Monthly Archives: June 2013

Love is the Fulfilling of the Law

ON LOVE; PART CCCVI

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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).

In the last two posts we have been discussing the ways of man in the world and in the last essay we addressed some of our idea on the nature of his plight as he incarnates time after time as a part of his seemingly endless journey to the fullness of his own expression through form. To get to this goal man, as the Soul, MUST overcome the world as did the Master, he must withstand the temptations of Life as offered in the illusion and the glamour that beset him and which IS painted for us by the Apostle Paul as the vanity to which ALL of mankind is subjected. This IS in our view a part of that Great and Awesome Plan of God and this we understand by our reading of the apostle’s words that tell us: “For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:20-21). We of course see the word rendered as hope in another accepted meaning as expectation and the word rendered as because in its more used rendering of that; these conventions allow us to more clearly see the intent of the apostle since God does not hope, nor has He a need to do so, and the idea of that gives us a more definite understanding as that the expectation, nor the hope, would be the reason for deliverance but that this deliverance is dependent only upon the Plan of God which is referenced for us in the simplicity of Paul’s words “by reason of him“. We have covered these ideas many times in our essays because the apostles words here are germane to our right understanding of our very existence here in this Earth and while there is only a hint at the reasoning as we discussed again in the last post, this IS a rather straightforward statement regarding the situation of man in form for those who can accept the idea that the Soul IS the True man and that this Life that we lead here in this world is but our arena for attaining to that perfection required for us to achieve the fullness of the Kingdom of God as True disciples of the Lord. Some will of course say that this makes no sense at ALL and our answer to this would be that nothing in conventional religion makes any sense either; here there is at a minimum some inkling of our state of being and the hint of a purpose that we see in Paul’s words that “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:22-23).

It IS in this Redemption that we find our understanding of purpose and not to our own benefit but for the benefit of the very atoms and molecules that make up “our body” of manifestation in this world which includes, as we discussed yesterday, the physical, etheric, emotional or astral, and the mental energies that we use in our Earth Life. We add to this that by our example and our teaching we lead ever more men to the Master’s Way and the eventual glorification of ALL. We have premised that this Redemption IS, in the final analyses, the Transfiguration as the Master experiences which we should see as it IS presented to us by apostles who were present as witnesses. In this we have put together our own view of these ‘steps’ to the fullness of expression of the Light of the Soul as Repentance, Transformation, and Redemption leading to Transfiguration. It IS in these words that we find the steps and while we DO NOT understand where one leaves off and the next begins, we can be rather sure of the progression as it IS hinted at by many of the words of the Master and His apostles. Repentance IS that decision to change, it IS the most important part from the perspective of the man in the world as in this decision is the willingness of the man to change his focus away from the things of the world and onto the things of God. Now there are several types of Repentance mentioned in the New Testament but at the core of ALL is the decision to change and not the change itself as this Repentance IS NOT permanent until one reaches into the next step. This can be seen on our own lives as aspirants as we count how many times we may have decided to change our lives toward God but failed to complete the action and this can also be seen in the Master’s words as He tells us about forgiveness:

• “Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him” (Luke 17:3-4).
• “Then came Peter to him, and said , Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? 22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven” (Matthew18:21-22).

Now these words from the Master show us of the worldly working of the idea of Repentance and how a man can and will change his mind. Bringing this then forward to the Master’s words on Repentance as His admonition for achieving the Kingdom, we should be able to see the same dynamic at work; that a man can and will change his mind. In the words of both the Master and John the Baptist we find the same moving thought which we should understand as one of the first things that the Master tells us and the crux of the Baptist’s message as we read it in the New Testament:

• The Baptist tells us clearly of Repentance as we read that: “In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand“. Further on we read this reality of John’s mission as he tells us “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire” (Matthew 3:1-2, 11). We should try to see the reality here of this idea of baptism as this IS not the ritual that brings man to the Kingdom of God as is perhaps thought by some; it is but symbol of being immersed into the new Life, that change that we call Repentance. Here in the Baptist’s words we see that he immerses men in water, an equally suitable rendition of the Greek word en which is rendered as with in our text, as a symbol of immersion into a new Life and that change of heart called Repentance. In subjecting oneself to this baptism, a man IS deciding to change and here the change is toward the Kingdom of God. For us today the decision to change should be seen as Repentance as well and we should understand that the ritual in unnecessary to the man who can understand these realities.
• We read this about the Master as He begins His ministry: “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). This IS of course the same as the Baptist’s message and a continuation of the admonition that men decide to change and it is in this decision that they come to John for baptism and it IS in this decision that they come to the Master and follow as changed men. The Master carries this idea forward in defining a part of His mission as “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Mark 2:17). Later we read that “These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as ye go, preach , saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 10:5-7) and we should see that the apostles interpret preaching as the call to Repentance as Mark tells us: “And they went out, and preached that men should repent” (Mark 6:12).
• We see this idea of Repentance again after the resurrection of the Master as He eats with His disciples on the shore: “And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. And he took it, and did eat before them. And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Luke 24-42-47). Now we should see here that same Repentance as above as the continuation of His teachings by His apostles and disciples; that they should teach Repentance as that change of heart that will bring a man to God and here in our blog we use our word focus and understand this as the implementation of that change. Here we should take on as well the next word as this idea of remission is much misunderstood as some take it to mean that ALL is forgiven based upon some personal factor and while there is some Truth here it IS NOT based in the ideas that doctrine suggests. Here, that Repentance or decision to change IS but a beginning and it IS a change from the ways of the world which ways ARE the reality of sin. The lexicon tells us that this idea of remission, as rendered from the Greek word aphesis, can be seen as: release from bondage or imprisonment; forgiveness or pardon, of sins (letting them go as if they had never been committed), remission of the penalty ² and in looking at the idea of sin rightly, we can see this reality clearly. In Repentance, even if temporary, we are released from the bondage of the ways of the world and if we continue in His word we can move ever forward toward our goal of deliverance which word IS ironically one of the ways that this Greek word IS rendered in the King James Version. The problems of language and the influence of doctrine have made verses like these extremely difficult to rightly understand and the reliance on ‘believing’ in the Master in common terms as a sign of Repentance and the cause for remission of sin in a doctrinal sense is an example of this. Interestingly, one of the definitions for remission from the 1913 Webster’s Dictionary tells us that remission means: The act of remitting, surrendering, resigning, or giving up ¹ and in Repentance we should be able to see these ideas at work; in that change of heart from Repentance, there IS a surrendering of sin, of focus on the self and the things of the world; there is a resigning of living according to this worldly focus and there IS a giving up of such focus or sin….this IS for us the Truth of remission.

