IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 576

Love is the Fulfilling of the Law

ON LOVE; PART CLXV

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GoodWill IS Love in Action

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“There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:  That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:1-15).

We skipped a day yesterday in favor of a family outing and though it would have been difficult and perhaps just a quick look at some things as we sometimes do when pressed for time, we could have done a essay as well. This in conjunction with a part of our theme from the last essay gives us our starting point today. We had discussed that confusion and bewilderment and even doubt as we look at what we are doing and what we believe when compared to the ways of the world both large and small; there are few or none that see Life as we see it nor who see God and spiritual pursuits in the same Light as we and this causes us to at times wonder if what we are doing and saying is right or if it is us that are not seeing clearly. In this same way, having committed to this undertaking of reading and writing these essays on our perception of the Life of the True man, we feel in a similar way to the confusion, the bewilderment and the tinge of doubt when ever we miss a day of writing and especially when we miss on a day where some extra effort would have allowed us to post some semblance of thoughts.

What the dynamic is that is behind this likely emotional reaction to missing a day is not understood and is different than the emotional reaction to what we do have in comparing our ideas to others but the common thread here is that these are emotional reactions and thoughts about feelings that are present within our working everyday personalities and both are easily dispelled by the Light of the Soul. However, even in this one could wonder if that dispelling power is Truly from the Soul. These ideas are both products of the illusion and the glamour, both self created for individual use from these powerful forces of Life in form that stream forth through the world cultured personality which is, as we discussed in our look at the Creation of man, produced by that union of Soul and the actual body of flesh. This personality, when combined with the propensities of the body that helps produce it, its instincts and its appetites, creates in time and space that person that we are individually in the Earth….totally unique but equal from the perspective of the indwelling Soul trying to express himself through the body and the personality that he has been able to build based upon his own progression of Life in the world over the many incarnations that he has endured.

We have spoken before of such things as this and in some ways these unique thoughts are what can lead to our confusion and bewilderment and even our doubt as there is no foundational support for these ideas; there is no ready text that gives this information and they are derived from many sources, the most important of which is one’s own Soul. It is from here that we find the reality of the Wisdom from above, it is from one’s own Soul that we find the Light and within that Light we find the fruit of the Spirit and when we can Truly sit back and contemplate what we do and say we can see that it is MORE of this that effects our behavior and LESS of those things that we read and hear. In this we must try to understand that the reading and the hearing serve only to ‘turn on’ or to ‘turn off’ one’s innate ability to comprehend and to understand, an innate ability that we have ‘grown’ to have through our many incarnations in form over the long time of this, our True career. We should see here that this is again a broad brush stroke approach to a very complex issue that has many nuances and is dependent upon some understanding of the ‘free will’ aspects of Life in form over which we have no control so that intent and results need not be related. We can build a body that is otherwise harmed by outside forces and thereby incapable of expressing that which we, as a Soul, had come to express. In a similar way the Soul’s intention can be completely waylaid by such experience in form that pulls a man away from his purpose and allows him to spiral backward into the abyss of carnal Life erasing any progress that there may have been in a current Life in form and perhaps even undoing previous progress. The progress is of course our journey to the Path and along the Path to God, to union with the God Within and the functional ability to express that God Within through the form Life in the world.

In this we can likely see that we cannot as men in form discern the relative progress of any other Soul who is expressing Life in form any more than we can relate our own position as it would compare to our thoughts, actions and motivations of not too long ago when we ourselves were not at all acting in the same spiritual way that we are acting today. And, in this realization we should understand our equality with ALL both from the perspective of our accomplishments as Souls heretofore and our own actions in this particular Life and in the understanding of the grip that illusion and glamour have upon our very being as we see it from this perspective of Life in the world. Perhaps this is why the reality of the scriptures of the world are addressed to those who have an inkling, to those who by their own progression can see and understand and appreciate the words, the meanings, the intent and the mysteries of Life itself as they are reported for us by those who have come before us. In the end we must see that we ARE Souls expressing Life through form and, in so doing, losing control to our own consciousness as it is taken by the personality as his own and then lost in the illusion and the glamour of the world. It is only in the realization by this consciousness of the duality of Life, the heavenly and the earthly, that the man in form can begin to align himself with the True source of the Life and the consciousness that it is intended to express and begin to pull away from the awareness of the carnal self, his needs and his wants and move into the reality of his own cause which is to be “delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21).

