ON LOVE; PART DCCXXXVII
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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 related some additional ideas regarding the concept of grace and how that this Greek word charis can be seen as ALL that comes to a man from God. We should be able to see that the very flow of Light from the Soul IS grace and that this grace works in the Life of the aspirant and the disciple by degree, that it grows in strength and in potency as the focus of the man continues on the things of God. In this view we can see that ALL grace IS inherent in the eternal Life of the True man, the Soul, the Christ and God Within, but that this grace IS NOT realized in the Life of the man whose focus IS upon himself and the wrangling of the self in this world of men. It IS in this view of grace from the perspective of the man in the world that we should see the reality of the Apostle Paul’s words saying “by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). That this IS a saying that IS misunderstood and misapplied by the doctrinal church and IS become one of the foundations of the doctrines and, as we have seen in the Master’s words, much of this idea as it IS understood by men IS contrary to His Truths.
The reality here IS hidden in Paul’s opposition to the rule of law, not that men should not keep the law but that they should not DO so by rote nor in the view of the blessings and the curses of the Old Testament. While there ARE many different views of this in Christian doctrines, the overriding idea that seems to be taken IS that works ARE NOT important and that the law need not be followed…that ALL that IS only necessary to be ‘saved’ IS to believe according to any particular doctrinal view. The Master’s words that we read in our fourteenth chapter should be enough to dispel the illusions and show that this idea of being ‘saved’ by faith and grace IS NOT as it is purported to be; that salvation must be built upon Jesus’ own words that clearly say: “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15) and those other sayings which we have been using to show the Truth of the Presence of God which IS this same reality of grace; we read again:
- “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him” (John 14:21).
- “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me” (John 14:23-24).
It IS in the combination of these ideas that we can find the Truth of His words and the clarifying and amplifying realities that are embedded into the words of His apostles. And we should consider here that Paul IS NOT speaking against the law as it IS the word of God, he IS speaking against the law as it had become the doctrine of the Jews and as it had been founded in their traditions. It IS this doctrine and tradition that the Master speaks against and NOT the word of God as the law; and this He tells us saying: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled ” (Matthew 5:17-18). He tells us this same thing according to Luke as “The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached , and every man presseth into it. And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass , than one tittle of the law to fail” (Luke 16:16-17). Each of these IS offered as a part of Jesus teaching regarding aspects of the law as the word of God, as His commandments; Matthew offers this as part of the Sermon on the Mount while Luke shows Jesus’ words in the context of adultery and the great Truth of that choice between “God and mammon” (Luke 16:13).
In the apostle’s writings there is much that IS for the consumption of the Jews in His day and that IS against their doctrinal leanings and the ideas that these may have engendered in the minds of others. The Jew’s doctrines and traditions were likely well KNOWN in those days and we can see here how Paul IS showing both the Jew and the observer that it IS this reliance on doctrine and tradition, the visible presentation of the law, that IS supplanted by the Truths of the Life and the teachings of the Master…that it IS through grace as the flow of revelations and realizations from one’s own Soul that a man comes to have True faith and IS ‘saved’. We must understand here that the very idea of salvation has been taken over by doctrines and that the intent IS NOT as it is understood by most; the greater reality here IS that a man will be saved from his continued focus upon the self and the self in the world and we should try to remember here that this sense of focus IS the deeper reality of sin from the perspective of the aspirant and the disciple. It IS our own sense of these words that offers us the reality of the Way to the Kingdom of God according to the teaching of the Master who clearly shows us that the Presence of God in one’s Life is directly dependent on the idea of Loving God which IS itself the equivalent of keeping His words.
And this IS the reality as well of the idea above; Paul tells us that this salvation IS “not of yourselves” but that this IS grace which IS the Truth of his message that this salvation IS “the gift of God“. It IS in understanding the reality of Life that we can come to understand the apostle’s words here; the gift IS spiritual, it comes from God to man through His Presence in one’s Life and this Presence IS the gift itself. And we must come to understand that the Presence of God IS the God and the Christ within which are shown to us in the Master’s words above; it IS the bestowing of this grace upon the Life of the man in the world which affords that man the faith, the KNOWING, that IS based in the reality of the revelations and the realizations that come to the man in the world. While this seems like a great circular reference, and it Truly IS, there IS a sense of logic that must be grasped and we can grasp this most readily thorough our understanding of the concept of duality that we have previously discussed. We must remember that the Master’s instructions are His teaching on discipleship; this IS the underlying intent of ALL His words. And we should remember as well that the writings of the apostles are to the disciples of the world and, in this particular use of this idea of disciple, we should understand him in the broad array of accomplishments from the fledgling aspirant to the stature of the Eleven to whom the Master addresses the fourteenth chapter of John. The depth of the Master and His apostles’ ideas IS lost on the man who has NOT come to change the focus of his Life onto the things of God.
