomes greater and one’s understanding of them becomes deeper. In this Light we see our own progression in the understanding that we express in our blog, a progression that allows for better understanding of the words of the Master and His apostles as the days progress. Here, as we discussed during our Wesak writings when we were concentrated on the words of the Buddha, we can see that steady growth, by degree, from recognition to revelation and can understand this dynamic as going from ‘I see’ to ‘I understand’ and then by degree the understanding becoming deeper to that ultimate point of ‘I KNOW’. This should not be seen as a topic by topic change in revelation but rather as a shift, a growth of one’s overall seeing and hearing what is behind what is carnally seen and heard and it is this greater perception that we call revelation. We should see here the Buddha’s awakening by degree until that point when one IS awakened and the Master’s Transformation by degree until that point of being Transformed. We should try to see as well that this perception, this greater revelation, is a function of the consciousness and not of the mind as the mind is a working and worldly part of the personality while the consciousness IS of the Soul and, while these can be easily confused, such confusion IS itself resolved by greater revelation. This may be better explained in saying that the Soul in form IS the consciousness and the Life; when the consciousness is extracted there is comes a vegetable state and when the Life is extracted there is the death of the physical body. Further, it IS the consciousness that IS “made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope” and it IS the mind that creates and causes the vanity which IS the illusion and the glamour. And, it IS the consciousness, the worldly representation of the awareness of the Soul itself, that “also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:20-21).
We can see this in this non-scientific way: the mind of the man in the world feeds to the consciousness, the Earthly awareness of the True man who IS the Soul, with the things of the world which the Life that the man is focused upon and, being of the world, these thoughts and emotions concern the self in the world. When the focus of the man changes from the things of the world to the things of the Soul, there is a sort of reversal and instead of the mind in the world feeding the consciousness, the awareness of the True man in the world, the consciousness feeds the mind with the Wisdom from above. It is this Transformation that the Apostle Paul tells us of saying: “be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:2) and this Transformation comes to us by degree. The greater the change if focus, the greater the Transformation and we should understand that the beginnings of this process of Repentance and Transformation exposes the man in the world to that duality of which we have spoken, that sense of both the ‘good’ and the’bad’ in the conscience of the man which progresses to that greater understanding of and sense of the things of the self versus the things of God as the focus of one’s Life in the world. There IS a natural law at work in this Transformation which can be seen as the effect of one’s changing focus which can come in fits and starts, can progress to a point and stop or which can proceed to the end point which we call Transformed or awakened. This last part IS the natural progression of the aspirant who IS Truly seeking the Way to the Path that leads to that strait gate which opens for us the fullness of the Kingdom of God. We must remember in this discussion that the forces of illusion and glamour are strong, they are exceedingly difficult to overcome and this because they can make the man to believe the untrue, to see what is false as though it is true. We should remember as well that the effects of this vanity can be felt at any point in one’s journey or even constantly throughout as it IS NOT until we can say with the Master that “I have overcome the world” (John 16:33) that we can Truly see clearly ALL things. We should also see that at what point the man in the world allows the process of Transformation to stop is a function of what IS or has become important to the man and in this we can see as well that there IS a degree of conscience that the human mind will allow; or, perhaps better stated, there IS a degree of change from what is important to the man in the world or, as the Master frames this, the amount of the treasure that the mind will allow. In this context of treasure Jesus teaches rather clearly and He tells us:
- “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:19-21). Here in the Apostle Matthew’s version we have the ideas of treasure, what is important and what one may attend to, being of the Earth and thereby temporal and subject decay and loss or, being of heaven, the Kingdom within, which are eternal treasures. This IS our idea focus, focus upon the self and the things of the world versus focus upon the things of God. In our discussion above these are the two poles of duality and one’s progress toward the goal of being Transformed is based in how much of the self and the world one can render meaningless in Life. Clarifying what we say above, one will stop at that point of discomfort, this is what the personality will allow, and this ALL based in the illusion and the glamour of the self in the world. In the Master’s ending verse we find the reality of His telling us that what it is that becomes or remains important to the man in the world, this will be where his heart IS and in heart we have the consciousness of the man. Again, from the words above, we can see that the consciousness can be led by the mind and the world feeding the consciousness, or by the Soul, with the consciousness feeding the mind and, in the latter we have that Transforming leading to being Transformed. We should be able to glimpse here the understanding that the ‘free will’ with which mankind is endowed IS a ‘free will‘ of the personality as the Life and in form is able to decide from whence it receives its guiding input, the personality as the Life in form can decide what will be his focus and it is only the pangs of conscience as the promptings of the Soul that generally will change one’s focus as by a decision of the man and here we must understand the nature of our premise of ALL this happening in one’s Life by degree.
