ON LOVE; PART DCXXXV
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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).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 again recapped a bit of the Apostle James’ words regarding the aspirant and the disciple, the man who IS striving to keep His words and seeking the Kingdom of God. As we have been writing, it IS in this understanding of his audience that one can come to a greater understanding of his words, that they ARE NOT independent and isolated sayings but a steady stream of instructions addressed to the man who sees both the reality of his focus upon the things of God and the continued pull of the self and the way of the self in the world. It IS in James’ KNOWING of this hardship that he writes words of caution and words that tell the man who reverts about the very nature of his Life; about the effect of this reversion whether it be temporary or a trending change of focus back to the pleasures and the comforts that are perceived in the illusion presented by the world. From time to time in his words the apostle offers the reader encouragement and hope and our current place in this fifth chapter is one such place. Here after his words on the nature of focus upon the world from the spiritual perspective, that “a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4), and his words about the man whose focus changes to plans and schemes designed to accommodate the illusion of benefit to the man, the apostle tells us of the plight of this man who likely sees himself as rich. This word should be seen in the broader perspective than merely wealth and possessions; it should be seen in ALL things that bring a sense of satisfaction to the man in the world and in this the apostle tells us of the futility of such endeavors to possess anything.
We should try to see James’ point of view in his writing, that while he IS addressing the man who strives, he IS at the same time citing those things that a man can do wrong and he DOES so as though the reader has done them; perhaps we should see in this a sense that he KNOWS that these can be the thoughts of the man who IS living in this world of duality. In this we can see his words addressed to the man who 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” ** as our Tibetan brother tells us. And, as we have noted, the apostle takes an ‘if the shoe fits’ attitude in his writing as NOT ALL of what he says will be the affliction of ALL men but, if one will ponder his words, he will likely see some correlation to his own sense of Life in this state of duality.
When we can view James’ words in this way, there can come much enlightenment regarding one’s own struggles in which we should remember that there IS NO thing that IS unrecoverable; for the man who strives it IS ONLY the state of his focus that should be of concern. Here again we should understand that sin and evil are simply a man’s focus upon the self and the self in the world and to be free of sin, to be delivered from it or saved as some may frame this, IS to be focused upon the things of God and the Life of the disciple in the world. In duality we find some of each of these points of focus and it IS this that the apostle points to as he cites some of those carnal things that can take one’s focus away, the temptations and the desires and the sense of the self as a man in the world with his perceived needs and his thoughts for tomorrow.
To NOT see these ideas in the apostle’s words IS, in our view, to miss the main points of his epistle and while there may be some value in other perspectives on his words, these are likely to be according to doctrine which misses so much of the spiritual import of James’ writing. We have discussed much of this as we have slowly proceeded through the apostles words and phrases and perhaps the most illusive point thus far IS in our current sayings where we see James’ speaking directly about the conflict of duality and how that this can, and likely does, cause many to lose their way and the reward of their own ability to express the Good, the Beautiful and the True through Life in this world. In this part of our current sayings that follows, we have noted that the very ideas of seeing this in a literal sense makes NO sense; that the sayings ARE then out of place and in fact rather meaningless as teachings from the apostle; we read:
“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“
To this we add today the next verses in which we can see the resolution, if we can use that word here, to the Truth of these previous sayings which we view as a part of that internal conflict of duality in the Life of the aspirant and the disciple in the world. 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).
The common idea that the apostle is speaking about rich men who cheat their laborers IS unfounded in the reality of the nature of James’ writing and when one looks at the way that the apostle phrases this, and as it seen in most translations and commentary, it IS the reward, the wages themselves which cry. And, we see that it IS these cries that reach the Lord and NOT the insertion of the person into the next phrase which IS better rendered by others saying “and the cry of them hath entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth“. In this from the Douay-Rheims version there IS no creative adding of ideas and while they may mean to say the same thing as the others, they do give us the greater reality of the words. It IS the reward that crieth and the cries are heard by the Lord of whom the Apostle Paul tells us “he be not far from every one of us: For in him we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:27-28). 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.
We CAN NOT tell if the apostle IS speaking about prolonged reversion or the rather temporary way that this works out in Life but we can see his ideas most clearly in the prolonged and his warning in the more temporary which has the potential to become a True Life problem for the aspirant and the disciple. And it IS this man who reverts to his old ways that we can see in James’ words saying that “Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton“; we see this as Vincent tells and as the lexicon explains as we discussed in the last post. In these connected ideas which draw on the same meanings we should see what IS the nourishment for the heart, the consciousness; pleasures and comforts which are pursued diligently. Here we can try to see the idea of “a day of slaughter” as one’s attitudes beforehand, before Repentance, as the apostle IS writing to men who yet have the sense of these things. There IS doctrinal confusion regarding this phrase which ranges from the ideas of animal sacrifice and a man gorging himself in expectation of the end, to the coming of the Christ at the last days and a man’s seeking of pleasures against this fate. Like the previous saying, these doctrinal pronouncements have NO meaning as a teaching from James and they have NO spiritual value. If however these ideas are seen as the result of the former sayings we can find a singular message for the aspirant and the disciple who may have succumbed to some degree of the temptations and the desires for the things of the world.