In this all we should try to see that it is through the personality that ALL things must be accomplished in our journey to this deliverance and that the first success will be in freeing, at least somewhat, the personality from the habits of daily living which include our relative submission to the illusion and the glamour which cause our confusion and our bewilderment and even our doubt. This deliverance is begun by our realization of these realities, that the illusion and the glamour do exist and that they are a potent force in Life that is ONLY overcome by the Light of the Soul in which we find the Wisdom from above. Still it is difficult to KNOW that what one is thinking about spiritually and what thoughts one is acting upon are Truly Wisdom from above and it is in this that we must ever refer to James’ words on such Wisdom, what it IS and more importantly what it IS NOT. We have covered these ideas in much detail in previous posts and the overriding understanding that we have in relation to what this Wisdom IS NOT is that it IS DOES NOT have any thing to do with the separated self in the world. This idea goes beyond selfish and takes us to that place where one’s own self is not even considered in thoughts from above and the actions that follow. Here we must understand that thoughts and actions of or for the self in the world are thoughts and actions of the world and there is likely a very fine line in some cases. Perhaps here we can be helped by the Master’s words that tell us to “take no thought“. Here in the Master’s words that are construed by doctrine to mean that one should not worry or be overly concerned, we see a different dynamic at play….we see the reality of giving NO thought to those things that serve the self for in the words of the Master that tell us in this context: “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33), we see the Truth of having ALL that we should Truly need.

So we get the understanding that a man should NOT be concerned about the things of the self in the world, that he should “take no thought” and in this we should be able to see the reality of our point regarding Wisdom from above and specifically here, what it IS NOT….it IS NOT for the self. Then, understanding this we should be able to eliminate this as a concern in discerning what is the motivation of our thoughts and actions as we can properly separate those things that are for the self from those that are not. These words from James remain then our clearest indication of the source of our motivations in ALL areas of Life but most especially in our spiritual pursuits and His words are not a laundry list from which we can pick and choose an item or two, it is a comprehensive list when properly descerned as to what IS and what IS NOT to be seen in one’s Life as anything from above, from the Soul, the Christ Within. We repeat James’ words here:

“Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. 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 3:13-17).

To properly understand the words of the apostle we need to understand the transnational problems that we find outlined for us by Vincent and we repeat here what we have previously said:

Perhaps a bit of biblical reality can be seen in the comparison of the words of James with those of Paul above. Paul tells us of “the wisdom of this world” that it is “is foolishness with God” and tells us that this is the way of things in the world saying “hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?” and putting this onto an equal footing with the vanity to which we have been subjected. In this we should try to see that this illusion and glamour that we speak of, the vanity of the apostle, is the same as the wisdom of this world. Can we also see that the wisdom of this world IS NOT Wisdom at all? This James tells us by defining the nature of the wisdom of the world which we must see as self serving as are most all attitudes and actions that are carnal in nature. James tells us of “bitter envying and strife in your hearts” and tells us that these things are “not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish” and, as we have seen in previous discussion on these words, these ideas themselves are clouded and colored by illusion and glamour. Generally seen as envying or jealousy plus a sense of selfish ambition, these ideas are not counted for the actual harm that they can do; they are treated as words that we can cast upon others seeing them as envying and jealous, as self seeking in ambition and yet seldom see them as our own frailties. Vincent gives us some help on these words by inserting the idea of emulation where we read bitter envying in the King James Version. Webster’s 1828 version defines emulation as An ardor kindled by the praise-worthy examples of others, inciting to imitate them, or to equal or excel them. Contest; contention; strife; competition; rivalry accompanied with a desire of depressing another ¹. Here we can see a different dynamic than in the common understanding of envy or jealousy, one that is much more personal. We should note here that this definition includes strife as a part of it which plays into the next part of James’ saying. Vincent tells us that strife here is a A wrong rendering, founded on the mistaken derivation from e]riv and here he tells us it should refer to those who serve in official positions for their own selfish interest, and who, to that end, promote party spirit and faction ⁴. 

Now these words that we repeat here are from but a few posts back but the concept that they unveil for us are very important. Up to this time we had been focused upon only the positive signs of the Wisdom from above and here we get to see the greater reality for the man in form in the properly understood meanings of the negative signs, signs of what IS NOT Wisdom from above and this then brings us back to our starting point today. We can assuage our confusion and our bewilderment and even our doubt in our understanding that our thoughts and our actions DO NOT have the self in the world at their center and that this sense of self plays little or no part other than the necessary participation.

