ON LOVE; PART DCI

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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 discussed some of our ideas surrounding the death of the Master on the cross nearly 2000 years ago. In this act we see a special sacrifice by Jesus with the objective of a final lesson for both His disciples and the world, a lesson that emphasizes the relative meaninglessness of this Life in form when compared to the eternal Life of the Soul, the True man. In the combination of the His death and His resurrection we can find the reality of the Truth of death and the Power of the Soul for the True believer and DOER of the word of God, for the man who IS the True disciple. Regarding His Life as Jesus in the world, the Master tells us that “No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down , and I have power to take it”  (John 10:18) and this IS NOT said only to His disciples but to ALL within hearing. However, this saying, like those we posted in the last essay, ARE NOT understood by His disciples nor by those who would later take Him and believe that they have killed him in a service to both God and man. And the Master makes this attitude clear as He cautions His disciples about this same fate befalling them saying: “They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service” (John 16:2). Can we understand here the mindset of the Pharisee and the other Jewish rulers?

And the Master DOES lay down His Life and He DOES take it up again and, as we have discussed in previous essays, He takes it in up in such a way that He creates a mystery that IS reported by the gospel writers but which IS NOT understood by the many who CAN NOT see the reality of the Life of Jesus as the body, the physical form, of the Christ. This mystery IS of course the varying forms in which the Master is reported as using after His resurrection and His ability to come and go in closed rooms by just appearing, and doing so in such a way that His body was a discernible and touchable one. And here, whether we can believe that we can DO these things or not, we should at least see that He could and that He DID; this IS the second part of the lesson. Not the lesson of Lazarus who IS raised in his same body as a sign of the continuation of Life beyond the flesh, but the lesson of the True disciple to whom the Master says: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do” (John 14:12).

The Master DID NOT die on that Friday, the physical presence of Jesus died and, in similar fashion to the deaths of Holy Men before Him, His body was Redeemed in such a way that it Truly NO longer existed and we could venture here that the very cells were so energized by the Spiritual Life that was within them that they were simply transformed into energy itself, a thing that Einstein would show us many centuries later as E=mc². Religiously the belief IS of course NOT the same as the Old Testament stories for the superstitious men of the day are painted differently as we read of the Prophet Elijah that “And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven” (2 Kings 2:11). Here we have the whirlwind and the chariots of fire while long before, with Enoch, we have the simpler idea that “Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him” (Genesis 5:24). In these presentations we should be able to see a similar dynamic at work, the dissolution of the physical body by the Power of the Soul and we should NOT forget Moses who leaves in a presumably similar manner although there IS NO witness left; there are only the words “So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD. And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day” (Deuteronomy 34:5-6).

In these ideas there IS a hint for us regarding the relationship between the body and the Soul and this IS, in our view, further glimpsed in the Apostle Paul’s words about the very nature of Life which we often post and of which we used a part in the last essay in a different regard, that of the reality of ALL men eventually finding the Way to the Kingdom of God. Paul tells us: “For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” and then he tells us of this deliverance that “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, 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 8:20-23). In this idea of adoption IS that same at-one-ment that we see as the Truth of the more common idea of atonement; in this at-one-ment IS the reconciliation of the Soul and his expression to the world as a Unity, and, in this idea of Redemption, there IS the fullness of the Spiritual Energy that IS the Soul flowing through the form. And so the body that IS Jesus in the world IS fully Redeemed by the Love and the Power of the Soul which IS the Christ; in this we should try to see that He DID NOT just arise and leave the tomb naked. We will deal more with the various stories stemming from His resurrection in our Easter essay tomorrow; for today our thoughts ARE focused upon the lessons of His death on the cross.

In this we should try to see the reality that even as the Christ, even in the willingness of Christ Jesus to fulfill the this part of His mission, that there is an apparent pressure from the human side to NOT have to suffer through this ordeal of His arrest, scourging and crucifixion. These ARE difficult realities to accept and we are privileged to have some of His own thoughts and words regarding these things that He must endure and from which He never backed away. However, in His words, in His prayer, we catch a glimpse of His sense of dread as the time approaches; we read:

“And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will but as thou wilt. And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep , and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done” (Matthew 26:37-42).

In this scene we should see how alone the Master Truly IS and this IS the same aloneness that ALL men must endure in their own journey to the Kingdom; we should see as well that in His sense of dread, that He CAN NOT be tempted to change the course of the coming events but rather stands sure in the Plan of God saying “thy will be done“. We should KNOW also that in the Power of the Christ the Master could have changed the course of events at any time but DID NOT and while the religious view is tied up in the religious ideas from the Old Testament saying: “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth” (Isaiah 53:7), this IS a much deeper reality. And He was oppressed and afflicted as He IS held captive, first by the Jews and then by the Romans, and He IS led to His own slaughter to the pleasure of the seemingly cheering crowds of Jews and the harshness of the Romans, but these ARE NOT as a lamb save in the respect of the way that this idea could be seen in that day. He IS full aware that these events to which He IS a willing participant will change the course of world events based upon what He will DO.

