Love is the Fulfilling of the Law
ON LOVE; PART XII
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GoodWill IS Love in Action
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Our writing on the reality of discipleship may be a bit depressing to some but this should not be anyone’s reaction to these things as they have always been properly painted by the Master and His apostles in the New Testament. As we often say, it is unfortunate that this reality has been diluted in the doctrines of the churches to the point where there is a general belief, even among those of ‘authority’ in the churches, that the doctrinal teachings of believing and faith are what leads a man to this High Calling. As we KNOW, the Master’s words are clear insofar as the requirements of discipleship and His cautions and warnings about what a man may believe are equally clear and, clear as well are His pronouncements of the difficulties and the striving that is necessary to overcome the ways of the world and to come to a point where a man can forsake those things that keep him captive. We explored some of this in the last post and we tied the Master’s words on forsaking as they appear in the Gospel of Luke and the Gospel of Matthew to the Master’s words on where a man’s “treasure is” and we can perhaps find our solution to discipleship today in these words and others that serve to explain for us this idea of forsaking in a way that we can understand it and accomplish what the Christ intended. We should KNOW here that whatsoever was intended by the Master can be found deep within each of us as the Christ Within continually prompts us toward UNION with Himself, the God Within which we KNOW as the Soul. We will pick up with our thoughts on treasure here again after we again read the Master’s words on discipleship:
“If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath , he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26-27, 33).
In the allied saying from Matthew’s Gospel we read:
“He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it” (Matthew 10:37-39).
The Apostle John tells us this of the Masters words on discipleship:
“Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed” (John 8:31).
“Herein is my Father glorified , that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples” (John 15:8).
While ALL of the Master’s sayings can be said to be related to the ONE Goal of UNION with one’s own Soul, his Christ Within, it would be difficult to find any that are more related than His words on treasure and on heart. It should be our understanding here that the heart, as the Master uses this Greek word kardia, is the consciousness of man which is the fullness of his awareness in form. As we have posited in past essays, the consciousness and the Life of the man in form are the ‘aliveness’ that the body and the personality receive from the Soul and this ‘aliveness’ is what we call Life from the perspective of the man on Earth. When this ‘aliveness’ leaves the body the body is said to be deceased but, if we believe in the reality of the eternal nature of Life, we KNOW that the ‘aliveness’ continues albeit in a different sphere of existence and expression which we humbly call the afterlife. This is not however our direction for today as we are here focused upon the Life of the man in the Earth who is ‘alive’ by means of the Life and the consciousness of the Soul that IS within and IS the Christ Within. In this context we have also premised that the Life is used by the body for its ‘aliveness’ in physical matter and that the consciousness is lent to the personality nature for its use during any period of ‘aliveness’ which we call incarnation. This idea of lending is used in this context for lack of a better word and to show the relationship of the consciousness which is of the Soul to the personality which is of the world; the personality uses this consciousness as its sense of awareness in form. The Master tells us, and we should KNOW as well by experience, that the consciousness of man, his heart if you will, can be good or evil and in this we should be able to understand that the heart can be focused upon the things of the world or upon the things of God or, as is our dilemma as aspirants, focused on both.
This sense of good or of evil is what the Master is referring to in His words about treasure and we understand this word as focus and as what it is that a man may attend to and place his attention on and all of these are functions of that consciousness. Before we look again at the Master’s words, let us try to understand the nature of this idea of lending which we present as the use of the consciousness by the form Life, the body and the personality. We can say here that Life IS, it is the activity of existence. Consciousness on the other hand is the awareness of that Life and the building room of experience in existence or in Life. ALL things are alive in some way, and this we have discussed before (In the Words of Jesus part 343 and 409), but ALL things are not conscious as we can understand this term and, it is only in the realm of man, the True man as the Soul and Spirit, that there the expression of self-consciousness. So we should see here that Life IS and that consciousness is a part of that Life in some of the kingdoms of nature as we see them in the Earth and, through our feeble ability to measure the things of God, we say that some rudimentary consciousness exists in the animal kingdom. We should note here that the animal kingdom DOES include the body of the man in the Earth and that essentially ALL of these animal bodies are rather similar in their composition although not at all in their design nor purpose.
