ON LOVE; PART MCLXXXVIII
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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 cited a Hindu scripture on the nature of the Godhead which shows us the implausibility of the Christian claim that the Hindu or any other True world religion IS worshiping a false God or an idol. This scripture IS written about the God who IS….the God who IS everywhere. He IS in the fire, in the water, He has suffused Himself through all the world**. This IS the Truth of our God who IS a boundless, immutable Presence, our God of whom the Apostle Paul tells us also that “in him we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28).
It IS against the Truth of God that the Christian ideas rail and while anyone who IS NOT bound to their doctrinal approach can see this, the reality of our One God IS still missed by far too many. What the Christian IS really against IS the portrayal of God that IS found in the various scriptures, some older than the Judaeo Christian religions which portray God in terms of a Person. This portrayal of God as a person IS as wrong as the ideas of other religions where doctrines separate the Godhead into a multiplicity of aspects which affect the lives of men in this world.
And we should remember here that most ALL of the doctrinal approaches to God ARE based in age old superstitions and in views of God constructed from a strictly human perspective. These superstitions and views ARE based in the perceived activity of the Godhead and while the common man may believe that the individual worship of the separated activities of God as assigned to a ‘personality’ of God IS idol worship, there IS much more to this that goes unseen. The Christian and the Jew however ARE NO different as they worship a personality of God as well….a God who said this or that and who DID this or that according to the scriptures.
Here we should visit again our understanding that much of the barbarism and the superstitions of the Old Testament ARE NOT the acts of our One God but ARE rather the acts of men who ARE, in their day and age, acting as the personality of God. And this IS the reality of God, of the One God who has suffused Himself through all the world, the One God in whom “we live, and move, and have our being“. Here we should try to grasp and to understand a part of the great mysteries in which we live and of which we partake without True realization: that the True personality of the Godhead IS provided by men. NOT by the ordinary man who may claim to be spiritual but by the saint as the Greek word hagios IS intended to convey.
The Truth of God IS conveyed to us in the creation story, in the stories of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and ALL of the Jewish history of the first five books of the bible by one who wielded the awesome Power of the Godhead….Moses. He IS followed by Joshua, then the prophets and certain kings and finally by Jesus whose Power over the physical world as a man representing “all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9) should be indisputable. We should be careful to understand here that except for Jesus, NONE of the others ARE proclaimed to have this ultimate of Power which overrides the proclivities of the body nature and the personality.
The others perhaps can be seen as we see the apostles; Truly saints but lacking yet that Perfection of which Jesus tells us to “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). As we have previously discussed, the Old Testament’s barbarous brutality CAN NOT be a function of the Godhead of which the Apostle John tells us that “God is love” (1 John 4:8) and this despite the doctrinal ideas to the contrary. If this barbarism IS NOT then a function of the Godhead, what can it be? Simply the thoughts and the attitudes of the men of Power.
If we can see that these men, Moses for example, ARE yet somewhat bound to the proclivities of the carnal nature and it IS through the personality that the Power IS wielded, and this according to the barbarous and superstitious times in which they lived, we can gain a better insight into some of the most troubling Old Testament stories. It IS rather amazing how that doctrinal thinkers find clever ways to justify some of the most brutal ‘acts of God’ found in the Old Testament but the reality here IS that these doctrinal thinkers ARE NOT seeing the fullness of the Truth and DO NOT understand that the voice of God IS ever the voice of men in this world.
We must be careful to understand here that these men ARE DOING what they interpret as the Will of God and that they ARE acting according to the times and the seasons in which they live. Most ALL ARE among the saints in their own time and if we can see this idea of hagios as having the revelations and realizations of Truth flowing forth from the Soul into a somewhat carnally focused Life, we can likely see the way that the interaction between spiritual and carnal DOES function. ALL men, while they ARE in this world and ARE NOT yet fully expressive of the Truth, DO perforce work through the personality, that IS that the revelations and the realizations ARE filtered through that carnal aspect of Life.
Here again we should try to understand the components of Life in this world. Man IS Spirit, manifest as Soul which we can try to see as the nature of the Spirit in ALL realms of existence which in any way touch what we could consider as carnal. This would include Life here in this world and any type of afterlife that IS short of the full communion of that Life with his own expression in this world. We can see this communion in Paul’s words that we frequently cite saying “the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:23). We should try to see here that there IS NO separation between the Spirit and the Soul….they ARE ever one as ARE the Father and the Son.
