ON LOVE; PART DXXII
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GoodWill IS Love in Action
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“The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: 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 12:29-31).
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“Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:36-40).
In the last essay we began with Wisdom as our topic and carried forward our idea of the difference between Wisdom and wisdom where the former capitalized word is that Wisdom from above of which the Apostle James speaks and the lower case version is that wisdom of the world of which the Apostle Paul writes “Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?” (1 Corinthians 1:20). Here Paul is referring to Old Testament ideas and prophecies that speak against this worldly wisdom which IS but foolishness in the eyes of God and he repeats this again saying: “Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain” (1 Corinthians 3:18-20). In this idea of deception we should see the reality of the illusion and the glamour through which men believe that they are wise and yet fail to understand the difference between Wisdom and wisdom. And this is what befell Solomon as well; in the illusion that he himself created about his own wisdom and his own treasures and place as king, he came to believe that the wisdom he was exercising in the world was according to the precepts of God and while much likely was so oriented, he quickly devolved to that point where he entombed himself in the ways of the world. Can we see here that his sense of wisdom became this same foolishness that the apostle speaks of? And can we see as well this same idea in the words of the Buddha which are a yet clearer caution regarding the world and the ways of the world:
“Do not live in the world, In distraction and false dreams. Outside the dharma. Arise and watch. Follow the way joyfully through this world and beyond. Follow the way of virtue. Follow the way joyfully Through this world and on beyond! For consider the world – A bubble, a mirage. See the world as it is, And death shall overlook you. Come, consider the world, A painted chariot for kings, A trap for fools. But he who sees goes free. As the moon slips from behind a cloud And shines, So the master comes out from behind his ignorance And shines. The world is in darkness. How few have eyes to see! How few the birds who escape the net and fly to heaven!” (Dhammapada Part 13; on The World)5.
Here we should try to see the plight of men, of ALL men, who believe that the things of the world can be any part of the objective of the man who would seeks God. There IS NO relationship between what one sees or believes and what IS True so long as the self is the central point of one’s thoughts, attitudes or actions and by example here we should try to see the extreme effort that Solomon put into the building of the Temple, the House of the Lord, how he convinced himself that this was for God based in his own worldly thoughts. This idea is contrary to the doctrine of both the Christian and the Jew who put much emphasis onto this Temple which IS but a worldly edifice. And this IS the point, while Solomon believed that this is for the Lord, it is based upon his own worldly vision; and, while the objective is seemingly righteous, it IS as the same time done in “In distraction and false dreams“. The reasoning of King Solomon that we read of in scripture is just that, reasoning; it is the combination of spiritual insight which is seen in his hearing from God, and the natural ideas of the man in the world. Can we imagine that God would really want a house or a temple?
In the words spoken by the Apostle Stephen to the Jews, words for which he is stoned, we read this: “Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as he had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen. Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David; Who found favour before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob. But Solomon built him an house. Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet, Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest? Hath not my hand made all these things?“. This is a part of the ‘story of the Jews’ as the apostle recalls it to the Jews of whom Stephen says “have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it” (Acts 7:44-50, 53). The words of the Prophet Isaiah are quoted by Stephen and these reflect the ideas of the Psalm that says “Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain” (Psalm 127:1). It IS difficult to understand how that the idea of the Temple has become what is has in history and even yet today; We read these words and come to understand the ways that these ideas that are presumably from God are the interpretations of men and that this IS the way of the world that IS preoccupied with the self and the things of and for the self in the world. This is the way of the illusion and the glamour of Life in form. And Paul, once a Pharisee and learned in the ways of the Jew, an authority on the Jewish laws and traditions, offers us this in his speech to the Epicureans and the Stoics at Athens:
“For as I passed by , and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: For in him we live , and move , and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent” (Acts 17:23-30).
