Love is the Fulfilling of the Law
ON LOVE; PART CCCIV
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 the overall course of Life in this Earth there IS a steady but slow movement of the whole toward the Good, the Beautiful and the True and this is evidenced by the Truth that we are here yet today, that the world did not destroy itself by the actions of the few who can and do control much of the social and economic means nor by the actions of those that oppose this trait of human nature. There have ever been wars and most are fought based upon the desire of one part to control another; there have ever been atrocities that afflict the least able to defend themselves and when we add to this the periodic worldwide pestilence and famine that have struck over the centuries as well as those chaotic acts of nature in volcanic eruption, earthquakes, floods and severe storms, one can easily recognize the overall misery and the enormous toll in human Life and property. Yet humanity goes forward in hope and it is our contention that this hope streams forth from the Kingdom of God, from Souls of individuals and such combinations that create a sense of a national or regional or a world Soul, as the Soul DOES KNOW and the Soul DOES communicate somewhat with his body of expression in the world and this regardless of the realization of such by the man in form. As a part of the rather consistent prompting of the Soul as he tries to wrest away the attention of the consciousness that has been hijacked by the personality in the world, there is that sense of hope which can and does function in the many who are not totally trapped in the illusion and the glamour of Life in this Earth. This is ALL an inadequate way of expressing the idea that there are ever enough people of GoodWill, and of hope in the world to avert total calamity but not nearly enough to avert the national and regional trends to social injustice based in the selfishness of the personalities which can also be seen as the individual personality as well as such combinations that create a sense of a national or regional personality and this is far more evident that these combinations on the higher level of the Soul. In these ideas we should be able to get a better sense of the Apostle Paul’s warning to the disciples at Ephesus saying: “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” (Ephesians 6:12) and we should remember here that the apostle’s admonition IS NOT that the disciple fight, but that he stand.
Can we see here that it IS not against the man in the world that we struggle but rather it IS against the thoughts and the attitudes that lead to the actions of these personalities, both individual and in combination, that misunderstand and misrepresent the Truth as it IS confounded by the illusion and the glamour which feeds the self and the selfishness of man? This illusion and this glamour ARE the principalities as the apostle tells us elsewhere that we are, as mankind, “made subject to vanity” (Romans 8:20) in Life in this world. It IS this subjection to vanity, to illusion and glamour that IS a part of the origin of the Life of the self in form apart from the influence of the Soul; and, it is the effect of this vanity that becomes the power and the impetus of the man in the world. These ARE the “rulers of the darkness of this world” which take captive the personalities of men and we find the “spiritual wickedness in high places” in the hearts of men who CAN and DO KNOW better than to let vanity rule but who see the self in the world as of primary importance and here, rather than merely not hearing nor heeding the prompting of one’s Soul, we have a dynamic in which some will purposely distort the Truth to their own carnal benefit, intentionally shutting out ALL but the extremes of selfish thinking and using the powers of illusion and of glamour by which they are held captive, will rise in prominence. These are powerful Souls from the perspective of their ability to use form and can be seen at the opposite end of the Truths that the Master expresses in His days in the wilderness where, KNOWING His own Powers and abilities in the world, chooses the divine over the temptations offered by the world. We must of course understand that this ALL works out by degree and the greater the Souls power and ability the greater risk of what the apostle calls “spiritual wickedness” and we should note here that for some of the historical world tyrants there is, in their own minds, a sense of right as regards their overall mission, a right that is likely lost in its execution. We should remember what we say above regarding the national and the regional personality as well as the national and regional Soul and the effect in Life is likely very similar to that we find individually; the Soul is consistently prompting the consciousnesses that is held by the personality to the Good, the Beautiful and the True and we should try to see here that the line of demarcation between a tyrant and a hero is one that is very fine and very personal.
