Love is the Fulfilling of the Law
ON LOVE; PART LVI
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GoodWill IS Love in Action
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In the last post we began our look at the United Nations in preparation for the upcoming celebration of United Nations Day on October 24th. As we discussed, the mission of the United Nations as it is defined in the Charter is a Truly Christian endeavor and, while much of the Christian community in America does not share this view, this is a Truth nonetheless. The basic reasons for this attitude of disdain against the United Nations appears to be a fear of the reality of the ideas of One Humanity, One God and One World which expresses the Unity and the Equality of ALL men and this we KNOW is True from the perspective of the True man, the Soul or the Christ Within. As to the part of the outward appearance we should be able to understand that these True men, these Souls, are working out lives in form in an rather infinite array of differing bodies and personalities expressing, as evolution permits, their own particular degree of Soul Light and this Light is expressed in some degree by ALL, even if it cannot be sensed by others. The very Life and consciousness of man IS the Light of the Soul. In this expression of Life and consciousness ALL men partake and through this expression ALL men evolve as they work toward being “delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). This is the same progression for ALL men as it IS ALL men of whom the Apostle Paul tells us that OUR God “hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed , and the bounds of their habitation” And it IS ALL men that “should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us” and this because the God Within, the Soul, belongs to ALL and IS IN ALL. The other part of this fear is a purely selfish one and one that is misconstrued in scripture….One World Order and One World Religion. While the Christian may believe that this this is against the precepts of the Christ and His teachings, the opposite is actually True as the Master’s teachings on Love include ALL and render ALL men brothers and this is easily seen when we can look at the Spirit and the Soul as the reality of the man and not to his phenomenal appearance. We should understand that this fear is unfounded and that the world is moving toward that necessary Unity which will end wars by ending the selfish attitudes that cause them. The reality of Life IS NOT found in the Book of Revelation but rather in the Words of Jesus; any prophecies based upon the Book of Revelation are just the fanciful wranglings of men and there are many such prophecies and thoughts that further separate the Human Family.
A central part of the United Nations is UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, which is dedicated to the advancement of these three human endeavors. Its purpose is to contribute to peace and security by promoting international collaboration through education, science, and culture in order to further universal respect for justice, the rule of law, and human rights along with fundamental freedoms proclaimed in the UN Charter*. Our mention of this is not to delve into the specifics of how the UN is organized and how it works as we are only interested here in the motivations for it creation and ideals as presented in its Charter and other pronouncements over time. However, it is from UNESCO that we get this poignant statement that we thought of use in our essay today:
‘Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed‘
We should remember here that the mind is of the world and not of the Soul; the mind is a part of a man’s personality and therefore of his form nature. As such the mind along with the emotions, the personality of the man, will express whatsoever is, according to the Master, a man’s treasure which is what he is focused upon and what he gives his time and attention to. The mind, being in and of the world, begins by only KNOWING what it is taught plus whatever proclivity may motivate it and, in this world, war and strife and those things that lead to war and strife play a large part. When however the Light of the Soul is allowed to shine brighter in the Life of a man, he begins to see from the perspective of the Soul and this does not require any religious or spiritual response whatsoever; here we have the conscience and the alternative for the mind that heretofore received input only from the world. In our saying from UNESCO we should get the message that education can assist a man in this by strengthening the alternative to war and strife in the mind thereby making that mind a more fertile ground for the fruits of righteousness as they stream from the Soul into the conscious personality of the man. Without this strengthening, which we could well call softening from the Souls perspective, there is the hard choice between the ways of the world and the ways of the Soul and, with no background, the ways of the world will generally win out and the conscience will be ignored; with this educational softening of ones position however, the choice becomes a softer one with a greater likelihood that the conscience will be followed.
Education however does disappoint us much as it currently exists in teachings that are partial to the culture or the nation in which it is given, supporting by nationalistic reasoning even the worst of offences against others. Add to this the idea that for the most part, the history that we teach our children not only encompasses a sometimes staunch nationalistic bent but is also a history of wars and conflicts as they are what is used to define segments in time. War is taught as a normal human response to the aggression of others although many times the aggression is only a perception by either party. We should be surprised by the way that supposedly Christian nations or nations founded upon ‘Christian’ values, can so easily march off to war with little motivation and grounded in pride and selfishness. We must understand that the very same things that can afflict a man and keep him from the Good, the Beautiful and the True can afflict nations and even groups of nations as well. It is human reasoning grounded in the world that leads us to war.
The United Nations was constructed to alleviate these conditions that lead to war but even here in this world body we have the same effects of the mind of man and this can only be overcome by right thinking as is covered by the Charter of the United Nations of which we present a part today. In the last essay we posted a part of the Preamble to the American Declaration of Independence; today we post the Preamble to the Charter of the United Nations:
WE THE PEOPLES OF THE UNITED NATIONS DETERMINED
- to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and
- to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and
- to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and
- to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,
AND FOR THESE ENDS
- to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbours, and
- to unite our strength to maintain international peace and security, and
- to ensure, by the acceptance of principles and the institution of methods, that armed force shall not be used, save in the common interest, and
- to employ international machinery for the promotion of the economic and social advancement of all peoples,
HAVE RESOLVED TO COMBINE OUR EFFORTS TO ACCOMPLISH THESE AIMS
Accordingly, our respective Governments, through representatives assembled in the city of San Francisco, who have exhibited their full powers found to be in good and due form, have agreed to the present Charter of the United Nations and do hereby establish an international organization to be known as the United Nations.
