Love is the Fulfilling of the Law

ON LOVE; PART CCLXXV

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GoodWill IS Love in Action

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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).

Our last post continued with our current theme of Love as the MOST IMPORTANT of ALL commandments, as the foundation for the Golden Rule, and as the “more excellent way” than the religious pursuit of the so-called ‘gifts of the Spirit’. We again looked at the defining terms that the Apostle Paul uses to describe how one will act when expressing this Love as it highlighted in his words to the Corinthians below and we further developed our understanding that these words ARE NOT in regard to that emotionally based Love found here in this Earth but rather they are in regard to that Universal Active GoodWill which IS the expression of ALL who ARE Truly striving toward the objective of the fullness of the Power and the Love of God as the Crowning Glory in the work of the aspirant and the disciple in the world. Now while it IS True that some of these ideas on Love that Paul gives to us work as well in the carnal relationships in the world of men, we should ever understand that this IS NOT the objective of the Master nor of His apostles in giving us these teachings on Love or, as it is alternately rendered by the King James Version, Charity which word we find defined above as our adopted definition of Love. In most any successful Love relationship found in our Life in form we will find that there are certain of Paul’s ideas that are necessary; among these ARE patience, kindness, and a humble attitude that is not overly boastful nor envious nor selfish and an attitude of trust. Without these there is scarcely a Love relationship that can be seen as successful and in saying this we should acknowledge that there are many unhappy and unfulfilled relationships around the world today as these ideas are at best difficult even in the limited scope of selective Love. Looking at our own relationships with a wife or with children, or with parents or close friends and relatives, can we say that ALL of these rather virtuous ideas are at work for our own perspective? or from the perspective of the other party?

And this takes us to our point today, that even in the understanding of what will make Love in the world, carnal Love, work out to the satisfaction of the parties, there is still much difficulty in achieving it and little success as well and this IS ALL based in the egocentric attitudes of the man in the world. In this relation the Master addresses the marriage situation and this perhaps as a symbol of how to make this Love work in ALL things and His simple words can be clearly seen in these sayings:

• When asked by the Jews about divorce and why Moses law allows it,  he replies: “And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept. But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; And they twain shall be one  flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder” (Mark 10:5-9). We should see here in the marriage relationship that there is the factor of God and God joining and, KNOWING that there IS NO direct interaction between God and man save through the God Within, we can paint this somewhat differently than does doctrine. For many, the idea of God joining is based in the religious ritual but this IS NOT a valid theory except from the perspective of the marriage vow which, if it is uttered by the carnal man with carnal thoughts, is rather meaningless. However, when there is that relationship that exceeds the scope of the body and the personality attractions, when the relationship takes on that added reality of symmetry from the level of the Soul and when the vows ARE based in this reality and not the illusions of the world, then we can have a relationship in which God IS involved and, where God is involved the carnal self IS NOT. The ideas of the Apostle can apply then to worldly marriage and there can be success when: there IS patience, kindness, and a humble attitude that is not overly boastful nor envious nor selfish and an attitude of trust. Of course this can only happen when we have two like minded people joining together with God at the center of the relationship.
• KNOWING the Master’s ideas on marriage above, we should be able then to understand what He means when He tells us: “All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given. For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother’s womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it” (Matthew 19:11-12). These words Jesus says in answer to the question by His disciples regarding what he had said about marriage and divorce as we see above from Mark’s Gospel and in the added words: “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“. This last part or the whole of the sayings causes the disciples to say, as if a question: “If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry” (Matthew 19:9-10). In the commonplace world of men marriage is a rather expected event and the Master IS saying here that to not marry is a decision made in the heart of man and of woman and, properly done this decision must include the Soul and here is the rub, men and women most often marry before they have come to that point in their own lives where they ARE hearing the promptings of the Soul making it such that few marriages, especially in the West, are for reasons beyond the scope of the body and the personality attractions which is the way of the more modern man. In the past, when marriages were arranged, there was a different perspective, one of duty, and while we will not get into the pros and cons of these ideas, we will say that the more modern way is less likely to endure while the older arrangements are at the same time losing their appeal in the surge toward the equality of the sexes, a surge that is unstoppable. As the trend to marriage later in life continues, perhaps there can be more unions based in the reality of the True man who IS better understood by the carnal personality, better heard as the promptings of the Soul, as the man progresses in his Life in the world. The Master IS here telling us that there are those in whom the promptings of the Soul are heard in Life and who do not marry in order to live a Life in service to God and this is not to be confused with the religious approach of being a priest and not marrying as this decision of priesthood likely takes place at too early an age for many who, because that there IS no True understanding of the promptings of the Soul, make this decision as the personality as well. Our point here IS that to Truly find God and the God Within, one must be ready and one must be listening to that still small voice of conscience, of the Christ Within, and, most importantly, one must be heeding the call without confusing it with the promptings of the personality in the world which are of course oriented toward the self.
• Our last idea here on marriage comes from Paul who draws for us a picture of how the man seeking God can see the institution of marriage; he says: “But I would have you without carefulness. He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord: But he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife. There is difference also between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit: but she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband” (1 Corinthians 7:32-34). We should not misunderstand the apostles perspective here but rather see his simple logic and returning to our premise above we can still see the successful and beneficial marriage of a man and wife who are walking together in Truth and in Love and working out their Life of aspirants and disciples together. In this we can perhaps see the Truth to the idea of Soul mates, a word that is much bandied about from a carnal perspective.

