ON LOVE; PART MCCXVIII
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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).
As we continue with our discussion on agape using our selection from the Apostle Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians, we should be reminded of the purpose of this study. In Paul’s words we have the apostle’s defining ideas on what Love, as agape, IS as well as his own view of the importance of Love as the expression of a man in this world….especially the man who deems himself to be ‘religious’ or spiritually oriented. The former, Paul’s defining ideas on agape, ARE tied to his use of the Greek words makrothumeo and chresteuomai which should be seen as far more than the rendered ideas of patience or longsuffering and kindness.
By using the defining ideas that ARE provided by our lexicons we can see deeper into the reality of Paul’s use of these ideas; makrothumeo IS defined as to be of a long spirit 9 by Thayer’s and as to be long-spirited 9a, by Strong’s while Vincent tells us that chresteuomai : means originally, good, serviceable 4. While these ideas DO NOT fit into the doctrinal view, this IS ONLY because the ideas of doctrines ARE based in their view of mankind, their view that the Life of man IS represented by his singular appearance in this Earth as the carnal being, rather than one’s Life being that of the Soul who IS lost in the vanity to which ALL ARE subjected through their birth in form. Paul shows us this saying that “the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same” (Romans 8:20).
While the doctrinal view of this IS tied to the ‘fall of man‘ according to the doctrinal belief in the literal story of Adam and Eve in the Garden, the greater reality IS that this IS simply the Plan of God. Doctrines see this ‘fall of man‘ as punishment for billions upon billions of Souls, punishment for their NOT heeding the word of the Lord but rather heeding the word of a talking serpent which IS become a snake whose name IS Satan. These doctrinal ideas ARE either formulated aeons ago in a verbal tradition or they ARE inspired to Moses who IS presumed to write them down long after their occurrence; either way we should be able to understand that these ideas ARE formulated to the level of understanding of a barbarous and superstitious people.
NOT hidden in the words of Genesis IS this more simple reality: that the lesson of the origins of ALL things IS that they ARE the product of One God, active in His Universe which includes ALL things spiritual as well as ALL things carnal. That doctrinal thinkers still devolve into seeing these beginnings in the literal way that they ARE presented, while denying the most basic ideas of scientific research, IS unfortunate as their mindset becomes increasingly a part of their doctrinal culture. As the more ardent believers homeschool or use ‘religious’ based schooling to shelter their children from the secular science, they ARE replacing it with their own Genesis ‘science’ as they try to prove such unprovable ideas as a young Earth and such ideas as the hydroplate theory regarding Noah’s flood.
This Christian trend DOES NOT shelter but rather sinks them further into the nurturing and indoctrination from which ALL must eventually escape in order to glimpse the One Truth. Add to this the doctrinal fixation of many on the various eschatological theories which ARE but another distraction from the virtual Truths that lie in scripture. Truths which show for every generation the Way to “be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21), and we have the state of much of Christianity today. NOT ALL denominations and sects partake in these ideas that deny science in favor of the literal ideas of Genesis; and NOT ALL spend undu time teaching and preaching about their several eschatological theories which ARE based in an unintended combination of selected words from the Master, from Paul, the Book of Revelation in ALL its obscurity, plus the dubious conclusions extracted from the Old Testament prophets and here especially Daniel, but for many such things have become an obsession.
Others still heavily rely upon ceremonial ideas and upon their own view of Truth which IS tied to such things as sacraments and rituals while still others combine these different aspects and yet others combine ALL of these most carnal approaches against the singular Truth of Love. Few there ARE that teach this singular Truth, few there ARE that even understand it. After 2000 years the Christian world still DOES NOT see the essential message as they continually try to fit the Master’s words into their doctrinal ideas rather than allow their doctrinal ideas to be formed by the Truth of His words. We must remember here that this IS ALL the result of that vanity, the illusion and glamour that plague the world, which afflicts us ALL and here again we should remember Vincent’s words on what this Greek word that IS rendered as vanity means. Vincent tells us that in this passage from Romans which tells us that “the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same“, the word mataiotes IS: the reference is to a perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends 4.
While we have explored this idea of vanity before, we DO so here again so that we can better understand the effects of mataiotes as the affliction of ALL men regardless of how they may view themselves and others in ALL matters….religious and secular. While the idea of vanity in common usage IS related to pride, the idea here IS quite different; the idea of mataiotes IS worthlessness or pointless 7 which IS among the definitions of vanity in today’s dictionary. We must of course see this idea in regard to the context and try to understand how that the Life of the Soul, the True man, IS worthless and pointless so long as the carnal nature has control of that Life. And this IS Vincent’s point as well; the Soul, being bound by the form through birth, nurturing and indoctrination into the ways of the world, IS in a perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends .
