ON LOVE; PART DCXV
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
“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).
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ
“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).
In the last essay we began our look at the fourth chapter of the Epistle of James where we find the deeper meaning of the apostle’s words on “wars and fightings among you“, that this could have easily been rendered as “wars and fightings among within you“, as both words are found in the ideas behind the Greek word en. In our view this rendering is made as among because it IS the way that men generally see the whole of the idea of “wars and fightings“; most DO NOT understand the reality of that inner conflict which IS found in the tone of the words that follow in the apostle’s sayings. We should note here that it IS this same idea of ‘among’ versus ‘within‘ that we find in the Master’s words that “the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21) where the Greek word IS a “entos” which IS an expansion upon the idea of en. In the Master’s use of this idea the rendering of the King James IS within but this IS disputed by most doctrine which see this as among or “in the midst” and this for the same reasons of misunderstanding the nature of the idea of the Inner man, the True man, the Soul.
We showed how this inner struggle of men, how these “wars and fightings“, ARE a topic of the Apostle Paul as he writes of his own difficulties in subduing the carnal thoughts, attitudes and actions of the man from the perspective of the aspirant and the disciple to whom these “wars and fightings” ARE very real. We also noted that there IS a combination of thoughts in James’ words such that we can see the idea of the actual “wars and fightings” as well in his tone and this IS in the same style through which we can see a more carnal approach in many of his sayings that are intended to be seen spiritually; we can see that there IS a lesson in his words for the casual reader as well as for the aspirant and the disciple. Our current words ARE:
“From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts” (James 4:1-3).
From the perspective of this inner struggle, we should be able to understand the apostle’s message regarding this source of the struggle for the aspirant, that these “wars and fightings” ARE the product of the desires of the man for the things of the self and of the world. This IS the same struggle with which Paul must “fight and war” as he tells us “But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members” (Romans 7:23). Can we see the link here? John Gill seems to agree with these thoughts of the Inner struggle but this is misplaced to reflect upon the average believer and then only the grossest of lusts, while the reality IS that the issue IS between the ways of the world in ALL respects as opposed to the Ways of God as seen by the True seeker, the Way of Love and of keeping His words. Mr. Gill tells us this regarding these lusts: [come they] not hence, [even] of your lusts that war in your members? as pride, envy, covetousness, ambition which, like so many soldiers, are stationed and quartered in the members of the body, and war against the soul; for in the believer, or converted man, however, there is as it were two armies; a law in the members, warring against the law of the mind; the flesh against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and from this inward war arise external ones; or at least from the corruption of nature, which militates against all that is good, all quarrels and contentions, whether public or private, of a greater or lesser nature, and consequence, spring 8. Mr. Gill also extends this idea to external “wars and fightings” which can be seen in the reality of the average believer but NOT in the reality of the aspirant and the disciple who would see these things more as we read in Paul’s words…as a struggle to be won.
We should remember here that these words ARE written to aspirants and disciples for their instruction and confidence in dealing with the internal struggle of the duality of Life faced in one’s journey on the Path to the Kingdom of God; for the man who finds himself: …in a state of transition between the new and the old states of being. He is vibrating between the condition of soul awareness and form awareness. He is “seeing double” **. The only dividing line between the average believer and the aspirant and the disciple IS the reality of one’s striving, the reality of one’s focus upon keeping His words as compared to the man who DOES NOT Truly strive which we can see in these words from James saying: “be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22). There IS of course NO religious criteria and we should ever understand that the Master’s words ARE the same words that one will find in any True religion; the only difference is the perspective from which the teachings ARE offered which was based in the times and the culture to which they came. When we speak of James and of Paul we ARE NOT speaking about Christianity as we may understand it but the original Truths that men could see and understand in those days before those Truths were covered by doctrines as we still see today. We ARE however speaking of the words of the Master and the law of Moses as this IS modified by the Master, expanded if you will, to become a function of Love.
