ON LOVE; PART DCXXXVI
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GoodWill IS Love in Action
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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).
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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.
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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 continued with our view of the words of the Apostle James from the fifth chapter of his epistle. We have noted through most of the apostle’s words that our view IS NOT the same as the doctrinal view and this is much more True regarding the current ideas that he IS expressing. In general, many see James Epistle as a collection of sayings on various topics while we see a more detailed instruction on the Way of the disciple in the world of men and a combination of how that he must be cautious in regard to the perils that the apostle cites and how that some of them who have already encountered problems may see the light of their own error. For us James speaks to the aspirant and the disciple who IS yet trapped in the world of duality which our Tibetan brother phrases for us as that the man who IS striving toward the Kingdom IS 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” **. In our own words over the last several essays on this epistle, we have ventured to say that James IS speaking from his own experience regarding the trials and the temptations that can beset a man who IS yet subjected to this duality and we have cited his own encounters with the Master as a part of this experience as he and His brother John petition the Lord for their own benefit as men, that they as that Jesus would “Grant unto us that we may sit , one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left hand, in thy glory” (Mark 10:37). This IS of course based upon our own belief that the James who writes this epistle IS the same James who IS the brother of John; little is KNOWN about him or any of the other James in the New Testament and there are several views on who this really IS; we discuss this in some detail in In the Words of Jesus part 976.
Regardless of the mystery, there IS little effect on our ideas if this James IS not who we may think except for the dialogue with the Master that we cite above. We still DO believe that there IS some degree of experience in James’ words much as there IS experience on the words of Paul who tells us much about his own difficulties in overcoming his attachment and attractions to the world of men. This overcoming IS a difficult endeavor and we should see it working steadily in the Life of the aspirant and the disciple and that this overcoming IS the measure that takes us from one phase to the other. James’ words are intended to help us to see these ideas and the Truth that we may miss as we succumb to the most constant temptations to fall back into the ways of the world. We should remember here that we ARE NOT speaking about the ‘bad’ things of living in the world but rather that it IS the focus that IS pulled back; it is the focus that should be on the things of God that IS being channeled away and fixed upon the self in the world. And this IS the apostle’s point in the current sayings that move from the fourth to the fifth chapters, that many err and believe that they need to continue in planning and scheming regarding their own future in the world of men. He tells us first how that this IS an error that builds upon itself to greater misery and how that this falling back into focus upon the self in the world will cause the man to miss the rewards of continued focus upon the things of God. It IS this last point that we see in James words saying:
“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“
In these ideas there IS the greatest degree of difference between what we see and what IS seen by doctrinal commentaries which fail to understand the nature of the apostles writing, that it IS to the man who IS striving, and that it IS of spiritual importance; that the only carnal ideas presented are as an awareness and as a caution to the man who may be tempted by the remaining strength of the lower carnal self, the personality. The doctrinal ideas we have discussed and we have discounted as they ARE NOT even in the realm of a potential teaching from the apostle; they become simply statements of the evil ways of the rich and there IS NO redeeming value in most of these ideas. We see James’ words in a spiritual light that begins with the first saying above and in this regard we have posed two questions:
- Can we see this as the Soul itself who cries for the loss of the opportunity for fuller expression through his own form and personality 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.
- Can we understand the greater reality here that we have been painting? That this reward IS the expression of the spiritual reality of the man through form that is kept back by the actions of the man whose focus has changed back to the self and the self in the world and that it IS this very expression that crieth. This IS the peril of duality, of the reversion of the heart back to the things of the world.
These are essentially the same idea from slightly different perspectives and this IS for us the reality of the apostles message, that this IS how that we miss the reward of our focus upon the Good, the Beautiful and the True as we exchange some part of it for the continuation of the temporal and illusory pleasures and comforts of the world of men; those things that we KNOW are of NO redeeming value nor use in our journey. And we must try to see the way that this tendency may become a trend leading one back into the world, how that this IS the reality of “Ye have condemned and killed the just“, who IS the aspirant and the disciple who has emerged into the world as the expression of the Love and the Power of the Soul in the world. Again, we must see these things by degree. As the apostle has been doing, there is next a series of sayings that point the man in the right direction; as a caution to every aspirant and as a reprieve to the man who may have wandered from the Path. We read:
“Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold , the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh” (James 5:4-8).
As we began to say in the last essay, these words are intended to offer encouragement and hope to the man who has wandered as well as to the man who can see the reality of the cautions offered. This IS an instruction that IS NOT unlike those that James has previously offered as he tells us:
- “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him” (James 1:12). We should see this in the same light as the Master offers us saying “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him” (John 14:23).
