ON LOVE; PART DCXXXVIII
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GoodWill IS Love in Action
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FIRST IS THE GREAT COMMANDMENTS: “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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WHAT THEN IS LOVE? In a general sense love is benevolence, good will; that disposition of heart which inclines men to think favorably of their fellow men, and to do them good. In a theological sense, it includes supreme love to God, and universal good will to men.
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PLUS THE EVER IMPORTANT AND HIGH IDEAL TAUGHT TO US BY THE CHRIST: “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12)
We closed the last essay with the Buddha’s words on Life in this world where He IS showing his disciples and those that would follow both the nature of the illusion and the difficulty in achieving the goal of the Kingdom of God. This IS NOT unlike the Apostle James words that show the aspirant and the disciple the perils of carnal diversions back into the world of the self and the self’s interests. None of the doctrinal religions truly teach these ideas and likely because few would be interested in this departure from those things that they KNOW, what they were nurtured in and what has been their Life experience and this IS the point of the difficulty that IS promoted by the Master and the Buddha. Jesus tells us that the man who seeks the Kingdom must “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). In a much shortened form we find the same idea in Luke’s Gospel as the Master says: “Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in , and shall not be able” (Luke 13:24).
In these ideas we should see our reference point; our understanding that there IS NO simple and easy way to accomplish the goal of the Kingdom. We should see here that the doctrinal presentation of simple faith in Jesus and His atoning Power ARE NOT the Way of the disciple and while they may allow many to feel more comfortable in their skin, this IS but another part of the illusion. The Buddha paints this a bit differently and from a different cultural perspective but the reality IS the same; He tells us to “Do not live in the world, In distraction and false dreams. Outside the dharma” and in this dharma we should see the reality of the law, the Master’s words and the commandments of Truth, and we should understand that doctrine IS ofttimes outside of the dharma and can be inclusive of the “distraction and false dreams“. From Jesus’ perspective the Truth IS the strait gate and the narrow way and while most ARE lost in the confusion of Life int he world, some DO find the Truth. The Buddha encourages the seeker to “See the world as it is” and to NOT be fooled by the illusion which He tells us IS not realizing that what one sees IS “A bubble, a mirage….A painted chariot for kings, A trap for fools“. The illusion in this ALL IS that men come to believe that what they see and hear and feel in the flesh IS the reality of Life, they miss the point of Truth and they seek comfort and pleasure in the world instead of the Truth of the Kingdom which the Master teaches. This is the reality of most ALL spiritual teachings: to show the Way to the Kingdom. And this IS the message of difficulty that most ALL scripture is intended to show: “The world is in darkness. How few have eyes to see! How few the birds who escape the net and fly to heaven! ” (Dhammapada; on The World).
And this IS James point as well: there IS NO easy way, there IS only overcoming the ways of the world which are but illusion and darkness and while the apostle may not use these words, he DOES paint a picture of the difference between those things that bring a man to God and those that will keep him in the world. Perhaps the two most succinct ideas that the apostle presents regarding this are in his words saying: “be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22), and “know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4). These ARE difficult things to accomplish and in the sense of duality that the aspirant and the disciple must endure, ALL of the opposing ideas are highlighted in thoughts and in choices; it IS for our instruction, for our encouragement and our hope that the apostle gives us this epistle and our current verses:
“Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord draweth nigh“. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh” “Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door. Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience. Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy” (James 5:7-11).
In the end here the apostle is offering us examples of the prophets and of Job and earlier we see the example of the husbandman. ALL of these are to show us that there IS a positive result in our patient work and must emphasize here again the idea of work. This IS the work of keeping His words, the work of living in the dharma as the Buddha would phrase this, and of doing this with an enduring patience that KNOWS that the result WILL come. This work IS the reality of the duality of Life for the Soul as he continually moves the carnal and the base thoughts and attitudes out of his field of vision, out of his consciousness, while understanding that he IS NOT yet free from the personality and that these will invariably creep back in as the mirage IS difficult to see through and the false dreams seem too real for the aspirant and the disciple to readily dismiss. Can we see the idea here of the work that must be done in keeping His words?
And this IS again the nature of the Epistle of James: to show us the perils, to caution us of what duality can bring and to tell us what IS the result for the man who succumbs to the various perils that can afflict us. And NOT ONLY this, but the apostle shows us the Way of our overcoming these things and offers us the Truth of understanding Truth; and in ALL of this we need ONLY to let his words reflect in our consciousness as we do this work of salvation. When we are tempted we should reflect upon his words on temptation; when faced with relating to others, we should reflect on the “royal law” and when we are looking at ourselves in comparison to others we should see James’ words on being humble. There ARE many more ideas like this in James’ Epistle and there IS also the reality of the examples that we see above through which we can understand in a more practical way the tone that our lives must take.
James next brings us a saying of oaths that reminds of the Master’s similar words and, from both perspectives, we find some difficulty in understanding the intent of their words. There IS however an importance to the Master’s words saying:
“Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths: But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne: Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil” Matthew 5:33-37).
In the end of this we DO see that it IS our word that must stand and that the swearing of oaths IS spoken strongly against. In this we should likely see the origin of this idea of which the Master says “ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time” in these words from the law of Moses: “If a man vow a vow unto the LORD, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth” (Numbers 30:2), but there IS NO reference here that a man “not forswear thyself” to others. James’ words ARE NOT unlike the Master’s as we read:
“But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation” (James 5:12).
