ON LOVE; PART CMXXII
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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 discussed the upcoming Festival of the Christ as this IS celebrated in some of the esoteric and occult circles of philosophy. While it IS unfortunate that the Christian world DOES NOT accept any alternate views of the role of the Christ in the world today, this IS but the result of the glamour in which so many of those who have taken authority live. It IS this glamour that takes the illusions that men hold as Truths and makes of them unconquerable fortresses despite the Apostle Paul’s warning and admonishment that we should be “bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ“. As we have discussed in previous essays, this idea from Paul IS intended to help his readers in their own “pulling down of strong holds” (2 Corinthians 10:4-5) which ARE the fortresses of beliefs that ARE contrary to the Truth. In the reality of this word that IS rendered as obedience we should see the idea of keeping His words and were men able to see past their own glamour and into the Truth of these words from Paul, one would be able to see the Master’s own words on such obedience such as these that we reference again:
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).
It IS in the vanity of men as an attribute to this sense of glamour that many men believe themselves to be right above ALL others and when we consider that most every separate denomination and sect of Christianity IS prisoner to this same vanity, it IS easier to see how that ALL that IS outside IS derided, called heretical and even attributed to that sense of world evil that they call Satan and the devil. In the reality of Life however we should see the Master’s own point saying to His disciples “he that is not against us is for us” (Luke 9:50). While some may point to the minutia in this regard of being against us, this IS NOT the Master’s intent as He speaks of those who DO the work of Love but DO NOT necessarily follow Him as did His disciples in that day. And the same IS True today as many men ARE involved in the Lord’s work who DO NOT profess Christianity as it IS ordained by doctrines and it IS these who ARE derided by the organized church regardless of what fruits they may produce.
Here while Jesus tells us that “Ye shall know them by their fruits“, there ARE few who relate this idea to broadness of His intent; that it IS NOT just the outsider who teaches things contrary to the words of the Master but it IS the insider as well who can be the one who will “come to you in sheep’s clothing” (Matthew 7:16, 15). It IS glamour that prevents men from seeing themselves as such “ravening wolves“, a term that should imply men whose teachings DO NOT support the Truth but their doctrines. While it IS easy to attribute these ideas to the Jews who teach their doctrines as the Truth, it IS sore difficult to see oneself in this role and in this we should see both the harshness and the unconquerable nature of glamour and of the illusions that feed it. When we consider that this IS said as a part of the Master’s early ministry, as a part of the Sermon on the Mount, we should be able to see how that His words are predictive of ALL men and NOT merely indicative of the ways of the Jews in those days. His words here ARE a caution to everyman and one that IS NOT allowed the seriousness that it deserves in the hands of the purveyors of doctrine; we read the complete text saying:
“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down , and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them” (Matthew 7:15-20).
We should note that there IS NO implication of evil intent expressed here by the Master as He portrays the man who will teach things that ARE NOT in accord with the Truth of the His words and we should try to understand that it IS one’s own understanding that will show forth the “false prophets“, which IS the man who will teach such things. And while Paul DOES show us the reality of this fruit, that the True teacher will profess and express such “fruit of the Spirit“, it IS left to the man who receives such to discern its veracity; it IS left to him to discern what IS “the fruit of the Spirit” which the apostle defines for us as “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance” (Galatians 5:22-23). It IS when we can understand these things as spiritual attributes and NOT according to our carnal and doctrinal instinct that feed off of the illusions and glamour of the world that we will come to understand the depth of the Master’s words.
For the aspirant and the disciple the apostles give us greater insight as Paul shows us that “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14) and while so many believe that they have such discernment, that they receive the “things of the Spirit of God“, without keeping His words which IS the KEY to such receiving, the Truth IS that this IS but a part of the illusion. In this harsh reality of Life, in this sense of illusion and glamour, we find those who detract from others Truths and in their derision we DO NOT find fruit and we DO NOT find spiritual discernment and neither DO we find any inkling of any idea save for one’s own sense of right that IS founded in one’s own sense of doctrine and belief.
It IS here that we should look again as the Apostle John’s words on the unction and the anointing which, when awakened through one’s focus upon the things of God, show a man the deeper Truths. Although doctrines have seized upon the translations that show denying and the idea of the antichrist in a strictly doctrinal sense, the greater Truths come to us in the True Way of acknowledging and the True meaning of denial; that this IS NOT found in denying the personage of Jesus nor His relationship to the Father but it IS rather found in ones failure to treat Jesus as the Christ, as the anointed of God, by keeping His words as the words of the Lord and as the words of God. We read the apostle’s words again saying:
“But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also. Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father. And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life. These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him” (1 John 2:20-27).
