Monthly Archives: January 2012

Love is the Fulfilling of the Law

The Miracles of Jesus (continued; part xiv)

There are always those Souls among us who seem to have an idea or an ideal that takes over their lives as men. This could be in the field of religion or of politics, of science or of business but is becomes the driving force of their lives sweeping them into a vortex of action that likely was incomprehensible to them some years before. Over the last several posts we have presented the apostles and the disciples of the Master in a similar way in saying that their lives were predestined to be in the service of the Lord and we went farther to suggest that they too had a role in this decision to come and to serve. How many are involved or how deep is the involvement of those who look over the happenings in this world of events is unclear but, to be sure, there are many advanced Souls who repeatedly give of themselves in purposeful incarnations, sacrificing their own reward which is the freedom and the bliss of the Kingdom of God.

We have heretofore spoken of the Kingdom of God as the Final Destination and this is true but, like so much else in Life, there are degrees of one’s presence in this Kingdom and there are ranks and degrees of participation in it as well which are likely based somehow on the quality of one’s Being. We can say briefly that God is a Trinity and that God manifests Himself through His aspects or potencies that are understood to be Seven in number with each reflecting a potency of the ONE GOD in manifestation. If we can accept this as a working hypothesis then we can see the idea of the Quality of one’s Being as a spiritual entity, a Soul. With this hypothesis we can then further expand on the idea that there is an infinite range of unique individual personality possibilities stemming from the personality makeup, the mental, emotional  and physical forms; our own quality attributes, and the interaction between them. This is to say that the man in time and space is that unique combination of one’s Quality as a Soul compounded by his degree of advancement, if we can so state it, plus the individual quality, suitability and relative ‘strength’ of  his mental, emotional and physical apparatus which is all then subject to their interaction as a personality plus the interaction of this combined personality with the Soul. This would all serve to be called the nature of a man in form and, as we know, this is then yet further compounded by his nurture.

Now this idea of the complexity and the individuality of the man in time and space in not haphazard nor random but it is the result of natural effects in the realm of incarnation and karma. How this works out in life and death on Earth is a great mystery and we can only surmise the reality of it but we do know the effect in ourselves and all those we see around us; all are born and all will die. Just as we do not know, from the standpoint of the physical world, what makes one tall or short in stature and just as we do not understand what make for the differences in the personalities of all, so we do not know how the ‘selection’ process works and how it results in one being born into a particular family, with any particular opportunities or with a particular body and personality type. Our premise of the continuity of Life and the working of the concept of reincarnation would leave us to briefly say this as regards the disciples of the Christ in His day as well as the man who is born in more recent history seemingly destined to do a certain thing.

In general terms man lives and he dies and his personality consciousness continues with his particular mental and emotional baggage. If this baggage is light, if the man lived in the Light, he will ascend to a afterlife that is suitable to his progress; if, on the other hand, this baggage is heavy, if it is filled with the attachments and the cares of one’s life in this world, he will descend to a afterlife that is suitable to this. Note here that there is no mention of good or evil; although one can project that living in the Light is good, living in the world is not necessarily evil though it can be said that those involved in evil are more likely to be carrying a heavy bag. Beyond this is the Kingdom of God on the upper side and perhaps a place we can call hell on the lower side. This lower side however is not to be seen as a permanent place nor a lake of fire but rather a place where one can be yet tormented by the  ardent attachments and cares and desires of things in the world that one can no longer achieve nor attain. The Kingdom of God should be self explanatory as it is within the subject matter of most all of our posts; the is the realm of those who are accounted worthy, those who believe on the Christ, who follow Him and keep His words and who are free from this cycle of birth and death should they so choose to be.

All of these Souls then, in any of these regions, come and go, into and out of incarnation; they are born, they live for a time and they return again to a place in the afterlife based upon their baggage. As we have said this is a forward journey for the Soul and not a backward one and although one may find a life or series of lives that go backward there is yet opportunity to go forward toward the Kingdom as this is the destiny of all. When one is coming into incarnation, and there is some mechanism on the spiritual side by which this works, the Soul has some opportunity to ‘choose’ the  environment into which he is born so as to afford the best circumstances to further advance. This is likely on rather broad generalities and can be see by an example of a Soul which was a former acclaimed scientist would likely come in the next incarnation into a complementary environment as opposed to being born to a family of illiterate peasants in some remote corner of the world. We do not however know how this all works insofar as being able to cognize it as men in form on this Earth; as Souls, pure and unblemished, we likely know all that pertains to that existence and below. The bottom line here should be seen as the effect of a great cosmic law similar to the laws that we encounter on this physical planet. Water seeks its own level and using this as an example of a physical law we can say that the Soul seeks the ‘right’ place for incarnation as a spiritual law. The purpose of bringing the discussion to this point is to establish the idea that the disciples of the Master in His time, as Souls, where chosen and did so choose to participate in the Great Plan of the Lord and that these men, as Souls, existed somewhere in the upper regions of being, perhaps in the Kingdom of God itself, where we can surmise that there are degrees of this existence as well.