In ALL this we should keep in mind that this idea of Repentance is not an end but a beginning and one that need not be a long lasting commitment although this is likely the intent of ALL who Repent as the Master and the Baptist instruct. It IS in this state of True Repentance that the reality of duality effectively strikes the Life of the man in the world as in Repentance the man IS acknowledging the two ways, the way of the world that he decides to change from and the way of the Soul, of the God and Christ Within, that he has decided to change to. This IS that change of focus or at least the beginning of that change and for the man that IS serious, this focus upon the things of God becomes his new Lifestyle. Now like ALL things spiritual there are degrees of Repentance and variations in its effect as a man may Repent of individual things and forsake them but this IS NOT the full extent of Repentance as the Master intends it. True Repentance IS that decision to give up the ways of the self in the world for the ways of God and while this view may not be held by those whose understanding IS from doctrine, there is little or no foundation for any alternative in the words of the Master. Our right understanding of this idea is of large importance as anything short of this does not put us onto that Path toward the next step which IS Transformation and in this we should understand again that Repentance IS NOT the end; it IS the beginning of one’s journey to the fullness of the Kingdom and discipleship. It is here in Repentance that the stage IS set for the next phase of the Life of the man who would be a disciple and this is as well the beginning of the way of the aspirant and we should try to understand here that at the moment that one Repents, the Transformation begins and that for every time that a man may Repent and then retract that decision, he is taken back into the ways of the world only to have to start again. Perhaps the bright point here is that in starting again a man will remember his previous trial and perhaps be that much more prepared to fight off the temptations of Life in the world and to see through the illusion and the glamour of Life in form.

We must add here one more point which IS that a man need not KNOW anything about how this ALL works out in his Life as it IS these ideas that will come to him as realizations and revelations as he works through the process of Transformation which we will try to discuss in some detail in the next post. The only point of necessity, if we can say it this way, IS that the man hear and heed the prompting of his own Soul to the Good, the Beautiful and the True; from here he will begin to see the reality of the Master’s teachings on Love and on the Way of the disciple and we can be so bold here as to say that if one believes that he IS Repented and CAN NOT see at the same time the words of yesterday’s Quote of the Day as it Universally effects ALL mankind, that he IS mistaken and deluded and that his experience IS NOT Repentance.

Foregoing thoughts like original sin, and the vicarious atonement properties assigned to the Master’s death by crucifixion which are, both of them, conventions of men, we should understand that we ARE here in this Earth according to the Plan of God with the intent of extricating ourselves from the cycle of birth and rebirth and to do so according to His words that begin with Repentance as we see here today. And here we put to the test our own sense of Repentance as we say above; if we can attest to these words from the Apostle John in our own thoughts, attitudes and actions then we are Truly on the Path of  Repentance, Transformation, and Redemption leading to Transfiguration. The apostle tells us clearly these things that we must understand Universally toward God and toward ALL men:

“And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him, because he first loved 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 seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also” (1 John 4:16-21).

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 reprise this Quote of the Day from  previous posts along with our comments at each use of this. In these words we should be able to see the way of the disciple and not in that day only but in this day as well and we should understand that the Love and the Power to accomplish these things that are spoken of by the Master are within our grasp as well as these ARE the Power of the True disciple.

And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give. Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses, Nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is worthy of his meat. (Matthew 10:7-10)

From our original use of this as our Quote of the Day we have: These are words that we saw in a recent post as the Master’s words sending off the twelve to preach and to heal among the people. It is said that He gave them the power to do so and in this we can see that He gave them the confidence to accomplish what they did. Through the purity of one’s Life in form does the power of the Soul, the Power of God, flow through his very being and it is in this flow that also comes the Faith and the KNOWING. Is there a lesson here in this saying for those who desire to walk in the footsteps of the Apostles of the Master; as Disciples of the Christ?

In our subsequent use of these words we said: Today’s Quote of the Day is from the Master’s instructions to His disciples as he sent them forth and in this we should see our own instructions which are that we do the works of God, that we teach the Truth of the Kingdom and that we serve our fellow man. What it is that we receive from the Christ Within, what is revealed to us is FREE, we must give again FREELY and it is of great importance that we must be in a attitude of forsaking, leaving ALL the things of the world behind, bringing with us only the humble nature of a True Son of God.

Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!

• ¹ Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1828 and 1913

• ² New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com

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