IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 577

Love is the Fulfilling of the Law

ON LOVE; PART CLXVI

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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 have been discussing the issue of the aspirant that falls into periods of confusion about what he may believe as compared to the people around him, his bewilderment regarding the very nature of the teachings that may make much sense spiritually but little according to the world’s wisdom and the doubt that can creep into one’s consciousness and enhance the confusion and the bewilderment to the point where one may question his own beliefs and motivations. In the last several posts we have offered the defensive idea that the Apostle Paul gives us as the “whole armour of God” which includes the idea of standing and not fighting. We are told to stand in Truth and righteousness, prepared with the “gospel of peace” and carrying the shield of KNOWING which the apostle calls faith (Ephesians 613-16). This KNOWING is our approach to the “faith as a grain of mustard seed” (Luke 17:6) and is our foundation for contemplation and understanding of the mysteries of Life in form. We have looked as well at the words of Paul regarding the fruit of the Spirit and we recognize that if we live in the Light of the Soul that these fruits include the Truth and the righteousness and the faith that we use to enable us to stand. This shows us that these things come to us from and in what the Apostle James calls Wisdom from above and which is largely the same as the fruit of the Spirit. It is in this flow of Light that we can stand in the world and see the reality of the confusion and the bewilderment and even the doubt that surround us and permeate the personality as the illusion and glamour that we must constantly deflect until that time when we can KNOW without doubt; and this ALL comes to us in the Light of the Soul.

So we have offered these scriptural concepts of the “whole armour of God“, the fruit of the Spirit and the Wisdom from above as our ready tools to help us to stand in this world as aspirants and to have that confidence of faith which is our KNOWING that if ALL that we see in the Light of the Soul is in line with the reality of these scriptural concepts, that we ARE standing on the Path to God and that we ARE approaching that strait gate that opens into the Kingdom of God which we understand IS WITHIN EACH OF US. To help us to better understand this and to give us that added confidence we closed the last post with the words of the Apostle John who tells us clearly that these Truths come to us from above or from within as the anointing which “teacheth you of all things, and is truth“. We understand this anointing as the Christ Within, the Soul and the True man and his effect upon the carnal Life in this world as the Holy Spirit, the activity of the Christ Within in form.

Now ALL these things that we say in our essays regarding the nature of Life in form and the reality of the Soul as the True man are good things to understand and even if our perception of these things is a bit askew, it does not matter as it is only the fundamental understanding of the True man and his ONENESS with ALL that matters. The same with the word studies and the historical information, the same with the comparisons to doctrine and the ways of the churches; ALL that matters here is the same fundamental understanding of the ONENESS of ALL plus a recognition of the reality of Life in form as it succumbs to the illusion and the glamour of world thought and emotional response. ALL else is merely information upon which we can build our new reality of ONENESS with ALL, as Souls expressing in form, information which may prove useful in our understanding of our brothers in the world of men. The overriding intent of ALL that we say is to encourage ALL who can comprehend and understand our written words to “Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able” (Luke 13:24). This is of course accomplished by our standing in the Light of the Soul and our constant effort to strive which means to us that we are ever attempting to pull the personality Life totally under the control of the indwelling Soul by our continual focus upon the things of God. It is in the accomplishments of striving that we do those things that we have discussed regarding the Kingdom of God and discipleship, that we keep His words and DO the Will of the Father. This is our goal and our objective which we are helped with by those who came this way before; not the way of the Earth as we ALL do this but rather those who have striven the way to the strait gate and have left for us some guideposts to follow. Remembering the rarity with which men in form actually achieve the Kingdom and True discipleship which is the achievement of perfection in this world of form, a perfection that is exhibited by the Master’s saying that “The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master” (Luke 6:40) and by His instruction to us that we “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). While we should not look only to the perfect for guidance, we must at all times be diligent and recall the Master’s words that tell us “Ye shall know them by their fruits” and in our proper discernment of this fruit we can gauge the value of the teachings and this of course brings us back again to the ideas of the Wisdom from above and the fruit of the Spirit which we discuss above and in so many essays. Here again we see also the ideas of John regarding the anointing that we have as aspirants who realize the Presence of the True man who is beyond the wranglings of daily living in the world. 

