ON LOVE; PART CM
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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. While this IS from an older definition of Charity, which IS rendered in the King James Bible from the same Greek word agape which IS generally rendered as Love, we should amend our own definition here to include the idea that in the reality of Love a man will accord to ALL men ALL things that he would accord to himself and to say that Love IS our thoughts and attitude of the equality of ALL men regardless of their outward nature or appearance…that ALL ARE equally children of Our One God
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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 enter Easter Week 2015 we ARE reminded of the great sacrifice that Jesus made for us 2000 years ago. While the reality of the Apostle John’s words IS ever True: that “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16), the doctrinal view of this has been lost or, better, it has never been Truly realized. When we can understand that it IS the Soul of the man who came among us as Jesus the Christ, we can then better understand how that this giving IS moreso related to His Life than to His death. While we can try to understand the depths of these mysteries which come in the realizations of His Presence as He tells us in His words that we repeat again below, the full force of John’s words IS likely beyond our ken. If we can but imagine our own end, our own Perfection according to the Master’s teaching, then we can glimpse at the nature of the Great Soul that came among us as Jesus, that great Soul that set the world on a new course; a course of Love which IS NOT yet achieved but which has been slowly percolating since He left us with His words and His instructions.
We KNOW from the Apostle Paul’s writings that when Jesus was among us “in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9) and we KNOW from John’s writings that “as he is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17). In the combination of these ideas we should be able to understand the nature of every man; we should be able to see that as the Christ IS in Jesus, that the Christ IS in us, and that this IS the deeper reality to Paul’s words telling us of the mysteries that ARE revealed to the saints saying of the mystery that it “is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colosians 1:27). Can we see the idea here? Can we see how that “the fullness of the Godhead” IS the very nature of the Christ, the Christ which ALL men share as their spiritual self, as their own Souls? And we should see this sense of sharing in John’s words that tell us that we ARE the same….as He IS the body of Jesus expressing the Life of the Christ Within, so ARE we the body of our own person who IS destined to express the Life of the Christ Within when we can live according to His words. As we have ofttimes said, He came among us in “the fulness of the Godhead bodily” while it IS up to each man individually to come to his own realization of this fullness which IS his expression of it.
And this the Master tells us saying “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” (John 14:12). In these words we should see the Truth that to “believeth on me” IS to live according to His words; this IS the True gateway to our own realization of this glory, this IS the True KEY to that Perfection of which Jesus tells us. It IS in the fullness of keeping His words that men ARE made Perfect and it IS in this Perfection that one can DO such “greater works“. And there IS a reality of this believing and of this the kindred idea of faith, both words that come from the same Greek ideas which ARE found in pisteuo and pistis (which ARE rendered as believe and faith, the one the verb and the other the noun), which IS missed by most ALL doctrinal approaches to God. In believing there IS the common understanding that falls far short of keeping His words and IS rather a mental and emotional affirmation that He IS Lord or some other similar doctrinal approach, while in faith we have a rather nebulous idea which IS more related to hope than it IS to certainty.
These approaches to pistis and pisteuo ARE however shattered by the Master’s own use of these ideas which usage firmly places them into the realm of KNOWING and more as He frames these as KNOWING without doubt. It is IS the reality of Jesus’ teaching on the potential Power of the man who can express the fullness of his own realization of divinity that we find the True understanding of these Greek words, pistis and pisteuo. It IS in the combined view of the synoptic writers that we come to a clearer understanding of the Master’s intent and while these ideas may seem to be different, they ARE largely the same….they carry the same ideas forward; we read:
- From Matthew: In regard to why the apostles could not heal a child Jesus says “Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you” (Matthew 17:20).
- From Matthew: In regard to His withering of the fig tree Jesus says “Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done” (Matthew 21:21).
- From Mark: Also in regard to Jesus’ withering of the fig tree we read “For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass ; he shall have whatsoever he saith” (Mark 11:23).