It IS here that we find the spiritual discernment that allows for men to see the Truth, that allows for men to see through the illusions that pose as that Truth and the glamour that causes men to protect their own fabricated fortresses. It IS the unction that IS that spiritual part of the man in which he DOES “know all things” and it IS this same anointing that relates this KNOWING to the consciousness of the man in the world as he “teacheth you of all things“. In this teaching IS the reality of the Presence of God as it IS in this Presence that one has the realization by measure of the Truth of “of all things” and this of course works out according to the Master’s words that we read above as He manifests Himself and makes His abode with the man who will keep His words.
And John DOES NOT ignore this Way to “know all things” as a man in this world, this way to have the Presence of God in one’s Life, as this IS the way that he begins this chapter of his epistle and this IS the tone he sets throughout as he shows us the intimate relationship between keeping His words and Love. If we can tie John’s words together we can likely see that story that he paints as he shows us that “hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him” (1 John 2:3-5). Here we should see the foundational idea: that to KNOW the Lord IS to keep His words and it IS from here that the apostle goes on to show us the very Power of Love.
But more. As John shows us how that the man who DOES NOT keep His words but says that He KNOWS the Lord IS a liar, he also shows us how that to deny the Lord also makes a man a liar and it IS here that we should see the deeper idea that to deny the Lord IS to NOT keep His words; it IS to NOT bring “every thought to the obedience of Christ“. And yet more IS added to this equation that produces the liar as we read further on in John’s writing where he says that “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?” (1 John 4:20). Can we see the logic here? Can we see that ALL of the ideas presented by John that make a man a liar ARE the reality of keeping His words and that the common idea behind ALL IS that a man keep His words?
Much like we view our trifecta of results from the same cause as being the same, that True discipleship, being accounted worthy of the Kingdom of God and having the Presence of God in one’s Life ARE ALL the same and to have one IS to have ALL, we should also try to see the apostle’s idea on one’s being a liar. In this view the idea of NOT KNOWING God, the idea of NOT Loving one’s brother or ALL men, and the idea of denying the Lord by ignoring His precepts ARE ALL the result of just one thing….NOT keeping His words.
It IS this that IS the crux of ALL spiritual reality and while men may deflect their own responsibility in DOING this most important KEY to ALL things spiritual, the result IS that they DO NOT have the “knowledge of God” and that they ARE “deceiving your own selves“. While this may seem a harsh assessment of the ways of men in his world, it IS one that IS supported in these ideas from Paul and the Apostle James. Completing Paul’s saying from the top of our essay we have his thoughts on the way of the aspirant and the disciple, that it IS he who IS the apostle’s reference in saying that “though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthinas 10:3-5). Here we should see that as men we DO walk in this world but, at the same time we use our spiritual weapons to remain above the ways of men and to resist and refrain from the vanity of our own imaginations which suggest the carnal over the spiritual and the ways of doctrines over the Truth of His words.
In the essence of Paul’s words we should see the same Truth that we take from James’ most blunt admonishment of men saying “be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22). It IS in this deception that is founded in our own illusions and glamour that we allow for the strongholds and protect the fortresses of beliefs and ideas that ARE masquerading as the Truth and which ARE contrary to His words that show us to keep His words.
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.
GOODWILL IS
LOVE IN ACTION
Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets. Matthew 7:12
If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: James 2:8
For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Galatians 5:14
Our Quote of the Day is a stylized version of the footer that has been a part of this blog from the beginning. It is in a few words our motto and our slogan and as we have posted so many times, it is the method par excellence of bringing about a world in Peace and in Harmony. The words of the Master that accompany our motto here are the source for our understanding of GoodWill and our method of practice and the words of His apostles are their echo of the second part of the Greatest Commandment as enunciated by the Christ. Let us all strive to do our part for in so doing we are doing as the Master instructed; we are striving to enter at the strait gate into His Glorious Kingdom.
This idea of GoodWill takes on added meaning as we approach the third of the annual festivals this year. Beginning with the Festival of Easter which IS followed by the recent Festival of Wesak, the Festival of GoodWill IS the third and comes to us at the full moon of June, the Gemini full moon which IS on June 2, 2015. While there IS much symbolism in the full moon idea, the reality for us IS more simple and IS intended to show the relationships between the Christ and the Buddha and the Truth of Love and humanity. This festival IS alternately call the Christ Festival, the Festival of Humanity and World Invocation Day and it IS ALL of these qualities plus the unifying idea of GoodWill that should be seen flowing through the ideas behind it.
