ON LOVE; PART CDLXXXVII
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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
If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.
Our last essay was devoted to our ideas on Christmas Day and the reality of Christmas from a Truer Christian perspective. It IS likely that many would disagree with our approach to this idea of celebrating the day of Christ’s Birth, but if they could see clearly the Christ’s message of Love, Peace, brotherhood, unity and harmony as He expresses these ideals, perhaps their opinion would be changed. If they could understand that the entirety of His teaching is on the Way of the disciple and on the Way to the Kingdom that most hold so dearly, then perhaps they could understand that it IS ONLY in looking past the self and the desires of and for the self in the world that one can achieve these things. This IS our reality and it IS neatly framed for us in these few words from the Apostle John above, these words on righteousness that we should consider as the fullness of keeping His words and understand that it IS ONLY in keeping His words that one IS entitled to this place called the Kingdom of God and to being accounted among the reality, the Truth, of being His disciple. A man can think that he is doing what is necessary for the Kingdom but unless he is DOING these things that the Master teaches us to do, he is deceived and this we should KNOW from the words of the Apostle James who tells us clearly and bluntly to: “be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22) and we should understand that this word rendered as hearers is intended to include what one believes.
As aspirants to this idea of discipleship and and men on that long journey toward the Kingdom of God, we must understand the idea of language and translation; that language expresses ideas and that translation tries to find this idea in another tongue; this IS often difficult and in these words there is no exception. In this saying that we are discussing from James there IS NO long leap to make in understanding that the idea of hear DOES NOT mean only what enters the ear as in this understanding the saying makes NO sense. In this usage we must see that the activity of hearing itself covers more than just the ear and we should extend this to include every way the we obtain information and the idea must include how one processes what he may hear into understanding, and in this word we should see that what it IS that we may understand about a thing IS or becomes what we believe. In the rest of this series of sayings from James one can easily get this point from his last words in this segment that “But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed” (James 1:25). Here we can easily take the position that if one does what he believes that he is then “blessed in his deed” but we KNOW that this could not be so and therefore we must see this as that the words are to be believed as they ARE intended; in the clarity of Love. Here we should take the understanding that anything that a man can do or can think; ALL of his thoughts, attitudes and actions, MUST be in Love and as such should be in expressed in the fullness of the Great Commandments and the explanatory notes of the Golden Rule. There IS NO shortcut to divinity, not easy way to the Kingdom and no doctrinally accomplished sense of discipleship; there IS ONLY keeping His words.
And it is here that we stand and we strive which IS ALL that we MUST DO; strive toward the strait gate that opens into the Kingdom of God; it is here that a man must decide what it IS that he wants from his Life in this world. He can be among the DOERS and in this he is ever striving as the Master instructs; or he can be among the ‘believers’ who follow along in doctrine which offers the illusion of the Kingdom by way of the shortcuts created in rituals and rites and affirmations and in some basic sense of NOT doing the grossest of what THEY may identify as sin. Unfortunately this IS NOT the Way to the Kingdom and while it may help one to follow the doctrinal precepts, the Truth is again in the words of James who tells us that “whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10). This IS clear and again we must not believe that this is concerned only with the Ten Commandments but with the whole of the applicable law as defined in scriptures and reinforced by the Master and His apostles. Here we can try to see the exclusion of those ideas of law that are concerned with the worldly activities of the Jews, the dietary laws, the laws of sacrifice and the like; here we should see that it is those that affect the psyche that continue and these ARE, ALL of them, concerned with and beginning in Love. In the whole of these ideas from James we should understand his perspective on doing the word covers the True intent of the words and NOT the convenient interpretation of them. In this most ALL men KNOW when they are deviating; when they are doing wrong.
And James offers us these words on keeping “the whole law” as part of a discourse that includes the practical application of Love and his citation above should be seen to be reflecting precisely on these ideas of Love as those things that a man will do that ARE against a part of “the whole law” as we read here that his “one point” IS Love. We read: “If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty” (James 2:8-12). And it IS from here that the apostle goes on to deflate that doctrinal bubble that is based in the erroneous interpretations of the sayings of the Apostle Paul on the law and on faith; James tells us, again clearly and bluntly, that “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?” (James 2:14). Posed as a rhetorical question we should be able to see the reality of DOING and perhaps when we complete our work on the Gospel of Thomas we can take up these seemingly conflicting ideas expressed by Paul and by James and discover together how that they ARE NOT conflicting at ALL.
Here however our focus IS upon Love and hearing as expressed by James and then our point as it reflects in our Christmas message. This “perfect law of liberty” IS the reality of the law as it applies to the Life of man in the words of the Master and in this we find Love. We find Love as well in the ideas from James on what is the “royal law according to the scripture” and this he identifies as “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” which are the same words that the Master Himself uses and which relate to this idea of royal to the Great Commandments. Here we should understand our point of above regarding translation as this word used here has naught to do with royalty as we understand it but rather is intended to show that this IS the principal or the chief law according to the lexicon 2. And the apostle ties this idea of Love directly to the idea of “respect to persons” and to sin and in these ideas there can be found the Path and the Way to our own divine expression. Hearing, while it does pertain to what goes in the ear, MUST be seen as we discuss above, hearing MUST be what one comes to believe and, in the context of scripture, this MUST be as the ideas were intended and NOT how they may be interpreted; and this IS discoverable by most ALL men who take the time and make the effort to look past the carnal mind and emotions and the sense of self and see the Truth as it is presented in conscience. And we say here ‘most ALL’ as there are men with us in the world who may be mentally or emotionally deficient and this by the nature of their equipment or by their strong indoctrination into ideas that can build walls around their own reality.
