Monthly Archives: January 2014

ON LOVE; PART DXXI

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 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).

ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ

“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 went from the mysteries and the secrets of Life, the Kingdom and of God to the idea of Wisdom and we should understand that it IS in the Wisdom from above, from the Soul, that these mysteries and secrets ARE revealed. We should understand as well that this Wisdom IS NOT the same as that so called wisdom of the world which represents a mans ability to influence and control his environment and which works to the benefit of the man in the world. Wisdom in the world IS NOT knowledge but wisdom enhances ones ability to gain and to use knowledge; Webster’s 1828 dictionary tells us that wisdom means: The right use or exercise of knowledge; the choice of laudable ends, and of the best means to accomplish them. This is wisdom in act, effect, or practice. If wisdom is to be considered as a faculty of the mind, it is the faculty of discerning or judging what is most just, proper and useful, and if it is to be considered as an acquirement, it is the knowledge and use of what is best, most just, most proper, most conducive to prosperity or happiness. Wisdom in the first sense, or practical wisdom, is nearly synonymous with discretion ¹.

If we can separate these ideas and turn these to the world as apart from spiritual Wisdom or divine Wisdom we can see that in this definition the idea of what is most conducive to prosperity or happiness can take this wisdom down the darkened path from a spiritual perspective. This IS the wisdom of the world which the Master speaks of in the Parable of the Unjust Steward as we discussed in last post. And we should note that even from this perspective that there ARE dimensions of wisdom and although the world would not call such things wise which may be overly selfish or harmful to others, they can be. We can see this as the Master calls the doings of the unjust steward wise as He relates in this parable saying: “And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light” (Luke 16:8). In this we should see how wisdom can cut both ways in the world and this should be apparent in the general idea of discretion for which we find this in the same dictionary: Freedom to act according to one’s own judgment; unrestrained exercise of choice or will ¹. These ideas of wisdom and discretion ARE worldly ideas and NOT spiritual ones as on the spiritual side Wisdom IS the revelations and the realization of the Truth of Life, of the Kingdom and of God. In the words of Solomon that we posted yesterday IS the reality of this Wisdom from above as he tells us that “the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly. He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints. Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path” (Proverbs 2:7-9).

This IS the reality of the Wisdom from above and while that lower wisdom is good to have, it IS ONLY useful for one’s doings in the world; it IS wisdom of and for the self. Solomon himself was confused by this separation of wisdom from Wisdom and perhaps this is because he did have both and even his heritage as a man in the world relates this to us as we read this from the Master’s words saying: “Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these” (Luke 12:27). Here in the Master’s use of Solomon as the example of worldly glory we should be able to see his downfall and in reading his story as it is told in the Book of Kings and in Chronicles we should see that he fell into the clutches of materialism, of riches and worldly glory, and although he did many things that were presumably for God, these were mostly worldly things that are held up yet today by religion as spiritual. Solomon had the Wisdom of the ages but this was overwhelmed by the wisdom of the world and this was his demise. There is example here in the Life of Solomon and we can see it clearly when we can separate Wisdom from wisdom and understand the reality of focus and forsaking as a part of the Life of the man who Truly strives toward the Kingdom of God.

The lesson from King Solomon’s Life should be clear to any who look past the historical perspective and understand how that he was graced with the Wisdom from above but yet he chose to give into the temptations of Life in the world and to settle for that bit of wisdom that he uses to build an empire and live in the lap of luxury and vice. In the end Solomon lost any claim that he may have had to the Kingdom of God for that particular Lifetime; Solomon did not heed the words of the Lord to “walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as thy father David did walk” (1 Kings 3:14). We should also try to see here another point which, while it is based in our premise alone, does make sense in this context. Souls are reborn into the ‘best’ opportunity for advancement, into what seems to be the best place to carry on the from the end point of the last incarnation, and this is likely True in the birth of Solomon as King David’s son; this works out that Solomon in this place takes on the kingship in his fathers stead and with full intention of doing so according to the statues and commandments of God. And so he starts out in this way and he receives the crown of Wisdom and wisdom and he receives as well the treasures of the Earth and here, in hindsight, we can see that had he not accepted the treasures of the world that the history of the world would have been different. But Solomon does accept these treasures and it IS these that he attends to along with the full array of desires and lusts for the things of the world and his apparent weakness of women. We should try to understand the that in the nature of the times that the precepts of God were no different and although the approach of men was different then, it was still according to the commandment of God; in this we should see that the variances of Solomon against the law ARE NOT limited to his going “after other gods” as this is painted for us in the Old Testament, but rather what those other gods represented in the ways of the man in the world.  It IS written that Solomon had “had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines”  (1 Kings 11:3, 4) and this alone should suffice to show where his heart had gone.

