IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 740

ON LOVE; PART CCCXXVIX

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

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. (Dhammapada; on Wakefulness) ⁵.

Having completed a rather in depth look at the story of the Apostle Judas as well as analyzing look at the mantram that we carried at the top of our essay for several days, we are now ready to move on to new ground and new subjects. Today we begin with the words of the Buddha that had been our Quote of the Day for several days but it is not here for today for our analysis as we have already looked somewhat at this; it is here today so that we can take these ideas of awakened and awakening into the words of the Master who, while He never uses this language, gives us the same lesson in His own special way. We had previously equated these words on wakefulness to our more Christian theme of Transformation and we noted that as Transformation IS a process that leads the the result of being Transformed, so awakening IS a process that leads one to be awakened and this in the same context of the Christian ideas changing the very nature of the personality in the world so as to reflect the thoughts, attitudes and actions of the Inner man rather than those of the man focused in the world. As we have discussed the master of which the Buddha speaks is the disciple of which we speak here in our essays and in the idea of awakening we have the aspirant just as we have in our idea of Transforming. Of course ALL of this happens by degree and so it IS the one who IS awakened and the one who IS Transformed to which we give the name of disciple and master. Moreover, the idea of master should be one of leader and guide and should be seen as that Inner man who leads and guides the outer man and then, when this is accomplished, the master is one who leads and guides others in their own pursuit as a work of service.

Our reality here is that until that point of being awakened and being Transformed, until that work of becoming the disciple is complete, there is no safe harbor for the man as he continues in the world, living in that sense of duality, seeing double if you will; he IS pursuing his goal yet he IS attracted to the pleasures and the apparent ease of living as the man focused on the world. And, this is not the end which we see in the example set for us by the Master in His discourse with the Apostle Peter, a disciple to be sure yet incomplete as he drifts back to thoughts, attitudes and actions of a man in the world. Here we have created for ourselves the idea of the True disciple as compared to the man who IS Transformed and here who see Peter as a disciple who is rebuked by the Master for saying worldly things and thinking worldly thoughts, the same Peter who denies the Master at the end as he lets fear creep into his heart and then the same Peter who overcomes this ALL after the death and the resurrection of the Master and come to that point of True discipleship where we read that he heals by his very proximity: “Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them. There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed every one” (Acts 5:15-16). This is the True disciple and perhaps this is the man who IS Redeemed from the perspective given us by the Apostle Paul who says of our goal that we “shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” and that in this deliverance that we “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 8:21, 23). Here in Paul’s words we find our goal of discipleship, our deliverance, and then our adoption which IS our union with our God and the Redemption of the body which we paint as the fullness of the Light, Love and Power of the Soul as the expression of the man in the world.

Of course these ideas are outside of the view of the organized church and its doctrines who see the supernatural in Peter’s abilities, who do not see the reality of this Redemption in Paul’s words, and who see the idea of adoption in a way contrary to the Master’s teaching and according to the doctrinal idea that when a man performs whatsoever ritual or rite or affirmation, he is adopted into the family of God. We see these things quite differently; we see Peter’s accomplishment as the result of his work and his growth as a result of his staunch focus which grows in the absence of the Master. We see Peter’s reliance upon the Master as his teacher and guide and then, when the Master is gone, he comes to that realization of the Christ Within and the activity of the Soul in his Life which IS the Holy Spirit, the Comforter that the Master tells them about. Now in these words that the Master uses: “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever” (John 14:16) we should see the effects of doctrinal understanding committed to translating His words and while these can mean as they are portrayed but there is a deeper view here that goes unseen. This deeper view is found in the understanding that we have begun here with the apostles’ reliance on the Master and this warning of His departure where, when he is no longer with them, will be replaced in their hearts by what we refer to as the Christ Within. It is this Christ Within that had been one of the great mysteries and of which Paul writes: “Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:25-27). And here we understand that before this there had been no Christ and therefore no Christ Within but this IS not completely accurate as Christ and God are ONE and so are the God Within and the Christ Within and we must try to see here that ALL is a matter of realization. Thus the Christ Within is such and He is by His activity in the Life of a man, the Comforter, the Holy Spirit who is also a great mystery that has yet to be resolved in doctrine.

Remember here that the Master IS speaking to his disciples about the Comforter which is also translated as Advocate and it is intended for them that the activity of the Christ Within would “abide with you for ever“, as this Presence of the activity of the Christ Within, the Comforter, would only remain with those who are expressing the Love and the Power of the Soul through form. This word abide perhaps is a misleading translation of the Greek word meno which Strong’s defines as: to stay, remain, live, dwell, abide; to be in a state that begins and continues, yet may or may not end or stop ³. Can we see our point here? Mr. Strong adds at the end of this that “to abide in Christ” is to follow his example of a life obedient to the will of god ³. We will not get into the other doctrinal perceptions of this saying by the Master as we only want to see the reality as this Comforter or Advocate, or perhaps better left as the Paraclete as the untranslated form of the Greek Parakletos, as the realization of the God and the Christ Within that Peter finds, as do we ALL as we move into discipleship, in the absence of the Master.

