ON LOVE; PART CMLXI

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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).

We ended the last essay with the Apostle Paul’s words to the Romans that tell them that Truly seek God that they should “present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service” (Romans 12:1) and in this we should try to see a yet clearer picture of that dichotomy that DOES exist between the carnal and the spiritual. Here the admonition IS that the man who seeks God should forsake the things of the flesh and focus upon those things that ARE “holy, acceptable unto God” and in this we should see the Master’s own words to the man who would be His disciple saying: “So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:33). While most men may see ONLY the physical in the Master’s words, the reality IS that this forsaking IS first and foremost concerned with the thoughts and the attitudes that a man may hold and it IS this same thing that we should try to see in Paul’s words; we should see this sacrifice as the thoughts and the attitudes of and for the self in this world.

In the last essay we also discussed how that the Apostle Peter IS our example and that we should try to see the purposefulness of his story in the gospels and in the Book of Acts. Peter had already forsaken ALL of the physical things of the Earth as he followed the Master and, if we should read the text from the correct perspective, we will be able to see how that this IS NOT enough, that Peter IS NOT in Paul’s reality of the True disciple who must “present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service“. Peter failed, as DO most ALL men, in forsaking or sacrificing the thoughts and the attitudes that kept him tied to this world, thoughts and attitudes of wrath and perhaps hatred as “drew his sword, and struck a servant of the high priest’s, and smote off his ear” (Matthew 26:51); it IS in his own sense of faction, of seeing himself apart from others, that we should relate this to our subject sayings from Paul.

And we should add to this Peter’s sense of fear as he IS questioned about his own relationship to Jesus; while fear IS NOT directly a part of Paul’s list of “the works of the flesh“, it IS a part of, and contrary to, the opposing list which IS Paul’s list of “the fruit of the Spirit“. Further, we should see here how that the reality of thoughts and attitudes IS the basis of Paul’s ideas as he tells us to “be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2). While this idea IS often a part of the doctrinal sermons of men, the reality of it IS missed by most ALL. It IS in the reality of one’s focus upon the Good, the Beautiful and the True, one’s focus upon the things of God, that the mind IS transformed away from the carnal and onto the spiritual and this IS the essence of the apostle’s message. It IS in this transformation that one will NO longer DO these “works of the flesh” as they ARE intended to be understood….as the normal and basic human instincts to see himself as holy and free from the ideas that we attach to the second segment of Paul’s words which we repeat here again:

“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).

In seeing oneself as holy while NOT keeping His words a man IS showing forth that infidelity toward God that IS the subject of the ideas that are rendered as fornication, uncleanness and lasciviousness as it IS in the reality behind these Greek words that ARE so rendered that we find men in opposition to the essence of the first part of the Great Commandments. And it IS this same idea that we should try to see in the word that IS rendered as idolatry, here men ‘worship’ their own carnal thoughts and attitudes while believing that they are spiritual; these thoughts and attitudes include most every human enterprise from giving to building a church when the DOER IS NOT in accord with the fullness of the Master’s words or IS NOT, at a minimum, striving toward that goal. Similarly with the word that IS rendered as witchcraft and alternately as sorcery; here we should see the psychic powers of men and understand that in the absence of keeping His words these powers ARE carnal, they ARE the powers of the emotions and the minds of men. And this IS True of the vast array of those powers which even religious men believe that they possess; the powers included in ALL of what the apostle calls “spiritual gifts“.

These ARE realities that ARE difficult for men to grasp and which likely cause our words to be regarded as heresy by most ALL in the churches; the Truth however IS ever found in Jesus’ own words that show us the Way that one can Truly have the Presence of God, that one can Truly KNOW the Truth and that one can Truly see, can realize, the Kingdom of God. It is these words that we call our trifecta of spiritual reality which we repeat again saying:

• “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 the words that Paul shows us in the second segment however that ARE the bane of men’s spiritual Life; it IS these ideas that ARE contrary to the reality of Love which set men’s course and it IS from these ideas that a man must be transformed. In this we should see that to be “conformed to this world” IS to be conformed to the factious ways of men as they divide themselves along a long list of differences that seemingly exist between one and another. It IS in this sense of faction that there exists the hatreds and the wrath and the variance that exists between most ALL factions as each sees themselves as the superior. We should understand here how that this idea of faction IS that division that separates men according to sex, to religion, to race, to nationality and to the many subdivisions that can exist within each of these groupings.

