ON LOVE; PART CDLXXXVI
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
The Gospel of Thomas
These are the hidden words that the living Jesus spoke. And Didymos Judas Thomas wrote them down.
(109) Jesus says: “The kingdom is like a person who has a hidden treasure in his field, (of which) he knows nothing. And [after] he had died, he left it to his [son]. (But) the son did not know (about it either). He took over that field (and) sold [it]. And the one who had bought it came, and while he was ploughing [he found] the treasure. He began to lend money at interest to whom he wished.“
(110) Jesus says: “The one who has found the world (and) has become wealthy should renounce the world.“
(111) Jesus says: “The heavens will roll up before you, and the earth. And whoever is living from the living one will not see death.” Does not Jesus say: “Whoever has found himself, of him the world is not worthy“?
(112) Jesus says: “Woe to the flesh that depends on the soul. Woe to the soul that depends on the flesh.“
(113) His disciples said to him: “The kingdom – on what day will it come?” “It will not come by watching (and waiting for) it. They will not say: ‘Look, here!’ or ‘Look, there!’ Rather, the kingdom of the Father is spread out upon the earth, and people do not see it.“
(114) Simon Peter said to them: “Let Mary go away from us, for women are not worthy of life.” Jesus said: “Look, I will draw her in so as to make her male, so that she too may become a living male spirit, similar to you.” (But I say to you): “Every woman who makes herself male will enter the kingdom of heaven.” 14
MERRY CHRISTMAS
The reality of Christmas IS the Birth of Jesus; this IS an historical fact. The symbology behind it IS however lost and the truth of the message of His birth IS NOT understood nor appreciated by many. The King was not born into a Life of Luxury so as to ensure His childhood and his education among the elite, He was born into the ranks of the average man in that day, He was born as everyman. Some previous avatars were born into luxury, the Buddha for example was born into a royal family, and there is a reason for this that can likely be glimpsed in the idea that a part of His role was to overcome privilege and join the ranks of everyman. Jesus IS born however as the everyman with no special privilege from a carnal perspective; He grew up a Jew and, from the brief narrative that we have in the accepted gospels, He was a religious Jew who was taught in the doctrines and the traditions of the day. In the Power of the Christ, a Power that He came to Earth with and likely slowly realized as He matured, neither Jesus nor His family sought nor attained any social status among the elite, they were content with their place as they awaited for His time to come. The Master DID NOT have to overcome a Life of privilege but rather He had to rise above the ranks of the elite as a the everyman with a message; He had ONLY the fruit of the Spirit that the Apostle Paul would later define for us.
We read in Luke’s Gospel such things as “And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him” and in this we should see the apostle’s realization of the divine nature of the child Jesus. We read further on that Mary and Joseph had lost track of Jesus and on returning to Jerusalem they find Him; Luke tells us this way: “And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers“. In perhaps the last view of the young Jesus that we have are these words from Luke who tells us “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man” (Luke 2:40, 46-+47, 52). This of course IS NOT a lot of information and except for the few words from Matthew’s Gospel that tell us of the journey to Egypt, this is the extent of our view from the accepted gospels. There are other stories in the apocryphal books, a class of writings that has always been considered heretical by the organized church, and our Gospel of Thomas is counted among this class, and there are other writings by those who claim to be able to read the indelible akashic records of Life; The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ is among this group. These writings, like the Gospel of Thomas that we have been discussing, must be viewed by the individual and each must discern for himself their veracity.
The point here is that the Master grew in an environment that was the reality of everyman in that day, His father is a laborer and legend tells us that He too was learned in the skill of carpentry. We read of the same event in both Matthew’s Gospel and in Mark’s these ideas:
- “Is not this the carpenter’s son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?” (Matthew 13:55).
- “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary , the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him” (Mark 6:3).
This is of course not much to go by and while not contradictory, these accounts are not supportive either. But we can accept that He is trained as a carpenter because His father is a carpenter but this is not our point. Our point IS that He is not considered as educated. We read in Matthew of one time that Jesus IS teaching in “his own country” which we should presume IS where He did grow up: “And when he was come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter’s son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things?” (Matthew 13:54-56). In this and the like words from Mark’s Gospel we should be able to see that Jesus has no special education that these neighbors and friends know of and so they wonder “From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands?” (Mark 6:2). In the Apostle John’s Gospel we find this similar event as the Master teaches and His listeners are in awe; we read: “Now about the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught. And the Jews marvelled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned? Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me” (John 7:14-16).
And this then brings us to our original idea regarding the Birth of Jesus; that in Him we can see that by way of His own birth that He is imbued with “all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9). In His heart, His own conscious awareness, IS ALL of this fullness and it IS in this that He KNOWS that what He is saying is Truth; while it IS His doctrine as spoken uniquely by Him we KNOW as well that He tells us that “My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me“. This IS His innate sense of ALL things. ALL Love and ALL Power are the content of His heart; and this IS the Love and the Power of the Christ, the Christ Within the man Jesus. He is born with this and through the uniqueness of His birth He IS able to realize this ‘gift from God’; He was able to realize the presence of the Christ in the ‘cave of His heart‘.
