Love is the Fulfilling of the Law

ON LOVE; PART CXXXIII

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GoodWill IS Love in Action

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The point we have been working on from our original list is:

• Last we have the trees; “the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil“.

“Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die  And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened , and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons” (Genesis 3:1-7).

“And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return” (Genesis 3:8-19).

In the last essay we went through our understanding of the actions in Genesis as a summary of what we have been saying in our previous posts. We centered much of our comments on the factor of time and noted how we do not have any way to Truly understand the time factor as it applies to these days of creation nor the years of Life for the individuals mentioned from Adam to Noah. We get very little information about most of these people other that the name, the primary children’s name and some years lived before that child is born and the total of years for each. Based upon this the fundamentalist ideas from Christianity and Judaism seem able to calculate the age of the Earth and all other time frames that are associated with that.

Within this broad group of Christianity and Judaism there are some subgroups that do not subscribe to these ideas and these groups  are rather frowned upon by the more fundamental believers and we should note that those who do not subscribe are among the more occult leaning esoteric groups such as the Kabbalists out of the Jewish tradition and the Masons and Rosicrucians  out of the Christian Tradition. The perspective of each of these is different as each group has it own sense of doctrine that they teach and that may or may not reflect the reality which we are trying to grasp as well. In most all of these movements as in the mainstream of Judaism and Christianity, the teachings are those created by the founders, which become the standard for the particular group and generally any changes to these philosophies requires consensus among the hierarchy of the group or the formation of a subgroup or denomination. Our purpose for bringing out these ideas is to build a platform for our sense of the reality of Life and to see that we are not constrained by the doctrines and the traditions of the churches; we are just out of the mainstream as are the Kabbalists, the Rosicrucians and the Masons to name but a few.

In speaking of the Earth’s age and the advent of the sea creature, the land animal and the human and then leading up to the use of this human form by Adam, we are talking about immense expanses of time and the general theories of science regarding the beginnings of Life on Earth are rather valid in their essence but likely not in their particulars as much is guesswork and assumptions about things that happened long ago. The basic reality is that Life IS and has been for much longer than 6000 years and there is really no profit in maintaining the fundamentalist view when valid science points to a greater reality. From our perspective the teaching of the fundamental view of creation is a disservice to ALL; while the literal view of this Book of Genesis may have been useful for the man hearing and reading these things in that day a few thousand years ago, the modern man deserves better. We could complicate our theme with the inclusion of the lost continents of Atlantis and Lemuria and there is likely some truth in the existence of these legendary lands but this would not serve our purpose which is simply to state there is time factor that is likely more or less according to the dictates of science and certainly longer that the seven to ten thousand year allowance given by tradition and doctrine.

The words of the Book of Genesis are generally cumbersome and difficult to understand and are couched in an aura of parable where days and years have quite a different meaning than that which we see today. We have come to call the idea of a Creation Day an Epoch which is simply an undefined period of time and one with no need for conformity one to another. In the idea of the years of Life of Adam and of his descendants we have a similar issue as we KNOW that the length of time from the first man, Adam, to the first man about whom we read Life events, Abram,  is enumerated at about 2000 years whereas in the scientific viewpoint of this would be many times this number. It is here that we can ask again the broad question of when did the human form on Earth exhibit signs of mind and motivation as this is likely where we should place the man Adam. Also, in looking that this ideas of years and KNOWING that it is significantly longer that those enumerated and, at the same time understanding that the years enumerated for each man are exceedingly long as the Life of a man is concerned, we should try to see that there is some thing missing in our evaluation.

Ending this part of our discourse we should remind ourselves that men of science and of literature, of politics and of many other branches of human endeavor are as inspired by their own Souls as are the religious and in many cases much more so. Men from these fields of endeavor move society along and it is likely that only the more advanced of Souls that can carry forth a predestined idea into reality in the Earth. The Einsteins and Emersons and the Lincolns and the Kings that have passed through this Earth have brought with them dynamic ideas of lasting value and have made an impact upon the very nature of society and most of these would not be considered religious by the religious in their day nor today. They are however men who are doing the Will of God as seen in their own Souls; keeping their mission in sight while being subjected to the same illusions of Life as the rest, subjected to the same  shortcomings of character as we all are, we find that these Life issues did not overly detract from their accomplishments. There are likely many who come in this say way and who fail as they more fully succumb to the ways of Life in the world and get distracted by the illusory nature of Life in form and there are those who have the idea of what they must do but put it off until it becomes too late and we ourselves may be counted among them. This idea brings to mind today’s Quote of the Day from Biblestudytools.com which is “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom” (Psalm 90:12) and this is a caution to us not to waste the time that we have.

Our next part of this point regarding the trees is the Tree of Life and of this we have very little information except that there IS one that exists in the garden along with the tree we have been discussing, “the tree of knowledge of good and evil“. In the continuation of our verses above from Chapter Three we find this commentary: “And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living. Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them” (Genesis 3:20-21). We should note that these lines of commentary break up the words of the Lord regarding “the tree of knowledge of good and evil” and the Tree of Life and they are given in such a way as to give us reason for the name Eve as mother before she was mother of any and the use of an animals skin as clothing which thought must have come from somewhere but we KNOW not where. Now the idea of modesty is hinted at in the earlier verses and we cannot KNOW what they are hiding from insofar as there is no one but them in the single person understanding of the story of Adam and Eve. Doctrine may point to various ideas on this but none are Truly sensible; they had always been naked and the Lord as an onlooker or as their own Souls was aware of this. In our view here today we can premise that if this IS NOT the single persons of Adam and Eve alone, that the modesty can be a function of the vanity offered by the illusions of the world that they are subjected to at the time that they taste the pleasures of Life in form; this vanity would be senseless however in a world where there are but the two. Here now in these later verses we have the Lord furnishing clothing  and again we only have the prospect of modesty as the cause except if we take into consideration the reality as we perceive it. In their original way of coming into the Earth, as Souls taking to themselves human animal forms, Adam and Eve are still Souls and this KNOWLEDGE is theirs; they KNOW what they are: Souls expressing Life and consciousness through form. As we have said, the human form already existed and it did what it did as a higher animal in the Earth and perhaps this Life of the human in that day did already used aprons and clothing as a covering but, being animals, we should KNOW that the reason is not modesty.

