ON LOVE; PART CMLII

ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α

GoodWill IS Love in Action

ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α

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).

ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ

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

ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ

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 return to our discussion of the Apostle Paul’s listing of the “the works of the flesh” and the “the fruit of the Spirit” after a brief absence, we ARE reminded that the Truth of his ideas IS found in the right discernment of the words that he uses and how that those words correspond to the True teaching of the Master. As we should ever remember, the words of the apostles must be understood as they ARE meant which IS that their intention IS to clarify and to amplify Jesus’ own teachings and NOT to become doctrines that can supplant and change the Master’s Truths. It IS unfortunate that so much of the settled doctrines of the many different denominations of Christianity IS contrary to the words of the Master as men have ever interpreted the spiritual Truths offered by Jesus and His apostles into ideas and doctrines that are formulated for the convenience of the man in this world; interpretations that allow men to live according to doctrine while believing that they ARE in the Will of God.

Men DO NOT see, nor DO they wish to see, that the basic Truths of Paul’s words that we ARE studying ARE the normal activities of men in this world whose focus IS yet upon the carnal self and the activities of that self in this world. Nor DO men see that their tendency to portray the Master’s and the apostles’ words as that they ARE the gross sins of the rendered ideas feeds the reality of their own deception which IS the basic idea behind the Apostle James admonition that they “be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22). It IS in this same sense of deception that men have their own sense of salvation, as that this IS the free gift of grace for those who believe, according to doctrine, in the divinity of Jesus, while the Truth of Jesus’ own words and the words of His apostles go unheeded through the convenient interpretations of the spiritual ideas that lie behind their words.

As we have progressed through Paul’s words regarding the “the works of the flesh” we have seen how that these ideas have been interpreted and construed to be ONLY those ideas of gross carnal living and, while most of the first segment IS intended to show how that men’s focus should be upon God and NOT upon the self, the common understanding remains trapped in ideas of sexual deviation, false gods and the misunderstood ideas of the occult. When we can understand that the ideas of the first segment, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry and witchcraft point clearly to the thoughts, attitudes and actions that draw men’s focus away from the Truth which IS God, we can more clearly see Paul’s intent in saying “that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God” and how that to NOT DO “the works of the flesh” IS the greater reality of their salvation and their deliverance. And when we can see the relationship of Paul’s ideas to the Master’s own words that we call our trifecta of spiritual reality, we can then understand how that it IS ALL things that ARE contrary to keeping His words that ARE the substance of the apostle’s thoughts. Repeating our trifecta again we read:

• “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“ (John 8:31-32).
• “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).
• “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 here that we can see that the Truth, the deliverance or freedom, the Kingdom of God and the Presence of God in one’s Life ARE ALL the result of keeping His words; NOT the carnal interpretations that exist as doctrines but the fullness of the Truths that ARE largely ignored by those doctrines. In our previous essays we discussed how that the first segment of Paul’s words IS in regard to a man’s relationship with God according to the first of the Great Commandments and how that adultery, fornication, uncleanness and lasciviousness, along with the ideas of idolatry and witchcraft, ARE contrary to the True spiritual objective of ALL men….that they 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. While doctrines have tried to define the first segment words adultery, fornication, uncleanness and lasciviousness in sexual terms, the reality IS that these ideas from the Greek point us to men’s infidelity towards God; that IS that while men should be focused upon the Godhead, they ARE focused upon themselves and the things of the self in the world. In this IS the reality of their deception as such focus upon the Godhead embodies the ideas behind the trifecta.

And while the idea of idolatry IS generally seen in Old Testament terms of false gods, the reality of both the Old and in the New Testaments should point us to ALL things that take away from the True intent of men’s focus which IS God and the things of God; the spiritual things that ARE the True essence of Life. In this idea we should see Jesus words on “God and mammon“; His words on men’s sense of treasure, that this should be “treasures in heaven” and NOT “treasures upon earth“; and the deeper realities that still go without understanding which He frames for us as “Take no thought for your life” BUT “seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:24, 20, 19, 25, 33). ALL of this IS diluted and changed by the wranglings of men whose thoughts remain upon those “treasures upon earth” and upon their own Life in this world and this regardless of their purported spiritual intent.

So too with the ideas behind the word rendered as witchcraft or sorcery; here men DO NOT see how that it IS their own carnal mental and emotional powers, their own psychic powers if you will, that ARE the subject as they focus such powers upon things that effect the physical world. This IS essentially True of ALL such ‘supernatural’ works of men that ARE NOT founded in the Truth which comes in keeping His words. We should try to relate this idea to Paul’s words to the Corinthians that show that without Love ALL such things that ARE seen by men as “spiritual gifts” ARE these supernatural activities that ARE founded in the psychic powers of men who, at the same time, decry these same powers when they ARE separated from their own doctrines. In Paul’s words we should see how that such things as that nebulous speaking in tongues, such things as prophecy, as knowledge and as faith to “remove mountains” (1 Corinthians 12:1, 13:1, 2) ARE for naught in the absence of agape which IS rendered by the King James translators as Charity and which we KNOW as Love. And, when we can relate this idea of agape to the apostle’s other words that clearly tell us that “all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Galatians 5:14), which idea precedes his words that we ARE studying, we can then realize a greater share of the Truth.  Repeating the apostle’s words again we read:

“For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts” (Galatians 5:17-24).

