Love is the Fulfilling of the Law
ON LOVE; PART CCXCV
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 our interrupted look at the speech by the Apostle Paul to the Greeks at Athens as recorded by the Apostle Luke in the Book of Acts. We have always found these words to be of profound importance for the right understanding of the Truth of ONE GOD, ONE HUMANITY, ONE WORLD as these provide the basis for the True expression of Love by men in form. It IS through this understanding that we can better understand our brother, our neighbor and the stranger who qualifies as both; it IS through this understanding that the words of the Master that tell us to Love our neighbor come to greater Life and it IS through this understanding that the words of the Buddha take on a more personal meaning as He tells us:
See yourself in others.
Then whom can you hurt?
What harm can you do?
…..
For your brother is like you.
He wants to be happy.
Never harm him
Perhaps this IS the purpose for Paul’s words? to show us the way to this understanding; that we should see ourselves in others as we are, according to the apostle’s words, ALL “of one blood” and that in God, in His Great and Awesome Plan, we ALL “live, and move, and have our being“. The reality of these words is in the Life that we have here in this Earth, NO ONE who is seeing clearly can doubt this except as influenced by the workings of some doctrines of the world’s religions and the teaching to our children those ideas that allow for the continued and prolonged way of prejudice and hatred in the world yet today. Repeating Paul’s words for clarity:
“For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring” (Acts 17:23-28).
The Buddha says “For your brother is like you” and like the Master he does not mean only brothers by blood but ALL men as children of the ONE Father and as Paul says in our verses from Acts: “For we are also his offspring“. And it should not matter here how we view this idea of brotherhood, we can see that we are His children in the sense that the Master tells us of our Father in Heaven or we can see that we are adopted as sons based upon the little understood words of Paul, the effect IS the SAME, we are children and we should remember here Vincent’s words on adoption from the apostle’s Epistle to the Romans; Vincent tells us “The process of legal adoption by which the chosen heir became entitled not only to the reversion of the property but to the civil status, to the burdens as well as the rights of the adopter – became, as it were, his other self, one with him … this too is a Roman principle, peculiar at this time to the Romans, unknown, I believe, to the Greeks, unknown, to all appearance, to the Jews, as it certainly is not found in the legislation of Moses, nor mentioned anywhere as a usage among the children of the covenant. We have but a faint conception of the force with which such an illustration would speak to one familiar with the Roman practice; how it would serve to impress upon him the assurance that the adopted son of God becomes, in a peculiar and intimate sense, one with the heavenly Father” (“Conversion of the Roman Empire”)4. This is the long version of this as we generally only point out the closing lines and in this we should be able to see the reality of adoption in the way that the apostle uses it in his words to the Roman disciples and aspirants in that day. We should see from all these words that this idea of adoption IS NOT what we see in the English language but it IS much deeper for although an adopted son in English is entitled to ALL the benefits of the natural son, here we have the added idea of ONENESS as the realization in the consciousness of the man in form in the world IS in Truth that we ARE, as the True man, the Soul, already fully Sons of God. We should note here how Paul addresses this idea to the disciples and aspirants at Rome where as such they are yet “waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:23) and we should note here that the apostle gives us the understanding of the fulfillment of this adoption and in this understanding we can Truly see the ONENESS as expressed by Vincent above.