- “be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22). This should be understood in the same way as the Master’s own rhetorical question which asks: “why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46) or the more obscure idea from Matthew’s Gospel which includes this sense if deception: “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). Here, in the continuation of the Master’s words, we see the deception of those who believe that what they may do outwardly is sufficient while the Lord sees that they DO NOT “the will of my Father“.
- “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world” (James 1:27). Here we should see that regardless of what one may believe to be True and pure religion IS NOT if a man is tainted by the ways of the world; this IS the intent of the apostle’s words and not the misunderstood ideas regarding “the fatherless and widows” where the deeper intent of this IS directed at those who would shortcut the law by the doctrines of men which offer alternatives to looking after those in need.
These ideas ARE from the first chapter only and these are our instructions, our encouragement and our hope; it IS by these that we can stay the course and NOT deviate from our focus upon the Truth of His words. As we move on we find the equally important idea of the “royal law” and the affiliated idea of having NO “respect to persons“; we find the reality of faith being accompanied by works which shows us that without the works the faith IS NOT True. Further on James teaches us about the Power of our expression in the world, which is rendered from the Greek as the tongue, and he tells us that “If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body” (James 3:2). Here the idea of the word, like the tongue, should be seen as the expression of the man in ALL ways and that as one can fully control this expression he comes ever closer to the perfection of the completed disciple. Then, at the end of the third chapter James tells us of the reality of Wisdom from above, how that we can discern the nature and the source of our thoughts and attitudes and what we may deem to be revelation.
All of these things are interspersed with the cautions and the reality of what can befall a men whose focus may slip against the carnal forces that we must live in and which continually attract a man. And this IS not ALL; in the fourth chapter the apostle gives us more as he tells us to “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” and that we should “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up” (James 4:7-8, 10). James tells us as well about the nature of the man who attends to the self in the world as a general idea and for our understanding that we “cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24); this the apostle frames for us saying that “a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4) and in this word rendered as enemy we should see the better idea of opposition. This ALL brings us to our current saying where we are admonished to be patient and our point here IS that throughout the epistle there are many words that James offers us to help us to stay the course and to NOT fall for those things that seem to cry out from the world and from our carnal thoughts and emotions; those things that compete for our attention.
This IS of course the same message that we receive from the Apostle Paul in many of his sayings, not the part of patience, but the idea of “the coming of the Lord“; there IS NO difference in the intent of this saying which tells us to stay on the Path that we have chosen but this IS NOT how this is seen by most. When Paul tells the aspirant and the disciple that “they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts” (Galatians 5:24), he IS saying essentially the same thing but in his own style of speech. James IS saying that we should be longsuffering, as this word rendered patience is translated elsewhere, and in this he speaks NOT to the outer man, the carnal man in the world, but to the inner man, the Soul striving to be the expression to the world. While Paul references the crucifying of the flesh, James is trying to tell us how that we can do this: by patiently staying of the course we have chosen until this fullness of expression is realized; it IS then the the will of the flesh IS dead. Vincent gave us some ideas regarding this Greek word rendered as patience which we discussed in the last post and from which we repeat this part through which we can see our own perspective more clearly; Vincent tells us: It is a patient holding out under trial; a long-protracted restraint of the soul from yielding to passion 4. While Mr. Vincent may NOT have intended this as we see it, as that it IS the Soul living through form as the aspirant and the disciple, the reality is the same…..restraint. And this can clearly be seen in the very first instruction from James as he tells us about temptation.
There IS no relevance to the example of the husbandman other that this IS an example of the man who has NO control over the rate of growth itself, he can ONLY care for the “for the precious fruit of the earth“. The husbandman cares for the ground and maintains the young plants and he expects the fruit will come. And this IS the example: regardless of the small steps backward, the man who strives must attend to the large steps forward in patience and longsuffering because he KNOWS the difficulty of his endeavor and he KNOWS the tools with which he has to work. Much IS made of the idea of “the early and latter rain” by some but these words have no meaning in this context save to say that the “precious fruit” will come in its season under the care of the husbandman.
And this IS how the apostle closes out our current selection: he tells us to be as the husbandman who patiently works the field and the crop KNOWING that so long as he does his part diligently, the “precious fruit” will come. And so for the aspirant and the disciple….he must care for the Light of the Soul within, he must resist the temptations to come back into the old Life of the man in the world, he must understand the complexities of the Wisdom from above and the harshness of it from the perspective of the personality who DOES NOT want to comply. He must humble himself and KNOW that he will never again let the illusion and the glamour of Life in the world overtake his found sense of Love and Truth. This IS the meaning “stablish your hearts” which the lexicon tells us means: to render constant, confirm, one’s mind 2, but which we KNOW DOES NOT mean the mind of the personality but the fullness of the consciousness that uses that mind.
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!
- 2 New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
- ** A Treatise on White Magic or The Way of the Disciple by Alice Bailey ©1951 by Lucis trust
