ON LOVE; PART DCLXIII
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.
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 continued in our look at the ideas behind the Truth of the Love that the Master teaches us and which IS reflected in the Great Commandments as cited above and the Golden Rule. While these ideas must be seen in the universality that they present, many DO NOT and have NOT seen them in this way as the realities of this idea of neighbor are made to reflect a divided world instead of the One World and One Humanity perspective of the Truth of Christianity. Similarly the idea of the Golden Rule IS NOT appreciated for the depth of its intent but IS rather seen in the light of reciprocity, that we DO Good to others who Do Good for us or else that we DO Good for others in the expectation that the intent IS related to the misunderstood Truth that men will reap whatsoever they sow. The greater reality of Love IS found in the idea that the neighbor IS ALL men, without the separations caused by appearances nor those found in the social status and in the different cultures and societies of the world. This reality must be seen in the Truth of the Master’s words that we discussed and posted two posts back where we read Jesus words on who one should Love and where we must try to understand that the divisions that He creates ARE but examples of the Truth that we must Love ALL men.
Jesus’ list includes enemies which in itself IS an broad and impersonal category as any opposed in thought, in attitude or in action would be included in this idea and when we add the idea from James regarding the state of the world, we can get a clearer understanding of the depth of this word for the spiritually focused man. James tells offers us a rhetorical question which he then answers saying “know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4). In this we should be able to see the complexity of this idea of enemies. The Master goes on to speak of how that a man should Love those that curse him and here we have another word that is not properly understood in this context. Here, and in several other places as we saw in our study of James use of the same word, the idea of curse IS NOT profanity but it IS rather the idea of men who speak or rather express ill will against another. The Master says that we should “bless them that curse you” and here we should note that there can be equal confusion regarding the idea of blessing. In this idea of blessing we should see a similar nebulous idea where there IS a Greek word which has NO True understanding in English. Let us look here at some of the deeper ideas of both these words, eulogeo and kataraomai, which are rendered as bless and curse.
In the idea of bless we have a different word than that which IS rendered as blessed in the Beatitudes and the meanings should NOT be confused. In the Beatitudes the idea of blessing IS in the receiving of the ‘reward’ for the ideals that the Master speaks on. Here we should see that the ‘reward’ or the blessing for those who ARE “pure in heart” IS that thew will “see God” and this we take from Jesus words saying the same: “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). In our current verse there IS NO sense of ‘reward’ nor of the idea of happy that has been applied by many to the Master’s use of the idea rendered as blessed in the Beatitudes; here, the idea is related to the response to what one would perceive as cursing, of being cursed by another. Our reality here then IS that in response to another’s thoughts, attitudes or actions of ill will against us, we MUST offer GoodWill in return and this in the understanding and the forgiveness of the Truth of mercy. And this IS NOT to be restricted to words as this is seen by many but rather in the whole of one’s expression, in one’s thoughts, attitudes and actions. This we see in James use of this same word saying: “Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God” (James 3:9) where again the reference IS to the whole of one’s expression and NOT ONLY to the what may come off of James’s example of the tongue. Again, as we have discussed, this idea of words coming from the tongue should be seen in the completeness of the apostle’s intent. This should be seen with the understanding that whatsoever comes from the tongue originates either in the personality, and its thoughts and attitudes which are based in one’s mind and emotions, or it originates in one’s spiritual focus.
In this instruction that we must “bless them that curse you” we have yet another expression of Love toward one’s neighbor and another sign of just who one’s neighbor can be as this Love IS offered regardless of how he may see or feel or think in return. In this idea of blessing we should see the related idea of mercy as we understand and forgive, and in mercy we should also see the underlying of Truth of GoodWill. We have the added reality that we must “do good to them that hate you” and in this there and be seen as both an expansion of the idea of who it IS that one should Love and the activity of that Love. Here again we have the idea of GoodWill and we should be careful NOT to see the Master’s intent as that we DO Good in a worldly sense only. In the fullness of this idea of doing Good we should try to see the will to Good as this steams forth through the Life of the man and into the world. This will to Good IS the attitude in which a man stands, it IS his general motivation that regardless of how one man may view another, even in this sense of hatred, that the attitude of the True seeker will to to DO Good.
In these ideas and instructions from the Master’s words in the Sermon on the mount we have His concluding part that says that we should “pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). We should note that the word rendered here as pray IS the same word that we discussed a few posts back in our look at James use of this same Greek word proseuchomai; here again the doctrinal idea of intercession or of asking for favor from God IS NOT an appropriate understanding of the Masters intent. In James we tried to understand this word as our own communion with God in our own prayer, which IS communion with our own Souls, our own God and Christ Within, and the idea here, while more convoluted by translations and doctrinal interpretations, can be seen in similar fashion. We should try to see that when one communes with his own Soul, the Love and the Power of the Soul IS realized in the Life of the man in the world and here we can get the sense that this proseuchomai IS one’s bringing forth that same idea of Love, of blessing and of DOING Good that we find in the preceding sayings. This however IS NOT our point here today as we are looking at the fullness of the idea of neighbor as this IS expressed by Jesus in these words from Matthew’s Gospel and in this we should see that the neighbor includes ALL of these that the Master calls out by his example of men who ARE against us in any way. And that we should Love them, show them the reality of mercy and GoodWill which IS to bring these from the Love and the Power of the Christ Within in response to ALL men.
