ON LOVE; PART DCXXII
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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 continued our discussion of the fourth chapter of the Epistle of James where we ended with another admonition by the apostle to his audience of aspirants and disciples who he sees as struggling through their times of duality, that double mindedness that keeps a man from fully realizing his own divine nature; that double mindedness that which perhaps can be seen as the True dividing line between the True disciple and the disciple as we paint them in our essays. As we see this, the disciple has accomplished much; his focus IS upon the things of God and his expression of the Love and the Power of the Soul IS sure; he has accomplished that “one thing” that the Master refers the rich young man to saying: “One thing thou lackest : go thy way , sell whatsoever thou hast , and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come , take up the cross, and follow me” (Mark 10:21). Matthew shows this as the Way to perfection as he reports the Master’s words as: “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me” (Matthew 19:21).
Now we can not say that this forsaking results directly in perfection; the picture that we have of the Life of the Apostle Peter shows the man who has “forsaken all” as we read in his words to the Master that “we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?” (Matthew 19:27) and we KNOW that he has yet some work to do to reach that state of KNOWING. Perhaps the reality here IS that Peter had to ask this question and that in the fullness of True discipleship a man will plainly KNOW. This IS based in our ideas from the last several posts regarding grace and its relationship to one’s fullness of realization and revelation as these come from that unction which IS “the anointing which ye have received of him” (1 John 2:27). This perfection, as ALL things spiritual, comes upon a man by degree and this in proportion to his focus upon the things of God and here perhaps we can expand this idea to consider that this IS NOT ONLY the proportional focus of one’s Life, that it IS on God versus the self in the world, but that the strength of this focus must be considered as well.
Perhaps here we can consider the idea of double minded in yet another dimension; that the focus of the man upon the things of God must be in such a totality that there IS NO further consideration of the self in the world at ALL and in this we can surely see the idea of perfection from a spiritual perspective. While we likely have considered this end point in most of our writing, this IS the first time that this was so apparent, that this idea of KNOWING will include ALL things. Here we can explain our own lack of understanding of those points where Peter IS admonished by the Lord for having thoughts and ideas that we did not understand in the right Light; that the complete and perfect disciple, the True disciple, will NOT need to ask this question and would think nothing contrary to the words of the Master as He predicts his own end; He IS speaking from His own point of perfection. The ideas of failing while walking on the water and the fear that encompasses Peter as the Master is taken by the Romans and the Jews we can understand as human frailties but some of these others we did NOT see so clearly as we DO today.
And so we have James’ admonition to his readers that we should “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up” (James 4:10) and it IS in this use of this word humble that we should try to see the completeness of one’s surrender of ALL worldly thoughts and attitudes and feelings in regard to the self in the world. As we said in the last essay, this IS a follow up to James’ earlier words that we should “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 4:7-8). Here now we can see deeper into the apostle’s words that are between these admonitions, his saying that we should “Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness“; in this we can see the idea of our own awareness of our plight, our own awareness of the effects of being double-minded and how whatsoever bit of being friendly with the world we may have IS too much. In these ideas we can refine our own view of the Path to discipleship and the Way of the disciple; that he Truly IS a man of God, free from ALL attachments and attractions to the world of men save in his ability and his duty to serve.
From here the apostle continues in his instructions to us as aspirants and disciples; instructions regarding the interaction with our brothers and our view of tomorrow and in this we should see the ideas from the gospels about the similar issues that afflict John and his brother James who may well be this James who writes this epistle. We should also see the ideas presented regarding the individual desire for greatness among the whole of the group of disciples. We read this from James:
“Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another? Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say , If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin” (James 4:11-17).
There ARE so many things that one must consider when trying to discern the meaning of any saying from the bible as the translations and the interpretations can easily mislead one. Here, in this seemingly straight forward idea of “Speak not evil one of another“, one would take it that this IS that same evil that IS spoken of throughout the New Testament. For us this become problematic as we see evil as a man’s doing whatsoever for the self; we see evil as the generality of the things of the world. Looking deeper at James’ saying however we can find the Truer meaning for this Greek word that is here rendered as “speak not evil“; we can see that it means NOT: to speak against one, to criminate, traduce 2 according to the lexicon. This word appears five time in the New Testament; three here in these sayings and twice in the Apostle Peter’s First Epistle where it IS rendered as “speak evil” once and “speak against” in the other. There IS of course a large difference here in this sense of evil and quite a difference in one’s understanding of the intent of James’ words.
