IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 1048

ON LOVE; PART DCXXXVII

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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 again reviewed our understanding of the Epistle of James and how that the intent is as a short form of instruction to the aspirant and the disciple who have committed themselves to focusing upon the things of God and to who have learned the necessity to eschew the things and the ways of the world. In this most difficult position, a man finds himself yet in the world and sees that, by another view of necessity, he must partake somewhat in these ways and things of the world; it IS here that we find the foundation of duality and perhaps the cause. In our ideas of focus we should find the reality of our dilemma and try to understand that one can live in the world without focusing ones attention upon it; without making the things of the world a driving force and a motivation for one’s Life in the world. This IS for us the reality of the Master’s admonishment that we “take no thought” (Matthew 6:25); this IS NOT about worry or anxiety but that this IS about one’s sense of focus and against working toward greater and better in the world. The Master tells us that when a man seeks the Kingdom of God as the aspirant and the disciple that ALL other things will be added and it IS in this idea that one must have that sense of faith that many DO NOT rightly understand. Faith here this context IS KNOWING that these words ARE True and that whatsoever a man will need will be available to him and, unfortunately, many may see this as including those things that one may want and desire. There IS likely a reality here for ALL men that is not clearly seen as well; that some of what one may believe that they need is actually what they may want.

The Truth of the matter and the reality of the idea of faith in this context IS that one “take no thought” and seek the Kingdom which IS simply to go about the day keeping His words; there IS NO other way to view this. It IS in the personality’s revolt against this idea that duality can afflict the man who strives and it IS against this that the Apostle James writes; and it IS perhaps the reality of our current sayings that IS the most important view that we can take away from the entirety of James’ words. he tells us:

“Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord draweth nigh“. 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).

If we can see this idea of patience clearly, we can understand that there IS NO other way to go; that there IS NO magical formula that will allow a man to accomplish his goal of True discipleship and allow him to stand with the Saints who have achieved before him. And we should understand that a key part of the duality that we patiently work to overcome, a key part of that personality revolt, includes one’s own doubt regarding the Path that he IS on as he sees the vestiges of his worldly Life and his personality slipping away. It IS here that many are likely lost and fall back into the ways of the world and this too is what James tries to show us in his words of encouragement and hope and it IS here again that the reality of faith must enter into the equation. It IS here that one must stand on the Truth…not the Truth from the words of the Master nor from His apostles alone however, but from the affirmation of these Truths that come to him from his own Soul, from the anointing as we understand this in the Apostle John’s words.

And we should note here that one DOES NOT wait patiently, one MUST work patiently as we should see in the example of the husbandman; without his efforts to keep the field and nurture the crops, the “precious fruit” will NOT come. So it must be with the idea of patience that James is offering us as he tells us first to”Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord“, then offers us the example of the husbandman. It IS in this light, that first we understand that we should be patient and what this patience IS for, and then that we understand the role of the husbandman in his work and his KNOWING that if he does the required work, that the “precious fruit” will come. James then tells us that we should do as the husbandman as he says “Be ye also patient” and in this we must read that we patiently work. We can take the view here that in this idea of “stablish your hearts” IS the idea of the work that we must do and, as we discussed in the last essay this word rendered as stablish IS intended to show that the heart of the man, his consciousness apart from the wranglings of the carnal personality an his revolt, remain steadfast in its focus upon the Good, the Beautiful and the True, upon the things of God.

Here then, in view of ALL of these ideas that the apostle cautions us against, in the view that we may have done some of these things in the duality of of our lives, that we should be patient; remain faithful and remain focused because “the coming of the Lord draweth nigh“. Here we CAN NOT see the doctrinal views which are eschatological or concerning the death of the individual man; we must see the reality of “the coming of the Lord” and the nearness of this as the fulfillment of our own discipleship where the Truth of God becomes the expression of the man in the world….where the Christ Within IS the man in the world. This IS the end of our sense of duality, this IS the point where we ARE Christ’s, where we “have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts” (Galatians 5:24) and this IS where we can stand with the Master and say that “I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). It IS here that we can easily “take no thought” in the fullness of our understanding of the Truth and it IS here that we will realize that it was that admonishment to “take no thought” that allowed us to arrive.

There IS NO encouragement nor True hope in the doctrinal view of this as we read here from John Gill who says:  for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh; when he will render tribulation to them that trouble them, free them from all their sorrows and afflictions, and enter them into the joy of their Lord; which will be either at death, which was not very far off, or at the last day, which was drawing nearer and nearer, and which with God was near; with whom a thousand years are as one day ⁸. These ideas are NO different than the doctrinal ideas of heaven and hell which have miserably failed as a teaching on the spiritual nature of man and  which ARE NOT the reality of His words nor the words of His apostles…these are the words of doctrine and of tradition. From here the apostle continues with what we see as yet more encouragement for the aspirant and the disciple and here again we find obscure language and translations that reflect doctrine; we read:

“Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door. Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience. Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy” (James 5:9-11).