And this the Master tells us rather clearly in His words about the Father and we can here assume that He is speaking about the True man, the Soul, as in His words there is no provision for any differences based upon the flesh, or on whether there IS the realization of ONENESS. The Master tells from the Sermon on the Mount which we should see as a speech of sorts to His disciples that can be heard by ALL within range as we read that “And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set , his disciples came unto him: And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying” (Matthew 5:1-2). Luke paints this for us in this way saying: “And he came down with them, and stood in the plain, and the company of his disciples, and a great multitude of people out of all Judaea and Jerusalem, and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, which came to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases; And they that were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed. And the whole multitude sought to touch him: for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all. And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said” (Luke 6:17-20). We should see in these versions from the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount that the disciples are the primary target but that there are many, multitudes, who came to hear Him and be healed. Our point here IS that these words from Jesus are for the understanding of His disciples and for the multitudes and, while they may make some sense, there is the limit of the Master’s teaching on hearing and seeing and He tells us this saying “But I say unto you which hear” (Luke 6:27) as He begins to speak about Love. Of course His disciples DO hear and they do repeat His understanding in their own teaching and epistles and to finish our point on being His children, being sons regardless of where we may find ourselves in regard to our realization of divinity, we find these sayings:
- In Matthew’s Gospel as the Master teaches us about our point above, that “your brother is like you” and that we should “See yourself in others“, He does so from the perspective of teaching us how OUR God sees men. Jesus tells us “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:44-48). We should note here two things; first that in this world God sees ALL evenly and this we have for us in the sun rising and shining on ALL men and the rains coming for ALL men; this is, in Jesus teaching the equivalent to the idea propounded by the apostles that “there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11). We must understand this of course from the reality of those things that God provides and not in the accumulation of wealth or possessions nor in the prospects of health or actual living conditions as these ARE the result of the free-will of the human race and not necessarily that of the individual as many get caught up in the free-will of others both individual and corporate. The second thing IS that there is reference here to the realization of this Sonship by the man in the world who IS focused upon the things of God; the Master tells us this in relation to Love, the Great Commandment, saying that IF we Love our neighbor and our brother and the stranger who qualifies as both, which includes, in Jesus terms, those that hate us and who use us and who persecute us as well as ALL our enemies of any kind, that we CAN BE “the children of your Father which is in heaven“. Here then in these words we can find a sort of double entendre; on the one hand the Master IS telling us of the equanimity of ALL His children in the Earth who receive the rain and the sun as Souls in form unawares of the Truths of Life and we have as well the realization that one IS a Son of God or a child of God, a realization that comes from keeping His words. Here in these ideas we may find some of that narrow thinking of doctrine on who IS and who IS not a child of God but in the broad view which we take, we see the reality and the Truth and confirmation of our understanding that ALL men are His children and this is what Paul amplifies and clarifies for us in speaking to the ‘heathens’ at Athens and saying “For we are also his offspring“
- Luke’s Gospel paints this a bit differently saying that “But love ye your enemies, and do good , and lend , hoping for nothing again ; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful” (Luke 6:5-36). Here we should see the same dynamics at play but the idea here, instead of being perfect which IS our ultimate goal, IS to be merciful as the Father in Heaven is merciful. Here again the Master is speaking about Love as the primary subject and in this idea of mercy we should see what we call Love in Action….GoodWill and benevolence, and not pity. Again we should see the ideas of children on both sides of this although this IS a bit more difficult because of the apostle’s wording here. Here the realization IS again in the expression of Love as it IS Love for ALL will give us this revelation as we understand that Love IS the beginning and the end insofar as keeping His words. On the other side we should see this in relation to the Master’s other words regarding the Father and the most ready reference IS in the Lord’s Prayer where ALL men can say “Our Father” and we should remember here that this whole idea of Father IS NOT the same as that carnal relationship that we have with parent, either natural or adopted, but from our understanding of the idea of HIM as the ONE SOURCE for ALL Life and ALL things; this is again what Paul is telling the Epicureans and the Stoics at Athens, that He “made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth” and that “in him we live, and move, and have our being” and finally that “we are also his offspring“. Here in these words by the Master, Luke uses the Greek word chrestos which IS rendered as kind in our King James Version and most other versions as well. This is of course an inadequate rendering of a this Greek word that is also used in the Master’s saying that: “For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:30) where it is rendered as easy and in the epistles where it is rendered as goodness and good and even gracious. Looking to Vincent for some help in understanding this word we find a lengthy dissertation from which we will simply take his conclusion that there IS not a suitable English word to express this thought 4 and so we are left to understand it in the same context as the words and phrases used in Matthew version of this saying which we interpret as God’s giving equally to ALL without preference to any. He gives equally to the “unthankful and to the evil“, to the “evil and on the good” and to “the just and on the unjust“.
