ON LOVE; PART MXCV
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).
In the last essay we painted a picture of how scientific advances can become the spark that enables men to see some greater measure of Truth as they foray into the unseen world of thought energy and its lower counterpart that makes up the emotional response of men. Some of the effects of these energies can be seen without science but they ARE NOT understood and they ARE likely NOT understood because they CAN NOT be seen. These can however be felt and they are by men whose personalities find some kinship to some prevalent thoughts or emotions that seem to become contagious if we can use that word here.
While science IS still at work trying to understand what they DO see, there IS little True understanding of the complexity of it ALL. And while religion IS right in principle regarding the idea that ALL IS the work of God, there ARE very natural forces at work in the birth and the growth and the death of everything….and the vast energy network that allows it ALL to stay together. God CAN NOT be divorced from the world of things and in the reality that God IS this world, that it exists within His existance, we must try to see that ALL things ARE integral parts of those natural forces. And if one can see God as responsible for anything good in this physical world then he must also see God as responsible for anything that IS NOT considered good by the man in this world.
If however we can see this Earth, this Solar System, this Galaxy and this Universe as the physical form of that One Boundless, Immutable, Eternal and Infinite Presence in whom, as the Apostle Paul tells us, “we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28), and try to understand our Earth as a stepping stone for the further advancement of individual Souls, then we can better approach the mysteries of Life. There IS a purpose to this ALL that neither science nor religion can grasp, a purpose that IS well beyond our ken and even our imagination. Just as men’s discoveries and inventions help to control and understand the physical world, just as their discoveries and inventions have enabled men to use some part of the vast energy network, so the future discoveries and inventions will take us ever closer to understanding that we DO NOT exist here as psychic beings but rather in some part of this network. For the unscientific minds of men 2000 years ago Paul shows us this in these words which we repeat again saying:
“For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed. Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him” (2 Corinthians 5:1-9).
If we could understand Paul’s words here as saying that as Souls men live in “our earthly house of this tabernacle” and that the whole of our experience can be seen in his words that tell us that “whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord“, perhaps we can break down some of the harsh restrictions imposed upon us by the doctrines of both science and religion. Paul tells us that we ARE Souls that ARE clothed by this tabernacle and that we should KNOW that “we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” And he tells us that we should “groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven“. In this we should try to see the reality of the Way, the Truth and the Life as we discussed in the last essay; the Way is to labour as it IS in this that we will find the Truth and in this Truth we come to understand the reality of our True and spiritual Life. This IS the same message as we take from Jesus words that ARE our trifecta which we repeat 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).
That so many miss the reality that for Jesus to be “the way, the truth, and the life” for any man, and the ‘requirement’ that his precepts be followed, IS based in the illusion and the glamour that IS Life in this world, the vanity, which has been amplified by the dictates of doctrines. Again we have a parabolic saying that IS taken literally by those who formulate doctrine while such clear sayings as those of our trifecta ARE NOT. Few understand the full context of Jesus words here in this fourteenth chapter of the Gospel of John; few see that in this exchange of ideas that even his own Twelve have difficulty in understanding the Truth behind His words.
Yet doctrinal ‘authorities’ believe that they KNOW Jesus’ meaning here and there IS NO single misunderstood and misapplied saying that has DONE so much harm as His words saying “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6)”. These words ARE used as a wedge; they ARE used to separate the ‘Christian’ from ALL other religious approaches to God; they ARE used to set apart the ‘believer’ from the rest of the world which puts their sense of glamour in full view, a glamour that remains for themselves unseen.
And it IS this same approach, replete with its illusion and its glamour, that seeks to turn doctrinal thinking into the Truth in so many areas of Life; it IS this same approach that causes much of the Christian world to cry ‘persecution’ when their demands for doctrinal thinking ARE repelled by established law. It IS this same approach that detracts from the reality of science, and it IS this same approach which will reject the discoveries of science as we discussed in the last essay. It IS this same approach that denies even the possibility of reincarnation which denial IS ‘believed’ throughout the church as a part of those prevalent thoughts and emotions that ARE become contagious.
As we began our view of reincarnation we noted that there ARE several places where this idea of rebirth IS acknowledged and that there ARE several opportunities for the Master to tell us that what seems like rebirth in the gospels IS NOT; Jesus DOES NOT tell us that what seems like reincarnation IS NOT but rather continues the conversation as though it IS. We begin again with the Master’s words on John the Baptist and the Prophet Elijah from Matthew’s gospel, starting with Jesus’ words about the baptist:
“Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear” (Matthew 11:1-15).