We know also that the animal kingdom is more or less suited to the regions in which they live with coats and tails and claws and what have you for their comfort, use, and protection and this is most likely True of the human animal as well. In this we should try to see that there is much happening here that is beneath the words of Genesis and of which we KNOW extremely little. So let us premise two things; first that the human animal had already been using clothing and aprons for protection against the elements or second, that with the coming into the human animal the self consciousness of the Soul and the manifestation of the personality with its attendant thoughts and emotions, we have also the slow and steady manifestation of thinking about comfort and thinking about the competitive nature of modesty and whatever other thoughts and feelings can go through one’s mind when he is naked. These thoughts and feelings are that result of man’s subjection to the vanity, the ways of the world in illusion and glamour, that are brought about by his tasting of the pleasures of the world and his devolvement into them. This all brings us to the Tree of Life which is spoken of by the Lord in the context of preventing the man in form who has tasted of the pleasures of the world from having quick access to it. We read:

“And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life” (Genesis 3:22-24).

In the last post we premise that the Garden of Eden is that place where man entered into the world and here we can expand upon this idea. In the Garden man IS as yet the Soul who has taken to himself a form; he KNOWS who and what he is and has not yet tasted the pleasures of the world. From this perspective this Garden is a state of being as much as it is a place in the world and probably more so; here we have the first experience of the Soul, the True man, expressing Life and consciousness through an animal form and we must repeat here again that we DO NOT KNOW anything real about the reason why and this is True as well regarding ALL things to do with Life regardless of one’s beliefs. As we have said previously, this Soul that is now expressing through form must adjust his Life and consciousness to the instincts and the appetites of the human animal itself and to the ever growing personality that is created by this union. This is much to deal with and with the added factor of another Soul expressing Life through a female human form creating those interactions which we still have today, we have the reality of the story of Adam and Eve; deceived by the ways of the world which are vanity and illusion; fixing their strong desires as thoughts and emotions upon this deception and, believing the that the illusions are real insofar as the Truth of this new Life, they taste of ALL that the world has to offer. They are no longer in this state of being that we can call the Garden of Eden. The Lord says “the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil” and we can only imagine the True implications of this saying of which we have posited before that it is the Great Collective God Consciousness of the Hierarchy of Lives that have passed though this human experience before speaking to yet another round in this eternal drama of the Life of God. While we may not have said this quite this way before, we should understand that the possibilities are endless as we speak here of ETERNITY which, better than viewing as never beginning and never ending, can be viewed simply as ALWAYS IS.

These are hard concepts to understand and rather impossible to comprehend in the finite mind of the man in form but for the Soul, the divine man, these are not impossible and here is the beginning of our understanding of the Tree of Life; that this is the greater realization that we have as Souls fully expressing though form, the greater realization found in Soul consciousness…..the greater realization of the man who can be like the Master of whom the Apostle Paul tells us “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9). This is the goal, the objective and the reality of Life from this perspective of the man in form.

We will continue with our thoughts in the next post and continue on eventually to our final point below.

• “This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.  And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth: And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters: And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died” (Genesis 5:1-5) .

Aspect of God	Potency	Expressed as Fire	Aspect of Man	In Relation to the Christ
GOD, The Father	Will or Power	Electric Fire	Spirit or Life	Life
Son, The Christ	Love and Wisdom	Solar Fire	Soul or Christ Within	Truth
Holy Spirit	Light or Activity	Fire by Friction	Life Within the Form	Way

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR

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 continue on with this saying from the Buddha as our Quote of the Day and we will try to put this into the perspective of our discussion on the trees and the choices that we all make.

Our Quote of the Day below can be seen in relationship to our text above as we must awake and see past the illusion and the glamour of Life in form; before we can begin to progress, we must be able to recognize that this illusion exists and that it has always existed can help us in our understanding. We should understand here as well that the master that is spoken of is one’s own True self, one’s own Soul.

If you are awake in the presence of a master One moment will show you the way. The fool is his own enemy. The mischief is his undoing. How bitterly he suffers! Why do what you will regret? Why bring tears upon yourself? Do only what you do not regret, And fill yourself with joy. For a while the fool’s mischief Tastes sweet, sweet as honey. Bit in the end it turns bitter. And how bitterly he suffers! For months the fool may fast, Eating from the tip of a grass blade. Still he is not worth a penny Beside the master whose food is the way. Fresh milk takes time to sour. So a fool’s mischief Takes time to catch up with him. Like the embers of a fire It smolders within him. Whatever a fool learns, It only makes him duller. Knowledge cleaves his head. For then he wants recognition. A place before other people, A place over other people. “Let them know my work, Let everyone look to me for direction.” Such are his desires, Such is his swelling pride. One way leads to wealth and fame, The other to the end of the way. Look not for recognition But follow the awakened And set yourself free.

The above is from the the sayings of the Buddha in the Dhammapada, from the section entitled The Fool. Fool here should be seen as reflecting the person who follows the worldly ways and this regardless of one’s intended spiritual nature or standing if this can be so expressed. This is a lesson in following one’s master who we look at as the Master, the Christ, and all those disciples of Christ that have come before us; they KNOW the way that we, being seekers, should follow. In this is a lesson on being humble and meek, the antithesis of pride.