ON LOVE; PART CMXXI
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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 have discussed several times over the course of this blog, there ARE three Spiritual Festivals that are ‘celebrated’ in the esoteric world of thought which IS a world where the Truths of the Ancient Wisdom and the words that come to us from those who have achieved the greater realizations of Life and Truth ARE become the gospel. In the Truest sense the things that ARE taught and written about in the esoteric and the occult world DO NOT disagree with the Truths that ARE expressed by the Master and His apostles and while the interpretation of the ideas by some may have taken on a more selfish tone, this IS NOT an indictment of the underlying Truths….it is merely an indictment of the interpretations of men. It IS in this same way that doctrines differ from the Truths that they ARE meant to expose as the interpretations and the selfness of men interferes with the ever more difficult Truths that the Master teaches us. In the Truest sense, the ideas of occultism and esotericism are but a view of the hidden, a view of the mysteries of Life, that have been passed down from most ancient times and understood ONLY by those who can see beyond the physical and psychic realities that ARE tied to the carnal lives of men.
It IS unfortunate that like most things in this carnal world these Truths ARE diluted and changed according to the thinking of men who, in the illusions and glamour of Life in form, believe that they have found Truth. It IS this belief that creates carnal versions of the great Truths and it IS here that we should try to see the great relevance of the Master’s teaching regarding the Love and the forsaking that ARE a part of the Way to the Kingdom of God. And it IS this same Kingdom that IS the goal of the True occultist, the True esotericist, and in many ways the True disciple of the Lord IS among them. It IS in this reality that we should view our Tibetan Brother whom we ofttimes quote and we should realize that there ARE many like him behind the scenes who work tirelessly to bring some measure of the Truth into the minds of men, a measure of Truth that IS beyond the ken of most. And it IS here that doctrines fail us as they deride the occult and the esoteric without ever trying to understand their meaning as they relegate ALL to the darkness of their view of witchcraft and black magic which ARE, to be sure, the carnal functions of men that express the lower self, the force of the emotions and the mind, to the world.
Like ALL things spiritual, the Truth of the deeds of men IS found in the measure of fruit which IS expressed and, when this fruit IS of the nature of the “fruit of the Spirit” of which the Apostle Paul tells us, then we have the same spiritual reality that we always speak of. And this reality IS NOT relegated only to the Christian, or to any religion, as the Truth of His words stands above ALL of the separations that men can devise; His Truths ARE universal and His Truths ARE the way to the Kingdom and to the ability of a man to himself be “delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). It IS with this in mind that we should look at these Three Spiritual Festivals which begin with the Festival of Easter which IS a great celebration of the Living Christ who came among us to show us the Way of Truth by His words and by His example. This IS followed by the Wesak Festival, a celebration of the Buddha, of His Life and His Teachings which show us the way of Wisdom as the way to dispel the illusions of Life in this world through seeing the Truth of one’s own True existence which IS contrary to the ways of men and of the world.
Finally there is the upcoming Festival of the Christ which IS another celebration of the Master and which centers more around the fulfillment of His Life and His teachings here in this world. For us this IS become the Festival of GoodWill as this IS the essence of the Love that Jesus teaches us, both in His repeating of the Great Commandments and His offering us the explanatory notes to better enable us to “love thy neighbour as thyself” in His Golden Rule which we repeat again at the top of our essay. This has become World Invocation Day for some and here we should recognize that in the Power of the Great Invocation there IS the calling forth of the Light, the Love and the Power of God into becoming the way of men in the world; and here we should understand that in the most personal view of this prayer there IS the invoking of one’s own Inner Self, one’s own Soul, to become the expression of the outer man to the world. This Inner man IS the source of GoodWill and GoodWill IS the essence of the “fruit of the Spirit” and if the Christian world could but drop their own allegiance to their man made doctrines, their glamour if you will, and accept the ideas behind this World Prayer, they will see the Truth that these words ARE in accord to the Master’s own expressed Truths.
This IS our view of the Three Spiritual Festivals and we will write more about the Festival of GoodWill, the Festival of the Christ, as we get closer to the Gemini Full Moon that marks it on our calendar. We should try to see here in these ideas that while men may await the Power of God, that the greater Truth of this Power will NOT come from On High, from the personage of God, but it will come from the hearts of men who can see the Truth and that this Power IS their expression of the Love that underlies ALL aspects of His creation. In the great reality of Life we should try to see and to understand that the spiritual IS the Truth while this carnal existence IS the illusion; not that this DOES NOT exist but that this has become the reality of existence in the thinking of men. Men live here in this world as though it IS the Truth of Life and as though their success and their pleasure here IS of paramount importance and, according to some doctrines, that this success and these pleasures ARE enhanced for the believer by the hand of God. This IS contrary to the Master’s teachings and to the amplifying and clarifying words of His apostles and it IS in this selfish approach to Life itself, the the reality of GoodWill IS lost to men, a GoodWill that IS the same as that great KEY to the realization of Truth that we have in Love.
