ON LOVE; PART DCXCVI
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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).
In the last essay we continued with our discussion on our view of the reality of the concept of grace as the flow if revelation and realization to the consciousness of the man whose focus IS upon the things of God. We have looked at the more universal ideas of grace as we see them in the words of the Apostle Paul to the Romans, how that grace can be seen in the outpouring of the teachings given to humanity by those more advanced Souls who guide the race of men. In this we see Paul’s point that there was limited grace in the world before the law, a grace that was offered in the Life and the example of Abraham and his descendants as the patriarchs of the that section of humanity that would become the nation of Israel and of Judah. Here we see the influence of the patriarchs and the children of Jacob who become the leaders of the twelve tribes and we should note that in their lives there was NO law as we understand that idea; there was only their reliance of their sense of God in their superstitious and rather barbarous way. Here we should note that even those who could be considered as ‘close’ to God would NOT be considered so in our terms today nor in the terms of the law as given by Moses. Nonetheless, these are the fathers and the leaders who ARE held up in the religious tones of those that followed; not for their specific ways of living in their time but rather for their sense of faith, of KNOWING the Will of God in those most ancient days.
Paul shows us that while there was NO law that there was sin and he points out that this sin IS brought to light in the world by Adam and by his transgression and it IS in this that doctrines have created the concept of ‘original sin‘; that “by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned“. Now this idea was viewed in the beginnings of Christian doctrines as that this act of eating the forbidden fruit IS the sin and it IS in this idea that the concept of the ‘fall of man‘ has taken hold. That Adam IS evicted from the Garden of Eden is offered us in scripture and while this IS ALL seen in a most literal sense by doctrine, the greater reality IS that this IS the Plan of God and the expected outcome. It IS in the interaction between the Souls, the True man, and the world that happens through their use of the human animal bodies, that the illusion and the vanity become the way of Life for the man who sees, feels and thinks within the constraints of his Life in form. The man comes to see the pleasures and the comforts available to the seeing, feeling and thinking Life in this world and this overwhelms his sense of the Good, the Beautiful and the True, the things of God, that he had KNOWN as a Soul and even at the very beginnings of his existence in form. This IS a very complex matter but this IS the very nature of Life in the world as it IS offered to us by Paul a bit later in this Epistle to the Romans. It IS our mere presence in this world, subjected to its vanity, which IS the effective nature of the illusions that come with the ability to see, to feel and to think in form as we have somewhat discussed in the last two essays.
What we should glean from Paul’s words and ideas here IS that it IS the nature of man in the world to sin and in the proper understanding of this word we should see that this sin IS man’s focus upon his Life in the world as this takes his attention away from his previous state of attending to the things of God. And, as we note above, the idea of holiness IS NOT apparent in the lives of the patriarchs who ARE yet seen as upright and this can be attributed to Paul’s words saying that “sin is not imputed when there is no law“. So that we can again understand these dynamics as offered by Paul, we repeat our subject sayings from his Epistle to the Romans:
“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous” (Romans 5:12-19).
Paul tells us that next comes the law of Moses and in this giving of the law we should see the coming into the world the greater degree of grace, the greater degree of teaching and revelation that will allow the man to be better able to approach God. In the law a man can see himself, his Life, and understand his particular place in relation to the Truth that brings him closer to God. He can see that his actions ARE or ARE NOT according to His Will and understand the error of his previous ways as the race of men, the errors of his ancestors, and perhaps his own error before the law as well. In the law there IS greater grace and a greater ability for the man in the world to have the realizations and the revelations of Truth that the law can bring to the man who can see the Light of Truth through the illusions and the glamour of Life in the world. In the teaching of the law there IS a degree of grace offered to the world at large; the law IS a “free gift” to the human race, a gift that will allow for the individual man to more easily approach God by keeping the law and it IS in keeping the law that the man will receive his own degree of this grace as it comes to him from his own Soul as the realizations and the revelations of Truth and of Love.
And next comes the Master, next we have the direct interaction between the man in the world and the Truth of Love as this IS expressed in the words and the example of the Master which is a greater degree of grace than IS offered by the law. Jesus shows us the better way to approach God and He does so through the law and NOT apart from it. Up to this time it was keeping the law that would put one into God’s grace if you will; it was keeping the law that resulted in the reward and we should remember that the idea of the law, while practiced by the individual, was addressed to the nation; it was the nation and its leaders who essentially failed and it was the nation that suffered the consequences as recorded in their captivity by the Assyrians and the Babylonians. We should try to see here that this IS NOT the Hand of God that causes these things to happen, that causes the trials and the tribulations of the Jews in those days which eventually lead to the captivity; it IS the general attitude of the society which interpreted the words of God into doctrines that benefited the man in the world. The law, the word of God in those days, was intended to bring men and the nation closer to God by his attention to the detail of the law and the precepts given on Love, the general rules for interacting with others in Love. This of course DID NOT work out according to the expected results and we should understand that in those days as today, the Hand of God DOES NOT interfere in the limited free will of men.