Again, with regard to Jesus the Christ, “as he is, so are we in this world” (John 4:17) and here we should try to see this idea that IS cloaked in mystery in spiritual terms. We should also try to understand here that the third aspect of the Eternal Trinity, what we call the Holy Spirit, IS as much a part of the human experience as ARE the aspects of Spirit and Soul and IS just AS nebulous in human terms. The Holy Spirt IS the activity of Spirit, manifest as Soul, in the lives and afterlives of ALL in whom the fullness of this Third Aspect IS NOT the expression. We can, in these terms, see the personal idea of the Trinity as Spirt, Soul and the expression of these in this world….the expression of the fullness of Truth and of Love as it IS presented to us in the Great Commandments which we have again at the top of our essay is ever the objective.
It IS at the endpoint of this fullness that a man can Truly realize himself as being “as he is” and at ALL points up to this “adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” a man can be seen as striving toward this goal as a Soul in form, and this regardless of his realization that this IS happening. This IS the most natural course of Life in form: to ever advance in one’s ability to express the Truth and the Love that IS God and to build upon whatsoever spiritual collateral had previously been garnered. Until one reaches this endpoint however his spiritual revelations and realizations ARE expressed through his yet carnally focused personality and the range in this expression IS wide….from little or NO expression of spiritual Truth and Love to the type of expression found in the lives of those cited above.
It IS the conscious attitude for this spiritual advancement that IS quashed by the doctrines of men that rely upon the nebulous ideas of faith and believing rather than the reality of KNOWING which IS the deeper meaning of pistis and pisteuo. It IS this KNOWING that becomes one’s expression. How can one express what he DOES NOT Truly KNOW; and we should ever understand that in this KNOWING IS some measure of Truth and of Love that must be expressed; and the need for its expression IS what brings us ever closer to a fuller realization of the Truth.
If we can see the Life of the Soul in form as the consciousness of the form and that this consciousness remains apart from the personality that it directs we can then see the way that the Trinity interacts with its instrument in this world. Paul tells us that we should “be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:2) and here we should try to understand the mind as a tool, as a tool that IS used, along with one’s emotional response, to effect the will of the consciousness which has been “made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same” (Romans 8:20).
By its very presence in form this idea of vanity becomes the affliction of the Soul and while the Soul remains aloof from the activities of the consciousness in form, he DOES, at the same time, continually prompt for the attention of that consciousness to be turned away from the vanity and onto the Truth which IS the prompting of the Soul. This IS necessarily a cumbersome topic to discuss and this because we, as men in this world, have ONLY that reference point from which to see. If we can see this vanity, this mataiotes in the Greek, as Vincent portrays this for us, perhaps we can see the whole of this point: that the Soul takes on the role of the consciousness of the Life in form and tries to free it from “the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21).
Here we should remember that the Greek word eleutheroo which IS rendered as delivered in the full passage IS the same word that IS rendered as “make you free” in the first part of our trifecta. It IS in this sense that we should see this as that the Soul IS ever prompting the consciousness for the purpose of such freedom to express the Truth and the Love that IS the Soul’s nature over the carnal instincts that ARE the result of the vanity. The struggle here IS to overcome the nurturing and the indoctrination that the consciousness endures plus to overcome the most natural tendency to DO as other men because the consciousness sees this as the way of men.
The role of consciousness in regard to the Soul IS that the consciousness IS the actor in the world. Based in its native culture, its nurturing and its indoctrination, the carnal nature IS ALL that the consciousness has KNOWN save for the effects of the promptings from the Soul that one may recognize. It IS these promptings that move men to seek out religion, again because it IS ALL that IS KNOWN. It IS unfortunate that for the most part religion IS NOT the full answer and that by its very representation that it IS the Truth, religion creates a barrier to the full answer that IS found in the deeper ideas that most ALL of religion DOES NOT see nor seek.
This brings us to the activity of the Soul in form which we should try to see as the promptings which, when Truly heeded, move men toward greater Truth and the revelations and the realizations that ARE the result of that Truth. This activity IS the Holy Spirt which IS the Way that the Spirit, ever one with the Godhead, speaks to and through a man in this world; here what IS ‘said’ IS ever according to the measure of one’s expression of Truth and Love and it IS this same ‘voice’ that IS the Power that IS wielded by the saint. Here again we must try to see that this Power IS wielded through the personality which IS the point of contact between the consciousness, the Soul in form, and the world.
The idea of the personality, which IS for us the combination of the mind and the emotions of a man, IS NOT one that IS used in the New Testament where we read ONLY of mind and of heart. We should try here to see the heart as the consciousness, the awareness that IS Life in form, and the mind as the central point of the personality. In this view we can better understand that Paul’s “renewing of your mind” IS the effect of turning the consciousness away from the things of the world and onto the things of God and this by heeding the promptings that ever flow from the Soul. These promptings ARE that “still small voice” (1 Kings 19:12) which ever goes unheard over the clamor of daily living that enhances and enforces one’s sense of vanity.