And this IS for us the other part of the symbology of the Birth of Jesus; that in this same event IS the Birth of Christ, as He is born in the heart of Jesus. Here they ARE ONE but this IS NOT the uniqueness; the uniqueness is in the realization of “this treasure in earthen vessels” (2 Corinthians 4:7). We too have this treasure as these words from the Apostle Paul tell us but this for us IS unrealized until that time when we can experience the same Birth of Christ in the ‘cave of our own hearts‘; this is the Truth of being “born again” and it IS in this that we can say with the Master that “My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me“. And the Master explains this to us; He tells us how it is that we can have this Birth of Christ it the ‘cave of our own hearts‘, how we can be “born again“, as He tells us: “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself. He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him” (John 7:17-18).
And John tells us of this reality in his own words which we refer to frequently; words that tell us that we too have this Christ in the ‘cave of our own hearts‘ as He says that: “ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things” as a testimony to the Presence of the Christ, the anointing of God, and continues to show us of the Power of this anointing as he says that: “the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him” (John 2:20, 27). This unction, this anointing, this Christ Within, IS ever there in us as “this treasure in earthen vessels” but it IS unrealized in most ALL of us; the realization comes in the Birth; the Birth of Christ in the cave of the heart, in the Birth of Christ in the conscious awareness of the man in the world. This IS the Truth of being “born again” and this is a Great Truth as the Master tells us that “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). This IS not that popular idea of born again that we find in the doctrine of the churches today, that born again that involves affirmations and rituals and an emotional response, This IS the Truth of being “born again” that we see in the Master’s teachings on attaining the Kingdom of God which we read in the clearest terms as: “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).
This then IS our Truth and our reality; this IS our view of the Birth of Jesus the man and the Birth of Christ, which for the Master is a single and unifying event, but which for us can only come as the result our ardent efforts to realize this birth of the Christ in the cave of the heart; and this effort is accomplished in our Repentance, and in our Transformation we find the growth of the Christ Child Within. And this then returns us to the symbol with which we started this essay, that symbol of everyman as it IS here that we must begin by dropping ALL pretense and all claims to greatness or glory; it IS here that we stand among our brothers and our neighbors and the strangers; it is here that we ARE “converted, and become as little children” as without this He tells us that “ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3). It IS here that we can find the True meaning of Christmas; that we are born to the realization of the Love and the Power of the Christ Within, that we are “born again” in the reality of everyman and that we take our stand in the Truths of His message and thereby rise above ALL the world. We close today with these closing words from the second chapter of John’s First Epistle:
If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.
We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.
We make note again that the prayer below as the Quote of the Day, the prayer that is attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi, IS Truly a Christmas Prayer and a Christmas invocation addressed to the Inner man, to the Christ Within, that we can ALL practice and affirm in our lives and which can bring out our Love as our expression to others in this Season of Christ-mas.
MERRY CHRISTMAS
| 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.
This is the Prayer of Saint Francis which we repeat again from a previous post as our Quote of the Day. If we were all to accept these ideas as guiding Lights in our lives, we would be expressing the Love and the Faith that the Master teaches. It is attributed to the 13th-century saint Francis of Assisi, although the prayer in its present form cannot be traced back further than 1912*. Regardless of the True authorship, the sentiments revealed in this prayer are genuine and are in keeping the intent of the teachings of the Master and His apostles. We should note here that the dying is not necessarily the death of the body but the death of the carnal man in the world when one is born again. In this context we read this about Saint Francis: Francis was the son of a wealthy foreign cloth merchant in Assisi, and he lived the high-spirited life typical of a wealthy young man, even fighting as a soldier for Assisi. While going off to war in 1204, Francis had a vision that directed him back to Assisi, where he lost his taste for his worldly life**. Here is the antithesis of the rich young man of the gospels. While he may not have authored this prayer, many do attribute it to him and in reading about his Life one can easily see these ideas in his heart.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury,pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen
This is a prayer that is Truly in line with the teachings of the Master and the ideals encapsulated in this should be those that govern our lives and our prayer should be that ALL can see Life in this same way. We should try to see the reality of these words in the verses above regarding feeding and visiting the least of His and our brethren; in these words is a deeper meaning, as clearer expression of Love and, we should look at the Master’s words above as an expression of Love and not merely in the terms that He presents as this is the intent of the entirety of His teachings.
Additional background information on Saint Francis of Assisi can be found in a rather lengthy article in the Catholic Encyclopedia; a link to this is provided below.†
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
- 14 The Gospel of Thomas; Translated by Stephen J. Patterson and James M. Robinson; http://gnosis.org/
- † Link to New Advent http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06221a.htm*
- * Wikipedia contributors. “Prayer of Saint Francis.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 24 Jan. 2013.
- **Wikipedia contributors. “Francis of Assisi.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 24 Jan. 2013.
