ON LOVE; PART DCLXXII
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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).
As we continue our discussion on the idea of grace, we should try to see the practical application of this word which represents for us what it IS that comes from God through the God Within, our own Souls. What comes IS the revelation and the realization of Truth and these are essentially that Love that men MUST express in this world if they are to be considered as keeping His words; and here we should see how very intimate and personal this grace IS as ONLY the man himself will KNOW the degree of grace in his own Life. Grace comes as the result of men’s focus upon the things of God, the Good, the Beautiful and the True, and grace results in the True sense of faith, that type of faith that IS KNOWING by degree the Truths that are hidden in the words of the Master and His apostles; it IS these Truths that ARE revealed to and realized by the consciousness of the man in the world and it IS these Truths that ARE the things of God. While this may seem a circular reference, it IS NOT; it IS rather the reality of the growth of the Kingdom Within where at every step that one takes in his focus, more IS revealed, and it is this that growth allows the man to see more clearly the mysteries if Life and enables him to have yet deeper focus and deeper revelation.
In the last essay we tried to show how that this idea IS the Truth behind the Masters words in the Parable of the Master and the Servant as this parable works out according to the request by the apostles for more faith. While the apostles ask the Master to “Increase our faith“, His response is in the parable and in the idea of grace and it IS in this that we should see the relationships between ALL of these ideas. To understand this we must take away the doctrinal idea of thanks as the word charis IS rendered in the parable and we must understand the reality of the faith that the apostles ask for; that this IS the KNOWING that comes in the revelations and the realizations that come as grace. This parable IS about the growth of the Kingdom and has little to do with the ideas of master and servant as the story unfolds; it DOES concern the relationship between the deeper ideas of the word master and the word Master against the sense of duty and of responsibility that the servant has already taken upon himself. The greater reality IS found in the simplicity of MORE….the reality of the growth of the Kingdom Within. Repeating this parable which contains the Master’s only use of the word charis outside of His words on Love that we discussed in the last essay; we read:
“And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith. And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you. But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat? And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink? Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do” (Luke 17:5-10).
We should remember that the lead in to these words IS in the Master’s teaching on forgiveness and the question can be seen as their response Jesus’ instruction of the need to continually forgive. While the instruction here seems to be that one should forgive when prompted by another’s repentance, the greater Truth IS the continual forgiveness as a part of the mercy that IS the expression of Love by the aspirant and the disciple in the world. That forgiveness that we find in the Lord’s Prayer where we read: “And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us” (Luke 11:4). We should understand in this that debt IS much more that owing of material things and see this as sin in a way that shows that another IS acting in a worldly way which IS an offence to the man who must forgive. The relationship between sin and debt IS made for us the the saying itself and in the context of this forgiveness we should look to Matthew’s view of the Master’s words after the prayer saying: “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:14-15). In this word trespass we have the clearer idea of offense but this IS not the same Greek word that IS rendered trespass as we find in the parable above. There IS much to be discovered in the various words that refer to sin and the different views of this but this must wait until another time.
Here we are discussing grace and noting that the apostles ask the Master for more faith as He tells them these ideas of forgiveness which we see as less than the ultimate reality of this idea. What we should try to see here IS that the apostles see the difficulty in accomplishing even this watered down version of forgiving as He tells them that they must forgive when the offender repents; in this we should see the greater difficulty of the yet greater idea of total forgiveness. Perhaps we can see these different degrees of forgiveness as we see the differences in the idea of repentance where men can Repent and be changed or that men can repent and be sorry. Nonetheless it IS on the heels of the Master’s words on forgiveness, which we read again saying: “If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him” (Luke 17:3-4), that the request IS made by the apostles for more faith and here we should see this forgiveness as the reason that they believe that they need more.
Now simple faith will not help them in this, it IS that faith that IS the KNOWING that comes in the realizations and the revelations of Truth that will help them to see the Way that this forgiveness can be done in this world where this concept IS alien yet today. We should understand here as well that these men have faith, they have the simple faith of believing and they have some degree of the deeper faith of KNOWING and, while this IS necessarily True because they ARE apostles, they DO NOT see themselves as having enough. As we recently discussed, the Master goes on to tell them of the Power of faith and how that IN the fullness of this KNOWING a man can DO whatsoever he chooses in this world; here the Master’s example is the sycamine tree, elsewhere it is the mountain and in other places it IS the reality of whatsoever on can say to be done. In All of this we should see the necessary idea of Love and that anything that can be seen as the whatsoever, MUST be done in Love as Love IS the great KEY that comes in the Truth that IS the revelation and the realization of that grace which brings this sense of KNOWING from the Soul, from the Christ Within….this IS the reality of that Wisdom from above that comes by degree to the man whose focus IS right.
