ON LOVE; PART CMLXXIII

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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 a view of the various ways that the second segment of the Apostle Paul’s words ARE rendered from the Greek by the translators of several New Testament versions. We noted how that the same ideas ARE rendered from different Greek words and how that the idea of factions IS captured as such as well as in the ideas of sects, party spirit, parties and schools of opinion and that these renderings ARE most ALL from the Greek word that the King James bible renders as heresies. We noted as well that the word that the King James translators render as strife IS, according to Vincent, the word that should be seen as factions. Our point here IS that the idea of factions IS an important part of this segment of words and that this sense of division, along with the idea of dissension which comes from this idea, ARE both the cause and the result of men’s factious behavior.

It IS in the divisions that ARE the result of factions that ALL of the apostle’s other ideas ARE found. It IS in this sense of division that the very idea of factions IS founded and it IS in this same division that hatred, that variance or contentions and strife, and that sense of emulation, which Vincent shows us as may be full of the spirit of self-devotion ⁴ (and which IS rendered by many as jealousy), ARE found. ALL of these ideas can easily be found in that sense of division which IS those factions which separate men and groups of men from each other over innumerable lines of difference in appearance or in customs or in religion to name but a few. There IS a great reality in Paul’s words here as he shows us how that we must see everyman in that same idea of Love which Jesus paints for us as that “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself“. This IS of course the same Truth that the Apostle James shows us as he speaks about “respect to persons” (James 1:22) and when we can see this idea as that ALL men ARE equal before the Lord we can then better understand the True depth of agape.

This equality IS what Jesus teaches us as He tells us of the Way of the Father who DOES NOT see any differences among men and here we should try to see that His vision of men IS that they ARE spiritual, that they ARE the Spirit and the Soul that inhabits the body. That there ARE visible differences between men IS easily seen but these differences ARE ONLY in the flesh, in the body, the mind and the emotions, as beneath this there IS the Spirit which IS the True man. And we should see here how that many of these differences ARE intentional and that beyond the ken of most ALL men there lies a reason for the racial differences, the differences in color and the differences in the basic tenor of Life for these carnal divisions of men. These differences, forged by the Hand of God, DO NOT however afflict the Spirit; in Spirit and Soul ALL men ARE equal and ALL Souls ARE on their own great journey back to the Godhead, a journey that IS greatly advanced in the Life of the Soul in this world who can realize these things which ARE the stepping stone to Love and to the Truth of His words.

It IS one’s realization of this Truth of Love as the Way to God that IS the essence of ALL scripture and that men DO NOT see this IS the result of the illusion and the glamour, the result of the vanity of which Paul tells us saying “the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same” (Romans 8:20), and in this we should see the very Plan of God. ALL of this IS lost in the carnal view that men have ascribed to the words of the Master and of His apostles and we should see here how that this carnal view IS become their doctrines from which it IS sore hard to move. The Truth however IS easy to find for the man who can look past his indoctrination and who can overcome his own nurturing and experience in this world; it IS this Truth of the unanimity of Life, of the equality of ALL men as spiritual beings, that will Truly make a man free as Jesus tells us in what we call the trifecta of spiritual reality which we repeat here again:

• “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).

We should ever understand that it IS in keeping His words that we ARE free as He shows us in His words here and it IS in this same way that we Truly attain to the Kingdom of God and the Presence of God in Life in this world. It IS this Presence that IS our realization of Truth, our realized KNOWLEDGE of the very nature of God as the spiritual Presence of which we ARE part and parcel. It IS ONLY in keeping His words as He tells us above that we have this Presence and the fullness of this Presence IS ONLY found in Love as this idea of agape IS shown to us in the Great Commandments which we repeat again at the top of our essay. Here we should try to understand the view of the Apostle Paul who speaks to those who ARE “led of the Spirit” and understand that to be so led IS to have the Presence of God as the motivating principal of one’s Life in this world; 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).