This is the role of evolution as it effects the kingdoms of nature and there is likely much more Truth to be seen in the theories of Darwin and others when one can divorce the Life and the consciousness of the form from the nature of the form itself. If we can take this a bit further we can see that just as the Soul of man gives the form of man Life and self-consciousness, so the souls of the animal kingdom give Life and consciousness to the variety of different forms that are available for the expression of such Life and consciousnesses in that realm. Any intelligent look at the variety of animal forms in the world will show that there is a great diversity of conscious ability within those forms and one cannot equate a dog with a lizard nor a horse with a rat as we recognize that the dog and the horse are aware of their surroundings and can participate in activity while the lizard and the rat are not. We can see the cunning in the big cats and the relative intelligence of the elephant and we could here go on and on. Life then and consciousness are imparted to the animal nature by the Souls as the eternal beings and in this we KNOW NOT anything of the purpose nor the cause but we do KNOW that this is ALL a part of Awesome PLAN of God.
So we can say here in our essay that the Soul lends its consciousness to the form and the personality as it exists here in time and space and that the personality becomes for a time the expression of that consciousness. Now this is the first time we have said this quite this way and we should understand here what we mean. While we speak of ALL of these things as separate parts we must understand that they are in reality not separate at all. Our awareness is our consciousness and our personality uses this to the extent of the ability which the Soul was able to build into his form, that is to the extent of the suitability of the mental apparatus and the brain which connects this mind to the body plus the suitability of the emotional nature and the endocrine system which connects these emotions to the body through the glands. This ability of the Soul to live through the form he has built is responsible for the billions of different expressions of human Life as we see them in the world today. That no two are identical, neither in nature nor in the ability to accept the Love and the Power that flows from the Soul, is the function of this diversity of expression and of the individual ability to express Life and consciousness while behind this ALL there is a great similarity and the UNITY of ALL as Souls.
It is in this ability to express Life and consciousness that the Soul works through the personality and this working through only begins when the Soul is able to impress upon the personality that this consciousness has become the reality of the True Life and the source of the consciousness within. It is upon the ability of expression and the accepted impression that change of focus from the things of the world to the things of God can occur. We noted in a recent essay that the Christ is the ONLY one who had come to Life on this Earth with the fullness of the awareness of Who and What He is; for ALL the rest, we are born into the world and, as the Apostle Paul tells us, we are “made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope” (Romans 8:20) and we should note here how we can so readily use this revelation given to us in Paul’s words. Man is born into the world and takes on the nature of the world to a greater or a lessor degree but he does take it on nonetheless and this is then his focus from which he is destined to “be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21)
The Master tells us about this focus as the attention given by the consciousness as it is used by the personality in His telling us about treasure and about the heart. Let us look here at His words:
- “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:19-21). In these words is the idea of focus should we but look for it. He tells us to accumulate spiritual collateral and not worldly things and the way to do so is simply by focus, by attending to the things of God instead of the things of the world. Look at today’s man who builds his empire on Earth by strict adherence to the rules of the world of men and we should note here that this idea of empire is relative and is not limited to the rich alone. It is a rather simple alliance here; the Master tells us that wheresoever one’s focus is, there will be found his consciousness and his awareness and this is either on the things of the world or on the things of God or alternately upon them both.
- “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh” (Luke 6:45). In these words we have our ideas again with the good treasure being focus upon the things of God and evil treasure being focus upon the thing of the world. We should remember that there is no real evil here but rather just attention to the things of the world as opposed to the objective of Life through the things of God. The added emphasis of the abundance of the heart gives us the clear understanding that it is what we focus upon that becomes that abundance and it is on this abundance that the consciousness that IS the man in form will speak and will act. Like a runaway train picking up speed on a decline, so will the focus of the Life of a man accumulate for him that abundance from either above or from below.