In these ideas we should try to see the reality of the Master’s words that we discussed in the last few essays where He says to “And not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28); here we hold out the idea that this one who IS able to destroy can be one’s own carnal self in the world. This IS Solomon’s plight as he IS tempted by the things of the world that he had and could have in such great abundance and while his temptation may not have to to have more and better, it certainly was that he should partake in the pleasures that his great treasure could bring. And for us these are lessons; Solomon’s from a more remote perspective and the Master’s cautions that we need to be aware of ALL things that can take our attention away from the Truth of God and the Good, the Beautiful and the True that IS found in that Wisdom from above. King Solomon had choices and although these events take place more that 3000 years ago, the choices are largely the same: to focus upon the things of God or to focus upon the self and the things of the world.

In this more barbarous and superstitious time humanity was led by a different tone of ideals in the world but the statutes and the commandments remain the same yet today save for the elimination of some of the more brutal and common commandments as presented by Moses; we should try to see here that Moses IS a man who IS interpreting the words of God as received though his own sense of his God Within and, like the writings of the New Testament authors, he colored them with his own sense of meaning according to the times. In this we should try to see that our God who IS Love IS NOT that jealous God as portrayed by Moses and DID NOT order the stoning and killing of those who broke even some of the more harmless commandments….these ideas are Moses’ own coloring of the Truths that he was able to receive. Moses codified the the law according to his revelation but he does so in combination with his own sense of spiritual reality as we ARE ALL likely to do; we ARE men in this world of men and this IS True even when we may believe that we ARE free and have overcome. Moses sense of God was likely based in the nature of the race of men at that time where the emotional Life was the rule, the reasoning mind was secondary, and men were much more attached to their physical presence and appetites. Moses instituted the whole of the building of the temple and the ways of worship and sacrifice from this sense of God that he had and we should add here that his sense was superior to that of ALL others as he received the revelations and the realizations of Truth and so colored them that they became what we read about yet today.

Moses instituted the rites of sacrifice that were intended to show man the price of doing wrong and the cost of doing right and we can see in the Life of King Solomon that this takes on a much greater role than was ever intended as he, in his wisdom and with his treasure, believed that more IS better and the religious reader likely agrees. We read this about Solomon’s dedication of the Temple: “And king Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty and two thousand oxen, and an hundred and twenty thousand sheep: so the king and all the people dedicated the house of God” (2 Chronicles 7:5). This IS a sign of the times and not the desire of God…this IS the work of men whose attitude to Life is emotional and perhaps devotional and while many believe that this IS the Will of God, it IS NOT. We read the greater Truth from the Prophet Isaiah who says “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats” (Isaiah 1:11) and from the Prophet Hosea who says “For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings” (Hosea 6:6); both of these men of God lived at about the same time in the divided nation of Israel and it IS these words from Hosea that the Master repeats to the Pharisees as He asserts that they, after more that 700 years, still DO NOT understand.

Jesus says: “And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners? But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Matthew 9:11-13). And then again in a different circumstance the Master says: “But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day. But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him; How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests? Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless? But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple. But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless” (Matthew 12:2-7). In both of these instances the Master is making the point to the Pharisees that they may believe that they are  upholding the law but they are ignoring the words of their own prophets that are contrary to the law, words that modify and correct the worldly aspects of it in favor of the Truth of the Love of God. And this IS the same that has ever been as it IS easier to fulfill the rite and the ritual that to actually Love one’s neighbor as the Master instructs; it IS easier to worship and pray than it IS to keep His words.

We did not intend to go so far down this road today but these are important lessons for us ALL; that there are worldly ways to look at spiritual things which ARE of NO avail as they are but worldly ways. The Truth of ALL is in consciousness first and in actions second; when the thoughts and the attitudes are on the things of God and not on the self, then the actions will follow. The Master’s uses word mercy, which IS rendered from the Greek word eleos ², and there IS NOT a valid understanding of the depth of this word which should be seen akin to that Love that the Master teaches, as the implementation of it. It is rendered by some translators as compassion and while this IS a good understanding, it still does not find the depth of the Master’s intent. In the saying by Hosea which the Master repeats here, the word is rendered from the Hebrew checed which the lexicon tells us is also rendered as mercy, kindness, lovingkindness, goodness, kindly, merciful, favour, good, and goodliness ^2* from the positive side. It IS this idea of checed that the Master is expressing in this saying and perhaps in the idea of lovingkindness we can find a truer meaning; as the way that the man in the world should act toward others. Here we can see our understanding of GoodWill. Some believe that this mercy is to be offered to the miserable and the afflicted as we read from Vincent where among other more doctrinal ideas he says: Mercy is kindness and goodwill toward the miserable and afflicted, joined with a desire to relieve them ⁴. From our perspective this IS NOT the meaning of this word, especially in this instance.

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 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!

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