Can we see the principals of the teachings of the Master in these words and ideas and can we see how, with the proper support of the peoples of these nations that these High Ideals can become a reality in the world. Can we see also that to denigrate the United Nations as a world body and to withhold support for it for reasons of any national convenience or agenda can only serve to the contrary of the True message of the Christ. Here is where the sides must be chosen, we stand with God in the High Ideals or we stand with the world in individual and national agendas.
We return now to our list of verses and our look at the right discernment of these words that are translated as evil.
- “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen” (Matthew 6:13). This is likely one of the most recognizable verses in the New Testament and although there are some quarters of the church that do not profess this prayer as important or question the Master’s purpose in giving it, this is more from their own political motivations than from a Truly spiritual perspective. What can we see in respect to the word evil as it is used here, in both this version and in the version in Luke’s Gospel the Greek word used is poneros which we have defined in the last few posts. In the common understanding of this word we see that it refers to things malicious, bad and vile and this is the context that doctrine would have us see the in word here. When we last visited this verse we had problems understanding the idea of temptation as it is used here as we recognize that the Lord is not the cause of temptation as the Apostle James tells us saying: “Let no man say when he is tempted , I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man” (James 1:13). We posited that in speaking to disciples that the Master is saying that they should beware of using their High Calling to their own benefit as there was little else which at that time made much sense and this is discussed in In the Words of Jesus part 340 in the Quote of the Day section. Today however we can see this differently and this because we can see the idea of evil differently; today we can understand that in prayer to the Father we are essentially invoking the Love and the Power of the God Within for, to us as men, this is our way to see and hear God. As aspirants and disciples and even as people in the world, this is an invocation of one’s own Christ Within to not allow the conscious personality to fall back into the ways of the world as they constantly lure the man to the things and the perceived pleasures of the world. For those who KNOW, this is the Christ Within, the Soul, and for those who do not KNOW this is conscience; for both the temptations are there and real and the prayer is to keep us from this focus on the world and the recognition of the temptations which lead us to ‘give in’ to them which is here the meaning of evil. These temptations can be of any nature with the only common point being that they are of the things of the world. The Master tells us about the idea of focus from the perspective of prayer saying: “Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak” (Mark 14:38) and this He says to a True disciple….the Apostle Peter.
- “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows” (1 Timothy 6:10). We close here with this saying from Paul and again we should understand that his is not in reference to the Truly malicious, bad or vile doings of a man but rather that it is in reference to the things of the world. Money is power in the world, it is possessions, it is or can be seen as those things that give one pleasure in the world which Webster’s tells us is what a man Loves saying that we love whatever gives us pleasure and delight 1. This saying is commonly taken to mean that one should not Love money and this is likely True as well as the idea that one should not Love what money can do for a man. While these are nice things to say, they are hard to realize so long as the man is focused upon the world and in this we should see the deeper meaning of the apostles saying. Paul is speaking to Timothy about disciples and aspirants who are distracted by the temptations of the world and here money is paramount; money and what it brings are among the temptations in the world of things which can swallow up even the most ardent aspirant if he is not careful. Humanity has done itself no service and neither has the church by putting so much emphasis upon the satisfactions of worldly desires; much of the church compounds this by changing the very meaning of the words of the Master about riches and being rich to meanings that will allow for one to have money and what it can bring to the man. And here is the real warning of Paul; that to Love and to pursue money and the power and possessions that it can bring is to have “have erred from the faith” and the reality of what this brings into the life of the man who would seek God is poignantly stated by the apostle as his saying that those who so err have “pierced themselves through with many sorrows“; they have brought their lives back into focus on the world of things or, for the average man, prevents him from the proper focus on the Life of the Soul.
|
Aspect of God |
Potency |
Aspect of Man |
|
Father |
Will or Power |
Spirit or Life |
|
Son, The Christ |
Love and Wisdom |
Soul or Christ Within |
|
Holy Spirit |
Light or Activity |
Life Within |
This concludes our look at the right ideas enclosed in the gospel use of the words translated as evil; we will have some closing comments in the next post and begin with something new.
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.:
So that we do not forget that the reality of this ALL is still LOVE which is our Truth regardless of whatever other realizations may come to us in Life, we present here again the Apostle Paul’s words followed by our own understanding of this reality:
….but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law (Romans 13:8-10).
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)
We should remember always to link to this Greatest Commandment that other saying of the Master that gives to us the practical understanding of how to love one’s self plus the practical instruction on how it is that we CAN Love our neighbour; He tells us:
Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them
(Matthew 7:12)
Unlike so much of the Master’s sayings that come to us in the form of parables and for which we can only surmise that we have the spiritual presence to understand, these sayings are very straightforward and they are the key to many of the promises of spiritual life; they are the very key to the Kingdom of God. To these sayings we add our adopted definition of the Greek word agape (agapao) which is translated into the English words Love and Charity and which is:
‘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’
- 1 Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1828 and 1913
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
- * Wikipedia contributors. “UNESCO.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 22 Sep. 2012.