Jesus brings to these same Jews the new idea of the inner working of the law in the Life of the individual; NO longer is the idea of the way of the nation of any importance….that attempt to bring them closer to God had failed many centuries before. The new way IS however no different save for the way that it IS viewed and expressed and we should try to see here that the role of the prophets was NOT to predict future events ONLY, rather it was to offer correction to the people as a nation before, during and after their captivity. While many people may have succeeded in their approach to God over the centuries, the nation continued to fail and, even beyond the new dispensation offered by the Master, the nation continued in bondage. And again, the reasons for this ARE NOT found in the Hand of God but in the thoughts, the attitudes and the actions of the Jewish Nation as a whole, on their carnal focus and their carnal interpretation of the His words. We KNOW from history that Jesus was not able to change the thoughts, the attitudes and the actions of the Jewish Nation as a whole and that they continued in the captivity and their resultant dispersal among other nations as they professed to be God’s chosen people but failed to act as such according to the law or the new Way introduced by the Christ. There IS much complexity in history of the Jews and there was much for the new and fledgling Christian movement to see in that history, none of this was seen however as the Early Church Fathers incorporated the doctrines and the traditions of the Jews into the Truth of the Master’s words and this despite the reality of the parables offered regarding new wine in old skins and new patches on old garments. Our view of these parables can be found in In the Words of Jesus parts 819-821 where we discuss these in much detail as part of our review of the forty seventh saying from the Gospel of Thomas.
Here our point IS that the Master brings us the yet greater grace of His words which serve to enhance and individualize the words of the law and it IS in this view that we should see the reality of the new degree of grace for the man in the world, the new degree of realization and revelation as he IS better able to see the Truth and approach God from the perspective of the man in the world. The Master shows us the Truth of the Kingdom, that it IS within and that it IS accessed in Repentance, a mans individual change of heart as he looks away from the carnal Life on toward the reality of the Soul and the Christ Within. While in the previous dispensations the ability for a man to approach God was limited to one’s own ability to seize Truth, in the words of the Master the Truth IS presented to us as fact, in the words of the Master is the greatest gift of grace seen up to that time. And the Master offers us the KEY; two KEYS He gives us. First IS the Truth of keeping His words and DOING the Will of the Father and in this there IS NO change save for the idea that this IS now brought to the level of the individual…each man is made to see his own responsibility to His words and to the law upon which His words are based. The second KEY IS the greater Truth which His apostles further amplify and clarify for us in their writings and this IS the Truth of Love which IS the greatest force for Good in the world and the most direct approach ever afforded men. And this IS not to say that Love was not heretofore the Way; we should see in the Old Testament law that Love IS of paramount importance and we should remember here that this Love IS GoodWill and mercy as we understand it and NOT the emotional and mental attraction and attachment to others and to carnal ideas. The difference IS in the underlying teaching of the Master, how that he elevates the old law to become the Greatest of Commandments as we see above at the top of our essay.
While we DID NOT get back to our discussion on the Gospel of John’s fourteenth chapter again today, we should try to see how that ALL of these ideas are related in the Truth of keeping His words and, again of paramount importance, His words on Love. In our selection from John’s Gospel we should clearly see that the result of grace IS the “greater works” and that the cause of grace in the Life of a man in the world IS keeping His words which IS framed by the Apostle John as “He that believeth on me“. We should see in this not ONLY the “greater works” however but the reality of the next idea…that whatsoever one should ask in His Name, that whatsoever one should ask of God, will be accomplished. We should remember two things here regarding this asking; first that there IS naught of the things of the world that will be asked for by the disciple of the Lord and it IS disciples who ARE the audience here, and then we as disciples and aspirants after them. Second that in this reality of His Name IS ALL that He represents and, from our perspective, the paramount idea IS Love as in the Master IS in essence the Father and the Father IS Love. And this IS Jesus continuation here as He tells us that in this Love through which we ask, that we MUST keep His words which is clearly stated as “If ye love me, keep my commandments“. The language IS NOT easy here in these words from John’s Gospel and they ARE intentionally parabolic in our view and we should try to see the reality here in terms of grace as we have been discussing; the words from John’s Gospel again:
“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; because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you” (John 14:12-20).
In these words from John’s Gospel we should try to see that other form of grace that comes to the man who keeps His words, the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, who IS also KNOWN here as the Spirit of Truth. We should try to see here how that this Comforter IS a result and not a cause…the cause IS keeping His worlds. We should try to see also how that the Comforter IS the operation in the Life of the man in the world of the revelations and the realizations that ARE the Truth of grace. Again we must see the parabolic nature of the Master’s words and the lack of this understanding by the translators. We will pursue this relationship of grace and the Comforter further in the next essay where we will offer some closing words on the selection from Romans as well. In Romans the ideas for us ARE clear regarding the dispensations and the grace afforded humanity in each as well as the overall reality of the Truth of grace in the lives of men. Our view IS however confounded by the final verses of these sayings where the ideas of condemnation, judgement, righteousness and justification are applied in place of the reality of the Plan of God where there IS NO judgement nor condemnation as these ideas are understood.
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 again a saying that is from the Bhagavad Gita, which goes well with our theme of the God Within, the Soul, which we see as the Christ Within and while this is good in the Christian world and is True based upon our understanding of the Christ as the manifestation of God, we should also see in these words below that it does not matter what these divine ideas are called; that it matters not what we call this Inner Man, that he is the same in ALL, he is the Soul.
Thou carriest within thee a sublime Friend whom thou knowest not. For God dwells in the inner part of every man, but few know how to find Him. The man who sacrifices his desires and his works to the Beings from whom the principles of everything stem, and by whom the Universe was formed, through this sacrifice attains perfection. For one who finds his happiness and joy within himself, and also his wisdom within himself is one with God. And, mark well, the soul which has found God is freed from rebirth and death, from old age and pain, and drinks the water of Immortality.—Bhagavad-Gita
It is difficult to tell just what verses of the Bhagavad Gita the above is from; whether it is a paraphrase or a combination. It is from the book “The Great Initiates” by Édouard Schuré which was originally published in French in 1889 and perhaps it is in the translation of the verses that they become hard to recognize. However, the sheer beauty of the presentation caught my attention and so I share it with you. The Path to the Kingdom is the same no matter what religion one professes.