Our problem here is that we equated the idea of being in the Kingdom with KNOWING and being in that fullness which one would suppose is a permanent state which could be carried down again into incarnation; this however was not the noticeable nature of Peter nor Paul. Such are the mysteries and so we can only surmise that in the graded existences that correspond to the afterlife and the Kingdom, that these disciples were in an undefinable place and were accounted worthy of the Kingdom but at the same time were not at that lofty state where they are able to truly believe and doubt not when in human form. We noted yesterday along these same lines that Peter was able to advance his control over his form life as it progressed, coming to that point where he could heal, KNOWINGLY, merely by his proximity, by his shadow. Relating this to our opening statement which says that there are always those Souls among us who seem to have an idea or an ideal that takes over their lives as men, we should be able to see that such men are Souls that have achieved the higher levels of what we have called the afterlife or even perhaps some level within the Kingdom of God. Remembering that the Kingdom of God is that place where one exists here and now and then as a Soul without form and is as one who has demonstrated himself by keeping the Master’s words, all of them. At what point one can come into a point of conscious command over his next Life’s circumstances is also a mystery and again we can but surmise that the more advanced the Soul, the greater his potential.

In the vastness of this realm of the higher afterlife and the Kingdom and along the lines cited above regarding the ‘quality’ of a Soul, comes the substance of our opening point. Was Einstein a happenstance in time or was his incarnation a planned aspect of the overall plan for which the world was now ready? Was Lincoln? Was Hitler? All of these men had supreme power in their fields and began movements that endured. Could we be seeing, as regards a personality like Hitler, that the same dynamics that work on the higher work also on the lower end of this great scale of Life; could the carnal power that a conscious personality amasses so cloud his vision that the Soul Light is blotted out resulting in coming back in more and more carnal power? And, if this is true, at what point does this Soul finally take control of the form? In this respect we should see that The Great Plan of God moves forward regardless of how the lower forces may work and men are at times brought into incarnation with specific purpose and goals as was the case with the disciples and likely the leaders of other religious an social movements as well. None of this alters the free will of man in form but rather enhances the lives of all by a new precept, a new way of thinking…..evolution.

Looking through history we find many, many examples of men that fit into the above ideas, men who have made a mark on civilization either locally or globally; men who have pursued greatness, not for their own fame and fortune, but for the sake of the human family. These are not perfect men and in this statement we should see the ideas that we have put forth regarding the Apostle Peter. While Peter demonstrated his discipleship, he still had some human issues and, in our view of history, we seldom see such signs of discipleship in the many, many examples that we cite. Peter was with the Master and this was his ‘mission’, to be a disciple; for others, discipleship as we understand it religiously, is not the mission and could, in fact, become a hindrance. It is likely that to all Souls coming into incarnation that are short of that full KNOWING and perfection will have to deal with a personality that is generally unaware of the reality of existence or purpose and that if that understanding does come to bear on one’s Earthly Life, that he will still have to overcome any personality tendencies.

For us the way is clear in the two points that we elucidated yesterday; first that we believe on the Christ, follow Him and keep His words thus is the path to discipleship. Second that we believe and doubt not which we have found operates in stages and degrees and which needs to be developed as the evident control of the Soul over the personality consciousness; this is the essence of Faith and conviction. Now we must understand that up to the point where one looks at Life as we do, that one cannot see these things and for many there is never the opportunity to see as we do. This however does not detract from the viability of their own lives and missions; one does not have to be a Christian to follow the Christ for His precepts are universal. So too, one does not have to look at all at religion as we know it to be a spiritual person and his spirituality will still be seen by the ‘fruit of the Spirit’ that he displays. Yes, in every walk of life one can be in pursuit of their spiritual goals without ever seeking what the world understands as the spiritual perspective. The Master tells us how to discern the role of a man in this world and that is by his fruit and this same is true for the man today in the news and the man in history. The Master tells us this on fruit:

• “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?” (Matthew 7:15-16).
• “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 7:17-20).
• “Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is knownby his fruit” (Matthew 12:33).
• “For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes” (Luke 6:43-44).
• “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples” (John 15:8).