In the generality of James’ next words we should be able to see the built in dual nature of his words and the ideas that lead Mr. Gill to his conclusions above. We can also see the link of these ideas to James words from previous chapters. First we have the idea of lust which should be seen in the broader view of ardent desire for any and all things of the world, and not in the limited view of gross desires ONLY. Here in the idea of “war in your members” we can sense the idea of the many desires that can come upon a man and in this we should remember the apostles teaching on temptation and how that the aspirant should resist. Again we should note the general ideas behind James’ words as he tells us “Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain“; these ARE NOT accusatory but instructive. When we can see the idea of lusting and not having what it IS that we lust after, we can see the reality of desire, that it IS a wanting ONLY, it IS NOT an obtaining. In the next ideas we can sense the further idea of a man’s attempt to get what he desires and in the deeper understanding of kill as James presents it we should try to see that the man will kill in many other ways than murder; we can see this in the sense that he could kill out his own spiritual pursuit in favor of a carnal desire. Here while the average man may see the idea of actually killing to fulfill his desires, the apostle means much more; John Gill tells us this here: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain; some, instead of kill, which seems not so agreeable, read envy; and then the sense is, they envy at the good and happiness of others, and covet after another’s property, but cannot enjoy it; all such envy and covetousness are fruitless, as well as sinful 8. Other translations render this as murder and in this view as well as that of Mr. Gill we can see the accusatory interpretation of the apostles words.
It should be easy to see how that James covers his True intent here in words that are easily misinterpreted from a carnal perspective but there IS NO lesson for the aspirant nor for the average man in the world in this view. The message here IS that the aspirant and the disciple, caught in the struggle of Life in duality, the man who IS seeing double, DOES have desires and temptations for the things of the world entering into his Life and his consciousness and that these can kill a man’s own sense of striving if these ARE NOT resisted. Here, in the reality of the man who strives and who IS focused upon the things of God, the sense of desire CAN NOT be satisfied and this IS the further understanding that the apostle intends for us to get; we may lust and desire and we may even kill our sense of progress but, if we ARE truly striving, we will NOT obtain those things desired as these ARE contrary to our sense of Truth. Here, while it may seem to be that we are confusing James’ words, we should try to see that this IS the state of mind of the man who lives in this duality; he wants this and that as passing thoughts and occasionally may indulge a passing fancy but overall he KNOWS that he CAN NOT have spiritually while he still wants carnally. Remember Paul’s words from the last essay.
In the last part of our current selection we find the apostle repeating his idea again in a different tone before he moves on; we read: “ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts“. In this part is the central point of his message; again we see the “fight and war“, the constant struggle, and the reality that through this “yet ye have not“; and he gives us the reason saying that “ye ask not“. In this idea we should see that desire and lust IS NOT asking and it IS in this sense that he says that “ye ask not“. But he goes further as well telling us in the next words that we DO ask and while this may seem to be contradictory, it IS NOT in the confusion of the man whose Life is found in such duality as he IS vibrating between the condition of soul awareness and form awareness. So the man struggles and DOES NOT have what he desires and this because he does not ask; then, in the place where the desire IS so strong that one DOES ask, he still DOES NOT get; but here there IS a different reason. In this idea we should again look back in James’ words to where he tells us about asking and receiving saying:
“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways” (James 1:5-8).
This IS the greater reality of the current point that James is speaking on; this IS the reality of “ye ask amiss“, that the only things that one should ask of God IS for this Wisdom in its broadest meaning of ALL things from above, ALL things from God. Here again must understand the double minded man, that he IS asking for the things of God and he IS asking yet the things of the world by his desires and lusts. An important part of this IS the reality that “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above” (James 1:17) and, if it IS these good and perfect things that a man wants, he must first understand that these ARE NOT in the world nor in the desires for the things of the world. The common understanding of this idea of “ye ask amiss” IS NOT as we see it but it is tied again to the gross things of the world leaving a man free to ask for what IS NOT considered as gross by doctrine and religion; James’ helps us to see this Truth a bit further on as he tells us what our relationship to the world should be.
Here we should see the apostle’s message as that men who asks for worldly things ARE asking amiss, they ARE asking for things “that ye may consume it upon your lusts” and it IS in this idea that we should see the totality of carnal desires, desire for the things of the world. We should note here that their are two words in James sayings here that ARE rendered as lust and these have distinctly different meanings. The one Greek word epitumeo, is used in the second verse to say “Ye lust, and have not” and in this sense there IS the idea of ardent desire which is for us the right understanding but which IS more commonly understood in a grosser sexual way. This common and then doctrinal understanding of the idea of lust IS NOT what is meant in the New Testament and it IS not the original emphasis of the English word according to Webster’s where we read: Longing desire; eagerness to possess or enjoy and To desire eagerly; to long; with after 1 as the first defining terms. Today it IS the sexual reference that leads the list of defining terms. Our point here IS that this same word IS used by the Master and understood as desire and that this IS changed by the doctrinal ideas of lust, that it must be a more evil thing, in those places where the rendering IS as lust.