We should also understand in this that until that time of perfection, we are all subjected to the illusion and the glamour and the creation of our own castles of doctrine that may be contrary to the Truth but which we cannot see because of our perspective. Until that perfection we are ALL expressing the Truth that comes to us in the Light of the Soul through the sometimes Light changing filter of the personality. In this we should try to understand that as aspirants the fruit of the Spirit does come to us from the Soul but it is subjected to our interpretation and our coloring which may effect the quality of the fruit but, if it is Truly fruit, not in a detrimental way. We have gone through this as we prepare to discuss the Fifteen Points that are listed below, points that surely can help each and every one of us to better express the Truth of the fruit of the Spirit in our own lives but which at the same time contain some points that are unique to Mr. Fox’s ‘doctrines’ and peculiar to his beliefs.

The Fifteen Points are pretty much in line with the teachings of the Master combined with Mr. Fox’s doctrine of positive thinking and all that goes with this. Our only real disagreement with these New Thought teachings is in their failure to differentiate the Soul, the True man, from this expression in the Earth. From this perspective the True man is considered this man in form along with his personality that must do the controlling of the Life by following the rules set forth for positive thinking. Behind this all is the theory that by controlling thought one can control much more of the physical realm and this thought control is essentially in line with the positive aspects of the Master’s teachings. However, as we see this thought correction as the inflow of the Light of the Soul through the ready personality, they see it as the work of the personality. In the end there can be the same result as a ready personality will express the Light of the Soul regardless of the philosophy used to make it ready and the only visible shortcoming to Mr. Fox’s reality is that the man in the world remains focused there thinking that so long as one’s thoughts are pure that he has done enough. We see this as contrary to the Master’s instructions on attaining the Kingdom and discipleship while they likely consider themselves accounted worthy by doing enough despite their focus upon the world and the things of the world. Nonetheless, there is a value to these Fifteen Points which can show us in more Earthly terms those things that we try to discern from the words of the Master and His apostles.

• Looking for the best in people is a function of Love as we regard ALL men the same and we KNOW and realize that the outer expression IS NOT that True man. At the same time we understand that the outer expression for the average man is an unpredictable action of a personality that is not expressing the True man. The sentiment here can be seen as that we should look for the best as we KNOW that the best is in the man and we can relegate the idea of situations and things to those events that are caused by a man.
• Turning one’s back on the past is likely a good thing from the perspective of one’s thoughts and activities today but at the same time it is from the past that we learn. This particular saying is not related to the Master’s words but as a theme for Life we should see it as saying that one should not live in the past, neither reliving old glory nor resting upon past accomplishments. We say this in regard to spiritual matters but this is likely sound advice in all things.
• Forgiveness is another idea that is based upon Love and self forgiveness can be seen in the same way. As we have discussed, there is a depth to forgiveness that is generally missed in the common use of this word, a depth the holds nothing against any and the greater reality of this is found in the understanding that it IS NOT the True man that can cause harm is it only the carnal man who IS NOT yet expressing the Light and the Love of the True Man, the Soul.
• The next point is in regard to those things that we are charged to do in Life; whether it be a job or volunteer work, whether one is raising children or practicing a hobby, those things that we do should be done to their fullest without overly focusing upon them as things in the world. This is a difficult thing to accomplish but one that is required if we are to become the True self as our expression in the world. This idea of focus is beyond Mr. Fox’s thoughts as he is giving us this rule strictly from the perspective of the job that one gets paid for and which, when not done fully, is tantamount to theft.
• This fifth point is again addressing the carnal man in the world and the upkeep of his body which again may be noble from the perspective of the man in form but from in the view from above there is no such criteria. This being said, we should understand as well that in Light of the Soul there is no glutinous behavior and nor is there a fixation on exercise; there is instead a sense of “giving no thought” as the Master directs us in matters of the world. The last part of this can be seen as tending toward the selfish depending on how one interprets the word harmonious .

This covers the first five of the Fifteen Points and we can see in these a fixation on the things of the world and the ways of the world. As we proceed we will see as well that as a mode of living in the world there is much of benefit in these ideas and much that by one’s participation in them and action upon them can help to lead to that greater understanding of the Soul, and the Christ Within for as a man makes these changes in his daily living, he will become more and more attuned to the prompting of the Soul who is ever seeking opportunity to express the Good, the Beautiful and the True through his form in time and space.

We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.

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