ON LOVE; PART DCXXXIII
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
FIRST IS THE GREAT COMMANDMENTS:
“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
WHAT THEN IS LOVE?
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.ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ
PLUS THE EVER IMPORTANT AND HIGH IDEAL TAUGHT TO US BY THE CHRIST:
“Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12)
In the last essay we began our discussion of the second group of sayings from the Epistle of James’ fifth chapter and we see this as a running commentary of the state of the rich man and while our understanding IS contrary to most doctrine, we did find a point of similarity in John Gills’ sayings on the nature of the rich man, that he was: within the church, and not without, who were professors of religion; and such rich men are addressed here, who, notwithstanding their profession, were not rich towards God, but laid up treasure for themselves 8. Our point of difference here IS then only in the interpretation of the idea of within the church which IS today, and in Mr. Gills day, seen as the man who IS close to God but who IS in reality closest to his own doctrinal interpretation of just what that means. In this regard we should remember how that Mr. Gill qualified his saying so as to see ONLY those who severely deviated from whatsoever doctrinal guideline had been established; we read his continuation of his words that they: trusted in their riches, and boasted of the multitude of their wealth; and did not trust in God, and make use of their substance to his glory, and the good of his interest, as they should have done 8. We CAN NOT tell what scale Mr. Gill can measure these things upon as the reality of having trusted in their riches IS a very personal affair and one CAN NOT KNOW the True heart of another in these things; from our perspective this type of view IS embedded in what we see as a doctrinal approval of a human fault….that it IS always the other guy who sins.
It IS our view here that the similarity IS found in the idea that the apostle IS speaking to men within the church but NOT as this is commonly understood; he IS speaking to aspirants and disciples and men to who strive to keep the words of the Master in ALL things as the proceeding parts of this epistle show them. This includes the man who strives to remain “unspotted from the world“; the man who strives to be a DOER and who understands the depth of James words: “be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:27, 22). This IS the man who understands as well the apostle’s affirmation of the Master’s words on Love and who can see the depth of them as James presents this 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. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:8-10). These ideas show forth the reality of the True disciple’s focus and the focus of the aspirant; that they ARE NOT on the world nor on the self; the reality then of the man who IS within the church, as Mr. Gill frames this, IS the man who understands the ultimate Truth that “the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4).
We should see here how that riches, the accumulation of them, the striving for them, and the desire to have what they can provide, ARE things of the world and to focus upon these things IS to “be a friend of the world“, which idea we understand as intimate familiarity based upon the deeper definitions of the Greek and English words. And we should see as well how that this familiarity and this desire for what the world has to offer IS NOT “unspotted from the world” but IS a partaking in it. This IS ALL missed by the doctrinal church and their teachings but these ideas are resoundingly clear in James’ words which serve to amplify the Master’s words that “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24). In this idea is IS important to note that whatsoever one may DO in Life, whatsoever his focus and his direction, whatsoever takes his time and his attention…..this IS what he serves. We should note that the word rendered as serve here is the same that IS rendered as “in bondage” in John’s Gospel and which IS a kindred term to other Greek words that are rendered as bondage; the point here IS that in this idea of serving there IS greater clarity if we can understand it as that one CAN NOT be bound to God and to mammon. And this IS James’ point in his many words. We post here again our current sayings with the ideas that lead up to them so that we can get the clearer picture:
“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. Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you” (James 4:13-17, 5:1-6).
