IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 915

ON LOVE; PART DIV

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GoodWill IS Love in Action

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“The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: 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 12:29-31).

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“Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:36-40).

There IS a strict line of delineation between the carnal and the spiritual and that line IS at the entrance to the Kingdom of God. While there is no actual entrance that one will physically move through, there IS a psychic entry point within each and every man born in this world and the Master tells us this in that much misunderstood saying that “the Kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21). The rational that many use to deflect the Truth of this idea of the Kingdom Within is that it is not possible that the ‘evil’ Pharisee whom the Master IS addressing could possibly have the Kingdom within him. But this IS ONLY True from the perspective of realization which is the function of one’s focus which in turn is the reality of the Master’s words on the treasure of one’s heart; the Pharisee, like most men, does not realize the Presence of the Kingdom. When we view this idea of heart as the consciousness of the man that contains his thoughts and as his attitudes and not the thoughts and the attitudes themselves, we have a better opportunity to see the reality of the man in the world. In this we must also come to embrace the idea that the consciousness, the heart according to the Master, IS an aspect of the Soul itself which has a triple nature as we see in the chart below. The Soul imparts to the form which he uses the Life and the consciousness that are essentially the Spirit and the Soul with the third aspect being their activity in the world and this is of course from the perspective of the man in the world. While we have discussed these ideas several times over the Life of our blog, we have never done so with complete clarity as there are not sufficient words to express some of the interrelationships of the Truths involved. Today we will try to make this a bit clearer from the perspective of the Kingdom Within.

The importance of Truly understanding this concept is found in the reality that since the Kingdom IS within the man in the world, so then IS the God whose Kingdom this IS within the man as well and, by the words of the Master, the Christ IS also and this He tells us saying “I and my Father are one” (John 10:30). Doctrine clouds these realities because there is NOT a True understanding of these relationships and this in turn IS likely based in the convoluted view that God IS separate from His creation and a mistaken view of the reality of divinity. Much of the problem here is that doctrine generally sees Life in the physical instead of the divine while the Truth is that Life IS the divine and that it IS already separated from the physical in ways that ARE difficult to comprehend. Most ONLY see Life that has a physical presence and whether we look at a tree or a fish or a dog or a man, these appearances ARE NOT the Life; they are but the vehicle for the expression of Life in this world. And we should remember here that not ALL Life is conscious Life as we understand it; man is self conscious and self aware and this reality IS not shared by the dog or the fish or the tree. To be sure ALL of these have some type of consciousness which IS beyond our ken and most certainly ALL of these have a central Life that IS separated from the myriad of little lives that make up the physical body. Here we should try to see that the central Life is the Life of the entity that holds in place the myriad little lives that make up his form and we ARE NOT here addressing these little lives as this is a much more complex topic but we should try to see that behind every atom that is present in the physical world there is a Life and that Life IS God in the same way that the central Life that IS the the man, the dog, the fish or the tree IS part and parcel of the God.

As men in the world we can hardly understand our own sense of conscious awareness and how this works through the mind and the emotions and then through the physical presence and we have ever less ability to understand then the sense of consciousness of the remainder of the kingdoms of the world. We can guess at the feelings of the dog or the fish based upon behavior but this IS nonetheless a guess and we have absolutely no idea of the conscious Life experience of the tree. The point here is that it IS Life that IS of God and that IS God and that we ARE that Life in His microcosmic parts. In this view God IS in His creation if we are considering that we are created but in the Truth of our eternal Life, or the realization of such that the Master promises, we ARE NOT created as True Life that we ARE; we ARE as IS OUR God IS…..eternal and divine. As we have discussed in our view of the reality of the Book of Genesis, there is the creation of man in two places which we see as first the manifestation of the True man in the what we call the Kingdom, the Soul which IS that same Life that IS the Spirit and EVER ONE with God, made manifest in matter; not the matter that we see and feel in this world but the more subtle matter of the Kingdom of God. There IS NO way to easily understand this except in the realization that the Master offers us in his saying above that “I and my Father are one” and the other unclear but True pronouncements of our ONENESS with Him and with the Father. ALL of these must be seen as psychic and not physical; the physical IS but the vehicle of expression in this physical world.

The Master tells us that “At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you” (John 14:20) and in these words is our assurance of our True relationship with the Father and with the Son and this through our own Spirit and Soul which are ever ONE in Them. And the Master’s point here IS NOT that we will change to be in this state of ONENESS but it IS rather that we “shall know“, we shall realize the Truth and this He tells us as well saying that “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).  In this saying however there IS His criteria for this KNOWING as He tells us that “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed” (John 8:31). We should be able to see that it IS in one’s spiritual focus that one comes to KNOW anything of the Truth and we should understand that KNOWING IS NOT stagnant but rather fluid and continuous. Hence our idea on realizations and revelations that work with the Master’s own explanatory ideas which ARE NOT Truly understood and many of which we find repeated several times in His words:

