ON LOVE; PART CMLXV

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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 closed the last essay we noted that it IS when a man can realize and somewhat understand that it IS NOT this form in this world that IS his True Life but that it IS his spiritual self, the Soul if you will, that IS the True man, that it IS at this time that he can Truly begin to KNOW the Presence of God. It is this Presence that comes by measure to the man who will “be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:1) as it IS in the Light of the Soul that the KNOWING of this great Truth becomes a man’s realization; and it IS this realization that IS the reality of the Presence of God. In our words from the Bhagavad Gîtâ which we repeat here again this Truth remains as a philosophical idea that must be discovered by the man whose focus IS changing from the carnal to the spiritual and there ARE likely few that Truly understand the precepts of this ‘Song of the Lord’, as this IS translated into English, apart from the pronouncements of the doctrines that have been promulgated from its essential Truths.

In the teachings of the Christ and of His apostles there IS a more direct idea of the access to the Truths that fill this 700 verse Hindu scripture and this access IS found in the realty of Love as the Way par excellence; and, of course, this Way of Love is found in keeping His words. It IS in the illusion and the glamour that men have created doctrines of every Truth that has been given humanity by those who have come to KNOW and to teach those Truths and here we should try to see how that it IS the essential quality of Love that permeates most ALL spiritual texts including our text below that we show as Unity in Diversity. When the reality of Love IS seen through the words of Jesus and of the Apostle James, that there should be NO “respect to persons“, we can then see how that it IS this same sense of Love that IS found in Krishna’s words to Arjuna; words which can perhaps be better understood as the Soul’s words to the mind and the emotions of the man in this world. We read again that:

UNITY IN DIVERSITY

Anyone who sees that all activities certainly in all respects are the result of material conditioning and that one as the soul is not the doer, sees perfectly. When one following that tries to see that the diversity of the living beings is resting in oneness and that it expanded to that reality, at that time one attains the Absolute of the Spirit.

Bhagavad Gîtâ 13:30-31

While the idea of the Soul as the True man, as opposed to the DOER as the mental and emotional man in this world, IS necessary for one’s understanding of these words, the greater reality of this saying IS the effect of that realization which IS Love. Here we should see that it IS in this realization that one NOT ONLY sees himself but, at the same time, sees ALL men and understands that the activities of men in this world IS NOT the activity of the Soul but of the carnal self and that behind this there IS the Soul of each individual. It IS in this reality that there IS Unity which IS framed for us above as “the diversity of the living beings is resting in oneness” and this IS the reality of Love, the reality that in seeing ALL others as one sees himself, as the Soul in form, there IS NO longer any “respect to persons“, there IS only the understanding of the Truth which ever exists behind the illusion that IS the Life of the man who DOES NOT see.

Jesus prods us to this Truth with His words that have become our trifecta of spiritual reality as He tells us that it IS in keeping His words that we can find the Truth and we should try to see that behind the doctrinal interpretations of His words there IS the same reality of Love and of seeing ALL men as we see ourselves. While the Master shows us how that this works according to one’s thoughts, attitudes and actions in this world, He also shows us how that it IS in looking past the carnal life and the ways of men that one can Truly accomplish the reality of His words saying: “as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise” (Luke 6:31). In these words we find that same reality of NO “respect to persons“; and in this we find also the same idea of Unity in Diversity. This IS the greater reality of Love, the greater Truth of agape that IS the essence of Jesus’ words which we should read into these words of the trifecta:

• “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).

When we can understand the relationship between Love and keeping His words as the apostles so clearly point out to us, we can then see how that this idea of NO “respect to persons” IS a defining quality of that Love and this IS especially clear in the proper reading of the words from the Apostle James saying: “If, indeed, royal law ye complete, according to the Writing, `Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,’ — ye do well; and if ye accept persons, sin ye do work, being convicted by the law as transgressors” (James 2:8-9). In this rendering of the apostle’s words from the Young’s Literal Translation there IS NOT the same connection between these two ideas as there IS in most ALL other translations. However, even when these ideas ARE connected they ARE NOT understood apart from the example that James offers and even in that example they ARE NOT Truly accepted except perhaps as advice.

The Truth of James’ words IS as glaring as ALL of the Master’s words on Love but these ideas have become entrenched in men’s most limited doctrinal vision of just what this word agape Truly means. For some the greater Truth IS replaced by the cliche ‘love the sinner, hate the sin‘ but this IS a far cry from seeing ALL men as one sees himself which, as we say above, IS a realization that perhaps ONLY comes to the man who can see the spiritual Life as the True Life. One Christian website, GotQuestions.org, offers us this regarding this cliche: How exactly does that work? We hate sin by recognizing it for what it is, refusing to take part in it, and condemning it as contrary to God’s nature. Sin is to be hated, not excused or taken lightly. We love sinners by showing them respect (1 Peter 2:17), praying for them (1 Timothy 2:1), and witnessing to them of Christ. It is a true act of love to treat someone with respect and kindness even though you do not approve of his or her lifestyle or sinful choices .