The more we write in this blog the more we come to understand the injustice of looking at individual bible sayings taken out of their context and while we DO this same thing ourselves, we are generally aware of the need to explain the context in which the words are found. This said, we should try to see the entirety of the words above as a single point being made by the apostle which begins in the idea that the aspirant and the disciple CAN NOT be of such a mind as to make plans and schemes for the morrow but should rather be of that “take no thought” (Matthew 6:245) attitude as taught by the Master; this saying follows immediately after the His teaching on God and mammon. James continues here to speak about the nature of Life and its temporal and unpredictable nature and this IS Truly important to the man who Truly seeks God; he understands that one’s opportunity to find Him can end at ANY time. In this view we should see that to spend time on such planning and scheming one IS NOT seeking God but IS seeking mammon and, in the end one may have this or that in the world, but this IS where he remains..,..in the world. He tells us that whatsoever rejoicing, or glory as this IS alternately rendered, one may find in the this or that of the world IS evil and this idea IS simply that these things ARE of the world and keep the man’s focus bound therein. And then, by the linking of thoughts by way of the reality that “to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin“; we see that this sin and evil IS the maintaining of one’s focus upon the things of the world, upon mammon in its broader sense.
The context here then should show that the rich men here are those who have profited or ARE profiting in a worldly sense by their misplaced focus. These men, these aspirants and disciples, KNOW the greater Truth of what IS Good but have let the illusion and glamour of the world overwhelm that sense. In the end, when this man realizes his error there will be a spiritually focused “weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you“, and this for the lost time and the lost opportunity; with this comes the realization as well of the futility of those worldly things for which he has striven. We should remember here that this begins with the misplaced focus, with the succumbing to the temptations and the illusion of the benefit of such worldly profit and it IS ONLY when the greater focus again takes hold of the man, focus upon the things of God, that the man will realize that ALL that he may have gained IS but “a witness against you“. In the next words: “Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days“, we should be able to see human nature and the inherent fear of being without; a fear that can consume even those who would strive toward that strait gate. It IS this fear that the Master tells His disciples of saying “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows” (Matthew 10:28-31).
Here again the translation of the Greek words lead one to believe that this is in reference to fearing other persons but this IS NOT the deeper reality; the deeper meanings here are in regard to fear itself and we should note that the personal pronouns rendered here and in most every translation DO NOT appear in the Greek text. The word rendered as them is inserted by the translators based on a previous use which could have easily been rendered as it, similarly there word him IS NOT in the Greek text and IS likely put here along with the them as this IS the doctrinal understanding of the Master’s meaning. And to compound this, there IS a general sense that the idea of him IS in reality Him; that God can cast one into hell which IS rendered from the Greek word geenna, a word from which doctrine has created its understanding of hell. This IS a most misunderstood saying in our view and the version from Luke IS seen in this same way. There the saying ends with the words “fear him” but this word rendered as him IS toutan which is generally rendered as this. It IS doctrine and interpretations that have led the translators in these sayings. There IS much intentional mystery in these words from the Master but we should understand that one should NOT ever fear God save in the way that this IS framed for us in the more spiritual terms of respect and awe. Fear as it is used here is that emotional and mental sensation and the message here IS that one should not fear for whatever can afflict one from the world, be it other persons, hunger, war or any affliction of the downtrodden. And this in the sense that for the man who seeks God ALL things are given; not that this man has any more than any other, but rather that he will see ALL things in a different Light and NOT feel the potential of loss.
We have gone a bit adrift on this idea of fear but this IS a real human affliction and here in James words we can see how that this sense of fear can tempt even the man who strives; the aspirant and the disciple can, and likely do, succumb to this and to the carnal ideas that can alleviate such fear as having “heaped treasure together for the last days” The apostles message IS that men DO plan and scheme for the future of their own way in the world against the reality of the Truth of the Master’s words; they do seek riches for their own comfort and pleasure and they may glory in their own feelings of having and not wanting; most importantly these are men who have otherwise committed themselves to the Way of the Lord. The reality here is that ALL of this is futile from the spiritual perspective of being Truly committed and that when this realization comes upon the man so focused, he will come to realize his error and the “miseries that shall come upon” him. We should remember that for the man who IS NOT so committed, the man who has NOT chosen the Way of God, NONE of this matters as to strive after the things of the world and to focus on the self in the world IS the normal and accepted way.