It IS when we can understand this idea of the motivating principal, that this IS the Presence of God that leads the man in the flesh, and understand that this IS the realization of the man who DOES or Truly strives to keep His words, then we can Truly see behind the doctrinal presentation of Paul’s words and see past the arbitrary and carnal translations of them. It IS the arbitrary and the carnal approach to the Master’s words and the words of His apostles that has obnubilated ALL but a glimmer of the Truth that IS clearly presented and, while so many believe that they ARE in the Will of the Father, the Truth IS that this IS ONLY possible for the man who will keep His words and that these two ideas ARE synonymous. It IS in the doctrinal presentation that so much of the Truth of His words IS lost as men try to see themselves as being in accord with His words without ever seeing the need to keep His words; especially the words of the Great Commandments. 

Paul however DOES see this in the hearts of men and it IS against this tendency of men that has continued unabated that the apostle writes to the Galatians and through them to us. That this IS NOT the view of doctrine IS of NO moment and while there ARE those who DO call out the greater Truth as we DO here we must understand the timeless effect of the words of the Prophet Isaiah who says “Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?” (Isaiah 53:1). That these words ARE seen ONLY in their relationship to the ideas of Christ that ARE the fifty third chapter of Isaiah IS unfortunate as the prophet’s words ARE far reaching and cover the totality of the spiritual precepts that he had enunciated. The Apostle John shows us the True effect of these words as they relate to the words of Jesus as he repeats the prophet’s words in regard to the way that men DID NOT see the Truth of His Presence despite the many miracles and His singular teaching that IS Love. John tells us:

“But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him: That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed ? Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him” (John 12:37-41).

We should understand here that these words ARE spoken of the Jews, the ‘holy’ Jews who believed that they KNEW the Will of the Father above the words that the Master taught, and we should understand as well that in the annals of time this same sense of KNOWING has continued through the several doctrines of men. It IS in the illusion and the glamour, in the vanity to which mankind IS subjected, that the Truth IS lost, the same Truth that IS “our report“, and which IS that men should keep His words. In this word that IS rendered as converted we should see the reality of Repentance and the turning of the focus off of the carnal and onto the things of God. And in the word that IS rendered as heal we should see the True spiritual healing that IS the realization of the man who will keep His words; this healing results in the ability to Truly see and to Truly understand in the heart, in the conscious awareness of the man in this world, those things that will “make you free“.

Paul also uses these words from the Prophet Isaiah in his Epistle to the Romans and here again the True context IS NOT seen by men whose focus IS centered upon doctrine and NOT upon the Truth of the words of the Master and His apostles. While most everyman can become a ‘preacher‘ or a teacher of doctrine, it IS ONLY the man who Truly sees beyond such doctrine that can glimpse and teach the Truth. When we can see the apostle’s words in this Light, we can then better understand our own place in the Great and Awesome Plan of God. We read from Romans Paul’s words saying “But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?” and in this we should see the vanity of ALL men who DO NOT obey the gospel, which IS most simply stated as to keep His words, and understand that this IS most ALL men.

It IS in the context of the apostle’s words that there IS the greater Truth. While men may believe that they ARE among the True preachers, they DO NOT see how that unless they ARE ALL teaching the very same Truths that there IS an inherent problem and in this idea we should see the what IS the keyword from the second segment of “the works of the flesh” that Paul gives us above….factions. We read the apostle’s words saying:

“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent  as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:13-17).

Doctrines have abducted these words and have minimized the whole idea of what IS a preacher and what it means to be sent and it IS in this context the so much of the True teaching of the Master and His apostles IS lost in the “the commandments of men“. This idea IS also from the words of Isaiah which Jesus repeats for us saying “But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Mark 7:7) and while doctrines may see these words as applying to the Jews in Jesus’ time and before, the reality IS that they ARE timeless and that they apply as much today. In ALL of this we should be able to see how that it IS factions in a religious sense that keeps men from Truly attaining the Kingdom of God and while this IS far from the ONLY sense of division that we have in this world yet today, it IS the one that most greatly afflicts men’s spiritual perspective.

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 n

o 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