IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 465

Love is the Fulfilling of the Law

ON LOVE; PART LVII

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GoodWill IS Love in Action

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We begin today by repeating the Quote of the Day banner that we used for last year’s United Nations Day and for the several days that preceded it. We post also two sayings from the Book of Acts that we believe are appropriate to this occasion as they show the intended unity of ALL the world’s peoples from the perspective of the Apostles Paul and Peter and these sayings we will discuss again a bit further down. With this in mind we encourage ALL like minded people to find a way to participate in this important World Body whose objectives are our objectives as aspirants to discipleship with the Christ. It is most unfortunate that most of what we hear in the media regarding the United Nations is disparaging and derogatory and, if our next generations are to better understand the role of the United Nations and their own responsibilities in the world of men, this must change to an atmosphere of support.

One World, One Humanity, One God

United Nations Day

In 1947, the United Nations General Assembly declared 24 October, the anniversary of the Charter of the United Nations, as which “shall be devoted to making known to the peoples of the world the aims and achievements of the United Nations and to gaining their support for” its work.

In 1971 the United Nations General Assembly adopted a further resolution (Resolution 2782) declaring that United Nations Day shall be an international holiday and recommended that it should be observed as a public holiday by all United Nations member states.

United Nations Day is devoted to making known to peoples of the world the aims and achievements of the United Nations Organization. United Nations Day is part of United Nations Week, which runs from 20 to 26 October.*

• God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; And 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 (Acts 17:24-26).
• Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him (Acts 10:34-35).

Any who believe that the words in the bible are the Word of God and who at the same time discount the meaning of these ideas above or attempt to change their meaning into self serving diatribes that miss the point of the Master’s teachings, are not seeing clearly the intent of the Christ and His apostles in their saying these things. If one acts in this way of discounting and changing and at the same time believes that they are ‘saved’ or that they themselves are ‘disciples’ or that they have garnered any spiritual benefit to their credit at all, they are most likely sorely mistaken and must look again at the words of the Apostle James who tells us clearly that there is necessity in his words saying “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22). This deception is the cause of most ALL of the human failings when we view Life from the perspective of the True man, the Christ Within, the Soul, and from the perspective of those who, with the Christ, try to guide our race of men “into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). Through focus upon this world of things we are caught up in the illusion and the glamour of Life in form and we can only be released by seeing clearly, and this then is the beginning of the process that the Master calls redemption and which only comes to a man when he begins to heed the ‘still small voice‘ of his own Soul as heard in conscience.

There is a Old Testament revelation of this ‘still small voice‘ in the Life of the Prophet Elijah which happens at a time when he thought that he himself was lost and alone and likely forsaken as those around him seemed to him to be after his very Life:

“And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah? And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away. And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out , and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?” (1 Kings 19:9-13).

This ‘still small voice‘, this voice of conscience is an easy thing to confuse with the self centered thoughts that come to a man from his own personality and many there are who mistake the thoughts of the self in form for the ‘still small voice‘ of the True man which is from within or, as it is framed by James, from above. The thoughts of the self in form are likely to be more appealing than those from the Soul when seen from the perspective of the man in form who is following the ways of the lower self and the ways of the world. It is here in the world that the choices are made as to what to do and what to think is True and it is here that the changes to the Master’s intent take place. Let us take for example here the ideas of the Master on discipleship; His words are clear and they tell us that “whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath , he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:33). This is compounded by the Master’s words to the rich young man (ruler) saying to him about his ‘great possessions’ that  “One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me” (Mark 10:21) which is even more certain as to His message as we read this in Matthew’s Gospel where He says: “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor” (Matthew 19:21). There is nothing unclear here and yet Jesus makes this even clearer saying, when the rich young man realized that he could not part with what he had, that “How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!” (Mark 10:23).

Herein we can see the difficulty of becoming a disciple and the reality of the Master’s words to Peter saying: “Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak” (Mark 14:38) which cautions us that even when Love and the Power of discipleship flows through a man, he is still at risk in the world. Herein we can also see the reality of Life in form, seemingly alone and afraid and feeling forsaken as Elijah, and faced with the reality of forsaking ALL without the certainty that faith should have brought. Here, instead of steadfastly looking inward to the source of strength, the man looks out to the world and, for those who do not Truly KNOW, it becomes easier to change the Truth rather than to heed it. We again look at the words of the Master to Peter saying that: “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren” (Luke 22:31-32) and we should see here that Satan IS the ways of he world, it is temptation and it is evil as we have discussed. We have often said that the Life of Peter is our guide to attaining the Kingdom; in the stories of his Life we see the ups and the downs of the aspirant and the disciple, we see the duality of Life in form. And, we should try to see that this guide is intentionally left for us in the many references to his Life in the gospels and the Book of  Acts. We should ever try to understand that even in his high position with the Master, even in all of his forsaking of ALL that he had and that he KNEW, Peter is still ‘rebuked’ for those things that he did that were not in the fullness of the Spirit. We use this idea of fullness because as a disciple the apostle did nothing wrong which we as onlookers can detect. Doctrine may apply this to the apostles opposition to the suffering of the Christ yet to come but this is not a Truly defensible position and, while ours may not be either, we believe that it offers better insight into the fullness that we ALL seek as the end point in this worldly existence. It is this fullness that causes us to be “delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). Peter’s response to the Master was, from the worldly perspective, a right a proper response but Peter, while no longer being in the world, was caught up in the temptation to be as he had previously KNOWN.