In the Truth of ALL things, in the Truth of ALL True religions that were founded by some Great Avatar of Truth, in the Truths that ARE expressed in the divine approach to esotericism and occultism, there IS ALWAYS LOVE. Love IS the way and the ONLY way for men to achieve that sense of realization which IS revealed by one’s own Inner man, one’s own Soul who IS the True man, the True thinker in time and space. It IS by focus upon the Inner man and upon the Truths expressed in the Master’s words, that one receives the revelations of the effective nature of those Truths as these apply to one’s own Life in this world and it IS the realization of these Truths that encourages further changes in one’s focus and further revelation and realization of these Truths. And it IS this that we should try to see in these words from the Apostle John that we began to discuss again in our last post; we read:
“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).
While we generally look at the idea of the unction, which IS rendered from the same word as the anointing in John’s text, in relation to the Christ and the Christ Within through the Greek word chrisma which IS from the same root word as IS the Greek word Christos which IS always rendered as Christ but which IS defined as anointed. Today however we will restrict our view of this unction and this anointing that that which we have from God in Truth and this IS one’s own spiritual self; whether we see this as Spirit or as Soul DOES NOT matter as in the end these ARE the same in the same sense as the Father and the Son ARE One. It IS this that we have from God, “from the Holy One” as the apostle frames this, and in this idea we should try to understand the most cryptic idea from the Book of Genesis saying: “God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Genesis 1:27). It IS this idenity that we get “from the Holy One“; each and every one of us IS created “in the image of God” and this idea of image IS so much more than the physical appearance that some deem this idea to represent. God IS NOT a man nor DOES He have a corporeal body as a man; God IS, according to the Master’s own words, a Spirit or, as Vincent 4 shows us “God is Spirit” (John 4:24) as the correct rendering of His words.
Vincent tells us of this idea of image that: Image is more than likeness which may be superficial and incidental. It implies a prototype, and embodies the essential verity of its prototype 4, and it IS this idea that we should bring to any analysis of the words from Genesis although it appears that this idea IS missing from the lexicon’s Hebrew definition. Can we see here that even if likeness alone was the intent of the Genesis’ passage that this word would also have the same psychic and divine effect as does image and in both we should see the greater idea of part and parcel? To be in the image of God IS for us to be like God or even God like and in this we must understand that the reference IS to the divine man, the Spirit or Soul; God IS Spirit and we ARE Spirit, God IS the expression of Love in the Son, the Christ of the world, and we ARE the expression of Love as the Christ Within which IS the Soul, the unction and the anointing….the spiritual reality of a man. It IS in this regard that we “know all things” and it IS in this reality that we should understand that “the same anointing teacheth you of all things“, which IS the reality from the physical and psychic perspective of the man in this world, this IS the Soul revealing the Truths of Life to the hearts, to the consciousness, of men.
And it IS this revelation, and the ensuing realization in the consciousness of men, that IS the earned grace of God, the reward or wages for fixing and maintaining one’s focus upon the things of God and taking them off of the things of the self and of the self in the world. The apostle’s greater point here should be seen in the idea that the disciple and the aspirant to whom He speaks KNOWS these things as a Soul and realizes them as the man in the world and this according to his individual measure of focus upon the Good, the Beautiful and the True. And it IS in this idea of measure that we should see the apostle’s caution to the reader; a caution that says to him that he should rely upon this KNOWING and NOT upon the words of others who would teach things contrary to the Truth that comes in one’s own revelations; a Truth that IS measured in terms of the “fruit of the Spirt” and NOT in terms of the doctrines of men. It IS in these terms that we should read again Jesus words on His Presence which IS this same realization of Truth; we read:
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 ever the Presence of God that men should seek and understand this as the Presence of the Christ Within in the conscious mind, a Presence that results in one’s expression of the Truths revealed by the unction and realized as that anointing that DOES “teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him“. That John’s words ARE cloaked with the idea of the antichrist should be seen in the deeper reality and through his explaining of this idea. And while most DO NOT see the reality that they themselves can take on this role, that this role IS simply thoughts and attitudes that ARE contrary to the Master’s words and intent and that this sense of denying IS, from the perspective of the epistle, to teach and profess ideas and thoughts on the nature of the Christ in terms that ARE NOT the Truth. Conversely we should see the idea of acknowledging Him, we should see that to acknowledge Christ IS to see His words as the guiding light rather that the words of men who seek to interpret His words to their own convenience.
And the view of these things should be timeless; since the beginning, since the early Church Fathers, doctrines have been construed to the convenience of men rather that to the Master’s words and NO where IS this more apparent than in His own words regarding our attaining the Kingdom of God, the Presence of God and the reality of discipleship….our trifecta if you will. Can we see the apostle’s caution here and understand how that this idea of antichrist IS NOT the omen of doom that IS portrayed by men but IS the simplicity of sin, of teaching and believing that the doctrines of men can trump the Master’s own words? While this may seem an harsh assessment of many of the doctrines over the centuries, the reality IS not found in our harshness but in the misunderstood idea of antichrist and men’s misconceptions regarding denying and acknowledging the Master and His words.
In Jesus words saying “why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? ” (Luke 6:46) we should be able to see this simplicity of ideas and understand that it IS the man who Truly KNOWS Him as Lord who will DO, who will acknowledge His precepts. Here we can use Vincent’s ideas regarding believing on and believing in which he shows us as: to accept and adopt His precepts and example as binding upon the life 4. In the Truth of believing that He IS Lord we have the same dynamic of keeping His words and we should see here how that to deny Him IS Jesus’ point in this saying: that if one DOES NOT DO “the things which I say“, that this IS largely a denial of the reality of His Lordship.
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.
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