While the deception may seem to lie in the interpretation of words for the convenience and the comfort of men, the greater reality IS yet found in James’ words which tell us that the root of ALL deception IS that men DO NOT DO, they DO NOT keep His words, as they become content with following the dictates of doctrines rather than the reality and the Truth of the Master’s words. As we have discussed, the first segment of Paul’s words that we describe above ARE ALL in relation to the first of the Great Commandments and it IS the failure of men to “love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength“, which is one’s totality of focus upon the Godhead, that IS the sin that IS found in Paul’s list of words. We should try to see here that while the second segment pertains to a man’s relationship with his fellowman which IS the second part of the Great Commandments, the fulfillment of this IS rooted in the first….one CAN NOT “love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength” without Loving his neighbor, his brother and the stranger who qualifies as both.

The apostle John shows us this saying that: “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?” (1 John 4:20). And in similar tone as that we read from Paul above regarding the Kingdom of God above, John tells us that “He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1 John 2:4). It IS in the totality of the apostles’ words that we can see the deception that IS perpetuated by doctrines that cover the Truth of Love which IS the Truth of keeping His words. This IS of course ALL founded in the illusion and the glamour of Life here in this Earth, an illusion that Paul calls vanity as he tells us that “the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same” (Romans 8:20). That doctrines show this idea as the fall of man that resulted in Adam’s eating of the fruit of “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:17) IS a real hindrance to the right discernment of most ALL scripture and the very idea of Paul’s words should show us that this reality of illusion, of vanity, IS by the Plan of God, by the “reason of him who hath subjected the same“.

We have discussed this idea of illusion many times on this blog and we should try to see and to understand how that this vanity, this illusion, IS compounded by men’s glamour, buy their staunch belief that their view IS right and it IS this glamour which afflicts most ALL human endeavor from doctrinal religions to national heritage. The cure IS of course found in the one’s deliverance “from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21) and when we can understand that this idea of deliverance IS from the same Greek word that we find in Jesus’ saying above where it IS rendered as “make you free“, we can then perhaps see the greater reality of the Master’s words that “the truth shall make you free” and that this IS a Truth that comes to the man who will keep His words.

It IS in the spirit of the manifold ideas that ARE the result of keeping His words that Paul offers us this list of those things that are purely human which keep a man from focusing upon the things of God and, when we can understand his list in spiritual terms rather than carnal, we will have made some real progress upon the Path. And it IS in this second part of this list that we can more clearly see how that our thoughts, our attitudes and our actions toward our fellowman ARE the key to the fullness of keeping His words. We continue then with second segment of the apostle’s list where we have discussed the idea of hatred as the more appropriate idea of enmity as many bible translations render this; the idea of variance as dissension and controversy which IS based in the disagreements of men that flow freely in their own sense of self and the idea of emulation which feeds these two ideas and that Vincent defines for us,: a spirit of self-devotion ⁴.

We have also discussed the deeper ideas found in the apostle’s use of the Greek word thumos which IS most always rendered in terms of anger and wrath and which IS closely associated with the previous ideas which ARE most always the result of that same idea of emulation. In the close relationship of these first four ideas we should see the importance that the apostle places upon the whole idea of one’s relationship with his fellowman and how that it IS Love, as the right sense of agape as we define this again at the top of our essay, that can resolve these issues that will keep a man from “the kingdom of God“. We ended the last essay with the next word which IS rendered as strife and which we should see as faction and we leave today with the thought of how this idea of faction IS the reality of that glamour that we often speak about.

We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.

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.

This Quote of the Day is the antithesis of glamour and illusion. In this mantram are the thoughts about ourselves and our brothers in the world that can diffuse these forces that hold a man in the world of things and prevent his spiritual progress.

Mantram of Unification

The sons of men are one and I am one with them.
I seek to love, not hate;
I seek to serve and not exact due service;
I seek to heal, not hurt.

Let pain bring due reward of light and love.
Let the Soul control the outer form, and life and all events,
And bring to light the love that underlies the happenings of the time.

Let vision come and insight.
Let the future stand revealed.
Let inner union demonstrate and outer cleavages be gone.
Let love prevail.
Let all men love.

The Mantram of Unification is a meditation and a prayer that at first affirms the unity of all men and the Brotherhood of Man based on the Fatherhood of God. The first stanza sets forth several truly Christian ideals in Unity, Love, Service and Healing. The second stanza is a invocation to the Lord and to our own Souls asking that from the pain (if there can truly be any) incurred in focusing on the Spirit and not the world will come Light and Love into our lives and that we begin to function as Souls through our conscious personalities. We ask that the spiritual control of our lives will bring to light for us the Love that underlies world events; a Love that the world oriented man will not see working out behind the scenes and also that the Love that we bring forth, individually and as a world group, can be seen by all and ultimately in all. Finally, in the last stanza we ask for those things that are needed for Love to abound. Vision and insight so that we can direct our attention properly; revelation of the future in the sense that all can see the Power of Love in the world; inner union so that we do not fall back into the world’s ways, that we faint not; and that a sense of separation, the antithesis of brotherhood, ends as we know it today. Let Love Prevail, Let All Men Love.spiritual control of our lives will bring to light for us the Love that underlies world events; a Love that the world oriented man will not see working out behind the scenes.

Let the peace of God rule in your hearts

•  ⁴ Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888