• First we have the idea of hearing and, of course we should see that this more than what comes into one’s ears as there IS no True spiritual benefit to this physical hearing. It IS rather to do with what becomes of what one hears and from many sources aside from the external ear; there is the inner ear that listens to the ‘still small voice’ and there is the ear that hears what we read and what we see. ALL of these and likely more go into the Master’s parabolic idea of the ear as He says: “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear” (Matthew 11:15) or as this is phrased by the Apostle Mark: “If any man have ears to hear, let him hear” (Mark 7:16). In this the ears of the listener are much the same and here we should try to understand the role of focus; the man whose focus IS upon the things of God and not taken away by every this or that that comes along, will hear the inner voice proclaiming the Truths that one has ‘heard’ and while the context here IS the physical hearing, the Truth of the hearing IS of the inner voice. This idea of hearing versus hearing is a part of the example shown in the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Builders and the Parable of the Sower.
• The reality of these sayings and this idea is found in these words as well; the Master says: “Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand” (Matthew 13:13). Here we should see that those who have “ears to hear“, those who hear the inner voice, can hear and can understand the parables. We should not be fooled here however as this is yet a very personal thing and there ARE many who believe that they KNOW the meaning of the parable but who DO NOT KNOW the hidden Truth….they ONLY see some outer reality to the saying or the story itself. And we should try to see here as well that revelation and realization come by degree and what one may see in a parable today may grow into a greater Truth tomorrow; His words do not change but our understanding of them DOES.
• In John’s Gospel we have this same idea from another perspective as the Master tells us “Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming , and now is , when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live” (John 5:25). In these parabolic words that are part of a parabolic group of sayings we should see our own reality as we can see that the time has come when those dead in sin, those whose focus is in the self and in the world, hear the voice of the Son. If we can view this in a daily reality over the last 2000 years, we can see that many do hear, and see and read the words of the Master….many hear but it IS ONLY those that Truly hear by means of their own focus upon the Good, the Beautiful and the True that shall live. Here of course the living IS NOT physical Life but spiritual Life; “they that hear shall live” the True Life of the Soul and express that beauty through form. Some doctrine sees these words in an eschatological way, as a final judgement, but this doctrine sees ONLY the outer story of the parabolic words of the Master. In these words we should see the reality of hearing, believing and KNOWING and the understanding that it IS those who Truly hear that live.
• Finally we have this same thought again in these words that the Master speaks to those that are against Him and His teachings; men whose focus is upon themselves and their way and their doctrine, men who hear the words but DO NOT believe them because they are contrary to what they claim to know. The Master says: “He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God” (John 8:47). Here again we have the idea of focus; that those that ARE of God are those whose focus IS upon the Truth.

In ALL of this is the common thread of focus, of attention to the things of the Lord, being the key idea in hearing Truth and this from whatever the source and in whatever way. The Truth of hearing as the Master frames it for us IS that we see the Truth as it IS reflected in our minds and emotions from the Soul, from the anointing which ALL men have as the Christ Within, and of which the Apostle John 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).

Here then we understand the hearing and the hearing and we KNOW that in this True hearing IS the believing and the KNOWING that is necessary regarding the things of God and, of course, in this idea of believing we DO NOT mean that mental and emotional affirmation but the deeper believing that we can say IS the beginning of KNOWING. We should remember here that the final point, the final degree of this same KNOWING IS that one IS able to move the mountain. Regarding our starting point; that idea of a strict line of delineation, we should try to see that this reality is twofold. On the one hand we ARE spiritual beings as the True man and as such we ARE ALWAYS on the spiritual side of this equation; we ARE divine not carnal; we ARE the Life and NOT the form. On the other hand IS our Life in the world through which the consciousness exists in the form in the world. This form IS carnal; it IS on the other side of this line if demarcation and from the Truly spiritual perspective it will remain there until the Life and consciousness in the form can overcome the carnal nature. Remembering here that the form is the vehicle of expression for the Soul, we should be able to see the reality then that when the Life and the consciousness can overcome the carnal nature, that the form IS then expressing the True divinity that IS the Soul. In this the mind and emotions of the carnal man work through that same consciousness; the difference IS in the focus of the consciousness which perhaps can be seen as a mirror that reflects in the expressive Life of the man in the world whatsoever is his focus.

This IS our journey through time and space; we are born and grow through the many stages of carnal living in which we are nurtured and shown the ways of the world and this IS what the consciousness comes to KNOW. But the consciousness IS still an aspect of the divine nature and does hear the prompting of that nature, the Christ Within, the Soul, and, when the consciousness can hear, Truly hear the prompting above the clamor of Life in the world, then we can see the man as who can “hear the voice of the Son of God“. This can be seen then as the beginning of believing and therefore the beginning of KNOWING the Truth and here, depending upon the degree of focus, the man can come to that point where he can understand and KNOW the reality of the Master’s words saying: “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free“.

Our purpose here in today’s essay is to lay the further groundwork for our idea on forsaking; here we should try to see the gradual changes that overtake the man whose focus IS upon God and the things of God and to remind us that as the True man, the Soul, we ARE ever in the Kingdom of God. Our Truth and our reality IS in our ability to bring that sense of divinity down into the conscious expression of the man in the world, to make of the man in the world a conscious Son of God who can express the Love and the Power to the Christ Within to the world of men.

We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.

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.

And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. 
God is love; 
and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. 
Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness 
in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. 
There is no fear in love; 
but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. 
He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
We love him, because he first loved us. 
If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: 
for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, 
how can he love God whom he hath not seen? 
And this commandment have we from him, 
That he who loveth God love his brother also
1 John 4:16-21

Today’s Quote of the Day from the First Epistle of John is his reflection on God and on Love. John tells us that God is Love and, as we have discussed, Love is certainly as aspect and an attribute of the Godhead and one which is supremely represented by the Christ. John tells us further that without Love there is no relationship with God and likens the Truth of dwelling in Love to being in His Kingdom and in His Presence. He draws for us the idea of Love for ones fellowman being the prime prerequisite for Love of God for although one may say that he Loves God, it cannot be True unless he first Loves his fellowman. In John’s words the equation is certain: “he who loveth God love his brother also“. And, lest we forget that the idea of Love that the Master teaches in not the emotional attraction that we live with daily, we repeat again: LOVE is….

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’. To this we add the ever important High Ideal as taught by the Christ: “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12).

Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!