Love is the Fulfilling of the Law
ON LOVE; PART CCLXXXVII
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α
GoodWill IS Love in Action
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α
Of all that the Master told us, He considered this as the Greatest of Commandments. So much of what we are to understand as aspirants or as believers is found in the precept that we must KEEP HIS WORDS:
“And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:30-31).
We ask ourselves WHAT THEN IS LOVE?
In a general sense love is benevolence, good will; that disposition of heart which inclines men to think favorably of their fellow men, and to do them good. In a theological sense, it includes supreme love to God, and universal good will to men.
We add to this THE EVER IMPORTANT AND HIGH IDEAL TAUGHT TO US BY THE CHRIST which can serve to both give us an understanding of what it means to Love oneself and how it is that we can Love our neighbor:
“Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them“ (Matthew 7:12).
In yesterday’s post we continued with our discussion of the Apostle Paul’s speech to the Greeks, the Epicureans and Stoics, at Athens. Here in these words we find Paul’s understanding of God and his revelation of that understanding, sans the attendant mysteries in our view, to them in a effort to show them that the UNKNOWN GOD whom they ‘worshiped’ and saw as the Creator of ALL, IS perforce the same God who the Apostle preached. This is of course an apparent understanding of the apostle’s words but it is for some reason not apparent enough to allow men yet today to view in this same way the UNKNOWN GODS that are ‘worshiped’ by the various religions of the world. When the world can say unequivocally that there IS ONE GOD for ALL mankind, a statement of fact that can only be denied in the glamour of the emotional makeup of men and groups of men, so much of the strife that has plagued the world yesterday and today can be stopped. Paul IS here showing us that there IS NO REASON for this strife among interpretations of God as these can ALL fade in the reality there there IS BUT ONE being accepted by men.
In times past perhaps this was an impossible thing to achieve, this understanding that there IS BUT ONE God, which we see in the trials and the tribulations of the Jews in the Old Testament as they continually revert from their understanding of ONE GOD as represented by Jehovah whose picture to us today is of a jealous and a vengeful God. The story of much of the Old Testament is of these Jews receiving the law by the hand of Moses and varying away from the law as a society because the terms were too onerous and, needing some form of godhead to ‘worship’ they choose others whose laws were easier. We should see here that in Paul’s understands both this old way and the new that he is bring to these Greeks and he speaks as a man who grew up in the Jewish religion which we KNOW from his own testimony:
- “I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day” (Acts 22:3).
- “And the high priest Ananias commanded them that stood by him to smite him on the mouth. Then said Paul unto him, God shall smite thee, thou whited wall: for sittest thou to judge me after the law, and commandest me to be smitten contrary to the law? And they that stood by said, Revilest thou God’s high priest? Then said Paul, I wist not, brethren, that he was the high priest: for it is written, Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people. But when Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees, and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee” (Actgs 23:2-6)
In these examples from the Book of Acts we should understand that Paul IS a Jew who is instructed in the ways of the Jewish religion to the point where he calls himself a Pharisee and in this we should understand that he was, as a man in the world, focused upon what he considered the things of God and this from the mindset of the Pharisees that the Master rails against in the gospels for their perversion of the Truth of the law. Any who KNOW of Paul KNOW that his conversion from this mindset to the reality of the Truth comes to him in a flash; he is suddenly awakened to the flow of Light and Love and Power from his own Soul and recognizes, perhaps for the first time, the reality of the Christ Within……that Inner Man that KNOWS the Truth of God. Like us, he had always had this Christ Within prompting his personality but this was ignored in the strength of his position in the world and those things that he believed as a personality in the world. In this picture we can see the plight of many a man who believes that he is holy and righteous based upon who he may be and what he has learned to believe; it is very difficult to overcome the delusion of the self until one awakens to the fact that he had been deluded. And this IS Paul’s story, he is suddenly awakened to the Truth that he has ever KNOWN and perhaps the thing that turns him is the stand that the apostle Stephen takes and the part that Paul plays in Stephen’s death. We read this in the Book of Acts; first from the Apostle Luke’s perspective and then from Paul’s own perspective:
- “And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles. And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him. As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison” (Acts 7:58-60, 8:1-3).