In this ALL we should try to see that reality of revelation as the KEY to our understanding of our relationship to God, a relationship that ever exists regardless of our actions in this Earth and here we can look to the Parable of the Prodigal Son for any needed guidance; we do cover this parable in some detail but from a different perspective in In the Words of Jesus parts 102 and 106. When this parable is rightly viewed we find that the son is the man in the world who IS focused on himself and the self in the world and who takes ALL his resources into the world to discover its pleasures. This IS the plight of everyman as we are ALL born into this body and personality and are schooled in the ways of the world and this regardless of how limited this schooling may be. This need not be seem only as the example set in the parable where the son “wasted his substance with riotous living” although this IS a good example for much of the world; we should see included here ALL things whatsoever a son may learn, be it a doctrinal religious upbringing that the son will pursue thinking it the way, or the meager Life of the peasant in a poor land who sees this as his Life and goes out in search of the best of it. In our example it is “riotous living” but regardless of what the worldly way my be, we want to see, for the stories sake, that the son grows weary of this Life, it is unfulfilling and he seeks better, and here he looks then to the father and asks forgiveness as he realizes the error of his ways. This asking IS Repentance as the son makes that decision to seek the greater Truths and to look away from, or no longer focus upon, the self and the self in the world. Now this parable has other parts that we need not be concerned with here, there is the reaction of the father and the brother as well as the finer parts of the son’s thinking, his motivation if you will, as well as the humbleness of his approach and we will visit these again at another time. Our point here IS that as the prodigal, the son, is the son before, during and after his adventures in the world and so are we ALL. We ARE Sons of God when we are among the “unthankful and to the evil“, to the “evil and on the good” and “the just and on the unjust“; we ARE Sons when we come to that decision to change or to Repent, and we are Sons as aspirants and as disciples….the idea of Sonship DOES NOT change, it IS a constant throughout our eternity.
And this brings us back to our sayings by Paul to the Greeks at Athens where he tells them clearly that they, in their place following what they KNOW of the world, being recognized as heathens by many yet today, ARE Sons of God. And it is in this word sons that there can be much confusion as language DOES NOT permit for accuracy here nor in other places where the words for sons and children and offspring are used in the same or similar context. In this word offspring we find similar confusion to that which we see above regarding the word chrestos that is rendered as kind in the saying above and interestingly we find that this Greek word, genos, is also rendered as kind, although in a different context, in other places as well as kindred 3, nation 2, stock 2, born 2, diversity 1, and even country. Here, the rendition of this as offspring, in addition to the general understanding of son or child as being such of God, we should see the understanding that man IS of the same kind, is kindred or even is born of God. This is as we say above regarding the whole notion of being a Son of God as the reality IS that we are a part, part and parcel to be more accurate, but there is no easy way to say this to the satisfaction of the minds of men. True Sonship can be seen as that realization that we are just like the Father and this is why the Master begins His teaching with this construct; God IS the Father and we, ALL of us, ARE the children.
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.
There is a certain esoteric Mantram which embodies this attitude—the attitude of the disciple who is striving, in cooperative endeavour with others, to link hierarchical intent with human aspiration and thus bring humanity nearer to its goal. The intent of the Hierarchy is to increase men’s capacity for freedom in order to function effectively with that “life more abundantly” which the Christ will bring and which demands that the spirit of man be free—free to approach divinity and free also to choose the Way of that approach. The Mantram bears the name, “The Affirmation of the Disciple.” It involves certain inner recognitions and acceptances which are readily perceived by those whose intuition is sufficiently awake; but its meaning should not be beyond the ability of any sincere student and thinker to penetrate if it appeals to them as significant and warranting their effort. ‡
I am a point of light within a greater Light.
I am a strand of loving energy within the stream of Love divine.
I am a point of sacrificial Fire, focussed within the fiery Will of God.
And thus I stand
I am a way by which men may achieve.
I am a source of strength, enabling them to stand.
I am a beam of light, shining upon their way.
And thus I stand.
And standing thus, revolve
And tread this way the ways of men,
And know the ways of God.
And thus I stand.
We repeat what we had previously said of this Mantram:
Today’s Quote of the Day is called the Affirmation of the Disciple and is spoken from the perspective of the Soul and not from that of the man in form. It is the Soul that we are in this life on Earth, housed in this ‘temple’ of flesh and it is the Light of the Soul that must flow through this ‘temple’ in order that we may say with the Christ “I have overcome the world“ (John 16:33) which is our goal and our destiny. Speaking then as the Soul we affirm our reality and true existence in God and in His Three Aspects of Light and Love and His Will. As this Light and Love and Will flow through our conscious personalities and forms we, as disciples, take on the nature of the second stanza being able to offer to the world a better way through our service and our Love for all, encouragement to righteousness through our strength of purpose, and the Light which shines in accordance with the Master’s instructions to “Let your light so shine before men” (Matthew 5:16) and illuminates the Path. Finally we realize that we are standing in this world and walking as men but, as conscious Souls in form, we know the way and the ways of God and are able to say with the Christ that “I am not of this world” (John 8:23).
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
- ‡ TELEPATHY AND THE ETHERIC VEHICLE BY ALICE A. BAILEY © 1950 BY LUCIS TRUST