We ALL likely KNOW of the likes of the tyrants of history and if we take the time to view their lives and their objectives, we may find that they are often captivated by their own impetus toward some social change where, even if the ideals can be seen as sound, their methods ARE tyrannical and without care for any who are trampled by them. Here is the opposite to the teachings of the Christ and while many who are in the history of the Church may not be generally seen as tyrannical, we should understand the Crusades and the Reformation Wars with the same eye towards the brutality and the illusory gains that were hoped for; and much of this IS at the least instigated by leaders in His Church that IS based in Love and in forgiveness. And perhaps the Master’s trials in the wilderness are intended to be more than a historical look at the Master who IS able to deflect the call of Satan, the call of the self in the world; perhaps these were an early warning to those who would be leaders of the race of men that they MUST NOT look to the world for their sense of Truth, as in the illusion and the glamour there is little or none. Many believe that the trials of the Master are actual encounters between Jesus and the devil as the personality of evil and in some strange way this is True but not in the literal context that some doctrine presents. Looking at this encounter from the Gospel of Matthew we find: “Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him” (Matthew 4:1-11). Now there are several points here that we can and likely should see as cautions and warnings toward those who could be disciples but who may be more inclined to channel their power and ability to the self in the world. And again, we should see not only the tyrants of history as here yet in our more modern times there are those that succumb to the will of the flesh and who create equal havoc based in the thinking that their actions are justified by a sense of right. Here, in saying this, we should see some of our most recent trends toward war which in the end will be judged by history. There are many questions that can here be posed and among these ARE the acts of defending one’s own, retaliation and aggression for a cause as we can see in some of the most recent world encounters, and here we must question as well the not so long gone ideas of imperialism and colonialism that, while they may have produced progressive results, should be considered as a bane against fledgling societies. In ALL this is the work of the individual personality as well as that combination that becomes a national or a regional or even a religious personality that is ‘hell bent’ on achieving his own aims regardless of the consequences to others. This IS NOT in accordance with the teachings of the Master who, returning to His trials in the wilderness, teaches us that:
- “Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred“. Led by the Spirit can be easily seen from the perspective of the Master of whom Paul tells us that “in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9). This being led can be seen by us in our lives as well as we heed the promptings of the Soul. There is a bit of confusion between the synoptic gospels regarding this first saying as Mark tells us “And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness. And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan” (Mark 1:12-13) and Luke says Jesus “was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing” (Luke 4:1-2). Now, the differences aside, we should note that the Master goes into the wilderness of His of volition and that He does so to fast and to suffer, after His baptism by John the Baptist, the totality of self denial as it IS here at the baptism that His work Truly begins. Here He fasts for forty days and this likely sets his body and his personality against the strength of His Soul which IS the Christ. Perhaps a self test, perhaps a sign to us, the reality is that Jesus spends the forty days fasting and alone in the wilderness.
- “And when the tempter came to him, he said“. In Mark’s rendition as well as Luke’s, the temptations of the Master, by His own body and personality in the world, are continual while Matthew can be seen only as alluding to this continual temptation but it IS at the end of the forty days that we give our attention. Here, likely in His weakest position of body and personality rebelling against the Will of the Soul, we read about the three great temptations and it matters not here that this happens at the end or somewhere within the forty days as our understanding should be that He IS tempted by the things of the world and He must keep His focus upon the things of God. The differences between His ordeal and ours is that His is self imposed for the purpose of overcoming and teaching and ours is imposed by that vanity, that illusion and glamour, to which we are subjected. We are however both tempted as we read in Hebrews that Jesus “was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15) and as we read of ourselves from the Apostle James that “…every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed” (James 1:14). And who IS to say what is the temptation of our brother or who it IS that sees their temptations, as do some of the tyrants above, as being driven to power and riches.
- “If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God“. Imagine here that during or after forty days of fasting, while KNOWING that under the Power that He possesses that He CAN do this thing…..make bread out of stone, that He stays His course so as NOT to use His divine Power to the benefit of the self in the world. We KNOW that He does not give in to this temptation and rests on the word of God to His comfort and His commitment not to use that Power of KNOWING that He possesses to His own personal benefit.
