Love is the Fulfilling of the Law
ON LOVE; PART CCIII
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GoodWill IS Love in Action
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“Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. 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: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren” (James 1:12-16).
In the last post we looked briefly at the Apostle Paul’s words to the Ephesians and particularly that part about being led to the ‘easier’ way found in the doctrines of others which comes from Paul’s words: “That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive” (Ephesians 4:14). We are reminded here of two things; first that this idea of deception need not be an intentional effort to deceive another but rather, in the spirit of the Apostle James’ words, that the doctrines that they purvey are believed by the purveyors in their own deception. We should remember that in this world of illusion and glamour, a man can be made to believe things that are not True and usually in the hope that they are better, easier, and more comfortable to live with individually or as a society. It is the nature of illusion that causes man to believe the various doctrines that abound in the world and this IS NOT only religious doctrine but it includes the doctrines of ALL areas of Life: religious, political, educational, social, legal, etc.. It is the nature of glamour that gives one the impression that his own beliefs, in all these doctrinal areas, are the right ones and that the doctrines of others are wrong or will fail and, while we see this in religion through our discussions, it is as True in most every other doctrinal area as well. In one way of viewing this, glamour takes on a sense of pride which holds to and speaks of my religion, my country, my politics, and in the illusion holds them as more right and better than others.
The second thing that we are reminded of is the power of this illusion and glamour as they effect the lives of man and this reminder comes from today’s news story about the Khmer Rouge of Cambodia who in the grips of social and political doctrine allegedly killed more than 1.5 million people in the 1970’s. This of course brings to mind the Nazis of Germany and World War II, the Japanese actions in the Pacific in the early 1940’s, the Rwandan Genocide in the 1990’s and the less thought about indiscriminate killing of civilians around the world under that concept of collateral damage. All of these and many more have been caused by doctrines that were believed beneficial by those who believed in them and were enacted by the millions who were deluded by the belief and this either actively or passively. Our purpose here is to highlight this understanding and to show the up to today the possibility of rampaging doctrines is yet a scourge on humanity and one that is only eliminated by True understanding of the role of illusion and glamour in the world. And here as well is the reality of the apostles words above and the Master’s words which tell us that “Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have” (Luke 8:18). Now we KNOW and understand that the idea of hear as used here by the Master is a reference to believing and not the hearing of audible sounds and this is much like His use of the concept of seeing that should be seen by us as perceiving. We discuss this saying by the Master and the allied one from the Gospel of Mark in some detail in In the Words of Jesus parts 105, 498, 516, 555 and 588.
Except for Truth, there is no valid doctrine and what we believe is ever to be watched as the apostle tells us above and we KNOW the way to do this as it IS revealed to us in the words of James on the Wisdom from above and Paul’s listing for us of the fruit of the Spirit. In these important words from the apostles IS our ONLY defense against the “every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive” and to this we must add the Master’s caution that again should be expanded to include ALL of Life and not just religion; He tells us: “Take heed that no man deceive you” (Matthew 24:4) and in another place “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?……Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them” (Matthew 7:15-16, 20). Can we see that if we are deceived by those who would take us away by their doctrines of religion or social justice or politics, or by any other, that we are taken away from Truth. This idea is important to us as it was to Paul who tells the Ephesians again in the same epistle that “Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience” (Ephesians 5:6).
And in these ideas that we have above can also be seen the apostle’s admonition that we stand. As disciples and as aspirants we CAN NOT let any doctrinal thoughts effect our mood or our behavior unless they pass the scrutiny of the criteria for Wisdom from above and they fit into the understanding of fruit of the Spirit. As we read in Paul’s words that we have been discussing, this effect of being “tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine” can result in a man of any stature to “walk, in the vanity of their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart” (Ephesians 4:17:18). It is in this same Epistle to the Ephesians that the apostle tells them to stand, to stand as aspirants and disciples against ALL that can come against us and we should here remember that most ALL that can come against us comes from or through our own minds and emotional response, our own personalities in the world which are ever seeking the more comfortable, the more pleasant and the easier road to travel This is the True source of our being deceived and this self deception IS fueled by those outside forces of which we have been speaking. The apostle then tells us to stand:
“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked” (Ephesians 6:10-16)
We discuss these sayings in some detail in In the Words of Jesus part 502 and in our words today we should see the necessity of standing although against what may remain unclear to us who cannot see the psychic reality of Life in form. Standing however IS clear and we do it by Truth, righteousness, an attitude of Peace and Love and with our KNOWING that what we believe has passed the scrutiny of realization that tells us that it IS Truly Wisdom from above and that it IS the Fruit of the Spirit.