We come next to the words that we discussed in the last essay where we saw the doctrinal idea that these men, rich or otherwise, ARE cheating those who labor in their fields of their rightful wages or rewards. We concluded that this IS NOT the nature of the apostles words from two perspectives; first that this makes little or no sense as a statement in this context from James and that this IS a thing that could NOT be prolonged in any way: who would work for the man who DOES NOT pay. And second, that in this statement and in the following words there IS a reality that is pertinent to the Way of the disciple and the aspirant who should be working in the field which IS the world of men and should understand their role as the Master states saying: “I sent you to reap” (John 4:38). In this we should see the general terms of the service of the disciple in the world, the works of which James tells us that “faith without works is dead” (James 2:20). Can we see here that the man who has reverted to a focus upon himself and himself in the world as James depicts these things IS NOT working according to his purported faith, he IS defrauding his own divine intention.
In this idea we should try to remember the sense of duality, that the man sees the reality of the things of God and the temptations of the things of the world and that this ‘if the shoe fits’ man has succumbed to this temptation in the things that we have been discussing. While his intent IS to work the fields, to be that laborer, he has NOT done so and he is forsaking his reward by NOT doing so; he is missing what the Master says as “he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal” (John 4:36). As we said in the last essay this becomes a unclear by more than the intentional obscurity of the writer, there IS also the choice of words and the rendering of them according to doctrinal beliefs. In a rather literal view we should see that it IS the wages that “crieth” and it IS the wages that ARE “kept back by fraud” and neither of these ARE normal thoughts that we can readily visualize. From a spiritual perspective we can try to see this in greater detail if we can see the reward that the Life of the focused man in the world would garner IS kept back and there IS here a spiritual cry as this reward of “fruit unto life eternal” IS, in its way, a part of the spiritual Life of the man and IS accorded to the Life in the world by the Soul. In this sense we can understand this idea of “crieth” and the further idea that “the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth” Can we see this as the Soul itself who cries for the loss of the opportunity for fuller expression through his own form which has succumbed to the temptations of the world.? We must remember there the necessary attitude of the aspirant and the disciple and the very nature of Repentance.
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.
This Quote of the Day is the antithesis of glamour and illusion. In this mantram are the thoughts about ourselves and our brothers in the world that can diffuse those forces that hold a man in the world of things and prevent his spiritual progress.
Mantram of Unification
The sons of men are one and I am one with them.
I seek to love, not hate;
I seek to serve and not exact due service;
I seek to heal, not hurt.
Let pain bring due reward of light and love.
Let the Soul control the outer form, and life and all events,
And bring to light the love that underlies the happenings of the time.
Let vision come and insight.
Let the future stand revealed.
Let inner union demonstrate and outer cleavages be gone.
Let love prevail.
Let all men love.
The Mantram of Unification is a meditation and a prayer that at first affirms the unity of all men and the Brotherhood of Man based on the Fatherhood of God. The first stanza sets forth several truly Christian ideals in Unity, Love, Service and Healing. The second stanza is a invocation to the Lord and to our own Souls asking that from the pain (if there can truly be any) incurred in focusing on the Spirit and not the world will come Light and Love into our lives and that we begin to function as Souls through our conscious personalities. We ask that the spiritual control of our lives will bring to light for us the Love that underlies world events; a Love that the world oriented man will not see working out behind the scenes and also that the Love that we bring forth, individually and as a world group, can be seen by all and ultimately in all. Finally, in the last stanza we ask for those things that are needed for Love to abound. Vision and insight so that we can direct our attention properly; revelation of the future in the sense that all can see the Power of Love in the world; inner union so that we do not fall back into the world’s ways, that we faint not; and that a sense of separation, the antithesis of brotherhood, ends as we know it today. Let Love Prevail, Let All Men Love.spiritual control of our lives will bring to light for us the Love that underlies world events; a Love that the world oriented man will not see working out behind the scenes.
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!
- 8 Bible commentaries on BibleStudyTools.com