- “Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God“. The order of these temptations is different in Matthew’s and Luke’s writing but the effect should be seen as the same. Is the Master Truly taken “up into the holy city” or IS this a journey in His own mind? From our perspective we should understand that there IS NO personality of the devil that moves the Master or that could move Him and that this devil, this personality of the world, IS related to that which we discuss above as the combination of individual personalities focused in the self and the world that create these national and regional forces. The temptation here IS in the Master’s sense of Power, that in His KNOWING that He could do as He tells us that we can in moving the mountain or the sycamine tree into the sea. We CAN NOT understand here the reason for painting this in the way that the apostles do, we can only surmise that this is done for the effect and that this IS a parabolic approach as is the idea of stones to bread when the Master can, and later does, create bread out of nothing. The point then IS that the Master is tempted by His own ‘Superhuman’ ability to end His physical, emotional and mental ordeal in the wilderness at any time but realizes that He IS God and that He CAN NOT be tempted.
- “Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve“. Here we can see the ultimate test and one that the tyrants of the world have succumbed to albeit they have not the degree of Power as realized by the Master. In His worldly Power the Master could overtake ALL and become the Earthly ruler of ALL and, in varying degree, we ALL have some part in this as our personal dilemma where we see the worldly gain and are tempted to use whatsoever power that we may have to achieve it. This the world’s tyrants have done and were it not for the forces of Good as they do exist in the world, they may have been more successful. These forces of evil ARE the ways of the world which ARE personalized by a man’s focus upon them and here, in Jesus example, He does not “fall down and worship“, He DOES NOT put His conscious focus upon these things of the world; He maintains it on the things of God.
We should be able see the teaching to us as men in the world who are capable of aught and who are tempted by the forces of vanity, of illusion and glamour, as they effect the self in the world, the teaching that our focus should be on the things of God and not on the self and in each of the Master’s examples we can see this dynamic of being tempted by things that would benefit the self in the world. And this is as we began today, to illustrate the idea that some men have great power and use it for evil, for the self in the world, and that some do so in the Name of the Lord which IS but a part of their illusion. Here in our day we can see the continual tempting of the self in form by the things of the world and while we speak here above mostly about power, we should understand that this affects ALL things great and small. We should try here to understand that it IS the man who is awakening, the man who can sense the duality of Life in this world, who is aware of the bombardment of his emotions and his mind by the forces of the world of men; not that those who are not awakening do not have this bombardment, they do as well but those who ARE seeing the duality ARE aware of the right and the wrong and the good and the evil, they are aware of the source as being from above or from below. For us as aspirants these choices can also be in regard to things that are not seen by the common man in the world as among the right and wrong or the good and evil which are based almost solely on moral grounds; for us there are also the more subtle ideas of what IS for the self versus what IS for God. We should understand as well that there IS a line that divides the awakening from the yet sleeping if we can say it this way, and this line IS found in the hearing and heeding of the promptings of the Soul to the Good, the Beautiful and the True. In this there can be found the Truth behind the words of the Master that tell us “For many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14) and here, if we exchange the word chosen for its other rendered use as elect we can find that it says many are called, but few elect and this takes this saying our of the realm of doctrine and puts it squarely upon our own shoulders as our choice that we heed that calling. So then whether we are speaking about the tyrants above or the average man in the world, there is ever the prompting but it IS in the heeding that we can change our focus to the things of God and, so long as a man’s focus is on the self and the self in the world, he will use whatsoever power that he may have to explore and to achieve his own ends. And in this dynamic it matters little if one IS in politics or in the church or in business and industry, and it matters not what one believes to be True; it IS only his focus that matters.
James gives us these words on temptation with which we close today.
“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. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:12-17)
We will continue with our thoughts 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.
We repeat here a Quote of the Day that we spent much time with about a year ago. In this affirmation we find the Truth of discipleship as we have been expressing for several days and the message that this imparts for us today IS that it IS the Soul that is at work in the world of men as it expresses to some degree the purpose, power and the will through Life in this world. These words are from a meditation offered to his students by our Tibetan brother and in which we find greater understanding of the message of the Master. This IS Truly the way of the disciple.
My Soul has purpose, power and will; these three are needed on the Way of Liberation.
My Soul must foster love among the sons of men; this is its major purpose.
I, therefore, will to love and tread the Way of Love. All that hinders and obstructs the showing of the Light must disappear before the purposes of the Soul.
My will is one with the great Will of God;. that Holy Will requires that all men serve. And unto the purposes of the Plan I lend my little will.
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!
- ** Modified from the Tibetan’s words in Discipleship in the New Age – Volume II by Alice A Bailey; © 1955 by Lucis Trust
