ON LOVE; PART DCCXLII
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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 came to the end of our rather long look at the fourteenth chapter of the Gospel of John. As we began this study, we gave our objective as that we would show the relationship between the operation of the Holy Spirit in the Life of the man in the world and the measure of grace that a man receives and we believe that we have found the common ground for these ideas. When we can understand that the grace of God, as this IS applied individually to men, IS that earned measure of revelation and realization, that growing degree of a man’s ability to express the Truths of Life and of the Kingdom of God in his Life, we can then see how that it IS this very expression that IS the Holy Spirit; that the Holy Spirit IS the activity of the Spirit of God in the world of men. To understand these ideas one must take leave of his preconceived ideas and must let go of the doctrinal teachings that he may have endured for many years; one must open up his own sense of Truth as this IS found in the Master’s words and the words of His apostles and realize that this IS the intent of their words: to awaken men to this sense of Truth. Throughout our blog and especially in our last several posts we have tried to show how that the words of the Master which are spoken against the ways of the Jews in those days ARE NOT stagnant and directed only at them. We have tried to show that they ARE NOT to be seen in such a limited way as to reference single specific ideas as washing cups and plates or honororing mother and father, but rather that these ideas are but examples of the ways of the Jewish traditions and their doctrines. We have tried to show as well how that the tradition and doctrinal ideas of religion have been allowed to creep into the Christian religions and how that in the glamour of religious Life, there IS NO awareness of this creeping in and even denial that this has occurred.
In those days when Jesus was among us, the Jews believed that they were holy, they believed that they were DOING the Will of God and it IS in this light that we should see the Pharisees and the Sadducees, the scribes and the lawyers, of those days. We KNOW from the gospels that there were men among them of greater vision; men who saw the Truth in the Master’s words and who where chastised by the rulers and those who had taken religious authority. We should KNOW as well that the motivation of those who held to their doctrines and traditions was NOT evil as we commonly understand this word. It IS in the illusion and the glamour of Life in this world, the vanity which the Apostle Paul shows us, that men convince themselves that their own ways, their own worldly ways, ARE Godly. We should remember that these men ARE NOT evil in their intent and at the same time they are acting after the flesh which IS clearly seen in the Life of Paul prior to His conversion on the road to Damascus. Paul Himself speaks of His time as a Pharisee as he begins his discourse with King Agrippa; we read: “My manner of life from my youth, which was at the first among mine own nation at Jerusalem, know all the Jews; Which knew me from the beginning, if they would testify, that after the most straitest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee” (Acts 26:4-5). In these words from the apostle we should see the way of religion and of indoctrination; we should see the way that a man’s spiritual conceptions are framed by his nurturing and perhaps it IS seeing this that IS the purpose for which we read his story. Paul continues to say:
“I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Which thing I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them. And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities. Whereupon as I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests” (Acts 26:9-12).
In these words we see the apostle’s zeal, his overwhelming sense of doctrine, and his failure to see the way of Christ, which way was replete with miracles and profound teachings that should have shaken the very core of his religious ideas. And this human failing, this worldly view, DOES NOT only afflict Paul but most ALL of the Jewish religious hierarchy of the day. It IS in their own sense of righteousness that they believe that they ARE closer to the Truth of God than IS the Master and His followers and they reinforce their beliefs in their thoughts about the Master’s defiling the Sabbath and in their ideas, as expressed by the Pharisees, that Jesus could NOT be the Christ which IS the Greek word that IS rendered as Messiah and which means the Anointed. In IS in their individual and corporate sense of glamour, their sense of self-righteousness for lack of a better idea, that they deny and condemn Jesus as a heretic and a blasphemer; as a man who IS contrary to their view of God.
“Many of the people therefore, when they heard this saying, said, Of a truth this is the Prophet. Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee? Hath not the scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was? So there was a division among the people because of him. And some of them would have taken him; but no man laid hands on him. Then came the officers to the chief priests and Pharisees; and they said unto them, Why have ye not brought him? The officers answered, Never man spake like this man. Then answered them the Pharisees, Are ye also deceived? Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him? But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed. Nicodemus saith unto them, (he that came to Jesus by night, being one of them,) Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth? They answered and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search , and look: for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet” (John 7:40-52).
We should be able to clearly see the mindset of the Pharisee and of the other rulers of the Jews in that day; how that they are encumbered by traditions and doctrines and blind to the Truths that the Master reveals to them in words, and blind to the reality of His many miracles against which they can only spew their own doctrinal beliefs. In this we should see the power of doctrine, the power of the ways of men in the world and the power of the illusion and the glamour in which we still live today. And we should see how that the many Christian doctrines not only DO NOT see the greater reality of the Master’s words through their own sense of glamour but, at the same time, how that they CAN NOT even see the possibility of another’s interpretation of the traditions and the doctrines that originated in the early church or the teachings of the Reformers which were also based in them.