- From Luke: As part of a more general instruction on faith we read: “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” (Luke 17:6)
In these words we have the intersection of pistis and pisteuo which IS given to us by the Master in such a way as that we should clearly see the uniformity of intent in both and the reality that the deeper meaning IS that sense of KNOWING that comes in the revelations and the realizations of divinity which come to the man who keeps His words. We read about faith here in such way that the ONLY logical implication is that there IS such certainty in one’s thoughts and attitudes that a thing of such magnitude as moving a mountain or, by will alone, planting the plucked tree in the sea can be done. This IS the reality that these things ARE possible to the man who has such faith, such KNOWING without doubt. This man has such certainty that his thoughts and attitudes MUST be divine, they MUST be the divine power of “greater works” as the Master teaches us above. And here we should see the relationship to the Master’s other use of this idea of believing, that this IS such KNOWING without doubt which brings such “greater works” which ability comes ONLY to the man who keeps His words, in the fullness of keeping His words ALL things become possible. It IS in this sense that we should see believing and faith; as that KNOWING of which we read the Master’s words saying “If thou canst believe , all things are possible to him that believeth” (Mark 9:23). And this sense of KNOWING without doubt IS the greater reality of the Truth that comes to the man who will “continue in my word” as the Master shows us saying:
“Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin” (John 8:31-34).
We should see here that it IS the “disciple indeed” who KNOWS the Truth, this IS the True disciple of the Lord; and while this sense of Truth comes to men by the same measure with which he keeps the Master’s words, it IS in the fullness of this that such “greater works” are possible; and this according to the spiritual will of the man who has such fullness of expression of the Truth. Here, as we have discussed over the last several essays, we should remember it IS in keeping His words that ALL spiritual realities flow. It IS in this sense of spiritual realities, which ALL emanate from the same singular KEY to ALL, that we find the resultant glory of the Kingdom of God, the Presence of God and the reality of True discipleship. In this we see the reciprocal action in the Life of the man in the world as his realization of divinity, his realization of the Presence of God which enables a man to ever greater abilities which ARE the Truth of the “greater works” and which culminate in the Power to move a mountain or, by will alone, to plant the plucked tree in the sea. We should try to see that these are but outlandish examples that ARE intended to show us the scope of this Power of God that comes to the man in the fullness of his realization of Truth; it IS in this fullness that he can KNOWINGLY express such Power through his Life here in this Earth.
And we should understand here the idea of “faith as a grain of mustard seed” as this IS related to the apostles’ other ways of framing this Truth; as to “not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith” as Mark shows us and as to “have faith, and doubt not“. Can we see the reality here? Can we see how that the mustard seed has these qualities of believing without doubt or that the mustard seed will “have faith, and doubt not“. Can we see here how that the mustard seed simply KNOWS the outcome, that the mustard seed KNOWS that it will be the Tree? And can we see how that this same degree or measure of KNOWING is the necessary component for the man in the world to move a mountain or, by will alone, to plant the plucked tree in the sea? In these ideas we should see the depth of the Master’s message as He tells us that it IS by keeping His words that we “shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free“; and we should see that in this Truth is the reality of His words saying that “the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do” regarding the man who will keep His words. It IS these things, this spiritual Power to DO, that IS based in the reality of KNOWING and then of expressing what IS KNOWN to the world of men, that IS the privilege of the man who keeps His words, the man who has the realization of the Presence of God; this IS the essence of this KNOWING as we read in His words again saying:
“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:a 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. 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. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, 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 14:15-24).
This IS the overriding message that Jesus brought to the world; a message that reveals the essential divinity of men as Souls and the wherewithal for them to express this divine nature as He Himself did and as we read about in the extended stories of the Apostles Peter and Paul which are left as our own example of the Path to Perfection; a Path which IS according to His commandment that we “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). In His words to the Eleven above we have the reality of the Presence of God in Life; a Presence that comes in His ideas of manifesting and abiding and we have the reality of the Oneness of the Father and the Son, of God and the Christ. In these ideas and His words about the “Spirit of truth“, the Comforter, IS ALL of what we say above for the man who can discern Jesus intent and His meaning, and we should remember here that His Eleven DO NOT yet completely understand these relationships and these mysteries. The message IS made clear for the man who will DO his part, the man who will keep His words, as the necessary discernment will come to that man in the revelations and the realizations that ARE this Presence.