This idea of vanity IS, in a strong sense, an idea of blindness; in being subjected to this mataiotes the Soul IS blinded in his expression of Life to the world. In his mind the man KNOWS ONLY that into which he has been nurtured and indoctrinated and it IS against this that the Soul ever prompts the mind of the man who IS grounded in worldly living. Although the Soul IS in essence the consciousness of the man in this world, that same consciousness has been taken over by the mind and the emotions in this world as it IS the mind and the emotions, the personality, that feed it. Behind this however still lives the Soul with a singular objective: to wrest control of the consciousness away from the those carnal instincts formed of the vanity and one’s nurturing and indoctrination.
This IS ever the struggle between the spiritual, the Soul, and the carnal, the man grounded in worldly living which IS for most ALL men the more natural affiliation. We should understand that when we speak of most ALL men we must perforce include the religious and the irreligious as the dividing line IS NOT found in the doctrines of men; the dividing line IS found in the ability of the Soul to control the form and to make of that form a conduit of the Truth and the Love that IS the Soul. This IS the great reality of Jesus’ words saying “Ye shall know them by their fruits” and then again that “by their fruits ye shall know them” (Matthew 7:16, 20). The ideas of men that they ARE freed from their vanity by their doctrinal approach to the Lord IS but an unfounded idea that IS based solely in the wranglings of men who from the beginning have ever sought a way to the Truth which DOES NOT impinge upon their ability to live and act as men in this world.
This however IS contrary to the teachings of Truth from the very same scriptures that such men rely upon for their unfounded ideas. The Truth IS ever before us, the Truth that it IS ONLY found in keeping His words, whether the words of the law or the words of the prophets and the Master. It IS the doctrines of men that amplify the vanity of men, it IS the doctrines of men that teach men that they can live and act as men in this world and, at the same time, that they can secure their ‘salvation‘. And it IS these same doctrines that teach a man that he need NOT look any further than the theology, the ceremonies, the rites and the rituals of any particular denomination or sect.
It IS this that Jesus warns against by His words against the Pharisees and the other religious leaders of the Jews, but they DID NOT heed His words; they continue till today to rely upon their formulated doctrinal approach and their belief that they alone ARE the chosen of God. And the Christian followed in the footsteps of the Jew from the beginning as they formulated their own doctrinal approach to the Lord along with their belief that they too ARE the chosen of God as they interpret the Master’s words to their own presumed benefit and believe that they alone have ‘salvation‘ through their approach to Christ. This sense of salvation however IS but a carnal effect in the minds and the emotions of men as it carries NO spiritual weight save in Life of the man who can channel his doctrinal sense into an expression of Truth and Love.
We should understand here that foremost in one’s ability to express agape IS one’s ability to understand just what agape IS according to the teachings of the Old and the New Testaments. Both the Jew and the Christian see the idea in terms of Love and see Love in the common terms of the day rather that seeing the ideas of the Hebrew ‘ahab and the Greek agape according to their contextual usage. The ideas behind both the Hebrew and the Greek words, however clear the context, ARE NOT however seen apart from men’s carnal view; few there ARE who can understand the reality of the message that IS the intended guiding Light, few understand the spiritual force of “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself“.
And fewer still understand how that to DO so or even to strive to DO so IS equivalent to keeping man’s part of the eternal covenant which simply shows us that to Love, to keep His words, IS the source of ALL spiritual Truth. In the Old Testament we see this as the blessings to the nation as Moses tells the Jews that “all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God” (Deuteronomy 28:2). In the list that follows there IS the appearance that these blessings ARE carnal benefits but if we look at these according to the times, according to the mental acuity of the the barbarous and superstitious man in that day, we can perhaps see how that the intended result IS a reliance upon the Godhead rather than a reliance upon the carnal ways of men.
Like with so many parts of the law, the Master changes the perspective away from the carnal; He tells us that to lust after a woman IS akin to adultery and to be angry IS akin to killing and here we should try to see the logic: that it IS lust and it IS anger that ARE the precursors to adultery and to murder. Similarly Jesus’ teaching changes the whole idea of one’s reward away from the apparently carnal and onto the spiritual which ideas ARE the essence of our trifecta. In the trifecta the reward IS simply the Truth that can free a man from his own “bondage of corruption“, entry, as attaining such a state of consciousness, into His Kingdom and one’s revelation and realization of the Presence of the Lord in his Life. These spiritual ideas ARE specifically cited by the Master, and ALL in regard to keeping His words; repeating our trifecta we read:
- “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).
There IS a stark reality to the Master’s admonition that we keep His words and it IS this reality that has been confounded by the doctrines of men who CAN NOT see the Way to DO so; they see the reality of the law and of His words as an impossibility despite Jesus words saying that “with God all things are possible“. Men fail to look within when looking to God and this despite the many ways that Jesus and His apostles show us to DO so; it IS through everyman’s indelible link to God, his Soul, that he should see this idea. The context of these words in the Apostle Matthew’s Gospel IS in regard to riches and the idea that “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God” (Matthew 19:24, 26).