The reality of a True marriage, based in the Love that Paul defines for us below and which includes the mutual interaction of both parties with patience, kindness, and a humble attitude that is not overly boastful nor envious nor selfish and an attitude of trust, will NOT be a marriage built in the temporal and self-centered personalities of men but rather in the Light of the apostle’s other words where together both parties are joined in the common mind where they “speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things” (Ephesians 4:15) and we understand from Vincent that this speaking should be understood as walking in Truth or, as the Revised Version notes in the margin, dealing Truly. This IS where we can have a union which “God hath joined together“; as two people who ARE focused on the things of God rather than on the things of the self in the world, the very nature of their relationship will be more of a revelation than a worldly desire and there are likely situations like this in the world yet today where one or both of the parties does not even realize what they ARE receiving from above. However, to be sure, if one would look at our list of ideals: patience, kindness, and a humble attitude that is not overly boastful nor envious nor selfish and an attitude of trust, and measure them against such a couple, we would see that there is no self entered into the relationship. And, in this world of men it IS very possible that what one may see individually as having God involved, can be but a one-sided affair with the other party yet captive by the illusions of the world.

Repeating again our words from Paul we should see that we have covered most ALL of his view of the importance of Love as well as his defining words which we have here today looked at in relation to the Life of the man in the world along with their potential meaning in marriage:

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.

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;

does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;

does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;

bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails.

But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease;

whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.

For we know in part and we prophesy in part.

But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.

When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child;

but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face.

Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. 

And now abide faith, hope, love, these three;

but the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 12:31, 13:1-13

We should note here that we did not include the other sayings of “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” and this IS because that except in the view of the Soul himself, these ideals are not possible as regards ALL things when in the world, we CAN NOT yet see the reality except through the Soul infused personality. The final idea from the apostle on Love is that “Love never fails” and this reality is tied to the very fact that God IS Love and therefore the entirety of His Great and Awesome Creation IS founded and is essentially grounded in Love, a Love that will be eventually realized in this Earth as mankind is able to express that Love through form. It IS the Love and it IS these properties of Love that Paul elucidates for us above which IS both the cause of and the result of the focus of the man, individually and corporately, upon the higher things, the things of God of which Love IS the paramount part. This may seem as doublespeak but, as we have previously said, Love is the beginning and the end of our relationship with our own Soul, our Christ Within, and this in the context of those familiar words “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last” (Revelation 22:13) which words can best be understood in these other words from the Apostle John who tells us “God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:16). And to rightly discern these words one must come to that essential understanding of Love as the Master teaches us, that this Love IS that universal and non-selective Love that exists in His Kingdom and which we must express in this Life and it IS as this Love prompts the personality to its vision and can be heard above the clamor of the self,  that the man can begin in earnest on the Path to God. In this IS our reality, our ability in this limited free-will to ignore this prompting and to attend to the clamor for it is in this Life of the self in the world that the personality sees his place and this is the result of that vanity, that illusion and that glamour that beset the human family in the world.