- The Apostle Luke gives us this same end from a different perspective as he reports the Master saying that “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. The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment. Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls? 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? Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith? And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you. Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth , neither moth corrupteth. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Luke 12:22-34). In today’s perspective there are many different ideas at work in these sayings from Luke’s Gospel; the last verse is the same as above from Matthew but the lead into it IS quite different. The saying that immediately precedes the reference to one’s treasure, what IS important and attended to, and one’s heart or consciousness is reminiscent of the Master’s words on discipleship that we recently reviewed as well as His words to the rich young man who IS seeking the Kingdom and where the Master instructs his giving up ALL claim to worldly goods and following Him which in Matthew’s Gospel He calls being perfect. This IS the same perfect that we referred to yesterday from our sayings from Paul a the top of this essay and here in our reference today as well, this word should NOT be understood as mature. In this same context of treasure of the heart above we have as well the reality of “take no thought” and we should see here that the Master IS speaking directly to His disciples; from this we should take the True understanding of “take no thought“ as meaning do not think about these things and not the common view of do not worry. To further enhance our understanding of this we find in the Master’s words the added idea of “neither be ye of doubtful mind” and we should remember that in this concept of “doubting nothing” is the Soul’s victory in Life in form and we can tie this to yesterday’s essay and the example of the mustard seed. The Master tells us: “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you” (Matthew 17:20) and when we look at these words along with the allied saying from Mark’s Gospel that uses the idea of “shall not doubt” we should be able to see the complete picture. Here Jesus tells us “For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith” (Mark 11:23).
In relation to our theme of mystery and perception based upon ALL these things that we are discussing above we can use this saying from Mark to clarify for us our premise that when a man is focused upon the world that it is the self and the things of the world that occupy his thoughts, his attitudes and his actions. When however a man’s focus us upon the things of God it is the things of God that occupy his mind. This saying, along with the one that follows is the source of much of confusion in the Christian world and especially the doctrines of the so called ‘Prosperity Theology’ where these sayings are related to the things of and for the self in the world. The complete idea from the Master is: “For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them” (Mark 11:23-24). In our understanding, the reality here is that in the Light of the Soul, when a man is Truly involved in spiritual Life having chosen God over mammon, there IS NO desire for worldly goods or anything for the self and it IS ONLY in this Light that this saying can be deemed True. And, for the millions upon millions who pray for some worldly thing there is little success and any success is random at best and this can, and likely does, cause the man who prays as well as those may play a part to see in this the idea that one is not believing strongly enough, there is not enough faith, or that there is some other problem in the Life of the one who prays and this can lead to much dysfunction and even feelings of the unfairness of God.
Our point then on the treasure of the heart is simply that what IS important to the man in form, to the personality in the world, IS ofttimes stronger than the prompting of the Soul through the conscience. For some this may take the form of ‘good’ versus ‘bad’ while for others this part may be easily overcome and the next step of focus on God or mammon becomes the battleground. Here the personality works in the world to maintain control of the consciousness and we should not see this as a purposeful working for control but one that is governed by the natural laws that keep man deluded by the world and here again we must trace this phenomenon back to the apostle’s words saying that mankind has been “made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope“. Here again we must see the working out of the Plan of God and while we CAN NOT yet KNOW the purpose of it ALL, we can KNOW that this is our plight, to dwell in this illusion and glamour and to work from the perspective of the Soul to wrest away the consciousness from the personality whose care is for the self and the self in the world. This brings us then back to the opening paragraphs today and the realization of our position, the growth of the Kingdom within and the sense of Truth that grows in the man as he begins to sense and to heed the call of the Soul, the Christ Within. We should try to see and to understand this True nature of Repentance, that decision to change the focus of one’s Life that is prompted by the Soul and perhaps contributed to by a growing dissatisfaction with Life in the world. Then comes that steady move to the beginnings of the Transformation and to the sense of duality and the ensuing struggle to change the focus until there is the reality of being Transformed. And, as this IS happening, as this is working out in the Life of the aspirant, the revelations of Truth become deeper and stronger as we look forward to that point of KNOWING which is the hallmark of the disciple and the evidence of being Transformed.
This ALL begins and ends with the admonishment of the Master that we strive and in this idea of striving is the reality that we MUST keep His words and, as we read again in the Quote of the Day below, the most important part of this IS Love.
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.
Staying on the theme of Love we repeat again the sayings of the Apostle Paul that put this Love into perspective.
But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 12:31, 13:1-13 (New King James Version)Regardless of our daily theme, the underlying theme of our posts and of this entire blog is Love. In these words from Paul we should be able to see the overriding importance of Love in the Life of each of us. This is a common theme throughout the gospels and the other writings of the apostles and a theme that is not nearly understood. In our theme today regarding Paul’s writings to the Romans and in the previous discussions on them we seek to impart the better understanding of the reality of Life, the Life of the True man as the Christ Within, the Soul, as it is from this perspective that we can gain that revelation of Truth and, as Paul says above, be free from the condemnation and the vanity of Life in form, free from the illusion and the glamour. We repeat here what we said about these verses in a prior post:
Today’s Quote of the Day from the Apostle Paul is his testimony to the power of Love. After speaking at length about the gifts of the Spirit that one should desire in order to be of service to the Lord, he says plainly that Love is a more excellent way. Love in the context of these verses is not the sentimental or affectionate kind that we ordinarily think of but rather 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. This defining of Love is covered in some depth in a previous post; In the Words of Jesus part 47.
