ON LOVE; PART CMIV

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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).

Today IS what has come to be KNOWN as Good Friday. Today IS the day that was chosen by most religious authorities to commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus the Christ; there ARE others whose doctrines have chosen a different day. Why there are differences in the timing of Easter and Good Friday DO NOT matter much save to point out how that such insignificant human ideas can create separation among the people who hold to such doctrinal perspectives. In this power of doctrines we have a microcosmic picture of the whole of the doctrinal separation that afflicts the Truths that the Master brought and perhaps a deeper view of the idea of strongholds that the Apostle Paul shows us as well. In this idea of strongholds that we studied for several essays recently, we should be able to see how that such a simple and insignificant thing as the commemoration of the Master’s death and resurrection can create divisions which ARE defended by those who hold each different point of view; and none of this have any bearing on the reality of Jesus words.

In Paul’s words the idea of strongholds IS in regard to those thoughts and imaginations that ARE “against the knowledge of God” and while these ideas of Easter and Good Friday may not seem to be at that level, the reality IS that many ARE shown the importance of this commemoration above the reality and the Truth of the teachings of Jesus and His apostles. The celebration of this day IS held by many denominations and sects as the highest of Holy Days and some doctrines prescribe that to miss this day, to miss attending church on this day, IS a grave offence although there IS naught in Truth that gives this as a commandment. Can we see here how that while these ideas may NOT be “against the knowledge of God” that they ARE indeed exalted above such “knowledge of God” which should be understood as the True reality and intent of His words. While this IS a difficult line to draw, there IS great reality here. As we recently discussed it IS every thought and imagination or reasoning that comes from the carnally focused mind which should be found in the apostle’s idea of “against the knowledge of God“; this IS clarified for us as the apostle continues in this saying which we read again:

“the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds; Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:4-5).

We should try to see here the relationships that ARE generally missed and which show that the strongholds ARE the imaginations and ARE “every high thing“; we should see here as well that whatsoever IS against this “knowledge of God” is NOT “to the obedience of Christ“. In these ideas it IS easier to see how that this Easter commemoration and celebration IS exalted by many who place it above the very Truth of His words and while the doctrinal view may have been intended to focus men upon God, the reality in men’s lives IS likely quite different. While the degree of this exaltation varies among denominations, there IS a special importance placed upon the celebration of this day for most ALL Christians and this IS easily seen in the way that so many more people flock to churches on Easter as compared to the rest of the year. Our point here is rather simple: in the rites and the rituals, in the church view of Easter, and in the doctrinal ideas surrounding the death and the resurrection of the Master, so much of what He Truly teaches regarding “the knowledge of God” IS lost. What should be a celebration of the Truths that Jesus teaches regarding Life and the Kingdom of God IS become a celebration of the doctrinal assumptions that pose as the Truth, assumptions that vary by denomination and by sect.

There IS a greater reality to the death and the resurrection of the Master than IS recognized by most and there IS much misunderstanding created by the various doctrines regarding the True meaning, the purpose, and the result of His death on the cross 2000 years ago. As we discussed in the last few essays, there IS much represented in Jesus’ death and in His willing participation in it, and most of this IS symbolic. Jesus shows us the ways of men in such a way that their illusion and their sense of glamour IS exposed to the light of day and while this failure on the part of the Jew’s and the Romans IS recognized by most, the causes which persist to this day ARE ignored.  Jesus message IS against the doctrines and the traditions of the Jews and the cruelty of the Romans but there IS more; Jesus message IS also the Truth of the commandments and the deeper reality within them which He exposes….the spiritual reality. It IS against the deeper reality that the Jews take their stand and in the dilutions and changes to the Truth by their doctrines that they ONLY see their own reality. This IS their illusion and their glamour: they DO NOT see the deeper Truths as presented by the Master as their vision of Truth IS obnubilated by their own interpretations of the Truth.

It IS in their doctrinal sense that they see the words and the actions of the Master as being against the Truth of the commandments which they have diluted and changed into their own sense of Truth as expressed by their doctrines. This IS their rallying point which IS easily seen as the Pharisees and the other religious rulers of the Jews react to the Master’s words and His actions; their glamour IS also easily seen in the way that they stand on their doctrines and traditions in the face of the Master’s explanations of the deeper realities and Truths. It IS in this rallying point and in the steady building of animosity towards Jesus that brings us to His arrest and His crucifixion and the lesson here, the symbolic lesson, IS to expose how that such doctrines that pose as the Truth take on a Life of their own, a Life that IS against the Truth to which such doctrines blind the men who hold them dear.

The irony here IS found in the post crucifixion world where this symbolic lesson IS not learned, in the post crucifixion world where the doctrines of the Jews, as they were contrary to the Truth, are allowed to become a part, and even a foundation, for the new doctrinal reality which will come to pose as the Truths that the Master brought to the world. We should try to see here an even deeper reality in His willing participation in this grandly scripted part of the Plan of God and this IS that these Truths that He brought to the world, these Truths that so antagonized the Jews, were so important that Jesus willingly went to the cross to show this importance. While it IS True that the Master understands the deepest realities of Life and how that this Life in form IS unimportant when compared with the True spiritual Life of men, He DOES suffer as a man and He does endure great pain as IS clearly depicted in the gospel stories and it IS in this view that we should see His sacrifice and deeper reality found in the idea that He died for the sins of men.