As this is presented above, this idea of ‘love the sinner, hate the sin‘ requires one’s own judgement of others, that they ARE sinners, and fails to see the most commonplace ideas of sin as we find in the Apostle Paul’s saying that we have been discussing. According to Paul’s words it IS rather impossible for any man to see himself as free from sin and this IS especially True according to the second segment of his list where we find the factions and divisions  of men, which ARE the reality of those words rendered as strife, seditions and heresies, and that ARE the cause for the hatred, variance, emulations and wrath. These ARE sin and these ARE those most commonplace sins of ALL humanity which IS caught in the vanity of Life. Here we should try to see that in comparing one’s own commonplace sin to the sins of others the continuation of James’ words must be applied which we read as: “if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:9-10). The point here again IS found in the hypocrisy of men, a hypocrisy that finds its roots in the glamour and in the illusions of Life where one’s own beliefs become the measure of the lives of others. We repeat Paul’s words on “the works of the flesh“

“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).

And this IS the purpose of our long series of essays on these “works of the flesh“: that we can see within ourselves the propensity to DO such things as a normal part of the human experience; that we can understand that the corruption from which we must escape IS the vanity to which ALL mankind IS subjected through the simple idea of birth here in this world. When we can understand that it IS our goal to escape this corruption, that it IS our goal to overcome the illusion and its glamour and to see, as the saying from the Gîtâ presents it, “that the diversity of the living beings is resting in oneness“, we can then see the greater reality of agape and become, by measure, a KNOWER of the Truth. It IS ONLY in understanding the Truth of agape that it can be expressed. We must try to come to understand how that this idea is the center point in the whole Truth of Love and how that it IS in one’s expression of this Love though understanding its Truth that one IS Truly keeping His words It IS in this expression of agape that one gains access to the trifecta which, in the end, IS the fullness of one’s realization of the Presence of God.

In the last essay we cited the Apostle Peter’s words saying that “Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance; Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me” (2 Peter 1:13-14). In these words we should try to understand the deeper Truths that ARE obnubilated by the illusion and the glamour of Life and see the apostle’s point of separation between the tabernacle, this body of flesh with its emotions and mind, and the True man which IS the Soul, the consciousness that enlivens and inhabits the tabernacle. We noted that this idea IS Peter’s personal testimony of the idea presented by Paul as he speaks of the “Christ in you” (Colossians 1:27) as he shows us how that this mystery IS covered and protected from the carnal man who DOES NOT see the Truth past the illusion and the glamour in which he exists.

While this IS purposefully difficult to understand, this IS ONLY True because of a man’s reliance upon his nurturing and his experience and this difficulty is enhanced by a man’s further reliance upon his doctrinal beliefs. It IS nurturing and experience and doctrine that feed the illusion and the glamour of Life in this world and the more indoctrinated a man may be, the more difficult will be his escape. While men cling to whatsoever they believe, there IS a Way out of the mire and that Way is Repentance; not the repentance that IS commonly understood but the Repentance which Jesus teaches….the Repentance that changes the focus of one’s Life away from the carnal, away from the nurturing, the experience and the doctrines, and onto the things of God. This brings us full circle and back to the original admonition from the Master 2000 years ago as He tells us clearly “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17).

And it IS this same nurturing, experience and doctrine that has diffused the Truth of Repentance and made it to mean ONLY: deep sorrow, compunction, or contrition for a past sin, wrongdoing, or the like. and regret for any past action ⁷. The greater Truth of Repentance can be seen in the way that this idea IS used by Jesus and it IS this idea that carries through to the definition found in the 1828 version of Webster’s dictionary, a definition that IS strangely missing in the 1913 version which cites only the ideas of writers and poets of the time as Chaucer, Hammond and from the Rambler. We read this on Repentance:  Real penitence; sorrow or deep contrition for sin, as an offense and dishonor to God, a violation of his holy law, and the basest ingratitude towards a Being of infinite benevolence. This is called evangelical repentance, and is accompanied and followed by amendment of life. Repentance is a change of mind, or a conversion from sin to God. ‘Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation. 2Cor. 7. Matt. 3.’ Repentance is the relinquishment of any practice, from conviction that it has offended God ¹.

In the greater reality of Repentance the ideas of sorrow and contrition ARE rather superfluous as the Truth of this first step upon the Path IS one’s change of focus from the ways of the world, which ARE the essence of sin, to the Ways of God which IS found in keeping His words. This idea IS discussed in many past essays which can be found by using the search bar to search for posts that contain the keywords which form our saying that:

REPENTANCE, TRANSFORMATION AND REDEMPTION LEAD US TO TRANSFIGURATION

That doctrines DO NOT see the reality of Love, of keeping His words nor the deeper reality of Repentance IS a function of men’s failure to see the Master’s words as He has given them to us and the amplifying and clarifying words of His apostles who DO give us the same Truths. It IS in men’s desire to be ‘saved’ that they have created their doctrines according to the easier ideas that they interpret from the words of Paul and, while this sense of salvation had become Christianity, there IS a True Christian Way that IS waiting for each individual to find it. It IS NOT hidden from view but it IS obnubilated by men’s reliance upon their doctrines and upon those men who teach them. It IS in one’s realization of the fullness of Love, of agape, that those ideals that ARE Paul’s list of “the fruit of the Spirit” can freely flow and it IS by measure that they can flow through the Life of the man who will strive toward this fullness.

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

• ¹ Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1828 and 1913
• ⁷ Dictionary.com Unabridged based on Random House Dictionary – 2011