ON LOVE; PART CCCXIX
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
humble in thought, lowly of heart in attitude and meek in action
This is now the 730 th edition of posts on this blog site and while this may seem an odd number to celebrate, it is the culmination of 2 years worth of essays which took us just over two years to accomplish. Our point here is not to highlight our accomplishment but rather to relate our own feelings regarding this two year trek which started as we began our first essay in uncertainty that we could even write for a week and then for a month and etc. Here now, two years worth of essays later, we have not run out of things to say nor ways to say them and our essays tend to be longer and more detailed that at the beginning where we struggled to find words and ways to say what we had to say. What we see here is the growth of revelation and of continued realizations of deeper and greater meanings both in the words of the Master and His apostles as well as our own thoughts which we use to expand upon and to help clarify their words which were written over two thousand years ago to a different culture and a different and changing society and, in a language that is no longer used as it was in that day. The Apostle John tells us that the Truth comes from within, from the anointing which we KNOW as the Soul, the Christ Within, and we should see that the Truth comes by degree, a degree that matches somewhat the degree of focus that we may have upon those things that we seek to unveil. The apostle tells us: “But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him” (1 John 2:27). We should note here today that there is what can be seen as a criteria of this anointing in John’s word and this is seen at the very end and perhaps as an example of what we say here above regarding the growth of realization and revelation. John tells us that “even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him” and we should see in this our idea of focus which is the reality of abiding in Him and that it IS in this abiding that we are taught.
In the last essay we continued with our theme of meek and humble and from His words we have put together our saying above that says to us that we should be, must be as a disciple, humble in thought, lowly of heart in attitude and meek in action and we have relied on the Master’s words for much of this. In His sayings from the Sermon on the Mount we have a whole array of instructions by which we show that meekness as a man in the world who does not and will not retaliate and these can all be understood in that single saying of “And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other” (Luke 6:29). Of course we should understand as well that as a man comes to express more and more of the Light of his own Soul, his Christ Within, he will develop many ‘powers’ if you will, most of these in discernment and the ability to see and to express Truth, and as this change occurs he must be ever aware of this same need to be meek and to not use these ‘powers’ to the advantage of the self in the world. We should understand here that as a man grows in this way the propensity to think and act in the world’s ways will be greatly diminished but, at the same time there ARE always the temptations of the world which will endure until that point of True discipleship where one can claim as did the Master that “I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). The idea of being humble is of equal importance as we also see in His words that tell us that we must be humble as a little child whose innocence abounds and who has not yet experienced the pull of the world and the effects of the illusion and the glamour in which we live.
There IS much Truth in His words that tell us that “For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted” (Luke 14:11) and we should try to understand here that this of being humble concerns more than just pride but covers as well how one appears to his brothers by his actions and his ways. Jesus give is an example of this by parable as He tells us these things:
- “And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them, When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him;And he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room. But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee” (Luke 14:7-10). The next verse here IS that one that we lead off with above regarding exalting and we should see here not only the Master’s words regarding a ‘place of honor’ but our more modern ideas as well such as the big and expensive car and the house on the hill. Do we have the luxury car because we want to be seen in it or the House so that we can stand out among our peers? This is seemingly normal human behavior but it IS NOT humble and when one desires to Truly follow the Lord the idea of humble should reign over that sense of appearing greater than one may actually be which IS more than pride alone which would likely reflect actual accomplishments. And, as we have previously discussed, these ideas are ever in relation to one’s own peers and that as one moves up on the socioeconomic ladder his peers and his sense of success advance well.
- “Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee. But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just. And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God” (Luke 14:12-15). Here we have a difficult thought and one that is NOT against having a dinner with guests as much as it is about ones motivation in selecting those guests. There IS more than one dynamic at play here and the first IS motivation and this fits with a like saying from Luke’s Gospel where we read: “For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them. And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same. And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again“, and, we should note that these words follow immediately upon the Golden Rule which we read here as “And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise” (Luke 6:32-34). The other dynamic here IS in the Master’s words that “But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just” and here we should see the reality of that Love for ALL and the Truth that “there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11) and, neither should there be with us whose focus IS upon Him. It IS probably unlikely that one who would do so for the needy would not be the one to make a feast in the first place but it IS the idea of such that should get. It IS however the motivation that we are dealing with here in this essay as it IS what is in the heart that matters; are we inviting those we wish to impress and those that we would like to see reciprocate? We should remember here that the Master is telling this to those that invited Him.