We do have some hint here of what the apostle intends to say as this follows upon the last saying and there has been a steady stream of ideas in his writing. In the Master’s words this IS offered as a commandment and IS placed between a similarly phrased saying on adultery and another on resisting evil and in both of these Jesus words are an expansion upon the ideas taken from the words of Moses. Here again IS a hint as this current saying can then be seen in this same way, as an expansion upon the idea above from the Book of Numbers. When we discussed this saying in our study of the Sermon on the Mount, we approached it in the idea that there may be some link between this commandment on oaths and the vows of marriage as this follows upon the Master’s words on adultery; and, while there may be some relevance here, the overall idea is of greater import and perhaps we can see marriage vows as an example. In these and in most any oath involving God in some way, one IS committing to things here and now although he has little or NO control over the outcome, NO control of tomorrow. In our previous discussion, in In the Words of Jesus part 946, we came to this conclusion of Jesus intent: The Master’s greater point here IS not only that one should not perform oaths to other men in violation of the law of Moses in favor of directing these oaths to the Lord, but that the entire idea of oaths IS counter to the Truth as a man has NO control at the moment of the oath over whatsoever will happen tomorrow that can prevent him from fulfilling his promise.
In this we can see some relation to James other words saying “Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will , we shall live, and do this, or that” (James 4:13-15). In these words that we recently discussed we found a relationship to the Master’s Parable of the Rich Fool which as the same idea at heart, that plans for the future are futile if they ARE NOT spiritual plans and that one has NO control over tomorrow or its events. While the intent here IS NOT the same as we see in the ideas above on oaths, we should see the same situation for the man in the world….that he has NO control.
Our further observation of the Master’s words from our previous discussion came to the reality that the whole of His word, and those from James as well, IS on the Truth, that it IS in Truth that a man should live. Another previous comment was: The greater reality for ALL however IS in His words that we “let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay” and that each man stand by his own words. The idea here IS NOT in repetitions of yeas and nays as some believe; but that in these words of agreement or disagreement is a mans word and an implied oath and the rest is left to each man.
Can we see these ideas in both Jesus’ and James’ words? And can we see the relative importance of this idea of Truth, that it IS Truth that a man must express in ALL that he says and does. We should note here that while the Master’s words are intended for His disciples and ALL that may hear Him or even read at another time, the apostle’s epistle IS addressed to his specific audience and while this too may be read by others, it IS the disciple and the aspirant who must come to understand how that this idea of oaths IS carnal and a worldly thing that he should NOT DO as this too takes his focus back into the world. We should remember here that the topic of James writing was in patience, and in this the apostle was showing us that under the strain of temptation and even under the guilt of partaking in the carnal Life in various forms, that the aspirant and the disciple must be patient, be longsuffering, and KNOW that he will endure if he stays the course and strives to keep His words. In considering this we should consider as well the opening words of this current saying: “But above all things“. Can we see the special importance that is placed upon this idea of “let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay“?
John Gill offers us a link from these words to the previous sayings as well but he does so in and odd way that DOES NOT seem to see the spiritual import of the apostle’s words; he says: But above all things, my brethren, swear not; As impatience should not show itself in secret sighs, groans, murmurings, and repinings, so more especially it should not break forth in rash oaths, or in profane swearing; for of such sort of swearing, and of such oaths, is the apostle to be understood; otherwise an oath is very lawful, when taken in the fear and name of God, and made by the living God, and is used for the confirmation of anything of moment, and in order to put an end to strife; God himself, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and angels, and good men, are in Scripture sometimes represented as swearing: and that the apostle is so to be understood, appears from the form of swearing prohibited neither by the heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath; of the like kind; such as are forbidden, and cautioned 8. Here we should see that Mr. Gill is introducing the idea of profanity which IS NOT implied by the apostle nor the Master and he takes the literal ideas that are intended as examples as the strength of James’ intent where we should see this plainly as NO oaths.
There IS NO doubt a special importance here that IS conveyed by the opening words and while the more used definition of this word rendered as above is before 2 according to the lexicon, the idea of special significance still applies.
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.
This Quote of the Day is the antithesis of glamour and illusion. In this mantram are the thoughts about ourselves and our brothers in the world that can diffuse those forces that hold a man in the world of things and prevent his spiritual progress.
Mantram of Unification
The sons of men are one and I am one with them.
I seek to love, not hate;
I seek to serve and not exact due service;
I seek to heal, not hurt.
Let pain bring due reward of light and love.
Let the Soul control the outer form, and life and all events,
And bring to light the love that underlies the happenings of the time.
Let vision come and insight.
Let the future stand revealed.
Let inner union demonstrate and outer cleavages be gone.
Let love prevail.
Let all men love.
The Mantram of Unification is a meditation and a prayer that at first affirms the unity of all men and the Brotherhood of Man based on the Fatherhood of God. The first stanza sets forth several truly Christian ideals in Unity, Love, Service and Healing. The second stanza is a invocation to the Lord and to our own Souls asking that from the pain (if there can truly be any) incurred in focusing on the Spirit and not the world will come Light and Love into our lives and that we begin to function as Souls through our conscious personalities. We ask that the spiritual control of our lives will bring to light for us the Love that underlies world events; a Love that the world oriented man will not see working out behind the scenes and also that the Love that we bring forth, individually and as a world group, can be seen by all and ultimately in all. Finally, in the last stanza we ask for those things that are needed for Love to abound. Vision and insight so that we can direct our attention properly; revelation of the future in the sense that all can see the Power of Love in the world; inner union so that we do not fall back into the world’s ways, that we faint not; and that a sense of separation, the antithesis of brotherhood, ends as we know it today. Let Love Prevail, Let All Men Love.spiritual control of our lives will bring to light for us the Love that underlies world events; a Love that the world oriented man will not see working out behind the scenes.
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!
- 2 New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
- 8 Bible commentaries on BibleStudyTools.com