While Jesus died as the result of men’s refusal to see the greater Truths, there ARE yet other realities to be found in His death. In the display of His healing power as He raised the widow’s son, He raised Jairus’ daughter and He raised Lazarus from the tomb, we should see the idea that death IS NOT the finality of Life, that there IS a spiritual Presence that leaves the body at death and it IS this spiritual Presence that Jesus recalled in each of these miracles. And, so that this could not be confused with that sense of healing found in the world yet today where the dead ARE raised relatively close to their time of departure, we should that Jesus work was done at various times after death. In the case of the widow’s son we read that the Master “touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise” (Luke 7:14) as the young man was being carried to his grave. In the case of Jairus’ daughter we read that the man approached the Master to seek healing for his daughter who was ill and the Master agreed to go; here while both Luke and Mark see the girl as ill and dying, Matthew reports that she IS already dead. Our point here however IS this: in each of these versions the Master IS shown to be in NO rush to get to the young girl and in ALL three she IS dead before the Master arrives and it IS in this context that we should see how that the healing of the woman who touches His garment intercedes. If alive, the girl IS allowed to die before the Master arrives and thus the stage IS set for Him to recall her spiritual Presence back into her body which we read as:

“And he cometh to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and seeth the tumult, and them that wept and wailed greatly. And when he was come in, he saith unto them, Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn. But when he had put them all out, he taketh the father and the mother of the damsel, and them that were with him, and entereth in where the damsel was lying. And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise. And straightway the damsel arose, and walked; for she was of the age of twelve years. And they were astonished with a great astonishment” (Mark 5:38-42).

While we CAN NOT KNOW how long the persons noted above were deceased before the Master arrives, we should understand that it was more that just moments and could have been as much a days for the widow’s son. In the case of Lazarus however we DO KNOW that several days elapse between his death and the Master’s arrival at his tomb and we KNOW that the Master intentionally delays His arrival. In this there IS NO doubt regarding what the Master IS about to DO as He recalls Lazarus’ spiritual Presence, his Soul, back into the body that he had left in death. In this we should see again the message that we ARE intended to see: that the body IS the vehicle for the spiritual Presence, the Soul of the man, and that it IS the Soul that gives Life to the form. This IS however but a part of the message on death that the Master seeks to present; here it IS in the Power of the Presence of God that Jesus IS able to DO these things and this IS the same Presence of God that He explains to His apostles. This IS the same Presence of God that will provide for each of them the Power which enables them to DO the same; the Power to realize His words saying “the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do” (John 14:12). This Presence of God DOES however has a cost which Jesus clearly explains as keeping His words and it IS in ONLY in this that these “greater works” are within the ken of men as intentional acts rather than the more arbitrary healing abilities of those who DO NOT pay this price. We read the Master’s words again saying:

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 14:21-24).

It IS by the Presence of God in Jesus that He DOES these works and it IS by the Presence of God in men who keep His words that they can DO these “greater works“. This IS the Master’s message as well then; that the man who has the Presence of God has Power over death and dying as these afflict men and we should note here that because death and dying ARE an integral part of Life itself, it IS NOT always prudent for the disciple to recall another from death; and we should see that a disciple always DOES what IS KNOWN to be right in the Light of his own Soul, his own God and Christ Within.

Finally we come to the Master Himself, we come to Jesus who tells us “I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again” (John 10:17-18). This IS Jesus grand display of the Power of the Perfected man, the Power of the man who has the fullness of the Presence of God; here we have that sense of KNOWING which can move the mountain and we should understand that this IS ALL a part of those “greater works” which IS our promise and IS our reward in the fullness of keeping His words; it IS in this fullness that we can say with Him “I have overcome the world“. His dying and His resurrection should be seen in this context where death and carnal Life no longer have any control over Him nor over the man who can Truly follow Him and keep His words. It IS in this idea of willingly dying at the hands of those who call themselves His adversaries that that we have the reality of His words above saying “I lay down my life, that I might take it again“. This IS ever the Plan as He tells His apostles several times and it IS in this sense of Plan that we find the purpose; that in His dying and in His resurrection we see the final piece of a great puzzle and come to understand the reality of Life….that it IS NOT the body.

While the nature of the body IS alluded to by the Master and by His apostles, and while the deeper ideas about the relationship between the Soul, the True man, and the form that he uses is among the mysteries of Life and of the Kingdom, the Master DOES show us the greater reality by His death and His resurrection. It IS in the right understanding of those things that happened, in those things that were said and done, and in the picture framed by the Master’s example, that we can find the True meanings that ARE embedded in the death and the resurrection of the Master. In the greater reality of Life as we understand it, the Master DOES NOT die as we understand this idea; it IS His form, the body of Jesus, that DIES and that IS placed in the tomb. His own spiritual Presence, His own True self as that great Soul, simply leaves the body at its death much in the same way as DO ALL men when their bodies CAN NOT continue to contain the Life that quickened them to use a biblical term.

In the end we should try to see that the Master suffered greatly as a man, His pain was the same pain that ALL men feel and it IS unimaginable for us today. In His acceptance of this fate, this being scourged and spit upon and then hung on a tree, we should see the deeper meaning that He conveyed: that His message of Love and His example of keeping the words of the Lord were worth the pain. In this we see again the words of the Prophet Isaiah who predicted Jesus’ fate saying “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth” (Isaiah 53:7). We should see here as well that the Master KNOWS full well that this IS His fate and He faces it without reservation and while the prophet shows us that the Master did not speak, we should understand this as that He DID NOT complain nor offer a defense; instead He offers prayer for them as He instructs us to DO. His prayer is simply “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” as they “parted his raiment, and cast lots” (Luke 23:34) which IS offered in the same tone as His instructions to us ALL, that we should:

“Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid not to take thy coat also” (Luke 6:27-29).

We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.

HAPPY EASTER

Aspect of God	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