Doctrines have seriously distorted this simple message and here again we should see that it in their desire to be men in this world that they have sought out such ideas as that this eye IS a gate into Jerusalem through which a camel DOES NOT easily fit. Against this ARE other doctrinal ideas as that a man CAN NOT access the Kingdom himself but, according to Jesus answer to His disciple’s question saying “with God all things are possible” the rich man can enter ONLY with such divine intervention. Men refuse to believe that a rich man CAN NOT enter, that this IS as impossible as putting a camel through the eye of a needle, and it IS in the realization of this Truth that comes from the God Within that one KNOWS that he must DO as the Master instructs….that he must “go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me” (Matthew 19:21).
Men ARE NOT willing to accept this Truth as a part of one’s way to True salvation and there ARE few if any doctrinal teachings that teach this Truth which IS for an example of the Master’s words saying that men should “Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?” (Matthew 6:25). And to compound this unwillingness there IS a denominational trend toward teaching a prosperity gospel, a teaching that IS attractive to the selfish carnal nature, and there ARE many that today choose this as the path to follow. For us this IS yet another distortion of the Truth promulgated by men whose interest IS NOT founded in the Truth of His words and while many may Truly believe such ideas as that God wants men to be wealthy in this world, the IS but that same vanity, the same illusion and glamour, which keeps them bound.
In the reality that “with God all things are possible” we should see the reality of the man who strives and who comes to realize a measure of the Truth, the man who, by measure, can sense the True Presence of the Lord and understand the deeper meaning of Jesus’ words saying “the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21). ALL doctrinal approaches to the Lord that ARE NOT based in the Truth of agape as the expression of the Soul through the Life of a man ARE but “another gospel” (Galatians 1:6) formulated by men who have NOT understood the essential message of the Truth of agape. Paul shows us this Truth in our selection from Romans which we repeat again saying:
“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not agape, 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 agape, 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 agape, it profiteth me nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
“Agape suffereth long, and is kind; agape envieth not; agape 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. Agape 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).
Here again we have Paul’s testimony of the importance of agape over ALL things that many men consider to be of importance in religion; here Paul tells us that these things ARE for naught in the absence of one’s expression of Love, one’s expression of agape. Many of these same men call agape the unconditional Love of God, a Love that many of these same men call impossible to express as men. This last idea IS but the extension of those doctrines that teach the impossibility of keeping His words and perhaps these men have made the connection that the apostle shows us….that to keep His words and to express agape ARE the same thing; repeating Paul’s words again we read:
Owe no man any thing, but agapao one another: for he that agapao 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 agape thy neighbour as thyself. Agape worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore agape 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).
What IS impossible according to Paul IS to have and to be able to use the True “spiritual gifts” which he cites above as an example of the entire list that he previously showed us; these include those ideas that are rendered as “the word of wisdom“, “the word of knowledge“, faith, “the gifts of healing“, “the working of miracles“, prophecy, “discerning of spirits“, “divers kinds of tongues“, and “the interpretation of tongues” (1 Corinthians 12:8, 9, 10). While ALL of these can be True abilities of a man, True spiritual abilities, they ARE NOT in the absence of Love. In the absence of a man’s expression of True agape such ‘gifts‘ are but the working of the carnal mind as one’s True measure of these, as with his measure of the rewards for keeping His words from our trifecta, IS directly proportionate to one’s True focus upon the things of God which IS to keep His words and to express agape.
Can we see Paul’s point in telling us the even for himself to have such ‘gifts’ IS meaningless unless his own expression IS agape and here we should try to see and to understand that if this IS True of the Apostle Paul it IS most certainly True for everyman, and this regardless of what his doctrines and his teachers should tell him. We close today repeating two sayings that show us how that the doctrinal thinker can and DOES bypass the Truth of the words of the Master and His apostles in favor of his doctrine because of the authority wielded by men who have dedicated themselves to that doctrine.
The first IS from Mark Twain who says: “In religion and politics people’s beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second-hand, and without examination, from authorities who have not themselves examined the questions at issue but have taken them at second-hand from other non-examiners, whose opinions about them were not worth a brass farthing“**. Such IS the indoctrination of men. The second IS more a picture of the state of religions and their theologies, again the ideas of men given with such authority as IS bestowed upon them by the listener; we read these words from our Tibetan brother saying “The church today is the tomb of the Christ and the stone of theology has been rolled to the door of the sepulchre“***.
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
- 7 Dictionary.com Unabridged based on Random House Dictionary – 2011
- 9a The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible on blueletterbible.org
- 9 Thayer’s Greek Lexicon on blueletterbible.org
- ** Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume 3 (University of California Press, 2015)
- *** From The Reappearance of the Christ by Alice A Bailey; © 1948 by Lucis Trust
Those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road.
Voltaire, Writer and Philosopher
