Love is the Fulfilling of the Law
ON LOVE; PART CCCXI
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
Of all that the Master told us, He considered this as the Greatest of Commandments. So much of what we are to understand as aspirants or as believers is found in the precept that we must KEEP HIS WORDS:
“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 12:30-31).
We ask ourselves 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.
We add to this THE EVER IMPORTANT AND HIGH IDEAL TAUGHT TO US BY THE CHRIST which can serve to both give us an understanding of what it means to Love oneself and how it is that we can Love our neighbor:
“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 looked briefly at the effects of ‘world mood’ on the lives of the men that are swept away by the forces of illusion and glamour as they so color Life in this world. This IS the vanity that the Apostle Paul tells us of in his saying that “the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope” (Romans 8:20) in which we see that Truth of Life in form. As unwilling participants mankind flows hither and thither on the waves of emotion and thought that propel new thoughts, new attitudes and new actions into play in the world of men and it is in this understanding that we presented again our views on the Truth that while ALL men are subjected to these world and regional effects of ‘mood’, those who ARE awakened are less susceptible to them and we should note here that those who are awakened or even awakening are those whose focus IS shifted or IS shifting away from the ways of the world on onto the ways of God. These awakened and awakening men ARE the disciples and the aspirants of the world who ARE by this accomplishment in a position to watch and to observe the happenings of the times without being overly affected by them. Thus, standing back they can see more clearly what is occurring and the effect upon their brothers and in their sense of Love as the Master teaches us, plus their understanding of the Truth that there IS no respect of persons with God, they DO NOT judge.
In the vast diversity of men in the world, the effects of these forces of change are compounded by opposing views; by example, the conservative versus the liberal, the religious versus the secular, those affected directly by a change versus those not in the direct path, will see most things differently and on their own ‘side’ of any particular trend or change, hence the generally confusing state of affairs in the world. Volumes have been written and volumes more could be written on these ideas as they affect the world as a whole and then particular regions, then cultures, then perhaps nations and then our examples above but this IS not our concern which is better defined as awareness and watching what IS happening around us and around the world so that we are in the best position to understand our brother. There are also major and minor changes as well as those that are motivated by men of influence and those that ARE motivated by the Plan of God and the dividing line in considering that a trend is of men or of the Plan is again that Wisdom from above as it IS defined for us by the Apostle James and we should be ever aware that what may have the Plan as its impetus will have the works of men as the greater part of the implementation. The view here is obscured by the ways of man and the influence of the vanity, the illusion and the glamour, through which man interprets for himself or as a group the reality of these forces of change that ARE impinging upon his personality consciousness and having effect on his thoughts, attitudes and actions through their effect on the minds and the emotions of men in the world.
We should note here that the disciple IS not the political, social or religious activist and therefore neither should be the aspirant. Activism puts a man into direct conflict with one or both of the opposing sides of an issue and requires then that one take a side or neither and, while it may be extremely hard to NOT have an opinion on a matter, it is an easier task to keep that opinion to oneself or to one’s own group of like thinkers. And, while so doing, we should keep in mind the reality of Love and the understanding that our brother who IS in the world and may be tossed to and fro by the tides of change and by the illusion and the glamour through which he sees things, is neither wrong nor right in his approach to any issue……he is just working through his Life focused on his self and his self in the world. We are in a place and a time where there IS pro this and that versus anti this and that in so many arenas of thought, attitude and action that most ALL lines are blurred and the intelligent reading of any daily newspaper or program will highlight our point. From our perspective however, as disciples and aspirants focused in part or in whole upon the Soul and the Christ Within, ALL of these worldly wranglings become but noise and it is our duty and our responsibility to NOT let this noise drown out the promptings of our own Souls.
Having said ALL this we should understand that there IS ever change and that which is of the Plan of God IS ever positive change which, while it may be misinterpreted and misunderstood by man and become subject to the divisiveness of the pro and the anti forces on any give idea, the Power behind the True presentation is relentless and will eventually come to pass as wave after wave of the Good, the Beautiful and the True impinge the waking consciousness of men in the world. By example Christ inaugurated the era of Love which has yet to take its True effect after more than 2000 years and a view of history can reveal quite the opposite of His True teaching and this in and out of the church that takes His Name. Today we are likely closer to understanding His message than at any time in this history and we owe much of the resurgence of the Master’s ideals on Love to the inflow of Aquarian energy which brings added impetus to Love, brotherhood and harmony in the world. And, even in regard to this flow of this Energy of Positive Change toward greater Love, there are many throughout the world that ARE against its acceptance by the world of men. What then is our responsibility in this as aspirants? First, to Stand strong, to Stand as Paul teaches; second to carry on the work of the Master and His apostles which IS to continue to teach and to preach the reality of His message over the distorted view of doctrine and finally to DO ALL that we can to live a Life of example for others, an example by which we keep His words and strive toward greater focus upon the True Life of the Soul and ever less upon the self in the world. And we must remember the Master’s teaching in which, by way of the parable called by some The Parable of the Master and the Servant, He tells us that our work IS NEVER DONE and that whensoever we think we have done enough that we must realize that there IS still much more to DO; this IS the Way of the disciple:
But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat? And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink? Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do” (Luke 17:6-10).