In this IS the reality of Repentance and the Truth of Transformation; it IS in these ideas that we find the way of the aspirant and the disciple in duality. And this IS the first teaching from the Master….we read: “From that time Jesus began to preach , and to say, repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). We should understand here that although this idea IS ONLY seen in the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, this IS a an emphatic point to His teaching; it IS through Repentance that a man can come to be a follower and a disciple of the Master. It IS Repentance that brings a man to the Path that leads to that “strait gate” which opens into the Kingdom of God and it IS a man’s entry thereat that IS His salvation. This IS the ultimate Truth behind Paul’s words above; that it IS “by grace are ye saved through faith“; this salvation IS the culmination of faith and it IS the product of grace; it IS at the intersection of the full realization of these ideas that one’s Transformation IS complete and it IS this man who Truly enters into the Kingdom of God…..a Kingdom which IS within each of us. Here again we have the rather circular pattern of having something and yet needing that thing and ALL of these circular ideas ARE resolved in the reality of grace. When we can understand that grace IS the realizations and the revelations of divinity which ARE seen and accepted by the consciousness in the world over the objections of the carnal mind and emotions, then we can see through the circular realm of ideas and come to a greater understanding of the Way. This IS of course a difficult task and this IS the reality of the Transformation of a man through the crucible of duality. In this we should understand that the very nature of the Master’s words to His Eleven in this chapter IS that these ideas ARE addressed to the disciple, the man who has overcome some part of the duality and who has resolved some of the seemingly circular ideas found in Jesus’ teachings and in the reality of spiritual Life. It IS the disciple ONLY who can understand the deep Truths that are embedded in these words and those of the following chapters and it IS ONLY the aspirant, the man who has Repented and changed the focus of his Life onto the reality of the things of God who can realize the Truth of grace by degree.
While this may ALL seem as a harsh assessment of the many who believe that they ARE ‘saved’ by their own doctrinal assessment of Life, we should see the deeper Truth; that the very words that we see from the apostle above ARE written against the performance of a man according to doctrine. In the glamour of Life in this world, this IS a hard realization to come upon. And this IS the role of duality as it besets the aspirant and the disciple who, while Repentant, still has the pangs of carnal Life lingering in his mind and his emotions….the great motivational drivers that take control of men in this world. It IS against this that the spiritual man or, the spiritual aspect of the man, must strive; it IS in Repentance that the spiritual man IS awakened to the reality of Life, not the Soul as this True man IS eternally divine, but rather the consciousness of the man in the world who has tasted the freedom and the liberation of the grace of God. And this taste comes to him in many ways. This IS the reality of one’s first glimpse of His grace as the higher impulses of the True man peek through to the man in form who had heretofore ONLY seen the carnal Life. In every way this grace IS free but, at the same time this grace has a cost; a cost that IS borne by the willing consciousness, that awareness of the man that IS beyond mind and emotion and which IS the reality of the Life of the Soul in the man in the world. It IS the consciousness that IS the extension of Soul Light in the body of flesh and it IS the consciousness which IS deluded by the apparent Truths of the world which ARE built in one’s many years of nurturing and experience.
This IS a difficult idea to comprehend as the very ideas that are involved are covered in words that have much carnal meaning and which ARE understood by most in that regard. This IS however the way that this ALL works out in Life as the consciousness is that part of the psyche of the man in the world that IS linked to the divine and yet it IS also the part that IS overwhelmed by the illusion and the glamour of Life in this world. This consciousness IS essentially the self, the seat of conscience and the Path to God; this IS the very awareness of the Soul in form. It IS with this in mind that we can properly understand the words of the Apostle Paul who tells us about the vanity which we see as the illusion and the glamour of Life; it IS to this vanity that ALL men are subjected as a part of the journey of the Soul through Life in this world. It IS in Paul’s words that we can glimpse the Truth of Life, a Truth that IS seen by doctrine as the fall of man. While we have ofttimes discussed these ideas in our blog, we repeat again the apostle’s words in the context of grace and of the reality of the way out of the illusion by the Power of grace. Paul writes that:
“the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, 21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 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 these words and in this sense of vanity we find the Life of man in this world as well as his eventual deliverance from the illusion and the glamour that IS Life in this world which IS the vanity. It IS this journey from vanity to deliverance that IS the reality of the Transformation of the man in the world, a Transformation from living the carnal Life focused in the self and the self in the world, to living the spiritual Life which IS focus upon the things of God. This journey begins in Repentance, True Repentance which IS this decision to change the focus of one’s Life and, since no change of this magnitude can be accomplished in a flash, this IS where the reality of grace IS keenly felt by the man who strives. Many things can bring a man to this state of Repentance and for some this IS NOT a lasting state; this IS however the beginning and it IS the beginning of the Master’s teaching as well. And this IS also the beginning of the circular pattern of spiritual Life, a pattern that we can better see as an upward and expanding spiral that begins with that glimpse of Truth that peeks through and gets the attention of the consciousness, taking it by degree away from the clamor of the world and the wants and the fears of the personality of the man in the world. From this beginning of grace we build our KNOWING, our faith, as we receive increments of realization and revelation which lead us to greater focus and our expression of what we come to KNOW. It IS from this greater focus that we receive yet more grace, more revelation and realization and more ability to DO which IS to express the Truth as we strive to keep His words.
We did not intend to go so far down this road in today’s essay but we should try to see in this how that ALL things are linked together as we journey toward the “strait gate” that opens into the Kingdom of God. We repeat our current selection from the Gospel of John which IS in its own way a part of this discussion that we have today. It IS the expression of this growing grace that IS the Holy Spirit who “shall teach you all things“; which IS to bring the Truths of Life and the Kingdom into the everyday consciousness of the man in order that this grace might overwhelm the carnal instincts and bring us closer to “delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God“.
“But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe. Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me. But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence” (John 14:26-31).
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.
