ON LOVE; PART DCXVII
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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).
In the last essay we looked at the duality of ideas found in the beginning of the fourth chapter of the Epistle of James. Here we find James reference to “wars and fightings among you” which can be seen in relation to the ending of the third chapter where the apostle refers to Peace and how this IS sown by those who would be peacemakers. At the same time as one can try to make this link, there comes the problem of what IS the cause of these “wars and fightings among you“; that it IS lusts which can appear as overwhelming desires based in the James’ words:
“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).
While the relationship between Peace and war is seen in the words that the apostle uses, the practicality of his idea here DOES NOT seem to work unless the peacemaker IS the aspirant and the disciple who can deter these overwhelming lusts and desires. These men, these aspirants and disciples, would NOT be among those who would “fight and war” in a carnal sense and this leaves us with the idea that these words ARE NOT about the actual “wars and fightings among you” at ALL and, while these may be interpreted in such a fashion, there IS little relationship in these two distinct ideas when seen carnally. In our view, there IS NO True duality in James’ ideas; this sense IS created by the view that these words can be seen from the perspective of the man in the world. For us, the reality IS in the rendering of this idea so as to see the inner struggle of the man who seeks God and this IS founded in our view that the entire epistle IS addressed to such men as instructions and strong cautions regarding worldly behaviors, thoughts and attitudes. To this end we see the apostle’s words better rendered as “wars and fightings among within you” and to see this we need only look at the definitions of the Greek word en where it becomes apparent that among IS the translators choice based upon the doctrinal view which DOES NOT recognize this Inner struggle.
For us this IS the Inner struggle ONLY and the idea of Peace can easily be linked from the apostle’s words saying: “the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace” (James 3:18). Here, in the link between righteousness and the peacemaker, we should see that same aspirant and disciple as it IS ONLY these that will approach righteousness as James portrays it here. We should remember that this idea IS linked as well to the reality of that Wisdom from above which IS the providence of the man whose focus IS upon God….it IS he who will receive such Wisdom, such revelation and realizations that lead to thoughts and attitudes which ARE according to His words. We must stress here again that this ability for Wisdom from above, this ability to be a peacemaker, and then inclusion into these current sayings regarding the duality of Life as such a person, IS open to any who can take their focus off of the self and the interests of the self in the world; to any who can Truly Repent and then begin that Transformation from carnal to spiritual according to His words.
This IS the greater reality for man, that he become more Godlike in his expression to the world and this IS the teaching of the Master that IS overlooked by many in favor of the illusory spiritual accomplishments that ARE extracted from the words of the Apostle Paul, an extraction that IS carnally creative and which can be seen in the Master’s words from the Parable of the Unjust Steward. In this He commends the ‘unjust‘ saying: “And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations” (Luke 16:8-9). We should be careful here and understand that there IS NO thing bad in this idea of unrighteousness, there IS only the focus of a man on the world and it IS in this focus that one DOES NOT keep His words; this IS the nature of such a man that the Master IS reflecting upon, this IS the ways of the man in the world.
And this IS the difficulty for the man who has chosen to focus upon the things of God, this IS his struggle against the ways of the man in the world which have been his ways. This IS the cause of the duality of the aspirant and the disciple, that sense of righteousness opposed to the ways of “the children of this world“. It can be said that this sense of duality IS a True sign that one IS making spiritual progress. It IS in this light that the apostle offers us cautions against the lure of the lusts and the desires that will come upon us and this caution IS in the same frame of reference as the temptations from the opening of his epistle. In the end of our selection above James tells us that we “ask amiss” and we should see here the relationship to the things of the world; that the man who IS asking for, or even expecting, the comforts and the pleasures of Life in the world IS NOT going to get what it IS that his lusts and desires drive him toward. The True asking IS in asking for Wisdom which the apostle also shows us earlier in relation to temptation where we read: “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” (James 1:5-6).
In the combination of these ideas from James we should be able to see the reality of his message; that the things of God ARE Wisdom….they are the revelations, the realizations, the thoughts and the attitudes of the disciple of the Lord and that to receive these things one must be or IS becoming that single minded man. In regard to asking from the first chapter the apostle tells us that it must be done with “nothing wavering” and he tells us that “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways” (James 1:8); here, in our current discussion he tells us the same from the perspective that: to Truly find God one must shed this way. While this idea was NOT in our next selection as we posted it yesterday, we amend that here so as to look at more of the thought offered by James:
“Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded” (James 4:4-8).