- “For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard. And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord. And it came to pass, that, when I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance; And saw him saying unto me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem: for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me. And I said, Lord, they know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that believed on thee: And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him. And he said unto me, Depart: for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles” (Acts 22:15-21).
This is the story of Saul or, as we KNOW him today, Paul of Tarsus. In the first point above we see the old Saul who is wrapped in the illusion and the glamour of his religious beliefs and his ARE NOT unlike the thoughts, attitudes and actions of the other Pharisees and religious rulers of that day and of whom we KNOW much from the gospels. But he IS awakened, and if the cause is the death of Stephen, we can likely come to understand the working of this awakening, but this matters little against the fact that he IS awakened to the reality and the Truth of the Christ Within and we should remember here that it IS through the Christ Within, the Soul, that we can communicate with the Kingdom of God and thereby with God as the Light, Love and Power of that hidden Universe. Paul then has the great awakening that brings him the necessary revelations which he sees as direct communication with the Master and of which we CAN NOT speak as we DO NOT KNOW; but this is not the point, the point IS that the apostle comes to KNOW great and awesome things about the Plan of God, things that he DID NOT heretofore KNOW or better, DID NOT realize. It IS by the revealed understanding that comes in his revelation of truth that Paul comes to KNOW ALL things that are necessary to complete his new mission as Paul, the Apostle of the Lord. Now we have ofttimes said that it IS a part of the Plan of God as implemented by the Saints and True disciples, the Adepts if you will, that harmonized the group of men born into the world at this time of the Advent of the Christ as His ready help in performing His appointed mission of bringing into the world of men the Love of God and the next teachings for ALL men to be able to approach yet closer to God. We should also see here that Paul is a part of this as well as those other Souls who assist Paul in his awakening thus insuring his success just as the apostles work in insuring the success of the Master. And we should understand here that this assistance is necessary because of the limited free-will of men in this world, a free-will that IS NOT interfered with by the actions of the Sons of God except perhaps in small ways like the clarion call of the angel and the heavenly host that announces the Master’s birth saying “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:14) or the release of the apostles from prison as we read: “And laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in the common prison. But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said, Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life” (Acts 5:18-20).
Without revelation it is difficult to understand the way that these type of things work out in the world and we can only speak to that which we believe that we KNOW about the actions of the Saints and the angels in the world of men. We DO KNOW that there is free-will however limited, and that there IS NO True and apparent divine intervention in the lives of men in the world and this is attested to by history; we ARE on our own here and the only saving intervention in this Life likely comes form one’s own Soul who helps and protects as necessary in any given Life and accomplishes things that we may credit to Providence. And we may not even KNOW of the actions that one’s own Soul may take from our perspective in this world as we see Life in this world only until that point of True KNOWING which is True discipleship; until this completed Transformation we exist yet in this state of duality as we see and understand the revelations of the Soul but yet live and act in the world of men, and this in various degree. There is another similar event to that of the apostles in prison above; here the Apostle Peter is jailed and we read: “And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains: and the keepers before the door kept the prison. And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison: and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands. And the angel said unto him, Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals. And so he did. And he saith unto him, Cast thy garment about thee, and follow me. And he went out, and followed him; and wist not that it was true which was done by the angel; but thought he saw a vision. When they were past the first and the second ward, they came unto the iron gate that leadeth unto the city; which opened to them of his own accord: and they went out, and passed on through one street; and forthwith the angel departed from him. And when Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know of a surety, that the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews. And when he had considered the thing, he came to the house of Mary the mother of John, whose surname was Mark; where many were gathered together praying” (Acts 12:6-12). This is a bit lengthy and it is from the pen of Luke who received his knowledge of this encounter from Peter and there are two things of note here; first that the apostle IS freed from prison and that this happens to him in a sort of vision which we can interpret as a hazy affair that results in his release. The second point is that this may have been the action of Peter’s own Soul, taking action to protect the worldly Life that is yet needed for the success of the Master’s mission; here we must admit that we CAN NOT define what exactly an angel IS and doctrine only further clouds our understanding but in a solitary hint we get this from the Master speaking to His disciples about the children; he says: “Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 18:10); ponder on this.