On the idea of Redemption from Paul’s words above, we should try to see the reality of the progression of the Life of the disciple to that point where he is expressing, as did Peter, the fullness of the Love and the Power of the Soul. This word is however tied to the atoning quality of the Life and death of the Master by doctrine and in ways that prevent the right understanding of this Greek word. It is ever tied to purchase and ransom which ideas bear no relationship to the usage by Paul in our saying from Romans above and likely to very little else as well. From our perspective this irradiation of the body by the Light of the Soul is a releasing action as it represents the final freeing action of the Soul from the prison of Life in form and the ways of the world and we premise that it IS here that the disciple can say with the Master “I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). From this perspective we note that one of the meanings of the Greek word apolutrosis IS release according to Strong’s who defines it as: redemption, ransom, release ³. The lexicon tells us that apolutrosis means: a releasing effected by payment of ransom; redemption, deliverance; liberation procured by the payment of a ransom ², but these should be seen in a doctrinal view as Vincent tells us: Redemption (απολυτρώσεως) From απολυτρόω to redeem by paying the λύτρον price. Mostly in Paul. See Luke 21:28; Hebrews 9:15; Hebrews 11:35. The distinction must be carefully maintained between this word and λύτρον ransom ⁴. Vincent has the similar doctrinal idea of paying a price but cautions on the confusion with ransom while the lexicon uses ransom in its definitions and, again these ideas that include the notion of price are rather lost in our saying above from Romans. Now since we are not bound by the idea of the atoning death of the Master, we are also not bound to these ideas of ransom and of the price for redeeming and saying this we remain in our view of release with no conditions. Webster’s 1828 version gives us two ideas of Redemption, one secular and one based in theology; we read that Redemption means: Deliverance from bondage, distress, or from liability to any evil or forfeiture, either by money, labor or other means ¹ from the secular view and that it means: the purchase of God”s favor by the death and sufferings of Christ; the ransom or deliverance of sinners from the bondage of sin and the penalties of God”s violated law by the atonement of Christ ¹ in a theological view. We of course accept the secular as the more True understanding of the words used by Paul and likely of most ALL references in the New Testament. This then is the Redemption of the body which we can likely see in the Life of Peter as the effulgent Light of the Soul radiates through his body and by which “they were healed every one“.

Finally we have again the idea of adoption which is seen in doctrine as it is presented here in the lexicon which says that this Greek word huiothesia means: adoption, adoption as sons that relationship which God was pleased to establish between himself and the Israelites in preference to all other nations; the nature and condition of the true disciples in Christ, who by receiving the Spirit of God into their souls become sons of God; the blessed state looked for in the future life after the visible return of Christ from heaven ². Now this IS contrary to the Master’s teaching as He calls us ALL children regardless of belief and if we take this only from the view that He gives us of the Father, it should be enough from the perspective of Life in this world. The True man, the Soul IS ever a Son of God as that idea is interpreted and it IS in the expression of the Love and the Power of the Soul, the Son of God, that we can be seen as and understood as such in this world. Nonetheless, He IS Father to ALL and there is no requirement in the Master’s words as He teaches us to pray to “Our Father”. This idea of the Fatherhood of God is a complex one that we do not have the time for today but which we will address again going forward. For our discussion here we are looking at adoption and here we repeat Vincent’s words that give us a much Truer picture than the doctrinal view of the lexicon. Vincent says that: Spirit of adoption (πνευμα υιοθεσίας) The Spirit of God, producing the condition of adoption. Ὑιοθεσία adoptionis from υἱός sonand θέσις asetting or placing: the placing one in the position of a son. Mr. Merivale, illustrating Paul’s acquaintance with Roman law, says: “The process of legal adoption by which the chosen heir became entitled not only to the reversion of the property but to the civil status, to the burdens as well as the rights of the adopter – became, as it were, his other self, one with him … this too is a Roman principle, peculiar at this time to the Romans, unknown, I believe, to the Greeks, unknown, to all appearance, to the Jews, as it certainly is not found in the legislation of Moses, nor mentioned anywhere as a usage among the children of the covenant. We have but a faint conception of the force with which such an illustration would speak to one familiar with the Roman practice; how it would serve to impress upon him the assurance that the adopted son of God becomes, in a peculiar and intimate sense, one with the heavenly Father” (“Conversion of the Roman Empire”) ⁴. And we bring special attention to the words in bold as this IS the intent of the words that Paul uses and which go to say that it is the Unity, this sense of Oneness, that is the adoption and “to wit, the redemption of our body“. Ponder on this.

We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.

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.

Repeating another quotation from the Buddha as our Quote of the Day:

Better than a thousand hollow words
Is one word that brings peace.
Better than a thousand hollow verses
Is one verse that brings peace.
Better than a hundred hollow lines
Is one line of the dharma (law), bringing peace.
It is better to conquer yourself
Than to win a thousand battles.
Then the victory is yours.
It cannot be taken from you,
Not by angels or by demons, Heaven or hell.
Better than a hundred years of worship,
Better than a thousand offerings,
Better than giving up a thousand worldly ways
In order to win merit,
Better even than tending in the forest
A sacred flame for a hundred years –
Is one moment’s reverence
For the man who has conquered himself.

(Dhammapada Part 8; the Thousands)5

Today’s Quote of the Day is again from the sayings of the Buddha; this one is call the Thousands. One is hard pressed to find differences between these teachings of the Buddha and the teachings of our Master the Christ. What do we see above? First there is PEACE and how much better it is than the hollow sounds of Pride and Arrogance so often heard around the world. Next there is the idea of conquering one’s self and this should be likened to all that the Master and His apostles have to say about overcoming the carnal life, the flesh. Once a life is governed by the Inner Man, the Soul he can stand free and clear of all the worldly ways; here is our Victory and here is our PEACE.

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
• ³ Strongest Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible – 2001
• ⁴ Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
• ⁵ The Dhammapada Translated by Thomas Byrom