ON LOVE; PART MXX
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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).
In the last essay we centered our thoughts on the idea of duality as this IS presented by Jesus albeit in terms that ARE NOT seen by doctrines in this regard. In each gospel there IS an idea presented about this duality of Life that requires an understanding that IS apart from the doctrinal teachings, an understanding that there IS a Soul or Spirit that IS the True man and that there IS the flesh, the physical body with the mind and the emotions, through which the Soul lives in this world. This idea IS lost in the very means by which the Soul IS introduced into the world: as an infant babe that IS subjected NOT ONLY to the vanity of the whole creation but also to years upon years of nurturing into the illusions and the glamour that IS that vanity.
But this state of being IS NOT impermeable and it IS ever the Soul’s intent to permeate the condition of the man, to enter into his consciousness which has been overcome and overwhelmed with his thoughts and attitudes which ARE centered in the self and the way of the self in the world. This IS the state of mankind; this IS the state of men who see ONLY their little lives. And while conscience and other more spiritual attributes may find their way to one’s consciousness, this IS but a trickle of of the greater Truths that ARE ‘waiting’ to be revealed. It IS here in this regard that we have the totality of world scriptures; words that ARE given by those who have overcome, not only the most human condition that IS everyman but also the duality of Life; men who have come to realize the depth of Jesus’ words saying “The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6:22-23).
The analogy incorporated into these words IS at best cryptic but the context into which Matthew puts these ideas should itself speak volumes. These words ARE found in the center of Jesus’ words on the treasure and the duality of it, that it can be of the Earth or of heaven, and here we should ever understand that this IS so much more than possessions and wealth….that this reaches into the fullness of one’s thoughts and attitudes where one will treasure either God or mammon. Here, in the Master’s words saying that “No man can serve two masters“, we should see the greater Truth which IS that while men may and DO try to DO so, “Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24). And what then IS the answer to this riddle of Life but that if one tries to live in this world of duality, tries to be appeasing to both sides, his result IS ONLY that “he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other“….this IS the Life of duality.
Here then we have the duality of the idea of treasure and the duality of serving both “God and mammon” and between these we have Jesus’ words on Light. As we must do with His sayings on hearing and on seeing which we have been discussing, we must NOT see the eye in a physical sense but rather in a psychic sense, as an aspect of the consciousness of a man. It IS the consciousnesses that suffers in duality as it IS fed either by the lower self or by the higher self, the spiritual self which IS the Soul. The single eye then, from the spiritual perspective that Jesus has, IS the consciousness that feeds the mind from the well of spiritual KNOWING, the Soul, while the evil eye IS that which feeds the consciousness from the well that IS formed in nurturing and in experience in the world and here the common idea of evil IS very misplaced.
If we can see Jesus’ words here against the backdrop of the things of God versus the things of the world, we will have seen the greater Truth and in these ideas we should try to understand that ALL that IS NOT fully upon the Godhead IS NOT single….it IS duality and, according to the Master’s words, leans toward the Truth of evil. In the doctrinal view of sin and evil there IS much Truth that IS missed and while many who teach doctrines will cite the idea that sin IS: to miss the mark , the idea that ALL that IS contrary to His words IS sin IS sorely missed in favor of the view that sin IS those gross offenses that men may commit. In the Truth of sin IS the reality of the duality; we read these definitions from the lexicon: to be without a share in; to miss the mark; to err, be mistaken; to miss or wander from the path of uprightness and honour, to do or go wrong; to wander from the law of God, violate God’s law, sin 2. Can we see how that the very idea of sin IS misapplied and misunderstood and how that it should reflect upon ALL that IS contrary to the idea of keeping His words which we see again in our 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).
It IS this same duality that the Apostle Paul shows us in his words on the Spirit and the flesh as he tells us that “these are contrary the one to the other” but his message IS also lost in the doctrinal views of faith and the law. While a case can be made that Paul’s words ARE intentionally parabolic as ARE the those of the Master who uses ideas of treasure, mammon and the single eye to portray Truly spiritual concepts, we should be able to see how that the Truth IS ever more cluttered by the doctrinal assertions, translations and interpretations of his words. While the idea that “if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law” IS seen by men as that their doctrinal lives ARE contrary to the law, or, better, that they need NOT attend to the law, they miss the True sense of what it IS to “be led of the Spirit“; they miss the idea that to be so means that “ye cannot do the things that ye would“….and they miss the reality of the trifecta and Jesus own words on attaining the Presence of God. We read Paul’s words again saying:
“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).
What appears to be most missing in so many doctrinal ideas of faith as that KNOWING of the Truth; and what appears to be most missing in the doctrinal ideas of being “be led of the Spirit” IS first of ALL the reality of the Master’s words and secondly the seemingly hidden idea of measure. Instead of seeing the words of the apostles as clarifying and amplifying the Master’s own message of Light and Truth, doctrines have converted their words into the very basis of their several doctrinal beliefs. Much of this IS because of the air of impossibility that IS placed upon keeping His words by doctrines and it IS here that the whole idea of measure IS lost, a loss that IS compounded by the Christian doctrinal teachings that it IS this one Life that must suffice to attain the Kingdom and that short of this attainment IS eternal damnation.