REPENTANCE, TRANSFORMATION AND REDEMPTION LEAD US TO TRANSFIGURATION
We ended yesterday touching upon the idea of Transformation and in this we should try to understand that it is effectively the result of Repentance. We can say here that Repentance IS the decision by the man in form who is hearing the voice of his own Soul, a decision to follow the Path and to strive toward the strait gate that opens into the Kingdom of God, while the idea of Transformation is found in actually doing so as our Life is then Transformed from one of a man in the world to one of a Soul expressing through his form some degree of that Light that IS inherent in him. We can see this in the words of the Apostle Paul that we closed with in the last post: “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:2). In this saying by the apostle we find most ALL that we have talked about in our 600 plus posts on this blog; this is instruction par excellence and it gives us the Keys to salvation or whatever we want to call that final result of this Transformation which is our finding the reality of our Life in this world. It is in”renewing of your mind” that we are Transformed, it is when the mind can speak of and think on the “perfect, will of God” as it exists in the Light of the Soul of EVERY man in the Earth, that we are on the threshold of being “delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). As we said in the last essay, Repentance IS not the end but the beginning and as we see this today, Transformation is the means buy which one can carry his Life to that next HOLY step of Redemption. Understanding that there are no hard and fast rules for a mans spiritual advancement and there is NO strict timeline for its accomplishment and, understanding that with each incarnation a man must per force begin again as the man in form in the world, carrying with him ONLY what spiritual collateral he may have accumulated in past lives, we should be able to see the rather infinite range of possible degrees of spirituality for any man in form and at any time. With this in mind we move along through Life and when we can realize our Repentance and progress into that Transformation we ARE then what we have been calling aspirants and we are on the road to His Kingdom and discipleship which we can Truly find in the idea of Redemption as we understand it.
There is another group of sayings from the apostle’s Epistle to the Colossians which depicts this same set of ideas regarding Repentence and the renewal that leads to or IS one’s Transfomation. Paul says:
“Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all. Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved , bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness” (Colossians 3:5-14).
The message here is clear and parts of it is clearer than in the other sayings that we have visited over the last several posts. Here the apostle starts with the idea of Redemption from the perspective of one’s Life in the world that we should “Mortify therefore your members“. In the similar saying from his Epistle to the Ephesians Paul says this same thing as “That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts” (Ephesians 4:22) and we should understand both of these in the same way, that we no longer focus upon the self and the self in the world. It seems here that the apostle is expanding his theme to the Colossians to include the additional worldly ways that are in the second statement much as if they had already done the first part. The combination of ideas from these first few verses ARE Repentance and perhaps we see here that they had “put off” their more egregious ways and that Paul is advising them that them must give up ALL to be fully Repentant as these latter faults cannot be considered as focusing upon the things of God. We should remember here that we have defined Repentance as the decision to change and as the apostle continues, his words seem to acknowledge such decision having been made as he tells them is such a way as to remind them of what they must do and he follows with and affirmation that they have done so saying “seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds“. It is difficult here to read the apostle’s motive any better than this as he is writing in a way that tells them what they should do saying “mortify” while acknowledging that they already have saying “In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them“. Similarly Paul is telling them that they must accomplish the second part, that they must “put off” these additional worldly attitudes while at the same time alluding that they had already done so as well.
