Monthly Archives: June 2012

IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 367

Love is the Fulfilling of the Law

ON GOD; Part CXLIX

And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith. And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you. But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat? And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink? Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do” (Luke 17:5-10).

 “But many that are first shall be last; and the last first” (Mark 10:31)

We ended yesterday with both of these sayings and it is probably prudent to express our thoughts on them here again so that there is less confusion regarding the way that we are using them. We posed the question in the last post saying that: can we understand the depths of this giving? Can we see the idea here also of the starting phrase; that there are many that are first, those that can exit satisfied that they have done their duty, who will become last, they will stay to give their ALL? Remembering that the Master is speaking to His disciples in both instances above and both are, in our view, explanatory of the nature of the disciple; that he will accomplish what he has to do, his duty if you will, but will continue on in the service of the Lord and give his ALL in service to his fellowmen. There an ancient aphorism which states this truth in a different way and on which we have taken the liberty of render in a more understandable language; it goes thus:

“He who faces the light of His Soul and stands within its radiance is blinded to the issues of the world of men; he passes on the lighted way to the Kingdom of God. But he who feels the urge to pass that way, yet loves his brother on the darkened path, revolves upon the pedestal of light and turns the other way.

“He faces towards the dark and then the seven points of light within himself transmit the outward streaming light, and lo! the face of those upon the darkened way receives that light. For them, the way is not so dark. Behind the warriors—twixt the light and dark—blazes the light of the Kingdom itself.“**

Do we see the meaning here of the giving and of the sacrifice of the disciple. He is able to take leave, he is among “many that are first” but at the same time he realizes that he has but “done that which was our duty to do” and in this realization he “revolves upon the pedestal of light and turns the other way“. This becomes the conscious choice of the liberated Soul in form in this world as while he KNOWS that he can rest in his accomplishment, he is yet driven to give ALL as did the Christ. This likely goes further than this Life in form also as we noted in past posts that the apostles and other persons who came into incarnation with the Master to help in the accomplishment of His mission, came with this same purpose to fulfill. That is that they were accomplished Souls that chose to return, to incarnate in that time as a service to the Master and to humanity. We should also try to glimpse the idea that this dynamic is at work throughout the whole of the time that a man is Truly on the Path, that there is a constant prompting and urging to do more and to be more which radiates from the Christ Within and continually pushes the awakened man to greater and greater heights.

This naturally brings us to this next segment that we have had posted now for many days and which is in and of itself a declaration of the essence of Christian values. This is where we must begin, this is the result of that prompting and that urging of the Soul must bring about in the aspirants Life that sense of True Righteousness and this whether a man realizes that he is an aspirant or not.

Values to Live By

The idea of values is understandable enough and from the sociological perspective this word is properly defined for us as: the ideals, customs, institutions, etc., of a society toward which the people of the group have an affective regard. These values may be positive, as cleanliness, freedom, or education, or negative, as cruelty, crime, or blasphemy**. In ethics values are defined as any object or quality desirable as a means or as an end in itself**. Another way to look at this idea is in the realm of virtues which are defined for us as Moral goodness; the practice of moral duties and the abstaining from vice, or a conformity of life and conversation to the moral law. In this sense, virtue may be, and in many instances must be, distinguished from religion. The practice of moral duties merely from motives of convenience, or from compulsion, or from regard to reputation, is virtue, as distinct from religion. The practice of moral duties from sincere love to God and his laws, is virtue and religion. In this sense it is true1. There are values and there are virtues and in our context in this title we should see a combination of both of these ideas working out in the several statements that follow as they are indeed both. The idea of virtue is not used much in the New Testament and the references to virtue as the Power of the Master is a different word that means power and strength. The Apostle Peter uses the word saying that: “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue” (2 Peter 1:3). In this we should see the idea that this virtue comes from the Soul, the Christ Within and that it is a part of our expression in Life. This is True for ALL, again, regardless of whether one understands the source or not and it is this that we must ever encourage in ourselves and in those that we interact with. We should see this as the practical application of the Love of God, of GoodWill and of Right Human Relations and these we must ever practice and show them as the Fruit of the Spirit in our lives. It is right values and virtue that are a great part of the Light that the Master tells us about saying that we should “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).

A Love of Truth—essential
for a just, inclusive and progressive society;

This is a value and a virtue that is sorely missing in the world today. Truth is molded and changed to fit a need and lies are expressed as truths to change public opinion. There is a ‘spin’ to everything which is to say that the truth is colored in such a way as to benefit one party over another and as a term to cover the idea of half truths and even truths of lesser proportion. We find this in most every facet of human life. We find it in religion, in the doctrines of the churches as they try to convince the hearer that they are the right approach. We find this in politics and it could said that most everything that one hears on a political note is colored for the benefit of the party uttering the half truth or creating the spin. We find this in the everyday dealings of a man as he tries to paint himself as a person above others either for some practical purpose or just for the feeling it gives. So what of us as aspirants? do we Love Truth? Our Love of Truth is essential for our own spiritual walk, for our way on the Path and our exercise of this Love of Truth is just as essential. There are greater Truths and lessor ones and we should spend the energy necessary to not involve ourselves in areas where the greater Truths are violated and, of course, we should not violate them ourselves. We should also try to encourage Truth in those around us and the best way to do this is to be Truthful in everything ourselves, to catch ourselves when we violate Truth and to correct it when we can. We are told several things in the Gospel of John regarding Truth and in these we should see its power as a spiritual force and as a most worthy virtue:

