ON LOVE; PART MXXI
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).
We ended the last essay with some words about the Apostle Paul and how that he was ‘called’ to his time of service to the Lord. Our point IS NOT that he is ‘called’ which IS his own revelation of Truth that was able to penetrate the barriers of illusion and glamour that he had set up in his psyche, but rather about the need to see past doctrine and to be able to step out of one’s nurturing, indoctrination and experience to find the Truth. It IS in the revelation of Truth that comes to him in that flash of Light that he comes to realize the Truth and, while this seems to be an instant of glory, we should understand that this IS but his beginning and that by measure he achieves the True glory.
This IS of course NOT physical or visible Light per se that we read of in this story; he tells us that “suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me” (Acts 22:6) as he relates his story to the Jews and that “I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me” (Acts 26:13) as he tells it to King Agrippa. While these stories seem to reveal the hand of God in Paul’s revelation and while there likely IS some degree of Divine intervention, we should try to see how that this Light IS furnished by the apostle’s own Soul, it IS his own unction or anointing which reveals the Truth to any man who will take the opportunity to see it, any man who will look past his own sense of Truth by which he has heretofore lived.
Paul comes to see in this flash the reality that the “anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie” (1 John 2:27) and it IS in this that he comes to KNOW ALL that he teaches and writes, ALL that he KNOWS without ever sitting before the Teacher. This IS the reality of faith, the Truth of pistis and of pisteuo which ARE our subject matter as we continue to see how that faith becomes a “fruit of the spirit“; we read again in the apostles words to the Galatians:
“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).
Again we must go back to Jesus’ own words that show us the True meaning of pistis and of pisteuo, words that show us that there IS NO doubt and we should try to see here that it IS this ability to “doubt not” that IS the way that faith comes by measure in “the fruit of the Spirit“ to the man who strives to keep His words. It IS this man who can receive it and can understand it and can keep His words, as the gospel writers show us IS the man who IS the “good ground“. It IS this man who has such fruit and the ability to “doubt not“….”some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred” (Mark 4:20). We should try to see how that Paul IS our New Testament example of the awakening of a man to the Truth that comes in the prompting of one’s Soul much as the Apostle Peter IS our example of the Life of a disciple with its ups and downs and eventual triumph.
Peter’s awakening came in the Presence of the Master and we ARE able to watch his progress as he goes from a seemingly reluctant aspirant to an apostle who IS breaking chains, opening doors and healing by an act of will. Paul’s awakening comes in a flash, in an instant moment of Light and for him there IS a conversion from his doctrinal faith to the True faith of KNOWING. While their Paths to the Lord ARE different, the result IS the same as both come to “have faith, and doubt not“….both come to be among the few who CAN “say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done” (Matthew 21:21). This IS the fullness of faith which comes to each of them by measure as they Truly strive to keep His words.
And we should try to remember and to see how that it IS NO accident that these particular men are chosen for these roles and as examples and teachers of Truth; NO thing of this importance can be left to happenstance. Neither ARE these men picked out from the masses because of some special attraction that they may have had in the eyes of God or of the Master; one IS a fisherman and a worldly man by his own admission and the other IS trapped in his own doctrines for which he had become an enforcer and a radical. If we ARE to believe that “God is no respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34) as Peter tells us and that “there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11) as Paul shows us, then we must also be able to see how that the Divine intervention that brings these men to the Lord IS a part of the Plan of God in which they, as Souls, took their active role.
And we should ever understand that the journey of each of these apostles IS a journey of faith. A journey were their faith, their KNOWING of the Truth, IS ever increasing in measure as IS the fullness of the Kingdom of God which grows from the seed of His words to the fullness of the tree as Jesus shows us in His own parable. Paul’s journey IS one that he himself gives us in his Epistle to the Philippians which, if we read it without the bounds of doctrine, shows us his reality in a very intimate way; we read:
“we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law*, blameless. But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death” (Philippians 3:3-10).