Perhaps the apostle perceives that many had decided to do these things, they had Repented but that at the same time they had not done them in their lives or perhaps had not fully accomplished them but, nonetheless, this is Repentance, the decision to change and the beginnings of change and even the changes themselves. Paul continues to what we can see as the Transformation, the change if the focus as it effects the Life in form and here we see the idea again of renewal in the apostle’s words saying “And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him“. Here again we have the apostle moving from the instruction to Repent, to alluding to the ways that they did so and then back again to instruction and then again to acknowledging that they had complied and all this is, from our perspective, both seeing their Repentance while telling them that they must Repent. Paul then acknowledges their Transformation and he does so in unique way; he tells them that they are Transformed, renewed in the Soul, which we see in his framing of this as “after the image of him that created him” and for this we can see the God Within as the reality of this transaction. We should also note here how the apostle brings that required sense of ONENESS to the realm of the Soul saying that naught can separate; neither nation, nor religion, nor custom, nor position, are of any meaning in the realm of the Soul.
Finally the apostle is admonishing these who he instructs and acknowledges their compliance insofar as Repentance, those who he then also talks of as renewed or Transformed while telling them of the UNIFIED nature of the Transformed man in the world who no longer sees, or better no longer acknowledges, the differences among men in the world. He tells them that they must complete this Transformation and this from the perspective of their interactions with their brothers, neighbors and strangers in the world so that here there is no guessing as to what the end result IS, what is the effective nature of the Repented and Transformed man. He ends this with the further admonition that we should put on Charity which word we KNOW as Love and which the apostle calls for us the “bond of perfectness“.
His final words here are our final word in our essays for the last several months: Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!
We will continue with our thoughts in the next post and again try to finish with our sayings below.
- “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed” (John 8:31).
- “Herein is my Father glorified , that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples” (John 15:8).
| Aspect of God |
Potency |
Aspect of Man |
In Relation to the Great Invocation |
In relation to the Christ |
|
GOD, The Father |
Will or Power |
Spirit or Life |
Center where the Will of God IS KNOWN |
Life |
|
Son, The Christ |
Love and Wisdom |
Soul or Christ Within |
Heart of God |
Truth |
|
Holy Spirit |
Light or Activity |
Life Within |
Mind of God |
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:
Leaving again the Great Invocation, we encourage ALL to read and reread it and our comments as in these words can be found the keys to our spiritual reality.
From the point of Light within the Mind of God
Let light stream forth into the minds of men.
Let Light descend on Earth.
From the point of Love within the Heart of God
Let love stream forth into the hearts of men.
May Christ return to Earth.
From the centre where the Will of God is known
Let purpose guide the little wills of men–
The purpose which the Masters know and serve.
From the centre which we call the race of men
Let the Plan of Love and Light work out
And may it seal the door where evil dwells.
Let Light and Love and Power restore the Plan on Earth.
This prayer is a part of our Prayers and Meditations section and there is much information about it there and in our discussion of it in the Quote of the Day section of In the Words of Jesus parts 128-132
The above Invocation or Prayer does not belong to any person or group but to all Humanity. The beauty and the strength of this Invocation lies in its simplicity, and in its expression of certain central truths which all men, innately and normally, accept—the truth of the existence of a basic Intelligence to Whom we vaguely give the name of God; the truth that behind all outer seeming, the motivating power of the universe is Love; the truth that a great Individuality came to earth, called by Christians, the Christ, and embodied that love so that we could understand; the truth that both love and intelligence are effects of what is called the Will of God; and finally the self-evident truth that only through humanity itself can the Divine Plan work out.
Like the Lord’s Prayer, this invocation is a World Prayer which is as all that a prayer is intended to be. It is a prayer for the uplifting of the Human Family out of the mire of materialism and selfishness. The Lord’s Prayer asks nothing for the individual praying it but asks that its benefits be for US and for WE which is why it was given by the Christ as a prayer and as a model over 2000 years ago. This invocation is also attributed to the Christ who, as He promised, has never left us; He, through channels that we do not readily understand, has Himself instructed His disciples to distribute this prayer and to encourage its use as a world prayer and as an aid in preparing the world for His return.
The first three stanzas of this prayer should be understood as reflecting the effective potencies of the Trinity which is God and which, when brought down to an individual level, the Trinity which is Man. His Will, His Love and His Light we should see them as the Potent Powers of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit albeit on a much smaller, microcosmic, scale.