  • And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth…..For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (John 1:14, 17). Truth, the very essence of the Master.
  • But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest , that they are wrought in God” (John 3:21). Here Truth is used in contrast to the evil in the previous verse so as to say that Truth is Good. Truth is done in the Light as the Master says here and by contrast we should understand and KNOW that those things that a man does that are not in Truth are generally done in the shadows and out of the sight of others.
  • God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). Can we understand the Master’s thoughts here, that one cannot Truly worship God in any way but in Truth and that if this is not the way that one approaches God, that his efforts will be of none effect.
  • And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). The Master tells us that this is the result of following in His word and we KNOW that this would per force make a man Truthful and, as we see here, this would make a man KNOW the greater Truths of Life and of the Kingdom. This starts with one’s own actions through keeping His words.
  • Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive , because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you” (John 14:17). Finally we see here the Holy Spirit, the activity of the Christ Within in the Life of the man in form. This IS Truth and as a disciple one is bound by Truth and as an aspirant one is moving steadily toward Truth in ALL things.

We will end here for today and leave the rest of this as it was in previous posts. We will pick up in the next post with Justice.

A Sense of Justice—recognition
of the rights and needs, of all.

Spirit of Cooperation—based
on active goodwill and the principle of right human
relationships;

A Sense of Personal Responsibility—for
group, community and national affairs;

Serving the Common Good— through
the sacrifice of selfishness. Only what is good for all
is good for each one.

The world of the future depends on what each one of us chooses to do today.

It is interesting to note that the ideas of the Quote of the Day embody much of the Master’s teachings and can set the stage for the beginning of each man’s revelation and realization of the Light of the Soul; that is, that by the intentional practice of these ‘rules’ of conduct one can put himself in the position of a follower of the Master and an keeper of His word and this regardless if he has ever heard of the Christ or wants to be affiliated with any ideas Christian. By keeping these sound principals of Life in mind and practicing them a man can lift himself up above and beyond the world of men and into the world of the Good, the Beautiful and the True as it exists for those in whom the Christ Within, the God Within, is awakened. Ponder on this.

In accord with the ideas that we close with above we bring again to your attention the ideas by which a man should Live. This Quote of the Day is the realty of how we should focus our lives and in so doing, all the other things alluded to above will take care of themselves and this is a great part of the selfless attitude of the disciple and his ability to forsake ALL.

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.

Today we repeat again the Great Invocation as our Quote of the Day.

From the point of Light within the Mind of God
Let light stream forth into the minds of men.
Let Light descend on Earth.

From the point of Love within the Heart of God
Let love stream forth into the hearts of men.
May Christ return to Earth.

From the centre where the Will of God is known
Let purpose guide the little wills of men–
The purpose which the Masters know and serve.

From the centre which we call the race of men
Let the Plan of Love and Light work out
And may it seal the door where evil dwells.

Let Light and Love and Power restore the Plan on Earth.

This prayer is a part of our Prayers and Meditations section and there is much information about it there and in our discussion of it in the Quote of the Day section of In the Words of Jesus parts 128-132

The above Invocation or Prayer does not belong to any person or group but to all Humanity. The beauty and the strength of this Invocation lies in its simplicity, and in its expression of certain central truths which all men, innately and normally, accept—the truth of the existence of a basic Intelligence to Whom we vaguely give the name of God; the truth that behind all outer seeming, the motivating power of the universe is Love; the truth that a great Individuality came to earth, called by Christians, the Christ, and embodied that love so that we could understand; the truth that both love and intelligence are effects of what is called the Will of God; and finally the self-evident truth that only through humanity itself can the Divine Plan work out.

Like the Lord’s Prayer, this invocation is a World Prayer which is as all that a prayer is intended to be. It is a prayer for the uplifting of the Human Family out of the mire of materialism and selfishness. The Lord’s Prayer asks nothing for the individual praying it but asks that its benefits be for US and for WE which is why it was given by the Christ as a prayer and as a model over 2000 years ago. This invocation is also attributed to the Christ who, as He promised, has never left us; He, through channels that we do not readily understand, has Himself instructed His disciples to distribute this prayer and to encourage its use as a world prayer and as an aid in preparing the world for His return.

The first three stanzas of this prayer should be understood as reflecting the effective potencies of the Trinity which is God and which, when brought down to an individual level, the Trinity which is Man. His Will, His Love and His Light we should seen as the Potent Powers of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

  • 1    Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1828 and 1913
  • ** “values.” Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 29 Jun. 2012.
  • *   Discipleship in the New Age – Volume II by Alice A Bailey; © 1955 by Lucis Trust

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