Our point here IS simply that doctrines and preconceptions obnubilate the Truth and that these ARE an integral part of the illusion and the glamour that beset men in this world. It IS in way that we should view Paul’s words which we reference so often; his words that tell us that man’s immersion into the things of the world IS real, and we should see that it IS in the realizations and the revelations of grace that we can escape this plight. Paul tells us the fullness of the story in the entirety of his Epistle to the Romans but so much of the Truth of his words remains hidden from view by the doctrines that purport to KNOW his Truths. And, while we have discussed many of the ideas that he presents here, none are more important than our understanding of his meaning and his intent in telling us that: “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” (Romans 8:20-21). In this IS the reality of Life in this world, the reality of the illusion and the glamour and the reality of his own Life as we read above…as how that his own illusions were based in his nurturing and his adherence to the doctrines of the Pharisees through which he could NOT see the greater Truth. Perhaps in Paul’s Life there was an occasional creeping in of doubt, perhaps he did take pause on hearing of the mighty works of Jesus; but, as we read in his own words, any such doubt was quickly overcome by the vanity, by the illusions and the glamour of Life, and set aside until that day when he could finally see the Truth. This IS perhaps the apostle’s first glimpse of True grace and, if we were to ask him, he would likely tell us that he had always believed that he was in God’s grace, the favor of God if you will, while he was yet captive to the doctrines and the traditions of the Jews.
Perhaps we can try to see here that while the Apostle Peter IS our example of the Life of the disciple through which we are taken from His days as a fisherman to that culmination of his realization of divinity, Paul’s is the story of a man whose vision is far different than the Master’s and of his coming to a realization of the Truth which comes by his revelation on the road to Damascus. In Peter we see the apostle’s steady progress and, as we see into his relationship with the Master, we see that while men may see him as holy and complete as He follows the Lord, has forsaken ALL, and IS counted as the leader by the Master, we see also that the Master continually reminds him that he IS NOT yet perfect. And Peter DOES NOT come to this perfection until after the Master’s departure and until after he overcomes his own sense of doubt that creeps into his consciousness in from the illusions that ARE presented by Life in form in this world. In Paul’s story we find a man who IS firmly ensconced in the ways of the Jews and who IS, in his own right, a religious man and a religious leader. Paul’s focus IS upon what he perceives as the things of God which in the end reveal themselves as the things of men; things that cause ungodly behavior as we read in his confession to King Agrippa above. It is in the glamour of his own view of religion and Life, his own view of salvation and the Kingdom of God, that he would have continued in his quest to defeat the doctrines of the Christ and perhaps even intensify them as we read that he “went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests“. Paul IS however stopped by his vision and, while we DO NOT understand the dynamics of his nor any vision, we should understand that this IS, as ARE ALL such encounters, founded in the revelations from one’s own Soul, one’s own personal contact with God.
The apostle IS overwhelmed to such degree that he himself CAN NOT explain his encounter with divinity and we should note here that there IS scriptural confusion regarding this as well; in the three different ways that this IS written, we read:
- The Apostle Luke tells us in his narrative of the story that: “And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus” (Acts 9:3-8).
- Paul, speaking in his own defense to the Jews who sought to kill him says: “And it came to pass, that, as I made my journey, and was come nigh unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me. And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And I answered, Who art thou , Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me” (Acts 22:6-9).
- Finally we have the apostle’s testimony before King Agrippa where we read: “At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me. And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee” (Acts 26:13-16).
Here then ARE three versions of the same story and it IS ONLY Luke who attributes the hearing of the voice of the Lord to those travelling with the apostle; Paul tells us that he alone hears the voice in on place and then does not mention the idea in to the king. Then we also see that Luke DOES not report that they ALL see the Light as Paul DOES in one place while in another he tells us that “we were all fallen to the earth” from the presence of the Light; here we should note that ONLY the apostle IS blinded by it. Our point here IS that we can ONLY say one thing with certainty; that Paul sees this Light and has his revelation of the Voice of the Master and we should understand there that this phenomenon IS the activity of the Christ Within….the Power of the Spirit of God in the world of men. In this we should try to see our point which IS that the Apostle Paul has this revelation and that it matters NOT how this has come about….it IS the grace of God. It IS this revelation that changes his course from the doctrinal ideas of the Jew to the Truth of the Master’s words, words that ARE the realization that he has of the Truth. In this IS the hope for ALL men who are bound by the various doctrines of the world…that they will come to see the greater Truths that ARE the realizations and the revelations that come from one’s own Soul, one’s own God and Christ Within. And this IS NOT ALL; Paul’s realizations continue as he comes to KNOW the Truths of the Kingdom of God, Truths that ARE contrary to his own preconceptions and doctrines. As his measure of grace grows, as the Kingdom Within him performs as the activity of the mustard seed and as his whole Life IS changed by the action of the leaven of Truth, we can see the Truth of Jesus parables and the ultimate end for the apostle who reaches that same fullness and perfection as DOES Peter.
In the reality of these ideas regarding Peter and Paul, we should look beyond the doctrinal view of miracles and the hand of God and look towards the idea that these men attained grace by their actions in the world. Both were called to follow the Master and on this we have had much to say over the course of our posts that IS intended to show that their choice IS NOT random but rather these men were born to this purpose, to be the Master’s ready help in accomplishing the mission with which He came into the world. At the same time as we try to grasp this however we must grasp the reality that in their lives in Jesus’ day that they had to overcome the illusions and the glamours and that they had to overcome the carnal instincts of Life in this world….that they had to come to be “doers of the word, and not hearers only” (James 1:22). This IS the ending message from the Master in this chapter from the Gospel of John and this IS the example that they both offer us in their stories. The final message from the final words of the Master in our current selection below….that we keep His words IS shown as He tells us that He also DID; we read “as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do“. There is nothing magical nor mystical in ALL of this; this IS grace realized and used in the Life of the man who Truly seeks 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.