In our own lives we have likely faced situations where it appears that Providence has saved us from certain demise but in the consideration that “God is no respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34), we should be able to grasp the reality of the equanimity of Life here on this Earth and that the only salvation of any kind comes from our True self, the Soul, and his interaction with his Life in form; and this, from my own perspective, can be accomplished without True knowledge of what happens. And this idea that “there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11) can be brought forward for us to today in the Master’s words from which we should be able to see that if a man IS in the way of a catastrophe, that he will be included in it within certain limits that are difficult to understand and to explain; if one IS on the plane and it crashes into the sea, all men on board crash into the sea. Jesus tell us these things in this relation: “There were present at that season some that told him of the Galilaeans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:1-5). In these words there is much to be misunderstood by the man who views Life as this Life in the world; for the man in the world who is in or near the tower when it falls there is likely no escape but for the man who is cautioned by his own Soul to stay away and who recognizes this prompting can escape and this can be see as the result of the Repentance to which the Master refers. It IS the repentant man who is focused upon the Soul and the things of God and who will recognize the prompting but, it IS still in the way of the man in the world to heed that prompting. And we can go a bit further here, to the man who brings with him into incarnation some degree of spiritual collateral and who has some potential usefulness according to the Plan; can we see an instance where he may be dozing while driving and heading toward a wall or a tree only to be suddenly awakened just in time to avert catastrophe? Can we relate these things to our own experience and to the experience of those that we may hear about in the news?
We did not get back to our discussion on the words of Paul at Athens and we will try to get back to this in the next post.
| 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.
Continuing with our presentation of the Prayer of Saint Francis as the Quote of the Day, we should realize that without the apparent links to doctrine, this is well suited to be the Prayer of the disciple and therefore our prayer as well as aspirants to that High Calling. Of course these things that we are saying here in this prayer ARE expressions of Love, ALL of them, and it is by our example in the world that we express them and in the idea of sowing we can find our ‘suggestion’ of’ Love, pardon, faith, hope, Light and joy to those whom we may contact and who may be feeling the opposites. The second stanza is more personal from the perspective of subduing one’s own personality and its ‘needs’ by seeing the needs of one’s brother and neighbor and the stranger who qualifies as both FIRST. And, as we say below, we should see this idea of dying not in the context of the our death on Earth but in the context of the Apostle Paul’s words that tell us: “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). This sin is for us our focus upon the things of the world and this death IS one’s continued existence here in this world entombed in the illusion and the glamour….eternal Life then IS our realization of the Truth of Life of the True man, the Soul, the Christ Within which we find when we turn our focus to the things of God.
This is the Prayer of Saint Francis which we repeat again from a previous post as our Quote of the Day. If we were all to accept these ideas as guiding Lights in our lives, we would be expressing the Love and the Faith that the Master teaches. It is attributed to the 13th-century saint Francis of Assisi, although the prayer in its present form cannot be traced back further than 1912*. Regardless of the True authorship, the sentiments revealed in this prayer are genuine and are in keeping the intent of the teachings of the Master and His apostles. We should note here that the dying is not necessarily the death of the body but the death of the carnal man in the world when one is born again. In this context we read this about Saint Francis: Francis was the son of a wealthy foreign cloth merchant in Assisi, and he lived the high-spirited life typical of a wealthy young man, even fighting as a soldier for Assisi. While going off to war in 1204, Francis had a vision that directed him back to Assisi, where he lost his taste for his worldly life**. Here is the antithesis of the rich young man of the gospels.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury,pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen
This is a prayer that is Truly in line with the teachings of the Master and the ideals encapsulated in this should be those that govern our lives and our prayer should be that ALL can see Life in this same way. We should try to see the reality of these words in the verses above regarding feeding and visiting the least of His and our brethren; in these words is a deeper meaning, as clearer expression of Love and, we should look at the Master’s words above as an expression of Love and not merely in the terms that He presents as this is the intent of the entirety of His teachings.
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!
- * Wikipedia contributors. “Prayer of Saint Francis.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 24 Jan. 2013
- **Wikipedia contributors. “Francis of Assisi.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 24 Jan. 2013.
