IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 1466

ON LOVE; PART MCV

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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 post we began our discussion on the human mind and we should understand here that while we ARE NOT expert in the working of the mind, we ARE able to glimpse the measure of understanding that has been revealed to us. That science would NOT necessarily see things the way that we DO IS NOT important and we will try NOT to let science become a part of our discussion save to contradict every idea that shows the mind as an aspect of the brain. In psychology and in psychiatry there ARE still several schools of thought that separate their theories and we should note here that when it comes to the mind ALL IS but theory yet today. Human behaviour IS, to be sure, a most complicated subject and in this complexity it would be difficult, if NOT impossible, to find two persons with the same thought, attitude and behavioral profile.

From a religious perspective there IS even less understanding.  Many men and their doctrines perceive the mind to be the man’s Soul along with his emotions and see this personality as the continuing factor in their idea of eternal Life. As the mind IS NOT the brain, it IS also NOT the Soul as we understand it in our writing. For us the Soul IS the Christ Within, the unction and the anointing of the Apostle John, and the True inner man from the perspective of Life here in this world. For us Soul and Spirit ARE the same essence of Life and the only difference, if we can use that word in terms of Unity, IS that the Soul IS the manifest Spirit in what we can ONLY call the Kingdom of God.

There ARE NO words to express the True ideas of Spirit and Soul and this IS True in most every language and if we can see that it IS these ideas that ARE the mysteries that ARE protected by the Master and His apostles we can better understand why they speak about them in such a parabolic way. We should understand here that these ideas ARE NOT hidden from our view but rather they ARE hidden from our understanding. So long as a man’s focus IS NOT upon the Path of Truth, he will NOT understand the Truth no matter how it IS presented and the parable and the parabolic approach IS perhaps intended to both peak the interest of men and to offer some understandable ideas that can be built upon.

The Master tells His disciples that “it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given” (Matthew 13:11) and in this, if we can understand the dynamics of True discipleship, we can see Jesus’ point. He IS NOT holding the Truth back from the general population; it IS the general population itself that CAN NOT understand nor comprehend the Truths that He IS offering. It IS within the bounds of discipleship that understanding comes to the mind of men from the ONLY source of such understanding which IS the Soul and in this we should see John’s words that tell us that “ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things” (1 John 2:20).

While the intent should be clear, which IS that it IS ONLY as a man can gain some measure of that Truth that IS revealed through a True focus upon the things of God, millions yet believe that they have access to the mysteries without such focus. And, as we have repeated many times, these men who believe that they have the KEY to the mysteries without striving to keep His words also miss the clearly stated ideas from Jesus and His apostles that can lead him to such focus. These clearly stated ideas like those in our trifecta ARE subordinated to the dictums of the doctrines of men and have become human virtues rather that His commandments. Jesus’ Truths ARE swallowed up by the doctrines of men while their focus upon them, while carnal to be sure, IS seen as spiritual endeavor.

This IS the working of the carnal mind and this thinking IS based in the nurturing, indoctrination and experience of the man in the world; little True revelation flows as the carnal mind sees ONLY the things and the ways of the world. It IS the carnal mind that dwells in the illusion and the glamour, the vanity of Life, and herein IS our point from the last post: that the man whose focus IS staunchly upon his doctrines has a more difficult time accepting the very idea that there IS a Truth that he DOES NOT see.

Here we should revisit the Apostle Paul’s words that we have been studying. We should try to see that when a man’s focus IS upon his doctrinal approach to God, he IS asleep to the reality of the Master’s words and the to the Truth of His message. It IS this man who unknowingly walks as the “natural man” while his carnal mind will NOT allow him to identify himself as such; he has built for himself a fortress in which he believes that he IS blessed and living in the grace of God. Doctrinally focused men DO NOT see themselves at the center of Paul’s words saying that as the “natural man” they ARE living “in the vanity of their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart” (Ephesians 4:17-18).

This IS a bitter pill to swallow and perhaps it IS based in this bitterness that the carnal mind will NOT give way to the True spiritual impulses that ARE ever prompting everyman but which ARE drowned out by a man’s firm stand in his doctrines….in the glamour of his beliefs. The Pharisees were in a similar position in Jesus’ day; they stood firm in their doctrines despite the words that the Baptist, the Master and His apostles offered them; the result was that few of the religious leaders were able to find the Truth. We should see here that in the working of their carnal minds they created a barrier that the Light of Truth could NOT penetrate. We call this barrier glamour and here perhaps we can see the reason for Jesus’ words saying “the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you” (Matthew 21:31). The publicans and the harlots have NO such barriers.

The point here IS that this IS the way that the carnal mind works in regard to the higher spiritual impulses that come from within, from the Christ Within which IS the Soul. ALL that a man has ever KNOWN in this Earth Life IS what IS the content of his mind and we should understand here that this content IS formed by one’s nurturing, one’s continued indoctrination and one’s experience. These formative dynamics ARE NOT restricted to religion but ARE active in ALL facets of Life and while one can break their hold, this IS NOT an easy task as the glamour attached to one’s thoughts and attitudes can be strong.

This IS of course a very complex matter and their ARE NOT words that can properly describe the effects of these formative dynamics and the attached glamour in a universal way as everyman has some different combination of these plus the uniqueness of his own mind and the physical equipment through which the contents ARE expressed. And this IS ALL further complicated by the illusions that one creates, illusions that ARE one’s own view of the Truth and which ARE, in a rather unique way, more that just the effects of the formative dynamics as they ARE intermingled with glimmers of Truth that come in the prompting of one’s own Soul or, so much of that prompting as can be heard over the din of carnal living.