That there IS some degree of mystery here IS evidenced by Jesus’ use of two phrases; first there IS “if ye will receive it” which should show us that there ARE some in in the multitudes that could NOT understand any idea of this relationship between Elias and John; or that they could NOT accept it because it IS against what they had come to KNOW from their own nurturing and indoctrination. Second there IS the phrase “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear” which says to us that those whose mind IS open to this idea will hear the meaning of what IS said about John and those whose mind IS NOT open will NOT. Doctrines paint this as that Elijah DID actually return as John but they give NO credence to the fact that the personality and the body ARE NOT the same which fact IS the whole point of reincarnation.
We should try to see that the Soul that came as Elijah came again as John as part of the Great and Awesome Plan of God; he came as a part of the Master’s group of Souls, Souls whose spiritual collateral were such that they could overcome the vanity and express their measure of the “fruit of the Spirt” (Galatians 5:22)….and aid the Master in His mission. Perhaps we can see this Soul who comes as John, along with the Souls that become Jesus’ apostles, as volunteers; as Souls whose ONLY motivation was to aid the Master in His venture to bring the Truth of Love, of agape, to the world of men.
To believe otherwise, to believe that these were random Souls who ARE specially ‘blessed’ with their ability to see the Truth, IS to render the Truth that “there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11) a moot point. But it IS NOT a moot point; it IS a basic Truth of God that IS at work in this world at ALL times; if it IS NOT then God IS to blame for the differences in men and in their lives; God IS to blame for the time and the place of everyman’s birth; God IS to blame for the way that one man IS poised to gain by his birth and another who IS NOT so poised IS born into poverty or a life of hardship. And most graphically we should see that if this IS a moot point then God IS to blame for the mentally and physically deficient persons born into this world and for the death of babies that never had opportunity to find the Lord.
And this ALL DOES NOT mention the Christian idea that it IS ONLY by believing in Jesus according to one’s doctrine that one will find heaven. What of the billions of Souls that ARE born into times and places where it IS NOT possible to KNOW Jesus as “the way, the truth, and the life” according to doctrinal precepts? What of these Souls? ARE these forever forsaken by our God of whom the Apostle John tells us saying that “God is love” (1 John 4:16)? It IS when we can Truly understand agape, that this IS NOT that Love that we have in this world, it IS NOT that mental and emotional attraction and attachment that men have for others and for things, but that it IS the reality of having NO “respect to persons” (James 2:9), that we can perhaps see the error and the flaws in our thinking about God and this created world of men. And it IS this idea of having NO “respect to persons” that IS at the heart of Paul’s words which we repeat here again:
“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. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof” (Romans 13:10-14).
IF this IS the reality of God, that “God is love” and if His commandment to men IS that they should “love thy neighbour as thyself“, then we should be able to see the deeper Truth which IS that as “God is no respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34) and IS Love, so men should have NO “respect to persons” as they “love thy neighbour as thyself“. And we should see here as well the reality of Paul’s words that most clearly show us that “all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Galatians 5:14). In this idea we should see the Truth of Paul’s words that separate the law and grace. Grace IS from God indeed and it IS the privilege of the man who Loves; it IS the reward if you will that IS His Presence which IS one’s realization of the Truth. Both these, His Presence and one’s realization of that Presence, come according to the trifecta, according to the measure by which one DOES keep His words and paramount in His words IS Love.
Doctrines however miss this reality of Love as they miss the deeper Truths of Life and the role of reincarnation and rebirth. Doctrines miss the very idea of grace. In grace we have ALL that flows into the Life of a man from God and the very source in the Life of everyman of ALL that comes from God IS his own Soul. If we can tie this idea to the one’s measure of spiritual collateral and understand that whatsoever was previously gained can become the asset of Life that IS grace then we can glimpse at the eternal progressiveness of the journey of every Soul. For us here and now this Journey IS through the forms of men and if we can see this as the role of every Soul to add and to contribute to “the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:23) which in turn leads to the Redemption of the world, perhaps we can understand that by our adoption, by our Union with God, we bring the entire creation closer to that goal.
There IS an underlying purpose to this ALL and it IS NOT to populate some place called heaven with billions of Christians while ALL others go into the abyss. But to see this we must see some idea of reincarnation or rebirth and understand that each Soul IS his own past and his own future. We close today with some of the other ideas that we get from the Master’s words that DO NOT dispute reincarnation but support it; we read:
- “Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 18:10).
- “In the resurrection therefore, when they shall rise, whose wife shall she be of them? for the seven had her to wife. And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God? For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven. And as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err” (Mark 12:23-27).
- “And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered,Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him” (John 9:14-3).
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.