And it IS in these words and the right discernment of them that we can find the deeper Truth in John’s words saying that “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life“. When we can understand the Truth of the Oneness of God and Christ in man, we can then understand the deep mysteries that ARE revealed yet covered by the Master’s words and the confirming and amplifying words of His apostles. We should remember here that these words, these Truths about the divinity of men and their relationship to the Godhead, ARE intentionally vague and parabolic and that this is yet further complicated by the way that these ARE presented to the more superstitious and barbaric man of the past. Jesus teaches us the Fatherhood of God and this shows how that ALL things come from God and through His Presence in one’s Life and He teaches us about the reality of the Son. He shows us how that the Spirit that IS God IS the Life of the form and lives through the form in divinity, and that to follow His words and His example is to DO the same. And He shows us how: that we keep His words in Love.
This message IS lost however in the doctrines of men who DO NOT understand this sense of the Love of God, these doctrines that see “his only begotten Son” in ways that this IS NOT intended to be seen. While the Love of God is a clearly stated reality and while the ideas that “God is love” (1 John 4:8) and that “God is Spirit” (John 4:24) ARE clearly presented to us in the New Testament, men DO NOT see these ideas beyond the images of old, an image painted in the Old Testament and the Jewish doctrinal interpretation of that image. If we can see the idea of “his only begotten Son” in the reality that Jesus IS the first direct incarnation of divinity to come into this world with “all the fulness of the Godhead bodily“, then we can better understand the deeper Truths away from the various doctrinal assumptions which are cloaked in that emotional sense of worship that still prevails today. When we can see the Truth in this idea in the clarifying light that John offers us saying “God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him” (1 John 4:9), we can also see the intent of the apostle’s earlier words saying “that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” in the Light of the Truth of the Presence of God that comes to the man who Truly “believeth in him“; this IS the man who KNOWS Him and who keeps His words.
Finally, in the right discernment of this idea of “his only begotten Son” we should be able to see the depth of the apostle’s words from the Prologue to his gospel which tells us of the Logos which IS rendered as the Word and which IS the reality of the Christ; the apostle tells us: “the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).
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.
Live in joy, in love, even among those who hate.
Live in joy, in health, even among the afflicted.
Live in joy, in peace, even among the troubled.
Live in joy, without possessions.
Like the shining ones.
The winner sows hatred because the loser suffers.
Let go of winning and losing and find joy.
There is no fire like passion, no crime like hatred,
No sorrow like separation, no sickness like hunger,
And no joy like the joy of freedom.
Today’s Quote of the Day is from the Dhammapada (on JOY)5; a collection of the sayings of the Buddha. These words and ideas ARE much the same as those we discuss in our In the Words of Jesus essays. And what is this freedom but the release of our hearts and minds from loving this life in this world and attaining the Presence of God. This word Joy has many meanings as DOES the idea of Love, but in the context that it IS used here we should see the idea that Joy IS Love, Joy IS health, Joy IS peace and that Joy IS without the burdens placed on a man by the illusion and the glamour of the ways of the world. We should try to see that it IS the antithesis of these ideas in hate, in affliction and in troubles that ARE among the possessions of the carnal man, that ARE among the “evil treasure of his heart” (Luke 6:45) according to the Master.
And it IS in the second stanza above that we see the basic psychic ideas that can eliminate the harm caused by such “evil treasure” as a man looks past himself and at the welfare of others which IS the greater reality of Love as the Master teaches us. It IS in losing such possessions, losing such carnal thoughts and attitudes, that one can truly find the “joy of freedom“….this IS the Truth of deliverance.
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts
- 5 The Dhammapada Translated by Thomas Byrom