In ALL of the Master’s words on Love we should try to see the most expansive view rather than the limitation that many place upon this very Nature of God and we should see the direct connection here in the following verses which tell us that we should DO this thing, see ALL men as the neighbor, as the brother and as the stranger who qualifies as both, because this IS the Way of God. We read: “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 54:44-45). Can we see the reality of the message, that there IS NO limitation in Gods view of ALL of mankind and that there should be NONE in ours either; that this IS the way of the man who would be or become True “children of your Father which is in heaven“.
The reality of this idea of Love for ALL men is a part of the fundamental fabric of Life and this IS among the first True realizations of the man who is progressing in his quest to seek God and the Kingdom of God. Without this fundamental attitude toward Life, the man is trapped in the world of carnal thoughts and attitudes and he IS limiting himself in the same way that he IS limiting the Truth of the words of the Master. It IS for our proper understanding that the Master gives the Jews His truth on who IS one’s neighbor as he answers the lawyer’s question with the Parable of the Good Samaritan. We have spoken many times about this parable and its intended effect in defining the reality of the neighbor in Jewish terms and setting for us a picture of the Love, the mercy and the Goodwill expressed toward the injured man by the man who expresses such Love. We read this parable again today; Jesus is asked to define the neighbor and He says:
“A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment , and wounded him, and departed , leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee” (Luke 10:30-35).
If we can see this parable in the context that IS presented in Jesus words on Love that we discuss above, we can likely see ALL that He had said within the ideas engendered by this story. Of course there IS yet more depth here as we have discussed in previous essays and while these ARE important parts, we should here focus upon the reality of just who IS the neighbor. In the Truth of the Master’s intent here we find the answer in the words of the lawyer but NOT in a way that we genereally relate back to these ideas on Love and this IS unfortunate. The dialogue continues with the Master’s question and the lawyer’s answer saying: “Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves? And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go , and do thou likewise” (Luke 10:36-37). In this idea of mercy IS the reality of Love and this can be seen in most ALL interpretations of this idea that IS rendered as mercy and which we see as the very expression of Love and of GoodWill. It IS in the reality of Love for ALL men that the Samaritan stops to help the Jew with whom he has NO religious or social affinity; it IS the Samaritan that sees the ultimate Truth of the commandment offered by Jehovah through Moses, the commandment that “thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Leviticus 19:18) that was spoken nearly 1500 years earlier.
Here the Samaritan, a man who claims Judaism as his way and who IS likely persecuted and reviled by the religious Jew who sees him in a lesser way that himself, offers this Love without question to the man injured in the road who we must assume IS a Jew. The Samaritan IS exercising the ideas of the commandment, he IS expressing the Love, which expression IS mercy and GoodWill, while the religious Jews, the priest and the Levite, just walk on by and in this IS the dual lesson that the Master offers to us yet today. First that it IS Love for ALL men, regardless of any sense of separation created by the ways of men, that defines the True spiritual focus of the man in this world and that without this sense of Love for ALL one IS NOT keeping His words, and this regardless of ALL else that he may do. James clarifies this for us regarding this same subject of Love which we read as we close below.
Second there IS the reality of the religious man in the world, the man who sees himself as religious according to his doctrine but who DOES NOT Love as the law instructs nor as the Master teaches in those same words that He elevates to the status of the Great Commandments. Here again we should see that if a man DOES NOT Love ALL men as the neighbor, the brother and the stranger, he DOES NOT keep the most fundamental of the Master’s teachings and the fundamental fabric of Life in this world. True religion IS as James portrays for us in his words on “pure religion” as he says “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world” (James 1:27); this IS to show mercy to ALL as the expression of Love and to remain untainted by the carnal ways of the world. We close today with this from the Apostle James’ Epistle; here in his words on Love, on the “royal law“, we should be able to see the greater fullness of ALL of the Master’s words above as well as the reality that to NOT Love in this way IS to NOT keep His words:
“My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts? Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats? Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called? If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said , Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill , thou art become a transgressor of the law. So speak ye, and so do , as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty” (James 2:1-12).
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 Quote of the Day is the antithesis of glamour and illusion. In this mantram are the thoughts about ourselves and our brothers in the world that can diffuse those forces that hold a man in the world of things and prevent his spiritual progress.
Mantram of Unification
The sons of men are one and I am one with them.
I seek to love, not hate;
I seek to serve and not exact due service;
I seek to heal, not hurt.
Let pain bring due reward of light and love.
Let the Soul control the outer form, and life and all events,
And bring to light the love that underlies the happenings of the time.
Let vision come and insight.
Let the future stand revealed.
Let inner union demonstrate and outer cleavages be gone.
Let love prevail.
Let all men love.
The Mantram of Unification is a meditation and a prayer that at first affirms the unity of all men and the Brotherhood of Man based on the Fatherhood of God. The first stanza sets forth several truly Christian ideals in Unity, Love, Service and Healing. The second stanza is a invocation to the Lord and to our own Souls asking that from the pain (if there can truly be any) incurred in focusing on the Spirit and not the world will come Light and Love into our lives and that we begin to function as Souls through our conscious personalities. We ask that the spiritual control of our lives will bring to light for us the Love that underlies world events; a Love that the world oriented man will not see working out behind the scenes and also that the Love that we bring forth, individually and as a world group, can be seen by all and ultimately in all. Finally, in the last stanza we ask for those things that are needed for Love to abound. Vision and insight so that we can direct our attention properly; revelation of the future in the sense that all can see the Power of Love in the world; inner union so that we do not fall back into the world’s ways, that we faint not; and that a sense of separation, the antithesis of brotherhood, ends as we know it today. Let Love Prevail, Let All Men Love.spiritual control of our lives will bring to light for us the Love that underlies world events; a Love that the world oriented man will not see working out behind the scenes.