Here we can see Paul’s actions as a man who IS DOING the “the works of the flesh” and NO where in his words DO we see the ideas that ARE commonly attributed to his list. Here we see the apostle following the code of his doctrine and the ways that he was nurtured; here we also see how that this culminates in a rather high doctrinal office….that of the Pharisee. While he was blameless according to his doctrine, he IS NOT blameless according to the Truth albeit this Truth was hidden from his view behind the illusion and the glamour in which he lived until his awakening. His adultery was NOT involving a woman nor was his fornication, uncleanness or lasciviousness of a sexual nature; all of these “works of the flesh” in his Life involved his infidelity towards God; an infidelity that IS clearly against the Truth of the Great Commandments which were part of the law that his own doctrines diluted and changed.
And what IS the apostle’s idolatry but his focus upon and allegiance to the precepts of his doctrine rather that his focus upon the Truth of the precepts of God. And his witchcraft and sorcery ARE the products of these same doctrines and the ritualistic practice that these involved in his religious approach to the Godhead, an approach in which he sees himself as blameless and as righteous. It IS easier to see the next group of “the works of the flesh” in Paul’s Life; it IS easy to see the hatred and the wrath against those who DID NOT believe as he did as he went about “persecuting the church“. In this we can also see how that he participates in the idea of murder which we read in his own words saying “I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women” (Acts 22:4). It IS Paul’s own thoughts and attitudes that ARE the divisions and factions as he came against ALL that DID NOT agree with his sense of Truth; it IS these divisions and factions which ARE the Truth behind the words that ARE rendered as variance, emulations, strife, seditions, heresies and envyings.
Can we see here how that Paul IS affirming his own guilt according to his own list of “the works of the flesh” and how most of the words in his list CAN NOT be seen in their common understanding in regard to him and how that they ARE rather easily seen in our view of their being against the precepts of the Great Commandments? And can we see how that the ideas of drunkenness and revelling from the Greek words methe and komos ARE the apostle’s state of mind and emotions, the state of his flesh, as he goes about drunk in his own sense of “trust in the flesh” while revelling in his own accomplishments while seeing himself both blameless and righteous? Can we better see here his warning to those in Galatia who might take on these same thoughts and attitudes in relation to their own sense of religion in the fledgling era of Christianity? And can we see how that these same cautions come through the centuries and even to today where doctrines rule and overrule the Truths that the Master gives us and the central point of them in our trifecta 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).
In the example of the apostle’s Life we should try to see everyman whose religious doctrine becomes the rallying point of his Life or his spiritual Life. This was Paul’s life until that great awakening on the road to Damascus and this IS the Life of everyman whose sense of doctrine overwhelms the Truth of Jesus words. It IS this awakening that IS the objective of everyman who IS NOT striving toward the essential Truth that ARE the Master’w words and it IS toward awakening that the Soul IS ever prompting the man the world to find. The Buddha gives us this same idea as wakefulness, that the man who IS awakening IS the man who IS seeking and striving and while the ideas are culturally different, the Way IS essentially the same; we read:
“Wakefulness is the way to life. The fool sleeps as if he were already dead, but the master is awake and he lives forever. He watches. He is clear. How happy he is! For he sees that wakefulness is life. How happy he is, following the path of the awakened. With great perseverance he meditates, seeking freedom and happiness. So awake, reflect, watch. Work with care and attention. Live in the way and the light will grow in you. By watching and working the master makes for himself an island which the flood cannot overwhelm. The fool is careless. But the master guards his watching. It is his most precious treasure” (Dhammapada on Wakefulness).
The apostle also shows us the reality of awakening. In his words on the role of Love in “the fulfilling of the law“, the role of Love according to the Great Commandments, he tells us that”it is high time to awake out of sleep” and here we should ever understand two things; first that men’s sleep IS their time away from the Truth, their time spent living according to “the works of the flesh” which was Paul’s own state before he himself was awakened. And second, we should understand that the idea of time here IS timeless, that it IS always “high time” to awaken and to begin a Life of Truly striving toward the goal of keeping His words. It IS always “high time” for understanding that to DO so IS to find the faith that IS one’s ability to KNOW the Truth and that to DO so brings the reality of the Presence of God. We should clearly see how that in his own journey Paul DOES find these things. We close today with Paul’s words on awakening; first from the ideas we cite here and then from other sayings in his epistles:
“Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed” (Romans 13:8-11).
“Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame” (1 Corinthians 15:33).
“Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light” (Ephesians 5:14).
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.