- This same thought is worded a bit differently in Matthew’s Gospel where the Master tells us: “Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit. O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things” (Matthew 12:33-35). Here we have the relationship of fruit and we should understand this as the expression of a mans Life in form. This is expressed in the version from Luke in the preceding verses to what we have posted above as well and we will deal with this point next. Here we see the explanatory notes on the abundance of the heart, that this can be good fruit or evil fruit and that the tree, or the man, is known by his fruit which is parabolically the same as the treasure except that one can be seen as the focus and the other as the expression of that focus. Luke’s version tells us that “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). We should note here the use of the word corrupt in place of evil and the comparison of the type of fruit to the source of that fruit. Can we see that we cannot gain spiritual things from the world of men nor can we gain worldly things through our focus upon the things of God.
It is unfortunate that this idea of treasure is relegated to mean treasure in a physical sense and that the heart is seen as the seat of desire. The Master does leave us with this impression by His parabolic use of these words but we must ever see the parabolic nature of His teachings. There is however one more place that may be able to give us the proper understanding if we are unable to unravel it from above. In the end of the Parable of the Rich Fool (In the Words of Jesus part 109 and 110) the Master tells us “So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:21). Here we should see that the building of anything here on this Earth takes away from a man’s ability to show his focus upon the things of God and in the context of this parable we should see that ALL that the man has done for himself is wasted as in his death it ALL remains behind and he has naught to bring out of Life with him.
We will continue with these thoughts in the next post and will finish our look at the sayings at the top and the bottom of our essay which are on discipleship and faith and believing respectively. We will also try to get to an analysis of the words below that have served as our Quote of the Day now for many days.
- “But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matthew 18:6).
- “The baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven, or of men? And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say unto us, Why did ye not then believe him?…..For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him” (Matthew 21:25, 32).
- “Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not…….” (Matthew 24:23-26).
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.
We leave our quote of the day for another day as in it we find some of the realities of what is man as Spirit, Soul and the Life within the form. In this affirmation we find our understanding of our relationship to God and our relationship to man. Our relationship to God is as Part and Parcel of Him; our relationship to man is in service.
I am a point of light within a greater Light. I am a strand of loving energy within the stream of Love divine. I am a point of sacrificial Fire, focused within the fiery Will of God. And thus I stand I am a way by which men may achieve. I am a source of strength, enabling them to stand. I am a beam of light, shining upon their way. And thus I stand. And standing thus, revolve And tread this way the ways of men, And know the ways of God. And thus I stand.Today’s Quote of the Day is called the Affirmation of the Disciple and is spoken from the perspective of the Soul and not from that of the man in form. It is the Soul that we are in this life on Earth, housed in this ‘temple’ of flesh and it is the Light of the Soul that must flow through this ‘temple’ in order that we may say with the Christ “I have overcome the world” (John 16:33) which is our goal and our destiny. Speaking then as the Soul we affirm our reality and true existence in God and in His Three Aspects of Light and Love and His Will. As this Light and Love and Will flow through our conscious personalities and forms we, as disciples, take on the nature of the second stanza being able to offer to the world a better way through our service and our Love for all, encouragement to righteousness through our strength of purpose, and the Light which shines in accordance with the Master’s instructions to “Let your light so shine before men” (Matthew 5:16) and illuminates the Path. Finally we realize that we are standing in this world and walking as men but, as conscious Souls in form, we know the way and the ways of God and are able to say with the Christ that “I am not of this world” (John 8:23).
Looking at Life as we depict it above in relation to this affirmation we can see the idea presented that we are a part of God and that this is true on multiple levels, the levels that we call the Trinity. Relating these first three lines to the chart above can offer some clarity as to the nature of God and of man. For more on the ideas in this Affirmation of the Disciple please refer to the Quote of the Day from In the Words of Jesus parts 179-181.
