ON LOVE; PART CMXCVI
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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 continued our discussion on the Apostle Paul’s list of “the fruit of the Spirit” and we found a greater reality of the idea of longsuffering that IS rendered from the Greek word makrothumia through the use of its sister word makrothumeo which IS the verb form. Many bible translators have rendered this word as patience and in this the reading and the teaching IS generally in regard to the common understanding of that idea. Some other translators further water this idea by rendering it as “a quiet mind“, tolerance, and forbearance which has a very different connotation than IS intended by the apostle. In the reality of longsuffering we should see a combination of ideas that have little to DO with the common view of patience but which grow the idea into the reality of Love. To be sure, patience, as a virtue if you will, IS an important part of Life but the idea here IS of a “fruit of the Spirit” which IS an expression by the man to the world as the apple IS the expression of the apple tree.
In the end we see should see this idea of longsuffering as the effect in the Life of the aspirant and the disciple of the understanding gained through KNOWING the Truth and having the Presence of God in his Life. This KNOWING and this Presence come, with one’s realization of the Kingdom of God, through the KEY idea offered by Jesus in what we call the trifecta of spiritual reality: keeping His words. In this we make that connection between the Soul and his body which IS the combination of the physical form, the mind and the accompanying emotional nature. It IS in this connection that the Truth that IS KNOWN by the Soul can become the awareness of the man in the world….his revelation and his realizations of Truth. This IS the reality of that freedom, that deliverance, that the Master promises to those who will “continue in my word” as we read again in the trifecta:
- “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).
And this IS the same freedom, the same deliverance, which Paul shows us in his saying that we “shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). It IS this sense of freedom from the fetters of worldly living that DOES, by measure, give a man the understanding by which he can express the idea of longsuffering to the world of men,….an expression that IS more than patience and more than the perseverance and steadfastness which we discussed in the last essays. It IS in our understanding that “your brother is like you” as the Buddha tells us that we come to understand that his plight IS the same as ours and that it IS the Soul of man, which IS the True man, who IS ever trying to express the Truth through a form that IS yet trapped in the illusion and the glamour, the vanity, of Life in this world.
And it IS in this same reality of understanding that we should see the deeper idea of Love, of agape, as this IS given us by the Apostle James who, amplifying and clarifying the words of Jesus, says that “if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors” (James 2:9). It IS in our understanding that ALL men ARE Souls on the very same journey as we and that the outer appearance and the outer ways of Life of everyman IS covered in the very same vanity, in the illusion and the glamour of Life that we too were deluded by, that the Truth of this understanding can become our longsuffering expression toward our brothers.
While Jesus’ way of teaching may NOT directly say that men should NOT have “respect to persons“, the reality IS in His words for the awakened and enlightened man to see and to understand. That so many DO NOT see Jesus’ intent IS a confirmation that there ARE yet few who ARE awake to the reality of the prompting of their own Soul to the Good, the Beautiful and the True…..to the things of God. The center point of the Sermon on the Mount gives us the reality of Love as the Master intends us to see it. His words however ARE deemed impossible by the doctrinal approach to God which has substituted their own sense of salvation by “teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:9, Mark 7:7); a practice which has been warned against by the Prophet and by the Master. It IS in this sense of doctrine that men hold and which they believe IS their salvation that the Truth IS trapped and it IS against this sense that they interpret and teach their several versions of the One Truth.
This IS the ways of men in this world and, as Paul tells us in the fullness of our saying above, this IS by the very Plan of God. Paul tells us “the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, expectation that Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:20-21). We have often cited our reasons for the grammatical changes that we make here and how that the idea of being delivered IS from the same Greek word that Jesus uses which IS rendered as “make free” in our trifecta and our ideas on the grammatical changes ARE discussed in depth in In the Words of Jesus part 926. In the vanity, in the illusion and the glamour in which men live their lives in this world, the Truths that the Soul KNOWS ARE obnubilated. It IS in each man’s ability however to dispel the fog and the mist that so clouds his mind and emotions and it IS in this that we find the deeper reality of his awakening.
Jesus DOES show us the reality of longsuffering through understanding albeit without the factual ideas that ARE a part of the mysteries of Life and of the Kingdom and it IS in His way of presentation that men ARE left to find the Truth through their focus upon His words and thereby the things of God. In DOING so, the Master also shows us the reality of having NO “respect to persons” without ever using those words as He tells us how that we should Love ALL men and to treat them ALL in the same way that we would like ALL men to treat us. In this idea of treating, of DOING unto, we should get the deeper idea of seeing….that we should see ALL men as we see ourselves. This seeing IS a deeper part of DOING as it IS NOT ONLY in one’s actions but it IS in the thoughts and the attitudes of men. This reality IS captured for us in the second of the Great Commandments and in the Golden Rule which we repeat again at the top of our essay; and this IS further explained in Jesus’ own words as He tells us such things as:
“I say unto you, 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. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:44-48).
Here in these words we have the reality of longsuffering through understanding and the Truth of having NO “respect to persons” It IS only in understanding the realities of Life that come in that KNOWING, which in turn comes in keeping His words, that one can accomplish these things….that one can “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“….and this IS the reality of makrothumia, the reality of longsuffering. It IS in DOING this that one comes to realize His relationship to the Godhead and understand the reality of being “the children of your Father which is in heaven“. And the Master gives us the grater reasoning here for having NO “respect to persons” as He tells us that this IS the Way of the Father and admonishes ALL who can hear His words to be as the Father in this sense of perfection. In these words Jesus shows us the greater Truth of longsuffering and that in this there IS NO “respect to persons“; he shows us the action in the world of this “fruit of the Spirit” which we read of again in Paul’s words saying:
“For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts” (Galatians 5:17-24).
The dynamic link between Love and longsuffering IS offered to us by Paul in His defining ideas on Love, on agape, in his first Epistle to the Corinthians. While the King James translators chose to render agape here as Charity, we should understand this word as the deeper reality of Love and see neither word, Love or Charity, in its common understanding. Our own defining ideas on Love come from the centuries old defining ideas of Charity which we show above as the answer to our question WHAT THEN IS LOVE? and it IS with these in mind that agape IS rendered as Charity in Paul’s words. Aside from showing us the importance of Love as a man’s expression in this world, the apostle offers us some defining qualities of agape which we read as: 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” (1 Corinthians 13:4-8).
The first defining quality in these words IS longsuffering which IS rendered as “suffereth long” from the same word makrothumeo that IS poorly understood as patience in James’ words that we discussed in the last post. This is the verb form of our subject word makrothumia which IS, as we have discussed, much stronger than the common understanding and way of patience. It IS in the reality of longsuffering that the man who Truly has this fruit will express it and will “Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things“; we should of course see the deeper ideas of believing as KNOWING, and of hope as expectation.
And Paul uses this idea also in his closing to his first Epistle to the Thessalonians and he DOES so according to our view here of NO “respect to persons” which IS the essence of Love as this IS expressed by the aspirant and the disciple. And it IS to these that Paul writes saying “Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men. See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men” (1 Thessalonians 5:14-15). The KEY idea here should be seen as that this admonition IS in regard to ALL men and this patience, this longsuffering, IS to be the outward expression of those who will accomplish the other parts of the apostles exhortation.
In ALL of this we should be able to see the idea of makrothumia as a “fruit of the Spirit” which IS an expression by the man to the world as the apple IS the expression of the apple tree. It IS this fruit of longsuffering that IS the hallmark of the disciple and, by measure, the aspirant and it IS by one’s outward display of this and the other fruits, which ARE ALL tied to Love, that the disciple IS Truly KNOWN.
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 these 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.