The doctrinal views of heaven and hell ARE shattered by the Truth of faith, by the Truth of KNOWING through the revelations that show men the great Truths that lie behind the mysteries. The Truth of faith comes to everyman in his own realizations of the Presence of God but for the True realization of the KEY to the mysteries, a man must let loose of those things that bind him to his own nurturing, indoctrination and experience. In this Light we should try to see that those men and women in Jesus’ day who DID come to KNOW the Truth ARE those men and women who were able to look past their nurturing in the ways for the Jews or whatsoever group they were born into. It IS those who were able to shed the hold that their own indoctrination had upon them and those who were able to shed the years of experience that formed their own thoughts and attitudes about Life and religion that Truly strive to KNOW the Truth.
In this the Apostle Paul should be our example. It IS in the story of his Life that we have the man who, by his own words, tells us such things as: “I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day” (Acts 22:3). This IS the apostle’s nurturing and his indoctrination into the ways of the Jews, ways that he saw as the Truth and which resulted in his own experiences which he relates to us saying that: “I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Which thing I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them. And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities” (Acts 26:9-11).
We should note here that Paul was focused upon God but NOT upon the things of God….he was focused upon the doctrinal interpretations that men had made from His words and, as we can see looking back, his doctrines ARE NOT Truth but ARE among those ideas that Jesus shows us ARE “the commandments of men“. And while we can see the Truth in His words saying that “in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:9) as these apply to the Jews, we DO NOT see how that these same ideas apply to men and their doctrines yet today. We should see here that Paul was nurtured in the ways of the Jews and indoctrinated into the religion of the Jews and that neither one of these IS casual but rather intense; this we can see in the way that he was “brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel” who Vincent tells us IS: One of the seven Rabbis to whom the Jews gave the title Rabban 4.
And it IS from his exalted position among the Jews that he IS turned toward the Truth and, as we KNOW, this comes upon the apostle in a flash which Paul tells us of saying “I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me” (Acts 26:13). While we can not explain nor understand the way that this happened in Paul’s Life, we can say that it IS the Light of the Soul, the spiritual Light which IS everyman, that broke through the facade that the apostle had created from his nurturing, his indoctrination and his experience. In this moment he came to see the greater Truth and to understand that for the rest of his Life that he would strive to keep His words….words which he never heard nor read….words which he just KNOWS.
We should see the reality of Repentance and the Truth of Transformation in what happened in the Life of the apostle and we should try to see how that this IS NO accident; but neither IS it to show any preference by God toward the man Paul. What we should try to see here, as we should in the lives of ALL the True saints, IS the working of the Plan of God and the spiritual collateral achieved by the Soul who presented himself as the Apostle Paul. Perhaps in these ideas from the Life of Paul we can see a glimpse of the ultimate Truth and understand that the Repentance and the Transformation of Paul ARE NOT only in regard to his carnal actions in the world but ARE in regard to his sense of doctrine. It IS his doctrines that separated him from the Truth and it IS in the illusion and the glamour of Life that he saw his doctrines as Truth and this although he DID KNOW the words of the scriptures….words which his doctrines had so obnubilated, that he NO longer KNEW that there existed any vision other than his own.
Here IS Repentance and Transformation and, as we discussed in the last essay, Paul tells us how that he, and those of like spiritual accomplishment, ARE “waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:23) which IS that Union with the Godhead that comes to everyman who will keep His words. Pauls Repentance IS his change from the ways of the world, which ARE in his case religious ways, to the ways of God….the Truth of His ways and NOT doctrine. And Paul’s Transformation IS much the same and his new focus upon the Truth of His words IS found in the “renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:2). This IS a renewing that comes in one’s focus upon the Truth that IS revealed to the man who can Truly seek after it, who can receive it and can understand it and can keep it, as the gospel writers show us this IS the man who IS the “good ground” (Mark 4:20).
We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.
| Aspect |
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 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.
We repeat here a Quote of the Day that we spent much time with over the course of our essays. In this affirmation we find the Truth of discipleship as we have been ever been expressing and here we can relate our themes of the last few days; “take no thought” for the things of the world and that we approach the Kingdom and discipleship in the nature of the little child, in humbleness, meekness, unashamed in any way and unassuming. The message that this imparts for us today IS that it IS the Soul that is at work in the world of men as it expresses to some degree the purpose, power and the will through Life in this world. These words are from a meditation offered to his students by our Tibetan brother and in which we find greater understanding of the message of the Master. This IS Truly the way of the disciple.
My Soul has purpose, power and will; these three are needed on the Way of Liberation.
My Soul must foster love among the sons of men; this is its major purpose.
I, therefore, will to love and tread the Way of Love. All that hinders and obstructs the showing of the Light must disappear before the purposes of the Soul.
My will is one with the great Will of God;. that Holy Will requires that all men serve. And unto the purposes of the Plan I lend my little will.
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts
- 2 New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