The other word that IS rendered as lust in James’ sayings is the Greek word hedone and this IS used in the other two places that we find the word lust in our current saying. This word is defined as: pleasure; desires for pleasure 2 by the lexicon but it IS rendered as lust causing the English reader to see the same idea in all three places, the idea of illicit desires. The greater reality IS that there are many pleasures in the world and NOT just those that are among the gross things that one can consider as sin; there IS pleasure in everything from good food to a walk on the beach and here we should see the greater reality of the things that a man desires which bring pleasure to the body and the personality in the world. There IS no criteria that these be bad things, there IS only the saying by the apostle that it IS desires for these pleasures that creates the struggle found in duality and it IS this sense of pleasure that a man seeks in those things for which he may ask amiss. Can we see how this follows upon the idea of asking in the sayings from chapter one and in the ability to KNOW the Wisdom from above that we find in chapter three.
This IS ALL clouded by a combination of James’ choice of words, the rendering of these words in carnal language and the understanding of them as the grosser sins of men. While James’ may be intentionally obscure in his language, the reality IS that this IS a message to the aspirant regarding the struggle and the confusion in which he finds himself. Here we should see that while these gross things are the object of attention for the man whose focus IS upon the self and the self in the world, these ARE NOT the objects of the focus of the aspirant and the disciple and James’ words here are our for our caution and our understanding regarding the ways and the things of the world.
We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.
| Aspect |
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.
As we approach the Wesak Festival at the Full Moon of May, it seems appropriate that we post the Great Invocation as our Quote of the Day. Wesak IS the Festival of the Buddha and it IS said that on this day the Buddha returns to us and stands with the Christ to help to focus the attention of men of GoodWill on the Truth of the Plan of God, the Plan that can come to fruition in the expression of the Light and Love and Power in the world of men.
From the point of Light within the Mind of God
Let light stream forth into the minds of men.
Let Light descend on Earth.
From the point of Love within the Heart of God
Let love stream forth into the hearts of men.
May Christ return to Earth.
From the centre where the Will of God is known
Let purpose guide the little wills of men–
The purpose which the Masters know and serve.
From the centre which we call the race of men
Let the Plan of Love and Light work out
And may it seal the door where evil dwells.
Let Light and Love and Power restore the Plan on Earth.
This prayer is a part of our Prayers and Meditations section and there is much information about it there and in our discussion of it in the Quote of the Day section of In the Words of Jesus parts 128-132
The above Invocation or Prayer does not belong to any person or group but to all Humanity. The beauty and the strength of this Invocation lies in its simplicity, and in its expression of certain central truths which all men, innately and normally, accept—the truth of the existence of a basic Intelligence to Whom we vaguely give the name of God; the truth that behind all outer seeming, the motivating power of the universe is Love; the truth that a great Individuality came to earth, called by Christians, the Christ, and embodied that love so that we could understand; the truth that both love and intelligence are effects of what is called the Will of God; and finally the self-evident truth that only through humanity itself can the Divine Plan work out.
Like the Lord’s Prayer, this invocation is a World Prayer which is as all that a prayer is intended to be. It is a prayer for the uplifting of the Human Family out of the mire of materialism and selfishness. The Lord’s Prayer asks nothing for the individual praying it but asks that its benefits be for US and for WE which is why it was given by the Christ as a prayer and as a model over 2000 years ago. This invocation is also attributed to the Christ who, as He promised, has never left us; He, through channels that we do not readily understand, has Himself instructed His disciples to distribute this prayer and to encourage its use as a world prayer and as an aid in preparing the world for His return.
The first three stanzas of this prayer should be understood as reflecting the effective potencies of the Trinity which is God and which, when brought down to an individual level, the Trinity which is Man. His Will, His Love and His Light we should seen as the Potent Powers of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!
- 1 Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1828 and 1913
- 2 New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
- 8 Bible commentaries on BibleStudyTools.com
- ** A Treatise on White Magic or The Way of the Disciple by Alice Bailey ©1951 by Lucis trust