There IS much clarity here and in Stephen’s words above yet even in the Christian world this IS NOT understood as men still build temples and churches and they still believe that these things are for the Lord. The reality of the spiritual Way IS encapsulated in the Master’s words to the Pharisees that we discussed in the last essay as He tells them of the words of God saying “I will have mercy, and not sacrifice“; in this idea of sacrifice we should likely see ALL things that are of and for the self and the self in the world….none of these things are for God and this regardless of what one has come to believe IS True. And the Master DOES NOT just say these words, He emphatically tells the Pharisee that he is seeing wrong, that he is deceived, as Jesus says to them “go ye and learn what that meaneth” (Matthew 9:13) and again that “if ye had known what this meaneth” (Matthew 12:7). Still today men do not connect the dots and come to a True understanding of the Master’s intent which is much more than just sacrifice and should include ALL things that are done while mercy is forgotten; we should remember that Jesus is using the Prophet’s words for His message here. And He tells them as much again in a different context saying “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone” (Matthew 23:23). Too many believe that these words are intended for the Pharisee alone and that they do not extend to ALL men in ALL times.
It is unfortunate that this word mercy is so misunderstood as it IS thought only to apply as compassion upon the needy and the destitute only. Perhaps this IS from the use of the word where those seeking favor of the Lord ask for this mercy as it is rendered from the Greek word eleos. Now if we can consider this neediness and destitution in the same light as we understand the reality of our plight as men trapped in illusion and in glamour, we can likely see the greater value of mercy as it relates to God but in normal human terms such as we find in the gospels we should also be able to see compassion. And in both of these words we should as well see Love; in the former the Love of God and in the latter the more general attributes of the exercise of Love in the world. And there IS a sense of combination of these ideas from the human perspective as well as we read: “And, behold, two blind men sitting by the way side, when they heard that Jesus passed by, cried out, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David. And the multitude rebuked them, because they should hold their peace: but they cried the more, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David. And Jesus stood still, and called them, and said, What will ye that I shall do unto you? They say unto him, Lord, that our eyes may be opened. So Jesus had compassion on them, and touched their eyes: and immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed him” (Matthew 20:30-34). Here the blind men ask for mercy and they receive compassion. We find similar ideas in the Parable of the Good Samaritan where the Samaritan has compassion which is seen as mercy by the man to whom this parable is addressed. Our point here is that these are translated words that are expressing an idea from another language and for us that idea IS Love as a general theme and not as understood here in scripture as that it is for the miserable and afflicted 4.
We should remember here that the the Hebrew word checed is the one used by the prophet in the Old Testament version of the Master’s words “I will have mercy, and not sacrifice” and that the definitions of that word DO NOT include this idea of miserable and afflicted but the more straight forward ideas of mercy, kindness, lovingkindness, goodness, kindly, merciful, favour, good, and goodliness 2*; in this we should see how that the presumed usage has an effect upon the definition in the New Testament. Here we come to our own understanding of this word mercy, that it IS the exercise of GoodWill which word we define at the top of every essay as GoodWill IS Love in Action. Can we understand this? how that mercy and GoodWill are the exercise of Love, the expression of Love in the world? It IS in the fullness of our understanding of the intent of the Master’s words that we can find the Truth and, if this Truth IS real it will have no benefit to the self in the world but will be as James’ Wisdom from above. Mercy IS a good example of this as men may believe that they have mercy or some degree of it as they help the needy and the destitute but the reality IS that this mercy IS the expression of Love to ALL and in this most ALL men fail. We may believe that the Master is speaking against the Pharisees because they did not care for the poor and the destitute as John Gill interprets this saying: “Mercy” includes all acts of compassion to the distressed, relieving the necessitous, distributing to their wants, and showing all kindness and beneficence to the poor and needy; which the scribes and Pharisees very little practised, being a set of cruel, hard hearted, and covetous persons 8 and while this is likely True, it IS but a part of the issue as the Pharisees DID NOT exercise the overall attitude of Love commanded by the Lord in Moses laws much the same as that they misinterpret the ideas regarding the Temple above.
