ON LOVE; PART DCCXLXIII
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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 of our ideas on grace and its intersection with the reality of Love; how that the Love of God IS His grace which IS offered freely to ALL on a global scale. This we read in the Master’s words on God’s unprejudiced application of grace saying: “for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45). We should remember that this IS but an example of the reality that “there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11), that the graces of God are equally shared by ALL men within the constraints of living in this world and its natural actions which effect ALL equally. While this IS a difficult idea to comprehend while viewing the great disparity found in the lives of men in the world, we must understand that the disparity IS NOT at the hand of God but at the reality that there IS NO True interference with the little lives of men in this world, an idea that IS also offered by the Master as He tells us of the blood that Pilate shed and the men caught under the falling tower, how that these were NOT to be seen as sinners above others. While the idea of Repentance that the Master attaches to this confuses many, the reality IS that those who would Repent would have the wherewithal to understand, to KNOW the reality of such occurrences and of their fate as they journey on the Path to God; this while the unrepentant others are destined to continue in the continuum of Life in the afterlife and return again to this world without such spiritual collateral as Repentance brings. We read the Master’s words saying:
“There were present at that season some that told him of the Galilaeans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell , and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:1-6).
The reality here in regard to our ideas on grace IS simply that “there is no respect of persons with God” and that whatsoever happens to a man in this world IS according to the world and NOT God as this effects the individual or the group….there IS NO relief save that which comes from the Power of one’s own Soul, one’s own God and Christ Within. The greater view here IS that whatsoever happens to the body DOES NOT effect the True man, the Soul, save for the lost opportunity to achieve one’s spiritual reality in a particular Lifetime. And this IS the reality of the idea of reincarnation: in the reality “that God is no respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34) there IS NO other way to accommodate this precept; if some are allowed to perish before there IS opportunity to Repent based on happenstance, then there IS NO justice nor fairness in the Plan of God; and this would destroy the very idea of grace as that free global Love of God. And, if we believe that God Loves those who Love Him ONLY, there ARE equal problems and even greater concern based in the Master’s own words that define for us who it IS that Truly Loves God, that these would be those who have Repented and who keep His words….these are concepts that CAN NOT be separated. We should see this in these words that we repeat 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. (John 14:23).
These ideas ARE of course the reality of individual grace and not the global grace that comes in the idea that the Lord provides freely and equally for ALL men and to which we must add the reality of the Advent of the Master and ALL others who have come as messengers of the Truth from God. The difference between this idea of global grace and that of individual grace IS found in the ideas that we have from the Master above, that it IS to the man who Loves Him and keeps His words that the Presence of God will come; in this there IS a cost and there IS a quid pro quo at play. At the same time as we see this cost, we should realize that there IS actually none to be borne in the way that we perceive this from a worldly view; the cost IS in DOING and in focus upon the things of God….the cost IS in giving up one’s claim to the thoughts, attitudes and actions that keep him separated from the Truth of God. While the idea of grace as presented by the Master above seems to be absolute, that one keeps His words and has His Presence, we should understand that this as it IS presented to apostles, men of much spiritual accomplishment, who DO essentially keep His words but who may yet lack in some of the deeper ideas that we read of in the Life of Peter and of James and John. For us this IS a goal, keeping His words IS a reality that IS developed by the man in the world as he is Transformed and, as this IS stated, keeping His words IS the ultimate reality of the fullness of the Presence of God in one’s Life. It IS here that we must remember the Master’s many words on the reality of Repentance and the Truth of the growth of the Kingdom of God within, and we must remember as well the parabolic nature of His words and this especially toward those who ARE NOT Repented. We read of this idea of growth and of the parabolic nature of Jesus words in this from the Gospel of Mark:
“Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? or with what comparison shall we compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth: But when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches; so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it. And with many such parables spake he the word unto them, as they were able to hear it. But without a parable spake he not unto them: and when they were alone, he expounded all things to his disciples” (Mark 4:30-34).
When we can relate this to His other words regarding the Kingdom and especially His telling us that the “the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21), this idea can make much sense from the perspective of the man in the world who IS seeking God. We can see here how that the ideas of the Kingdom are intentionally veiled by the Master and, while Jesus may have “expounded all things to his disciples“, we KNOW from our reading of this fourteenth chapter, that by their questions that they DO NOT fully understand and we also KNOW from Jesus’ own words that His teaching to His disciples IS somewhat veiled and parabolic. We have then the ultimate of His Presence in keeping His words, which IS the defining idea concerning our Love for Him and for God, and we have the idea of the growth of the Kingdom of God, the growth of grace in the Life of the man who Repents and IS being Transformed. In the free and global grace of the Presence of the Lord in the world along with the teaching and the example that He has left us, we find then the opportunity upon which the individual can build. It is this seed of Truth that IS planted in the mind of the man, not the carnal mind as we understand it but in the consciousness, the awareness, of the man in the world that has been attending to the carnal view. It IS in this conscious awareness that the seed is sown and it IS this awareness that MUST overcome the carnal instincts and populate the mind; this IS the reality of the growth of the Kingdom of God Within and this IS the way that the seed of individual grace can lead a man to Repent. Can we understand this way of growth? Can we see how that each step towards the ultimate Truth brings more grace and that by more grace a man IS more enabled to express these Truths and that this results then in yet more grace, more of the Love of God in the Life of the man? And this Love IS His Presence by measure and it IS in proportion to the degree of focus, the degree of expressing the Truths received in the thoughts, attitudes and actions of the aspirant in this world.