Behind ALL of this we should see the words of the apostles who speak about the change that IS necessary in the minds of men and we should try to see here that this change IS essentially that Repentance with which the Master opens up His message of Truth to the world. Neither Repentance nor the apostles’ words however ARE understood in the context that they ARE offered and perhaps this IS because they ARE against the working of the carnal mind and ARE being processed by the carnal mind. Jesus opening message to the world IS simply “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mark 4:17).

In this message the whole idea IS lost in the failure of men to understand the complexities of the Greek word metanoeo; the idea of Repentance IS seen in terms of remorse while the reality of the word IS yet clearly shown from the lexicon as: to change one’s mind for better, heartily to amend with abhorrence of one’s past sins ¹. Can we see the point here? Can we see the nature of this idea in the context that the Master presents? Can we understand that His admonition IS that men change the way that they think from the carnal to the spiritual….from the world to the “kingdom of heaven“. Vincent shows us a bigger picture of metanoeo saying that this IS:

A word compounded of the preposition μετά , after, with; and the verb νοέω, to perceive, and to think, as the result of perceiving or observing. In this compound the preposition combines the two meanings of time and change, which may be denoted by after and different; so that the whole compound means to think differently after. Μετάνοια (repentance ) is therefore, primarily, an after-thought, different from the former thought; then, a change of mind which issues in regret and in change of conduct ⁴.

While most understand the idea of regret and sorrow here, few understand the idea of a change of conduct. In the context that Jesus shows us in His words the intent IS clearly in regard to this change and, since He IS speaking towards a spiritual goal we should see that this change IS from the carnal to the spiritual and the force here IS the same as He tells us in the trifecta.…that we keep His words. But this IS NOT the common nor the doctrinal view as IS easily seen in the definitions of Repent as: to feel sorry, self-reproachful, or contrite for past conduct; regret or be conscience-stricken about a past action, attitude, etc ⁷.

Older dictionaries give us much the same as the general definition but the Webster’s 1828 version DOES add near the end an idea similar to what we see as Jesus’ intent; we read: Repentance is a change of mind, or a conversion from sin to God. Repentance is the relinquishment of any practice, from conviction that it has offended God ¹. Vincent continues his commentary on the Greek word metanoeo saying:

These latter ideas, however, have been imported into the word by scriptural usage, and do not lie in it etymologically nor by primary usage. Repentance, then, has been rightly defined as “Such a virtuous alteration of the mind and purpose as begets a like virtuous change in the life and practice.” Sorrow is not, as is popularly conceived, the primary nor the prominent notion of the word. Paul distinguishes between sorrow ( λύπη ) and repentance ( μετάνοια )and puts the one as the outcome of the other. “Godly sorrow worketh repentance ” (2 Corinthians 7:10) ⁴ .

There IS a dynamic link between this idea of Repentance and the working of the mind as we should understand it from a spiritual perspective. True Repentance IS, using Vincent’s words, that virtuous change in the life and practice that seemingly overcame the apostle’s when they came to Jesus. Similarly there IS the Apostle Paul and his instant conversion. Our point here IS that there IS a cause and there IS an effect and both occur in the minds of men. Paul’s example IS the clearer one as there IS a greater scriptural record of his ‘conversion’ and this event IS likely the reason that he writes so extensively on the mind and why he gives us so much in terms of cautions and warnings as well as showing us how to view the new revelations in a world the was heretofore governed by the old.

We should note here that despite Paul being “the apostle of the Gentiles” (Romans 11:13) he DOES spend much of his writing on those thoughts and ideas that ARE Jewish in nature as he speaks of the law. Much of what Paul writes IS misunderstood and misapplied in a Christian world that would DO well by seeing his ideas as the products of his own spiritual journey. There ARE likely few Jewish leaders, fewer Pharisees as Paul considered himself, that were more bound by glamour than the apostle who himself testifies to his disdain for Christ saying: “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” (Acts 26:10).

For us the apostle’s journey should be seen from the reality of his own personal Truth and his own personal demons; we should try to see that while he, by his own admission, “persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women” (Acts 22:4), there was ever the prompting of his own Soul to the Good, the Beautiful and the True that was inhibited and shut up by the glamour of his own beliefs. We should try to see here as well that it IS likely in the power of his own spiritual collateral that he had the wherewithal to go so deeply into religion as he misjudged his own carnal sense as spiritual.

Paul Truly believed that what he was DOING as a Jew was right and in the apostle we should see the reality of Jesus’ words saying “the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service” (John 16:2). Can we see the extent of glamour here and in the Life of Paul? And can we see that there must be some event, something that lets in the Light of the prompting of one’s own Soul? For Paul it was the vision of the Lord and we should try to imagine here that this was NOT the first time he had such thoughts that he was DOING wrong….this was the apostle’s culmination of his own road to Repentance.

While we have NO way to KNOW for certain what thoughts the apostle had, we can say with some certainty that for us, for the man in this world today, the deep rooted dissatisfaction with the illusion and the glamour that we little understand IS our own road to Repentance. And however this may seem to be we should understand that it DOES surely take some True courage to go against 2000 years of error and take a stand with the Lord. To be sure we ARE NOT yet there but we ARE on the road, on the Path to His Presence, and there IS naught that can stop our progress. While we may NOT reach our end in this Lifetime, we will surely reap our reward which IS ever the grace of His Truth.

And the road IS clearly marked out for ALL men to follow; there IS NO hidden map nor any hidden agenda. The road IS of course to Repentance, to that change that overtakes a man when he allows the Light of the Soul to penetrate the mind. It IS ONLY through the faculty of the mind that a man can come to express the Truth, His Presence and His Kingdom and it IS ONLY through the faculty of the mind that a man can Truly understand that to keep His words, to live according to the trifecta, one must learn the True meaning of agape and the Truth of Love. We close today with our trifecta of spiritual reality:

• “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 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 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