This IS the nature of our duality; the attractions and the attachments that we had in and for the things of the world are strong temptations to return; it IS these that we constantly must stand against. When we ARE NOT successful in doing this we revert to some degree and it IS this reversion that the apostle IS teaching us about here; we can look upon this saying as that this reversion IS a degree of worldly pleasure that has overtaken us and which has afflicted our consciousness, and this IS as we were in that day when we were dead in sin. This has a spiritual reality to it and a reason for James’ writing this that we CAN NOT see in the common doctrinal view and, as the apostle continues, we can see yet more spiritual reality in the idea of killing; of killing out the sense of focus upon the things of God by our reversion to the things of the world. As we have said, there IS NO resistance by the Soul the things of God, to this sense of death. We should remember here that this ALL works out in Life by degree and our reversion can be in one point or in many; it can be long-lived or it can be temporary, and the sense of killing and of nourishment will be proportionate to that degree. In the last essay we viewed these ideas a bit differently and in the combination of our thoughts on this IS our measure of Truth; it IS we who ARE missing our reward which IS the fullness of our expression of the Love and the Power of the Soul, the God Within, because we have opted to return or to stay in the ways of the world in some degree and fashion; and we had done this to satisfy some carnal instinct that remains in our psyche and which yet clouds our consciousness.
It IS to this that the apostle tells us “Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord” and in this phrase and others like it we should try to see past doctrines that have taught us what this means and expand our own sense of the Lord to see the reality. Here our reality IS that we have been working toward, striving to use Jesus’ word, toward the reality of the Lord, the God Within, becoming the essence of the Life that we express in the world. Can we see this reality of the “coming of the Lord” over the doctrinal idea of the end times or the second coming of the Lord? Can we see how that the apostle would NOT be asking the man of 2000 years ago for this patience as it IS illogical as it IS unlikely that He IS returning in their Lifetime. We should see this idea in much the same way as we should see the Master’s words from the Lord’s Prayer: “thy Kingdom come” (Matthew 6:10). From our perspective, the way that this idea IS treated in doctrine IS most illogical although it fits well with the doctrinal ideas regarding this entire segment of James’ words. On both fronts, this saying on the “he coming of the Lord” and the nature of the whole of this part of James’ writing, John Gill shows us the conventional thinking according to his doctrines; he says: Be patient therefore, brethren; The apostle here addresses himself to the poor who were oppressed by the rich men, and these he calls “brethren” of whom he was not ashamed; when he does not bestow this title upon the rich, though professors of the same religion: these poor brethren he advises to be patient under their sufferings, to bear them with patience, unto the coming of the Lord; not to destroy Jerusalem, but either at death, or at the last, judgment; when he will take vengeance on their oppressors, and deliver them from all their troubles, and put them into the possession of that kingdom, and glory, to which they are called; wherefore, in the mean while, he would have them be quiet and easy, not to murmur against God, nor seek to take vengeance on men, but leave it to God, to whom it belongs, who will judge his people 8.
The Commentary Critical and Explanatory of the Whole Bible, while shorter and more illusive, takes a similar perspective saying: Be patient therefore–as judgment is so near (james 5:1 james 5:3), ye may well afford to be “patient” after the example of the unresisting Just one (James 5:6). brethren–contrasted with the “rich” oppressors, James 5:1-6. unto the coming of the Lord–Christ, when the trial of your patience shall cease 8. In our view these commentators see this in this way because they DO NOT see the reality of the apostle’s audience and the spiritual nature of his writing to them. Their ideas of rich and poor and oppression are bound to their view of Life and, while they seem to hold the rich in disdain and the poor as blessed, this DOES NOT seem the way that doctrines interpret the Master’s words nor the reality of Life in this world.
While other commentary on this idea IS similar and the common understanding IS as it would be the coming again of the Lord, Vincent offers us some greater insight into the use of this word that IS rendered as patience; he says: Be patient (μακροθυμήσατε); From μακρός , long, and θυμός , soul or spirit, but with the sense of strong passion, stronger even than ὀργή , anger, as is maintained by Schmidt (“Synonymik”), who describes θυμός as a tumultuous welling up of the whole spirit; a mighty emotion which seizes and moves the whole inner man. Hence the restraint implied in μακροθυμία is most correctly expressed by long-suffering, which is its usual rendering in the New Testament. It is a patient holding out under trial; a long-protracted restraint of the soul from yielding to passion, especially the passion of anger. In the New Testament the word and its cognates are sometimes rendered by patient or patience, which conceals the distinction from ὑπομονή , uniformly rendered patience, and signifying persistent endurance, whether in action or suffering 4.
If we can separate Vincent’s ideas on the word that he speaks of from its doctrinal usage, we can likely see the idea that we present above regarding “the coming of the Lord“. It IS the spiritual man that must find this patience and NOT weakly allow the ways of the world to overwhelm the progress that has been made; not the Soul himself per se, but the Soul infused Life of the aspirant and the disciple in the world who at one moment seems to have his Life in control and in the next sees some part slipping away….this IS the reality of duality.
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
- 8 Bible commentaries on BibleStudyTools.com
- ** A Treatise on White Magic or The Way of the Disciple by Alice Bailey ©1951 by Lucis trust