We should remember that these limited ideas of mercy to the distressed and the poor and the actual building of the Temple itself ARE but symptoms of the overall disregard for the True intent of the commandments of the Lord and the clarification of these by the words of the prophets. It is this that the Master points out and not just the small view of men who use their interpretations as part of their own cover from the Truth. The reality of ALL of these ideas is found in the Truth of the Great Commandments as if he DOES “love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength“, Solomon would not have the worldly focus and understanding that caused him to act as he did which includes the building of the Temple which was a great undertaking. Addtionally, there is no need for mercy to the poor and downtrodden if the Truth of the second part of the Great Commandment is understood and followed; if men DO “love thy neighbour as thyself” there is no need or a separate consideration for some. These are the greater realities and while these may seem harsh, they are the True ideas as put forth by the Master and by the prophets before him; ideas that have always been pushed aside in favor of the traditions and the wranglings of men who see these Truths through the lens of illusion and assert their righteousness in the deception of glamour.
In Paul’s words there is also much clarity that IS turned toward men’s sense of doctrine instead of the Light of Truth as are most ALL words of scripture regardless to whom they may be addressed. One that applies here is “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8). Here is the reality of Life and of what we are saying; here we should see that ALL things that ARE for the self in the world are things that a man “soweth to his flesh“. Here we should try to understand the Truth in the words that such a one “shall of the flesh reap corruption“. In the reality of these words we should be able to see that the man will get what it IS that he IS intending and that whatsoever it is will be of the flesh and thereby corrupt. This idea IS wholly misunderstood by many; here in this idea of flesh we see the carnal nature, the worldly nature of men, the self in the world; and in reaping corruption we see the man reaping the “treasures of the world” as the Master paints this. And this IS for ALL men to understand and not those who are on the outer edges of this sowing only; this IS for ALL men whose interests ARE in the world of things. In the fullness of the apostles words we should see the complexity of the “works of the flesh” in the True and whole meaning of the words which include most every thing that a man does for himself in the world.
Do we see the common thread of deception in the apostles’ words? On wisdom as we read above, Paul speaks of the deception of the man who falsely believes that whatsoever sense of wisdom he may have is of God when the reality of what he is exercising IS of and for the self in the world. And here as Paul speaks of sowing, of doing the “works of the flesh“; he does not explain the one from the other here but holds out the same caution of deception based in doing for the self in the world….it need not be ‘evil’ but the reward IS of the world regardless of how one may perceive his own doing. In both of these is a vision of the lessons to be seen in the presented Life of King Solomon. And we should not forget James’ words that tie this deception to the greater reality as he says: “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22).
In this ALL we should see the reality of forsaking as that we are forsaking those corruptible things and our thoughts and attitudes about them. In Truly forsaking we would see the futility of building the temple and forgo whatsoever benefit this could seemingly accrue to the builder and in Truly forsaking on would see the total reality of the Love that the Master teaches and how there IS no need to segment any man as this Love IS ALL inclusive and offered freely to ALL without prejudice. While forsaking is giving up things we must come to see that what IS given up is but the “treasures of the world” which must eventually be given up for the sake of the Kingdom.
We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.
| Aspect |
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 repeat here a Quote of the Day that we spent much time with over the course of our essays. In this affirmation we find the Truth of discipleship as we have been ever been expressing and here we can relate our themes of the last few days; “take no thought” for the things of the world and that we approach the Kingdom and discipleship in the nature of the little child, in humbleness, meekness, unashamed in any way and unassuming. The message that this imparts for us today IS that it IS the Soul that is at work in the world of men as it expresses to some degree the purpose, power and the will through Life in this world. These words are from a meditation offered to his students by our Tibetan brother and in which we find greater understanding of the message of the Master. This IS Truly the way of the disciple.
My Soul has purpose, power and will; these three are needed on the Way of Liberation.
My Soul must foster love among the sons of men; this is its major purpose.
I, therefore, will to love and tread the Way of Love. All that hinders and obstructs the showing of the Light must disappear before the purposes of the Soul.
My will is one with the great Will of God;. that Holy Will requires that all men serve. And unto the purposes of the Plan I lend my little will.
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!
- 2 New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
- 2* Old Testament Hebrew Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
- 5 The Dhammapada Translated by Thomas Byrom
- 8 Bible commentaries on BibleStudyTools.com