On the matter of pride which also plays a large part in this overall idea of being humble we have this from the Master who lumps pride in with a panoply of other ‘sins’ that can defile a man; He tells us: “And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man” (Mark 7:20-23). Here we should also be able to see a greater reality of the things of the world from the perspective of the Master as some here would not be ordinarily considered as sin. John also offers us some insight into this idea of pride as a part of the ways of the world; he tells us: “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever” (1 John 2:15-17). Here, in John’s words, we should see the sense of sin as we see it, that it is not only those gross offences but rather it IS the ways of the world. Here also we see the idea of pride in John’s words which go to our subject of humble. We should here have a better understanding of the concept of humble as it IS used by the Master and His apostles, that it IS more than pride and includes ALL those worldly actions that would tend to set one man above another, even if only in his own mind.
The next part of this saying that we have put together is the idea of “lowly in heart” as the Master uses this term in defining His own character. He could have said that He was humble but He did not, he says instead: “for I am meek and lowly in heart” (Matthew 11:29). Here we should see ALL the ideas of humble and then yet more as this “lowly in heart” brings to light a humility that is beyond our imaginations and which, when we have overcome and become as the Master, we will rightly understand. Until this however this idea is a part of that striving that we do as aspirants and disciples who are travelling the Path to True discipleship and that state of perfection that the Master tells us of saying “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect“ (Matthew 5:48) and which He also equates for us as being like Him as He tells us that: “The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master” (Luke 6:40). There is no easy way to rightly discern the ideas behind the Masters self proclaimed Nature of “lowly in heart” and our general sources of this type of information leave us wanting. A few posts back we looked at the words of Jesus Mother Mary and her point of admission of her own state of ‘low degree‘ as compared to others in the world as if to marvel that the Lord had chosen her and in this we get some better idea as to the Truth of the Master’s words. In this context we said of “lowly in heart” that: We should note here that this Greek word tapeinos has and alternate rendering as humble and it is rendered such in several translations; this gives us a compound picture of lowly as we can see here that he IS humble, but more; that He IS, and that we should be, less assuming than even those of ‘low degree‘. But how does one think this way? how does one equate himself with the worldly vision of the lowest of the low? This IS a most difficult idea to conceive yet it IS a part of the Nature of the Master and it IS founded in the Truth and the reality that we ARE NOT this body and its attendant personality, we ARE the Soul and as such we ARE, ALL OF US, equal and the same. Can we see that “lowly in heart” IS NOT a thought but an attitude, an understanding that in our essential consciousness we are the same and that these words take away the worldly notion of difference.
Hence our saying above, humble in thought, lowly of heart in attitude and meek in action in which we should see that it IS our objective to be:
- humble in our thoughts, to seek no advantage and to no glory in any that we may have.
- lowly of heart in our attitude which word we should understand as more than our thoughts but as our general manner, our disposition towards ALL things and ALL others; a disposition that says that we ARE neither better nor worse, we ARE, despite ALL appearances, essentially the SAME.
- meek in action which we should be in ALL things that we do and which can be seen as the outward expression of our thoughts and attitudes above.
If we can accomplish these ideas in thought, attitude and action we will have accomplished much on our journey toward our deliverance “from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21) and we should note here that a great part of the corruption IS found in the opposites of our being humble, “lowly in heart” and meek. Corruption, sin, evil and the ways of the world should ALL be seen in a synonymous way, these are, ALL of them, found in that vanity, that illusion and glamour into which the race of men IS cast and from which we must extract ourselves.
In His words on The Fool from the Dhammapada the Buddha tells us this about pride:
Whatever a fool learns,
It only makes him duller.
Knowledge cleaves his head.
For then he wants recognition.
A place before other people,
A place over other people.
“Let them know my work,
Let everyone look to me for direction.”
Such are his desires,
Such is his swelling pride.
One way leads to wealth and fame,
The other to the end of the way.
Look not for recognition
But follow the awakened
And set yourself free 5
The fool IS of course the man whose focus is upon the things of the world.
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.
May the Power of the One True God flow through His group of all true servers;
May the Love of the Christ characterize the lives of all who seek to aid in His work;
May I fulfill my part in the one work through self-forgetfulness, harmlessness and right speech
(Evening Reflection)
Today’s Quote of the Day is a repeat of a previous quote and is also featured in our Prayers and Meditations section with some additional comments regarding it. It appears today again because is sets in order our understanding that it is the Power of God that flows through those that serve Him and in this Power is the Love that can heal. When the Love of the Christ can become the character of one’s Life then this Power can be made available in a predictable way and the precepts of the last line will become our mode of conduct.
This is a prayer for the Power of God to be made available to all who seek to serve Him; in this Power is the Wisdom, the Understanding and the personal strength that we need to properly serve the Lord. It is a prayer also that asks that all who serve the Lord be imbued with His Love, Christ’ Love, which defines the truth of our service to Him. And it is a prayer that, on a personal level, reminds us of our responsibilities in service which are summarized in the three words: self-forgetfulness, harmlessness and right speech.
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!
- 5 The Dhammapada Translated by Thomas Byrom