Vincent tells us that this vanity, as the word IS rendered from mataiotes, IS: a perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends 4. Can we see this in relation to the consciousness of a man whose focus IS, from infancy to Repentance, upon the self and the things of the world? Can we see as well that the mind, as the agent of the consciousness, CAN NOT be Truly renewed until that focus IS changed? Here we should try to see the deeper ideas of Repentance and understand that the sin that must be corrected IS the sin of focus and it IS this idea that IS the crux of the first part of the Great Commandments which tell us “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“.
And this IS the purpose of much of the Master’s teaching: Repentance. We should try to see here that the Way to Repentance IS in the words that the Master gives us as He tells us the rules of Truth and shows us the dichotomy between the spiritual and the carnal; much of this can be summed up in His most simple saying that “where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:21, Luke 12:34). Jesus gives us many words of Truth, the One Truth, and He also admonishes us to keep His words. He shows us that in DOING so that we gain access to the Truth, to His Presence and to His Kingdom as we read again in 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).
In ALL of this we should try to see how that it IS Spirit that IS the ultimate reality and that Spirit DOES NOT have a role to play here in this world. To understand this we must try first to understand that the Trinity IS a group of Aspects and NOT persons and that the idea of persons IS solely used as a way to present deeply spiritual ideas to the carnal mind and carnally focused consciousness which ARE yet separate from God, and pursuing false ends 4. The Aspect that we call Spirit and Father IS the Will of God and the Power of God Who has suffused Himself through all the world as we read in our Hindu text from the the last essay.
It IS in this suffusion that we should see in relation to man; as Paul shows us that “in him we live, and move, and have our being“, that ALL IS part of the Truth that IS God, so he also shows us the reality of God Within as the “Christ in you” (Colossians 1:27) and as the “treasure in earthen vessels” (2 Corinthians 4:7). This Will of God IS His Purpose which IS beyond the ken of men, at least until that point of “the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body“. That aspect that we call Soul IS Love and Wisdom which ARE ever joined together and it IS these that ARE found in the prompting by the Soul to the consciousness of everyman. Love and Wisdom ARE the functioning of the Will of God in the realms of men.
This leaves us with the Third Aspect of the Trinity which IS the Holy Spirt and here we should try to see that this IS the activity of Love and Wisdom as the functioning of the Will of God. Although the consciousness IS void of these Aspects when one’s focus IS turned to carnal things, these Aspects ARE the driving force of consciousness which we simply call Life. When one’s focus IS turned to the things of God however, these Aspects take control; the Spirit functioning in Love and Wisdom takes over the activity of the man in the world and this activity and its expression through form ARE the reality of the Holy Spirit. This turn of focus IS based in the striving of men to keep His words as we read in the trifecta and here we should try to see that DOING so IS one’s expression of the Holy Spirit in this world. Paul paints this for us saying:
“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).
And it IS by this expression that one IS the saint and one’s measure of sainthood IS directly proportionate to one’s expression of Love in this world. We should try to see here how it IS the importance of Love that the apostle IS showing us in contrast to ALL other presumed spiritual qualities in his words to the Corinthians which we have been studying. Paul tells us that without agape “I am nothing” and here we should try to see that this sense of being nothing IS that: perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends 4. Repeating again the apostle’s words we read:
“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
“Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away” (1 Corinthians 13:4-8).
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.
We change our Quote of the Day today to the words from Solomon on Wisdom along with our thoughts on them from the original postings of them in In the Words of Jesus parts 46 and 556. These words ARE a testament to those things that we should be asking of the Lord and which are representative of the Holy Ghost. Wisdom, understanding and knowledge which will lead us to understanding the fear (reverence and respect and awe) of the Lord and the knowledge of God so that in this world we can understand righteousness and judgement and equity and be preserved by discretion and understanding. Thus are we in a position to treat everyone as we would want to be treated ourselves.
Since we are centered on the ideas of Wisdom today we offer the following from Proverbs as our Quote of the Day. Solomon, who is KNOWN for his Wisdom, which we read in the story of his Life was His gift from God, a gift that he receives because he does not want for the things of the world. But Solomon gains as well the things of the world in plenty and as his Life story proceeds we can see clearly that it is his Life in the world that is to his detriment. The wisdom however produces for us the writings of the Book of Proverbs and it is this that he is remembered for. His Life is interesting reading and is well documented in the Books of Kings and Chronicles.
….incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God. For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly. He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints. Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path. When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee (Proverbs 2:2-11).
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition
Those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road.
Voltaire,
Writer and Philosopher