The apostle tells us that “Love never fails” and we add to this that it is impossible that Love could fail as God IS Love but Paul offers this for another reason for his saying this as well which is to show the temporal nature of those other things that we may think important from a religious or even a spiritual perspective. Prophecies will fail and tongues will fail and what we believe as  knowledge will vanish away as ALL these ideas are temporal, are of the world; in the reality of Love expressed is the reality of the man whose focus us upon the things of God, the man who overcomes the proclivities of the personality in the world with the Truth as it flows outward from his very being and into the world of men. And this expression IS by its very nature Active GoodWill and Right Human Relations and the loss of concern for the self in the world and here IS a True understanding of the Master’s words “take no thought” (Luke 12:22). We can see as well in these interrelationships of ideals and virtues and, the commandments of the Lord on Love the reality of Paul’s saying that “all things work together for good to them that love God” (Romans 8:28) and we can understand that our expression of patience IS an expression of Love as is our entire list that we take from Paul’s words above; patience, kindness, and a humble attitude that is not overly boastful nor envious nor selfish and an attitude of trust ARE ALL expressions of Love when Truly expressed by the man in the world. This expression IS that fruit of the Spirit by which we can KNOW a man whose focus IS upon God.

And we should remember here the common denominator in this Love in which ALL works together, and this IS that to Love God one MUST Love his neighbor, his brother and the stranger who qualifies as both and this we should see clearly from John’s epistle as he tells us “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 see , how can he love God whom he hath not see ? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also” (1 John 4:20-21).

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 should ever understand that the purpose of our aspiration and of our discipleship is to bring into the world our expression of the Love and the Power of the Soul both as an example of the righteous Life and as a ready aid to our brothers, our neighbors and the stranger who qualifies as both. Our intent should be to serve and in our service to instill in others that same sense that we have; from a spiritual perspective to the spiritual man, and from a worldly perspective to the man who is yet grounded in the world. The Apostle Paul puts it this way for us from his own Life and personal experience:

“for if I may proclaim good news, it is no glorying for me, for necessity is laid upon me, and wo is to me if I may not proclaim good news; for if willing I do this, I have a reward; and if unwillingly — with a stewardship I have been entrusted! What, then, is my reward? — that proclaiming good news, without charge I shall make the good news of the Christ, not to abuse my authority in the good news; for being free from all men, to all men I made myself servant, that the more I might gain; and I became to the Jews as a Jew, that Jews I might gain; to those under law as under law, that those under law I might gain; to those without law, as without law — (not being without law to God, but within law to Christ) — that I might gain those without law; I became to the infirm as infirm, that the infirm I might gain; to all men I have become all things, that by all means I may save some. And this I do because of the good news, that a fellow-partaker of it I may become;  have ye not known that those running in a race — all indeed run, but one doth receive the prize? so run ye, that ye may obtain” (1 Corinthians 9:16-24).

With this in mind we redo a past Quote of the Day and one that we have been using from very early on in this blog. The sentiment here is the fulfillment of our duty as aspirants and disciples and our duty it to instill these ideas in the hearts and minds of others.

Values to Live By

A Love of Truth—essential
for a just, inclusive and progressive society;

A Sense of Justice—recognition
of the rights and needs, of all.

Spirit of Cooperation—based
on active goodwill and the principle of right human
relationships;

A Sense of Personal Responsibility—for
group, community and national affairs;

Serving the Common Good— through
the sacrifice of selfishness. Only what is good for all
is good for each one.

The world of the future depends on what each one of us chooses to do today.

Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!

• ⁴ Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888