We should understand here however that it IS ONLY the course that IS set by the actions of the Master and then by His apostles; the working out of what this course will bring IS left to mankind who could have embraced His words on Love and understood the dynamics of His message. We KNOW that they DO NOT embrace His words and the history of the last 2000 years is one of harshness and strife, prejudices and hatreds, wars and colonization and that it IS only NOW, 2000 years later, that a glimmer of Peace can be seen for the world. The Master’s lesson has been offered and while few have accepted it from the perspective of keeping His words, the ways of the times themselves are forcing the evolution of the race of men as the incoming energies of the New Age continue to make themselves felt. It IS in this that the glimmer of world Peace can be seen rather that the Master’s message and here is our opportunity as aspirants and as disciples. It IS we who can take advantage of the evolutionary changes and hasten the reality of Peace by our own actions and our own message of Love and we should understand here that we only have a glimmer of hope that can be quickly washed away by a very few bad decisions by world leaders. And it has ever been this way; the future has ever been in the hands of men and while it is likely that there ARE enough men of GoodWill in the world at any given time to avert disaster, perhaps as a part of the Plan itself, it IS yet the providence of mankind to guard that future and the fragile ideas of Peace and Love.

And this too IS a part of the crucifixion message of the Master; not that one should be willing and prepared to die in the flesh, but that there IS more to Life than the carnal Life that IS presented to the minds of men; a carnal Life that is bound with illusion and with glamour and with the reactionary faculties of the mind and the emotions. This more IS the divine Life, the Life that IS resurrected in the drama of the crucifixion and the resurrection of the Master and that Life of which Jesus and His apostles teach in their yet misunderstood words.

Christ IS NOT only for the Christians; Christ came to ALL the world as a sign and a symbol of the Love of God and more. Christ stands at the door of every religion as the display of Love that each encompasses and while this may not be called as Love in ALL religions and customs the intent IS the same. It IS selfless compassion for one’s brother and neighbor and it IS the essence of the Golden Rule which permeates ALL human thought or rather sits in the background as the High Ideal of Love. The Essence of Christ IS at the heart of every world religion and this regardless of the names and ideas that may prevail. Christ IS the ability to see ALL men as one sees himself and Christ IS that inherent understanding that men see but do not realize; Christ IS the God Within every man; He IS that which is left when the sense of self and the self’s interests in the world are stripped away.

ALL of this can be found in the Master’s words and it IS unfortunate that the sense of self was able to overcome the True sense of God, not only in Christianity but in most ALL world religions, so that the religion becomes more important than the Truth. Jesus the Christ DID NOT die for Christians nor did He die for believers, He died for the Human Race and this in much the same way as the Buddha came to give ALL men the Four Nobel Truths and the Eightfold Path to their realization and to Enlightenment. These are world teachings and it IS only in the selfish habits of men that they are not understood as world Truths. It IS only in selfish thoughts and attitudes of men that Christ came to be for Christians, few of whom Truly understand their own battle cry which they see in His words: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6) which they try to preach as their superiority over others, a superiority that ONLY exists in their own minds.

Perhaps the time has come to forget the archaic ideas of atonement, an idea that was never spoken of by the Master and which is misunderstood from the words of His apostles, and replace this with the Unifying Principal of at-one-ment and this on both an individual and worldwide scale. Perhaps the time has come to Truly see the meaning of believing in the Christ, that incorporated into the idea represented by the Greek words pistis and pisteuo, faith and believing, IS the reality of keeping His words which IS the ONLY True sign of such faith and such believing….ALL else is but a carnal replica of emotion and mind. This IS our Easter message of Hope.

HAPPY EASTER

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.

And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (Matthew 28:18-20)

This is called by some of the church the Great Commission and so it is. It is however hardly understood and at times grossly misapplied. Somewhere in the centuries that have passed since the Master left us we have come to think that the meaning of this is just to preach the word through any particular doctrine and baptize according to any particular belief. Vincent tells us that the word translated as teach here should be seen as make disciples of ⁴ and the lexicon bears this out. There is nowhere in scripture an actual defining understanding of the concept of baptism and we generally think of it as the immersion into or the pouring on of water and that somehow this clears us of sin. This is but an outward sign however of real spiritual undertaking by the conscious man and it is only when a man is ready to commit to the Master that a baptism can be considered real. We will leave this as the Quote of the Day for a few days and try to find in it some true meaning. Keeping in mind our four points, we should ponder on this.

The Master is speaking to disciples and not the multitudes and these are those that do believe on Him and follow Him and keep His words. Hard sayings for man in the world but claimed by many nonetheless. There IS a reality in the idea that the disciple should be “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you” which IS His words that ARE to be kept and in this light we add these ideas from the Buddha: “Love yourself and watch – today, tomorrow, always. First establish yourself in the way, Then teach, and so defeat sorrow. To straighten the crooked you must first do a harder thing – straighten yourself” (Dhammapada; on Yourself)⁵.

Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!