It IS the aspirant and the disciple, and there ARE NO special qualifications to be on this Path save that one IS Truly striving toward that strait gate ss the Master instructs, who ARE and can become immune to the changing ‘world mood’ as the ways of the world ARE NOT their concern as they ARE striving as well toward that “take no thought” (Luke 12;22) attitude regarding ALL things carnal. This striving IS of course found in keeping His words and in that decision to change one’s focus from the self and the self in the world to the Soul and the things of God and this decision IS the Truth of Repentance. We should take to heart here the words of Paul which we recently discussed that tell us that “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8) and we should understand that this sowing to the flesh is found in our partaking of the offerings of the world instead of our concentrated focus upon the things of God. In these words “God is not mocked” we should understand the reality of Life, that regardless of what we appear to be to the world, we CAN NOT hide from our own Souls, our God Within who KNOWS our pretense when we ARE NOT sincere or when we ARE NOT properly focused in His word. This IS self deception and this IS the same self deception that the James tells us of as he admonishes us to “be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” ((James 1:22). Now these words ARE NOT addressed to the man who hears ONLY doctrine and believes that his salvation is found in it, our words ARE addressed to the man who IS aware of the writings of the apostles and the often contrary nature of the doctrinal approach….contrary that IS to the actual teachings of the Master and His apostles. And we DO KNOW who we are in this regard and it IS in this respect that we are deceived; deceived either by the hearing and the purported believing without the DOING as James tells us, or deceived by the pretense found in the direction of our focus, that while appearing to be on the Soul and the things of God IS in reality on the self in the world.
Then for ALL men Repentance IS the way of True ‘salvation’ which Paul calls for us being “delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21) and we should understand here that there ARE NO shortcuts, NO magical rituals NOR affirmations, there IS only DOING and this begins with striving to DO which starts with that decision to change that we call Repentance. Before we took off on our current tangent of ‘world mood’ and its effects, our topic was this Repentance that leads us to Transformation and that it IS in the steady process of this Transformation that we find the growth of the Kingdom of God Within. It IS here that we move from aspirant to disciple and then to that reality of the True disciple who, through that process of Transforming, has come to that point of perfection and the role of the KNOWER who has full realization of his own expression of Love and Power in the world. We can premise here, based on our own degree of realization, that the True disciple CAN be done with his part in this Earth scheme and can leave at will and not return. We can premise as well that should this True disciple finish out his time in this incarnation, that it becomes his own choice to return or to move on and in both of these ideas ARE found in this saying below that we take from the writings of our Tibetan brother and which have often served as our Quote of the Day:
He who faces the light of His Soul and stands within its radiance is blinded to the issues of the world of men; he passes on the lighted way to the Kingdom of God. But he who feels the urge to pass that way, yet loves his brother on the darkened path, revolves upon the pedestal of light and turns the other way.
He faces towards the dark and then the seven points of light within himself transmit the outward streaming light, and lo! the face of those upon the darkened way receives that light. For them, the way is not so dark. Behind the warriors—twixt the light and dark—blazes the light of the Kingdom itself.**
Here in these words we see the disciple who we speak about above, the True disciple, who in Love for ALL, forsakes his own ‘glory’, his own deliverance, and takes to heart the Master’s words above that tell him that he has NOT done enough and that in his view on leaving says “We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do” and He stays. We close today repeating these affirmations of the disciple, words that serve to center our attention on the Truth of discipleship and show to us some of the duty involved in our work.
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.
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.
O Thou Who givest sustenance to the universe,
From Whom all things proceed,
To Whom all things return,
Unveil to us the face of the true Spiritual Sun
Hidden by a disc of golden Light
That we may know the Truth And do our whole duty
As we journey to Thy sacred feet.
As with any ancient manuscript from a foreign land, there are many interpretations and translations of The Gayatri available. The version that appears here comes to us in every day English and without the need to have a Sanskrit reference as a key; it is constructed so that all can understand it and use it.
The Gayatri is really quite simple and straightforward in the form that we have here. It begins, as does the Lord’s Prayer, with an acknowledgement of the Majesty of God as the Giver of all Life and as our Source of all things. We ask only one thing in this prayer; that the true spiritual light of God be unveiled to us so that we may see it clearly. The Sun is the giver of light and life to our planet and all that is on it and, just as each of our forms veils the Spirit within, we ask to see and to know the Light that is behind the Sun that which we see.
In saying this we believe that by seeing the true Spiritual Light that we will be able to see and to know the Truth that is in that light. This is the Light that the Buddha and then the Christ brought to us through their lives on Earth. This is the Light that shines in our hearts from our own spiritual selves, the Christ Within.
We close by acknowledging that we have a duty to God, to our brothers and to His Plan and it is this duty that we will perform when we realize the truth as we journey back to God.
Others have said about this prayer that “The Gayatri is one of the oldest invocations, or mantrams, know to man. It carries the power of purpose, the plan of love and the light of truth. It reveals human relationships as vertical alignment with the source of all Energy and horizontal service in the right use of energy. It is a potent tool for use with the inflow of new age energies” (from The Gayatri prayer card of World Goodwill; NY, NY).
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!
- ** Modified from the Tibetan’s words in Discipleship in the New Age – Volume II by Alice A Bailey; © 1955 by Lucis Trust