And so then our Christmas message as we began it in the last post is simply one of righteousness which is found in keeping His words and here we come back again to our underlying theme of Love; that ALL is found in this idea of Love as expressed by the man in the world. Not the emotional attractions and attachments that are the common understanding, but rather that Love that is expressed by the Master and which can be found in the Great Commandments and the Golden Rule and which ARE further explained for us in the idea that OUR “God is love” (1 John 4:8) and that He is at the same time “no respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34). This then should be the reflection we take from our lead saying at the top of today’s essay; that if these ideas of Love and respect ARE part of the righteousness of God, so they must be part of our own understanding of righteousness if we are to see ourselves as “born of him“. It IS this birth that IS our reality of the meaning of Christmas, that the Christ is born in the cave of our hearts in Love and our expression of Love and that this IS the way par excellence that we can Truly become “born again“. If we are ardent seekers then this IS our attitude, to express that Love and to express it equally to ALL men, and it IS toward this goal that we strive. Christmas IS but another reminder of these things for the man whose goal is the Truth of the Kingdom and discipleship.
Returning to our discussion on the one hundred thirteenth saying from the Gospel of Thomas, we see some of the reality of the Kingdom of God; Here in this saying we find the idea that the Kingdom IS spread across the world an in this we should try to see the very nature of God as He CAN NOT be separated from His Kingdom. This Kingdom of God IS NOT a house or a dwelling place but IS His PLACE OF BEING and here we can say the same about the Kingdom as we do about God. We find this in that ancient Hindu saying that we ofttimes use that tells us clearly that:
To the God Who is in the Fire and Who is in the waters;
To the God Who has suffused Himself through all the world;
To the God Who is in summer plants and in the lords of the forest;
To that God be adoration, adoration.
Sh’vet Upanishad, II.17.
This IS the reality of our Transcendent and Immanent God, OUR God who IS Within us and within ALL things as they are part and parcel of His very Being and this IS the SAME God that we see as we look outward and see Him as beyond us, all encompassing, and of whom we read that “in him we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28). Can we see here the reality of His Kingdom as this is expressed here by the Master according to Thomas; that if His Kingdom is “spread out upon the earth” that He IS as well and that in like terms the words from Luke’s Gospel say this same thing in relation to the man in the world, that the Kingdom of God IS within him and therefore God IS Within. Doctrine does not agree here with these ideas as for whatever reason they CAN NOT bring themselves to believe that God can be within whosoever they would consider a heathen; but scripture makes no such separations as we read in His words to ALL and in answer to the question by the Pharisee. We read this in our saying from Luke and in the similar sayings from Thomas’ Gospel:
- “And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:20-21).
- “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“” (Thomas 113).
- “Jesus says: “If those who lead you say to you: ‘Look, the kingdom is in the sky!’ then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you: ‘It is in the sea,’ then the fishes will precede you. Rather, the kingdom is inside of you, and outside of you.” “When you come to know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will realize that you are the children of the living Father. But if you do not come to know yourselves, then you exist in poverty, and you are poverty”” (Thomas 3).
In these three sayings we have that reality that the Kingdom IS both within and without, that the Kingdom IS as God IS; in Transcendence and Immanence. We can see and realize the Kingdom without by our basic understanding of Life, that Life simply IS and it IS this IS-NESS that IS God. And we should remember His telling Moses this as the Prophet asks the Lord Jehovah about Who He IS; we read: “And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM : and he said , Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you” (Exodus 3:13-14). Here we should see that I AM and HE IS are the same thing, the same substance, and the very Truth of God whose actuality IS beyond the scope of ability to comprehend as we read in this esoteric saying:
GOD IS: Life, Existence; He is the ONE Boundless Immutable Principle; one Absolute Reality which, antecedes all manifested conditioned Being. It is beyond the range and reach of any human thought or expression‡.
Here we should see that individually and en masse we ARE part and parcel God; that He IS Within us and that we ARE Within Him and this is told us by the Master in these words above as well as in those other ideas from the Gospel of John which attest to this relationship. Here we must try to see the reality that this IS True of ALL men and that it IS only in the realization of this, that realization that comes from one’s focus and our keeping His words, that we can KNOW as He tells His disciples saying: “At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you” (John 14:20). Here He IS speaking to disciples as it IS they that can have the fullness of this realization which for us remains but an understanding of our ultimate reality as we may KNOW that we are part and parcel but we DO NOT KNOW what this Truly means. And this reality is expressed in this third saying from Thomas’ Gospel as we read “When you come to know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will realize that you are the children of the living Father” and this is also expressed for us by Paul who, instructing the disciple on the True expression of Love as the “more excellent way” to achieve and apply divinity, tells us that: “when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake 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 through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known” (1 Corinthians 12:31, 13:10-12). This IS coming to KNOW oneself, to KNOW beyond the ways of the child which IS the way of the man in the world; the man, the spiritual man as Paul IS, puts away such worldly things and now sees his True self “face to face” and then IS KNOWN; he sees the True self as the divine self and no longer the man in the world. In Paul’s words this is the result of Love, of the expression of Love as he outlines it for us, and in his idea of then we should understand that this is the end, the fullness of one’s expression of Love; this IS where the man Truly KNOWS himself.
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.
| 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!
- 2 New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
- 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*
- ‡ A Treatise on Cosmic Fire by Alice A Bailey © 1951 by Lucis Trust
- * 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.