We close here today with one more scripture, this one from the Apostle John who tells us also that when we are properly focused, we DO have that INNER Teacher, the Soul, as the activity of the Christ Within in form.

“But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him” (1 John 2:27).

In this saying is our reality and our assurance that when the Love and the Power of the Soul, the Christ Within, is flowing through the form, that the revelation of the mysteries and the KNOWLEDGE of things spiritual flows through with them. This becomes our only source for what we think and do and what we say as well and, while we may doubt and be confused and bewildered, if we ARE NOT acting for the self and we ARE acting for the Kingdom then we ARE very likely to be on the Right Path.

We will continue with our thoughts in the next post and try to complete our discussion on the Master’s words to Nicodemus above as there is more here than just the thought of being born again from the perspective that we have bee discussing.

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

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:

Emmet Fox, a New Thought Christian teacher, gives us his Fifteen Points teaching one of which we used to exemplify the Master’s intent in His teaching to us about the Golden Rule. All of these points are however forward looking from the perspective of the man who desires to advance spiritually and they are based upon the reality of the Master’s teachings on Love.

I Am Really In Truth: ‡

1. If – I always look for the best in each person, situation and thing.
2. If – I resolutely turn my back on the past, good or bad and live only in the present & future
3. If – I forgive everybody without exception, no matter what he may have done; and if I then forgive MYSELF whole-heartedly.

4. If – I regard my job as sacred and do my day’s work to the best of my ability (whether I like it or not).

5. If – I take every means to demonstrate a healthy body and harmonious surroundings for myself.

6. If – I endeavor to make my life of as much service to others as possible, without interfering or fussing.

7. If – I take every opportunity wisely to spread the knowledge of Truth to others.
8. If – I rigidly refrain from personal criticism, and neither speak nor listen to gossip.
9. If – I devote at least a quarter of an hour a day to prayer and meditation.
10. If – I read at least seven verses of the Bible everyday.
11. If – I specifically claim spiritual understanding of myself every day.
12. If – I train myself to give the first thought on waking to God.
13. If – I speak the Word for the whole world every day, say at noon.

14. If – I PRACTICE, the Golden Rule of Jesus instead of merely admiring it. He said, “Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.” The important point about the Golden Rule is that I am to practice it whether the other fellow does so or not.

15. If – above all, I understand that whatever I see is but a picture which can be changed for the better bNew Age Developmentsy Scientific Prayer.

Repeating our text on this and Mr. Fox from a previous essay: Now we should understand that the above ideas are the doctrine that Mr. Fox taught and that like any doctrine it is based in what the man believes which is for most of us a revealer of the illusions that we are under. Much of these Fifteen Points are rather directly for the teachings of the Master. On the whole these are most all good and virtuous ideas but of the most importance insofar as the Master’s teachings are concerned are those points that give us some understanding of how a man should act in regard to others and the most profound is the simple wording of number fourteen. This teaching is given out for the use of the general Christian audience as Mr. Fox addresses people much like every other preacher or pastor albeit with his own doctrine and with a bit more emphasis on the Love that the Master taught. We should add here that many of the other Christian denominations do not agree with the teachings of the New Thought Movement nor Mr. Fox with some even referring to this teaching as cultish. We bring this out here not because we agree with their teachings but to show that there is some movement towards the teaching of Love by some newer parts of the church and the tell-all of this movement is in point fifteen which is outside of the teachings of the Master except one interpret His words in this way. This is doctrine and this is illusion from the perspective that these precepts are not in alignment with the words of the Master insofar as His ideas on discipleship and the hard line that is drawn for the actuality of being accounted worthy of His Kingdom. From our perspective these points are good and are most all worthwhile and they will lead people who can subscribe to them closer to the Master. This idea is true of most all denominations as they do attract people who can think and believe along certain lines and, as we have said before, it is better to believe in the doctrine of a denomination and to follow it as best one can than it is to flounder through Life with little or no direction at all.

Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!

• ‡  From The Fifteen Points by Emmet Fox; © 1932 HarperCollins Publishers Inc
• ¹ Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1828 and 1913
• ⁴ Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888