Looking past a man’s small indiscretions and personality quirks and focusing on one’s Life work, either in current terms or historically, is the way to discern the fruit of the man. Most all men will at some time in life have those small indiscretions and personality quirks, us included, and we should ever be careful that we do not let these overwhelm our thoughts and our opinions of one’s overall Life and the fruit thereof.

This has been a long way to go to make the point of Souls coming into incarnation for a specific purpose as a part of the Great Plan of God as we can see it based on world need and it is likely that this is happening around the globe and that most instances go by unnoticed except by those on whom they have an effect. It is hard to define how the Soul gets the message of mission to a personality that is not listening for or hearing the call and this may be because this call can happen on so many different levels and that spirituality need not be involved; spirituality as defined in human terms that is.

What brought us to this subject today is that this is the day on which the birth of Martin Luther King Jr. is celebrated and in Dr. King we have such a man as we are alluding to above. One who comes among us with a purpose and a mission and one who faces the reality of the world and accomplishes what it was that his Inner Man was prompting him to do. He may not have been a perfect man but his overwhelming contribution to the sense of brotherhood in the world today far surpasses any indiscretions and quirks. The Master tells us that “by their fruits ye shall know them” and for any that are unfamiliar with the contributions of Dr. King it would be well worth the time to read and understand his life.

We did not get to our planned essay for today, Dr. King’s birthday rather sneaked up and seemed a timely theme. In closing today we will restate some of what we have said earlier about the Life of the the Soul that appeared to us as Martin Luther King Jr. as we reflected on it as a part of our look at the Parable of the Wicked Husbandman (In the Words of Jesus part 91):

Returning to our parable from the last post, we have yet to deal with the ending which says: “Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes? Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder” (Matthew 21:42-44). As we discussed, this ending is found in all of the synoptic gospels as an apparently separate part but here, in the Gospel of Matthew, it is a bit more intertwined. That it is always at the end of the parable seems to tell us there is a relationship which we will now explore. The first part of this saying is from Psalm 118 and it is not clear what the exact reference was by the writer of the Psalm. However, Christ took the saying and used it of Himself thereby showing that what is rejected in Him is of supreme value. In the context of the parable we see that the husbandmen reject all of the promptings of the messengers of God as they have also rejected the Son and, though they know not the value of this stone as the Christ, it will become the chief building block of the future. Similarly we are prompted by our own Inner Man, our own Souls to give of the fruits of this life to the Lord and in rejection we do not see either that this Inner Man is the chief building block of eternal life. And again, the husbandmen of today, the leaders of our societies, do not heed the promptings of those who seek to lead humanity into righteous, loving living and these leaders do not see either that those who seek to lead us right are to become chief building blocks of tomorrow.

This whole parable idea can work in any number of life’s circumstances but let us continue looking at the idea we set forth in the last post and that is Love. We painted the picture yesterday regarding the main part of the parable and the treatment by the selfishness of nations and groups toward those who attempt to correct and set straight the paths of any. In this ending part we can apply the same idea as Jesus applies to Himself; those who attempt to correct are ostracized and demeaned and injured and even jailed by those who resist this correction. In the end however, right triumphs and this person of right and the right itself become the corner stone of a new era. Those who had resisted have their resistance broken by the new right and those who continue to resist are ground down to a meaningless position in defeat. There are many real life examples of this around the world but one that we can all appreciate and likely even remember is in the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.. A voice of peace and Love and non-violent protest who was ostracized and demeaned by the opposition, injured and jailed and eventually killed. And in his death both he and the ideal became the chief corner stone for the abolishment of racism and racial hatreds. Those who had resisted were broken by the defeat of their philosophy of racism and had to stand idly by as the wave of brotherhood swept by them. Those who continued to resist were, and continue to be, crushed by the new unpopularity of their opinions and their actions. This is the story of the wicked husbandmen in our day and a keen example of the idea of the chief corner stone.

We will continue with the miracles of Jesus in the next post.

Note on the Quote of the Day