We begin here with the word that IS rendered as “grudge not“. This word is found six times in the New Testament and only here IS the rendering as “grudge not“; it IS rendered as groan, sigh and with grief ² in its other usage according to the lexicon and it IS used by the Master according to Mark as a sigh. We read that Jesus, in healing a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment: “put his fingers into his ears, and he spit, and touched his tongue; And looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened” (Mark 7:33-34). While we DO NOT KNOW why the King James translators chose the idea of grudge here in James words, we can glimpse their intended meaning from John Gill’s words saying: Grudge not one against another, brethren; On account of any happiness, temporal or spiritual, which another enjoys; do not inwardly repine at it; or secretly sigh and groan in an envious manner at it, though nothing may be said, as the word used signifies; much less complain of, accuse, and condemn one another, or meditate and seek revenge ⁸. Except one misinterpret the previous sayings which we DO KNOW is done by many who see the idea of killing, withholding wages and wanton living in the literal sense, this idea from Mr. Gill CAN NOT possibly be the intent of the apostle. Again we should see that the doctrinal interpretations DO NOT see the spiritual value to James’ words nor DO they understand that his audience IS men who are striving toward that strait gate…..his audience IS not those who would normally do these things which doctrine sees.

Vincent tells us that this Greek word that is rendered here as “grudge not“, is: Better, as Rev., murmur not. The verb means to sigh or groan ⁴. With this and the ideas we take from the lexicon, we can discount the idea of grudge as it is normally understood and as Mr. Gill presents it. If we can see this word as sigh or groan and the whole idea as a continuation of the previous saying we can likely then make much sense of it. This saying, like many before it in James’ Epistle, must be divorced from doctrine and the doctrinal understandings which seem to put this idea together with another from the previous chapter where it James’ words ARE rendered as “Speak not evil one of another, brethren” (James 4:11) and which we understand as “speak not against“; this idea IS offered to us in a teaching about judgment where we can see not only expressing any kind of judgement regarding what another may do, and this includes one’s thoughts and attitudes as well as words, but not lifting oneself up over another as well and, based upon the previous verses regarding our being humble, the latter may be the primary idea from the apostle. This current saying has naught to DO with this previous one and should be related ONLY to the context that it IS in.

Going back then to the previous saying where it IS patience that should rule, can we see that sighing and groaning can be the opposite of such patience. Here, in relation to others, we can see that while the previous ideas were purely personal, that each should work in patience for that “precious fruit“, this saying instructs us to NOT bring our difficulties nor our doubts to others; that we not let others see our frustration in the realm of duality. What then can we see in the idea that the “the judge standeth before the door“? Can we see this in the same way as we see “the coming of the Lord“? Can we see the idea of the coming as we presented it; that his IS what one works patiently for….the expression of the Christ Within to the world? Can we see then in this same light the idea that He stands NOW at the door as the expression of the man in the world who must yet work out the Truth of his focus? Can we see how that ALL these ideas work together?

In the common understanding we again have a saying with no redeeming value; we have a saying that has NO True teaching as the idea of grudging IS NOT the reality of the apostle’s words and in the idea of “murmur not” there IS ONLY a fabricated idea based in the fact that “sigh not” or “groan not” have no meaning in relation to being against others. When we take this idea of against out of this however there IS some sense and here the lexicon tells us that this Greek word, kata, means: down from, through out; according to, toward, along ². The point here is that the rendering of against in this context IS NOT the only choice that the translators have but it IS the one that fits the doctrinal presentation. Strong’s tells us that kata means: against, contrary to, opposed; down, throughout; (acc.) in, by, with, in accordance with, and for ³; the primary use in the King James New Testament IS according to ².

With these ideas in mind it IS easy to see this saying in a different light, one that has some spiritual meaning and one that follows along with the ideas presented in the previous verses. And we can see how that this can work out going into the next verse where we can read the whole as that we should not sigh and groan; neither should we do so in accord with others who may also be in our state, but we should remember the prophets as our example of both our affliction in this Life of duality and their enduring patience. In this we have a sensible yet spiritual instruction that can be of some benefit to the struggling aspirant. Finally there IS the example of Job who even after being encouraged to have ill thoughts about the Way of the Lord, refuses to groan or sigh or even murmur about his own affliction.

In ALL of this there is yet more encouragement and hope in the apostle’s instructions for the aspirant and the disciple who is mired in this world of duality and the objective here IS yet the same as in the other similar places throughout James’ words; that the disciple become single minded in his focus upon the things of God and Truly “take no thought” regarding the things of the world. We close today with these words from the Buddha which we frequently use and which have much meaning in this struggle for single mindedness of focus upon the Truth; it IS ever important to see first the illusory nature of the world and appreciate the volume of James saying that “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” (James 4:4). The Buddha says:

“Do not live in the world, In distraction and false dreams. Outside the dharma. Arise and watch. Follow the way joyfully through this world and beyond. Follow the way of virtue. Follow the way joyfully Through this world and on beyond! For consider the world – A bubble, a mirage. See the world as it is, And death shall overlook you. Come, consider the world, A painted chariot for kings, A trap for fools. But he who sees goes free. As the moon slips from behind a cloud And shines, So the master comes out from behind his ignorance And shines. The world is in darkness. How few have eyes to see! How few the birds who escape the net and fly to heaven! “(Dhammapada; on The World).

We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.

Aspect of God	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
• ³ Strongest Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible – 2001
• ⁴ Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
• ⁵ The Dhammapada Translated by Thomas Byrom 1888
• ⁸ Bible commentaries on BibleStudyTools.com