And so we have global grace and we have individual grace in the Life of the man who Truly seeks God. While the global idea of grace can lead men to the Path, it IS individual grace that allows a man to journey on that Path toward the strait gate that opens into the Kingdom of God; and this IS the teaching of the Holy Spirit, which IS the reality of grace in the Life of the man in the world. It IS the teaching of the Spirit, as we read in our current selection below, that produces the realization of those things revealed by the Soul, the Christ Within and, from this perspective the Holy Spirit IS the activity of grace in the Life of the man. Again, as the Presence of God in one’s Life IS one’s individual grace, so the idea of the Holy Spirit IS that same grace as well albeit viewed from a different perspective; the Spirit of God CAN NOT separated from His Presence. It IS in the sense of the activity of the revealed Presence of God as the realization by the man in his own conscious awareness that we should view the first verse below as it IS through this reveilation that a man can come to realize “all things“; we read our current selection again:
“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).
As we have read here in this chapter about the Unity of the Father and the Son, we have seen as well the Unity of the God and the Christ Within and, in this, we have seen as well how that the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, CAN NOT be separated from these….neither globally nor individually. And we should KNOW here that from the individual perspective there IS also His Promise; first of His Presence for the man who Loves Him and keeps His words and second of the ability of that man to DO those “greater works“. While doctrine may NOT agree with our view here, the Truth IS clear and can be seen in the reality of the saying above regarding the Comforter. We should see the singularity of reality in His words that “the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost…….he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you” and His former words saying “the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do” (John 14:12). It IS by the activity of His Presence in one’s Life that he can DO and this activity IS the Holy Spirit; and here we should again understand that to Love Him, to keep His words, and to “believeth on“, which is the gateway to those “greater works“, ARE the same thing, the same idea and have the same effect.
We have in our words from this chapter the realities of Love; Love of God neatly defined as keeping His words and as the Apostle John’s other way of expressing this as to believe upon Him, and we have the reality of God’s Love for us individually neatly defined as His Presence in the Life of the man in the world who DOES keep His words. We also have the reality of Love for ALL men as an integral part of keeping His words and especially the words of the Great Commandments which we repeat again at the top of our essay and it IS in this that we should see that to Love God IS NOT possible without Loving ALL men. While the ideas of Love for God and Love from God can be seen in the words above regarding His Presence, the idea of Love for ALL men seems illusive or, rather, has been made illusive by the doctrines of men and their lack of understanding the Truth of this Love. To dispel this confusion on Love for ALL IS perhaps the apostle’s intent in his words to us in his epistle which we have been discussing in the last several posts and, if one would look at his words in the Light of the Truth of God rather than the ways of men, he could easily see John’s points. We read again from the fourth chapter:
“Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect , that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is , so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him, because he first loved us. If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen , how can he love God whom he hath not seen ? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also” (1 John 4:7-21).
We have discussed several ideas from the beginning of this selection and today we will look at the overall idea in relation to the Great Commandments and our own words above that to Love God IS NOT possible without Loving ALL men. While we base this in the logic of the Great Commandments and His showing us that Loving Him IS ONLY true of the man who keeps His words, the apostle shows us this in his own way which IS based upon the Love that God offers to the world globally which we read in his ideas on the Advent of the Christ and His Life, His teachings and His death. This global expression of the grace of God IS, in the words of the apostle, the ONLY necessary idea to understand in order that we “love one another” and in this we should be able to understand the reality that God Loved us and therefore we should Love ALL. John’s words however are written to men who DO understand these things, disciples if your will, and while many may make claim to this understanding and make claim to their own Love for God, the reality IS yet found in the ideas that we present above, the reality that this sense of Love for ALL men is intimately tied to keeping His words. And we should see that those who make claim to this understanding and to their own Love for God ARE addressed by the apostle in his own words as he tells us that “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar“. Here many are fooled by the Greek word that IS rendered as hateth but this IS NOT the central point of the apostle’s words and, when this IS seen in the same light as we see the similar idea from the Master’s words according to Luke which refers to Loving less, then the whole of His idea here makes much sense as DOES his final thought saying “he who loveth God love his brother also”.
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.