In the transition from the idea that we “ask amiss” to the idea that the things of the world ARE NOT for the aspirant and the disciple, that he should NOT be intimately familiar with them, we should be able to understand the greater point of the apostle and the reality that we are showing: that James IS offering us continuing instruction in how to avoid and to KNOW what should be the focus of the man who seeks God. We should try here to understand that these words ARE NOT accusatory in a general sense and that the reference to “adulterers and adulteresses” IS NOT to be seen in the common understanding of the words; this should be seen in the idea that the man who has chosen God should not be deviating from that choice by his continued familiarity with the world. In this there IS more of a ‘if the shoe fits’ idea than there IS an accusation as NOT ALL men in his audience are acting so. The reality of this first part IS intended to be meaningful to the aspirant and the disciple from the perspective that it IS the man who “will be a friend of the world” who IS apt to accede to the temptations and the lusts that ARE from the world.
The idea in James’s words should be seen to say that the aspirant and the disciple KNOW that there IS this enmity between the God and mammon; both CAN NOT coexist in the heart of the man who seeks God and from the Master’s words on the treasure of the heart and on God and mammon from the Sermon on the Mount, we should see that this cuts both ways. The man who IS stuck in the duality of Life sees clearly the goal and KNOWS of this enmity and every time he accedes to temptation, every time the lusts and the desires have their way, he has chosen poorly and puts himself at odds with God. And we must remember that what he may be acceding to need NOT be a gross offense; it can be any thought, attitude or action that takes one’s attention back to the self and the ways of the self. We should remember as well that the aspirant must grow in this relationship with God and that early in one’s journey there may be many poor choices and it IS in this that we should see the importance striving, the importance of keeping the goal in front of ALL things. It IS with this in mind that the Master offers us those parables on the growth of the Kingdom which we understand as the growth of the Kingdom Within.
Just as a man is nurtured in the ways of the world, he must be nurtured as well in the ways of God and there IS one major difference here. The nurturing into the ways of the world, the ways of mammon, IS the product of one’s upbringing and experience; it IS the result of a combination of one’s indoctrination and one’s own innate sense as well as the effects of what is happening around the child and then the man. On the other hand, the nurturing of a man in the ways of God takes on a very different tone which DOES NOT necessarily include religion per se as this IS included in one’s nurturing into the world’s ways; religion IS a worldly undertaking. Nurturing into the ways of God IS a very personal undertaking that IS accomplished ONLY in Repentance and Transformation and according to the Truth of the Master’s words; NOT the Truth as offered by others or by doctrine but the Truth as seen and understood by each man; the Truth from His own Soul. It IS ONLY the man who sees clearly enough to Repent that can begin to Transform and it IS ONLY the man who seeks God that will find the Truth of Repentance and this IS the nature of the Master’s parables on the growth of the Kingdom Within.
It IS the man who seeks, the man who hears the prompting of his own Soul and follows it into his own ‘secret room’ and who finds the wherewithal to pursue that call. It IS the man who seeks and finds some inkling of Truth and some glimmer of Light and sees these as of more value to him that the things upon which he had been focused. This IS a difficult place for many and this IS the place where the first price must be paid; an emotional and a mental price of looking away from what had been one’s normal way of living. If we can see this glimmer and this inkling as the mustard seed, then we can understand the Truth of the Master’s words that say:
“Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof” (Matthew 13:31-32).
The reality of the Master’s words have naught to do with the field, the tree nor the birds; the reality IS simply the growth of the Kingdom. The inkling and the glimmer that is planted in a man’s field of focus grows to more and more become the focus of the Life of the man until the man’s ONLY focus IS on the Kingdom and the things of God. Much the same can be seen in the next parable on the growth of the Kingdom that the Master gives us saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened” (Matthew 13:33). Here the inkling and the glimmer are the leaven which is mingled or mixed into the Life of the man in the world and which, by the natural action of leaven, effects the whole Life, the three aspects of body, mind and emotions. Should one care to see the idea of three measures as the amount of meal, the idea IS the same though we should see the word rendered as hid as “put into” or mixed which are the definitions of the Greek word according to Strong’s 3 and one of the meanings according to the lexicon 2.
The point here IS that the Kingdom grows within and that it grows from within and there IS no one who can intercede and DO this for a man. Each IS on his own; each IS left to his own devices and it IS when a man can realize the Truth of James’ words saying “the friendship of the world is enmity with God” that he can begin to make real progress; this realiziation IS perhaps the first growth if the Kingdom within, that a man sees that “whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God“. And this realization IS an important part of one’s journey; many come to the threshold who CAN NOT understand this, who CAN NOT overcome their nurturing into these ways of the world. True progress IS ONLY made in the reality of this understanding which we post again from the Apostle John’s perspective; he says:
“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).
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!
- 2 New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
- 3 Strongest Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible – 2001