As we have discussed, it IS this sense of faction that must be overcome, it IS from the illusions and the glamours attached to this division of men that we must escape…..and it IS from these ideas that men must be transformed. It IS this transformation the eventually occurs in the Life of the Apostle Peter and while we DO NOT KNOW when this occurs according to scripture, we DO KNOW that it DOES. It IS in this transformation that men DO perhaps come to the fullness of their realization of the True meaning of agape as this word IS used by the New Testament writers. We can but glimpse the deeper ideas with our words at the beginning of our essay as we answer the question WHAT THEN IS LOVE? and we should understand that the reality of agape IS much deeper that we can possible imagine. We should try to see that it IS in KNOWING this reality that we can come to be in accord with the Great Commandments and that it IS in our being in accord that we ARE Truly keeping His words.

When we can see how that this idea of faction IS the antithesis of agape, we can then begin to reconcile the reality of Love that the Master and His apostles teach us and which must ever be understood as being beyond the commonplace ideas of mental and emotional attractions and attachment. In this we should try to see how that it IS the carnal mind and emotions that foster the idea of faction and that it IS in this that we should try to understand how that such factious thoughts and attitudes ARE the product of being “conformed to this world“. We should try to see the reality also of the opposite of the dividing ideas of factions and the hatred, variance, emulations and wrath that such divisions create. It is ALL to simple, even from our perspective, to say that Love IS the this opposite and this includes our own ideas or defining qualities of Love above as GoodWill and benevolence. There IS a deeper reality that IS set forth for us by the Master and by His apostles, a reality that we discussed in the last posts and one in which the reality of the second part of the Great Commandments and the Golden Rule can flourish.

Jesus tells us that it IS God who “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) and in this idea we should see how that ALL men ARE treated the same by our God insofar as those carnal things that He provides ARE concerned. While many would like to believe that the Lord IS involved with the little lives of men in this world beyond these type provisions, the reality IS ever that it IS in the freewill of men and the happenstance of Life in form that ALL individual things DO happen. The Apostle Luke frames Jesus intent a bit differently saying that “he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil” (Luke 6:35) and the rendering of kind DOES NOT reflect the deeper ideas of this Greek word chrestos which IS rendered as easy when Christ, speaking of His yoke, applies this to Himself. Vincent tells us that: three meanings combine in the word, though it is impossible to find an English word which combines them all ⁴ and this rendering as kind DOES suffice for our use here.

In both of these ways of telling us the Way of God, that there IS “there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11), we should be able to see the synergy between these sayings from the gospels and the words of the apostles and especially the words of the Apostle James who relates this to agape in the very way that this IS intended by the Master. And that the “evil and on the good” suffer or gain without “respect to persons“, IS portrayed for us in other sayings from the Master as we read in Jesus’ words on those killed by Pilate and those killed by the falling tower; we read:

“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 13:1-5).

While the thoughts of many may go to the Master’s caution saying “except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish“, the Truth of this idea IS NOT nearly understood and the crux of the whole saying IS missed. It IS in the happenstance of worldly events that the Galileans find themselves among the dead at Pilate’s hand and it IS in the happenstance of those things that regularly befell men that the eighteen ARE killed. These ideas plus the previous ideas regarding God’s own “respect to persons” should serve to show us how that we DO NOT and CAN NOT KNOW what will happen tomorrow to any man and it IS in this spirit that we should understand Jesus’ caution and see that without Repentance a man WILL NOT be ready for whatsoever will happen. We read this most clearly in His parabolic words that follow the Parable of the Faithful Servant as He tells us “be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh” (Matthew 24:44).

Both of these ideas, how that God IS Good to ALL men in ALL things that pertain to Life in a most general way, and how that the happenstance of Life can either be a benefit or a detriment to a man individually, pronounce the idea that “there is no respect of persons with God” and we should also see here how that this idea of “no respect of persons” carries over to the man in this world who Truly seeks God. In the Apostle Matthew’s Gospel Jesus takes His words on His equal provisions to ALL men and relates them to agape and then goes on to implore us to “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). Can we see how that this idea of “no respect of persons with God” IS a picture IS the reality of agape and how that it IS this sense of Love that IS the perfection of God, clarifying in a way the words of the Apostle John who tells us that “God is love“(1 John 4:8, 16).

When we can understand this idea of “no respect of persons” as a part of the greater teaching on Love as James shows us, we can then understand the True meaning of “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” and see how that the Golden Rule clarifies the way for us. In this we can also come to understand the Unity of men, the concept of One World, One Humanity and One God, and the Truth behind what IS Unity in diversity as this IS portrayed for us in the Bhagavad Gîtâ which we show here and will continue with in our next essay.

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

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