As we saw in a recent post the Master in His prayer near the end of His time with us in the flesh says: “I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They arenot of the world, even as I am not of the world” (John 17:14-16). This is Jesus prayer and His vision of what is to become of His apostles and the disciples; this is His testimony of their reaching the fullness of expression of the Life of the Soul, the Christ Within, through form and in this fullness we are no longer of this world. This is the end result of heeding the ‘still small voice‘ which is the voice of the Christ Within, the Soul, and which is understood as the reality of hearing from God. It is this ‘still small voice‘ that can both clarify and confuse as it is unknown to the man in form what is the True source of the revelation….the Soul or the personality in the world. This is the importance of the words of James that we so often use as our best tool for KNOWING Truth; in James’ words we find the reality of the nature of what it is that comes from the Christ Within and what does not and we use this again here because of its ultimate importance in our journey to the Path and to the strait gate that opens into the Kingdom of God. James tells us:

“But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy” (James 3:14-17).

And, what we said the last time we used these words we say again so that our understanding can be complete: We should be careful here as to how some of this is interpreted because “bitter envying and strife” do not just cover the harshest of ideas that these bring forth but, in envy we should also see emulation which Vincent is as tells us is a better translation and of which he says: Emulation is the better general rendering, which does not necessarily include envy, but may be full of the spirit of self-devotion ⁴. Strife is rendered wrongly according to Vincent who tells us that: Thus it comes to be applied to those who serve in official positions for their own selfish interest, and who, to that end, promote party spirit and faction ⁴; (For more on these words see In the words of Jesus part 323). Can we understand “bitter envy and strife” as things for the self? These can be ideas, interpretations, assumed revelations or the fulfillment of desires which ALL have for their common thread that they are for the self, the carnal man in the world. In the list of what IS “the wisdom that is from” there IS NO sense of self whatsoever, the ideas, interpretations, assumed revelations or the desires of the carnal man ARE NOT and CAN NOT be included in the word of this list. This is the Truth of the ‘still small voice‘, there is NO SELF involved in the revelation and NO THING that is of the world; it is ONLY the Love and the Power that flows from the Christ Within, the Soul.

The following is from an article by H.P. Blavatsky, a very spiritual person who we will claim to be a True and genuine disciple of the Christ as ALL who can reach this level can be assumed to be. Her works are rejected by mainstream Christianity because of her use of ideas that are called by her occultism and the rejection if likely made by men who have never even looked at the depth and the volume of her written works nor the depth of spirituality and revelation that is to be found within them. If we replace the word occultism with the words Kingdom of God and where grammatically proper the word disciple(ship), then these words are saying the very same things that we are albeit from a different perspective.

How then can it be thought possible for a man to enter the “straight gate” of occultism when his daily and hourly thoughts are bound up with worldly things, desires of possession and power, with lust, ambition and duties, which, however honourable, are still of the earth earthy? Even the love for wife and family–the purest as the most unselfish of human affections–is a barrier to real occultism. For whether we take as an example the holy love of a mother for her child, or that of a husband for his wife, even in these feelings, when analyzed to the very bottom, and thoroughly sifted, there is still selfishness in the first, and an égoisme à deux in the second instance. What mother would not sacrifice without a moment’s hesitation hundreds of thousands of lives for that of the child of her heart? and what lover or true husband would not break the happiness of every other man and woman around him to satisfy the desire of one whom he loves? This is but natural, we shall be told. Quite so; in the light of the code of human affections; less so, in that of divine universal love. For, while the heart is full of thoughts for a little group of selves, near and dear to us, how shall the rest of mankind fare in our souls? What percentage of love and care will there remain to bestow on the “great orphan”? And how shall the “still small voice” make itself heard in a soul entirely occupied with its own privileged tenants? What room is there left for the needs of Humanity en bloc to impress themselves upon, or even receive a speedy response? And yet he who would profit by the wisdom of the universal mind, has to reach it through the whole of Humanity without distinction of race, complexion, religion or social status. It is altruism, not ego-ism even in its most legal and noble conception, that can lead the unit to merge its little Self in the Universal Selves. It is to these needs and to this work that the true disciple of true Occultism has to devote himself, if he would obtain theo-sophy, divine Wisdom and Knowledge.**

There is more that we will publish and discuss in the next post along with some commentary on what we have posted today; we should remember our words regarding Truth, there is but one and ALL of these spiritual perspectives have a part in IT.