So these apostles have faith, they have this KNOWING of the Truths, an understanding by degree of the mysteries of Life and of the Kingdom of God, and yet they request more in their own attempt to be able to fulfill the Master’s words on forgiveness. And we should see in these ideas of forgiveness, of the continuous nature of it, the necessity for a man to understand his brother and to see himself in him. In this understanding and forgiveness we have the True reality of mercy as a man’s expression of Love to the world of men. Jesus’ response that tells them of the Power of this faith, which IS that KNOWING without doubt, and He shows them the ultimate end as regards Life in this world, the fullness of that ability to KNOW that whatsoever one can say will be done. And this should be seen only as His example of the Power of it and that this IS for their understanding of the awesome Power that they can wield in Love, the Power to overcome the world. The greater reality of the message in this part of the Master’s teaching IS in the ability of the apostles to have this faith grow in their lives which IS the growth of the Kingdom Within. We should see here that while the subject IS faith, the way of obtaining this faith, this greater sense of KNOWING, IS by grace; this KNOWING is the result of the grace that flows into the Life of the man who continues in His words. As one’s focus grows ever steadier on the things of God, as one moves his thoughts and his attitudes off of the self and onto the things of God, the greater revelations and realizations will come into his consciousness from the Soul and this flow IS grace….ever greater grace that corresponds directly with the degree and the strength of the man’s focus on the Kingdom and the Way of the disciple.
The point of all of this IS that there IS a practical application of this grace that comes to a man, that practical application IS that grace brings with it the revelation and the realization that result in faith, that faith without doubt which IS KNOWING. In this we should also see the greater reality of this purpose as it IS in this KNOWING that the man in the world sees the Truth of Love as the Master presents this; it IS in this KNOWING that the man in the world can understand and forgive his brothers as a part of that expression of Love that we see a mercy. Words are easy, understanding the Truth of the words IS KNOWING and grace IS the tool that accomplishes this ALL as the free flowing Light of the Soul in the Life of a man. In this practical application of grace the aspirant and the disciple grow and this IS the Truth behind the Parable of the Master and the Servant; this IS the Truth of the growth of the Kingdom of God Within.
As we said earlier, the ideas found in the story of this parable are of NO moment but serve ONLY to set up the Truth that there IS no grace, unfortunately rendered here as thanks, given to the servant who IS DOING what he had been commanded to DO, the servant who IS DOING his job, who IS performing his duty. It matters not who we should see as the master and the servant as we can extend these to the idea of the Master and the disciple or a man’s own master who IS his own Soul; in the latter idea we would see the consciousness in the world as the servant who has made his choice between God and mammon. The whole of the reality of this parable IS in the last verses that equate the disciple, the apostles who have asked for more faith, to the servant so that he can see that there IS no grace to the man who ONLY does as he had seen as his own duty and his own work….the grace, the faith, that is earned by the man in so doing IS his and there IS NO additional until the man understands that his growth and the growth of the Kingdom Within are tied to the reality of ever DOING more.
We can see this ALL at play in the Life of the Apostle Peter who IS in set out as our example of the growth of the disciple and in this growth IS per force the growth of the Kingdom Within as well. Peter goes from a self realization that we read of in this from Luke’s Gospel: “When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying , Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord” (Luke 5:8), to that postilion of being among the three that ARE closest to the Master. It IS Peter who IS invited to the upper chamber for the healing of Jairus daughter; it IS Peter who IS invited to witness the Transfiguration and it IS Peter who is with the Master in the garden at Gethsemane. At these events there ARE the three; Peter and James and John, but we should note that it IS Peter who speaks at the Transfiguration and it IS Peter who the Master addresses in the garden. It IS also Peter who sees the Truth of who the Master IS and it IS Peter who the Master instructs saying: “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren” (Luke 22:31-32). It IS also Peter of whom we read in John’s Gospel regarding the Master’s further instruction to him which we read as:
“So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep” (John 21:15-17).
In ALL of this we should be able to see the growth of the Kingdom within the Life of Peter and we should understand that while there was some backward motion, the apostle DOES succeed in DOING ever more and in receiving ever more grace. It IS in this grace and the KNOWING that comes with it that Peter IS able to heal the “man lame from his mother’s womb” (Acts 3:2); it IS in his faith without doubt that Peter takes charge of the fledgling Christian movement and it IS in this growth of the Kingdom Within that Peter IS able to reach the pinnacle of his own achievement, that ultimate degree of KNOWING where he can heal by his mere proximity. We read:
“And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s porch. And of the rest durst no man join himself to them: but the people magnified them. And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.) Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them. There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed every one” (Acts 5:12-16).
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.