The admonition here IS that the aspirant and the disciple should NOT speak against another and this act can take many forms. First there IS the idea that speaking IS not limited to words alone but to gestures and actions and perhaps even lack of action; speaking should be seen as a man’s expression in whatsoever way and we could extend this even to include bad thoughts which, by our own aural radiation, can escape and afflict another. And we should try to see here as well the idea that we mention above, the lifiting of oneself above the others as we see in the way that James and John approach the Master for special favor on in the contention among the disciples as to who is the greater. In this latter part it IS easy to see the idea of judgement as when one believes that he IS better or greater, he IS at the same time seeing the others as inferior. And, if we look closer we can likely see this same thing in the interaction of James and John with the Master and in the way it IS presented by Matthew, that it IS their mother who intercedes. The relationship here to the law should be clear from James words alone as we read in the earlier chapter about the “royal law“, the law of unequivocal Love as we read in James words saying “If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors” (James 2:8-9). Can we see the depth of this?
We leave off here for today so that we can bring in some ideas regarding the Wesak Festival, the Festival of the Buddha, which occurs on the full moon of May which IS on Wednesday the fourteenth. Wesak is the celebration of the Buddha’s birth & enlightenment, and in some traditions his death although it IS not likely the date for any of these events. While we normally go into much detail about the Life of the Buddha we will not do so this year but rather refer the reader to the previous essays that we published in the days leading up to Wesak in the last two years; searching for part 654 and part 312 from the home page will bring one to these areas and looking as the preceding days will show much of our writing on this subject. This year we reprint again the story of Wesak which IS part legend and part esoteric Truth which idea one must develop for himself in reading the text. We print the first part here today and will follow with the rest in the next essays.
There is a valley, lying at a rather high altitude in the foothills of the Himalayan-Tibet ranges. It is surrounded by high mountains on all sides except towards the northeast, where there is a narrow opening in the mountain ranges. The valley is bottle-shaped in contour, with the neck of the bottle to the northeast, and it widens very considerably towards the south. Up towards the northern end, close to the neck of the bottle, there a huge flat rock. There are no trees or shrubs in the valley, which is covered with a kind of coarse grass.
Approaching the time of the full moon of Taurus, pilgrims from the surrounding districts begin to gather. The holy men and the lamas find their way into the valley and fill the southern and the middle parts, leaving the northeastern end relatively free. There, so the legend runs, gathers a group of those great Beings Who are the Custodians on Earth of God’s Plan for our planet and for humanity. By what name we call these Beings does not greatly matter. The Christian believer may prefer to speak of Christ and His church, and regard Them as constituting that great Cloud of Witnesses Who guarantee to humanity ultimate salvation. The esotericists of the world may call them the Masters of the Wisdom, the planetary Hierarchy, Who in Their varied grades are ruled and taught by the Christ, the Master of all Masters, and the Teacher alike of angels and of men. Or we can call Them the Rishis of the Hindu Scriptures, or the Society of Illumined Minds as in the Tibetan teaching. They are the Great Intuitives and the Great Companions of our more modern presentation, and are the aggregate of perfected humanity who have followed in Christ’s steps and have entered for us within the veil, leaving us an example that we should do as They have done. They, with Their wisdom, love and knowledge, stand as a protective wall around our race, and seek to lead us on, step by step (as They Themselves were led in Their time) from darkness to light, for the unreal to the real and from death to immortality.
This group of knowers of divinity are the main participants in The Wesak Festival. They arrange Themselves in the northeastern end of the valley, in concentric circles, and prepare for a great act of service. In front of the rock, looking towards the northeast, stand Those Beings Who are called by Their disciples The Three Great Lords. These are The Christ, Who stands in the center; the Lord of living forms, The Manu, Who stands at His right; and The Lord of Civilization, who stands to His left. These three face the rock upon which rests a great crystal bowl, full of water.
Behind the grouped Masters, adepts, initiates and senior workers under God’s Plan are to be found the world disciples and aspirants in their various grades and groups (either “in the body” or “out of the body”), who at this time constitute the New Group of World Servers. Those present in their physical bodies have found their way there by ordinary means. Others are present in their spiritual bodies, and in the dream state. The “dream,” which they later relate, has been uniformly registered by people throughout the world, and bears the testimony to the recollection of an inner spiritual happening.
As the hour of the full moon approaches, a stillness settles down upon the crowd, and all look towards the northeast. Certain ritualistic movements take place, in which the grouped Masters and Their disciples of all ranks take up symbolic positions, and form on the floor of the valley such significant symbols as the five-pointed star, with The Christ standing at the highest point; of a triangle, with The Christ at the apex; or a cross, and other well known formations, all of which have a deep and potent meaning. This is all done to the sound of certain chanted words and esoteric phrases, called mantrams. **
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
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
- ** From the Wesak Festival; A Technique of Spiritual Contact booklet; distributed by the Arcane School, NYC, NY
