ON LOVE; PART DCLXXVII
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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 out thoughts on grace and how that the Truth of mercy IS a function of the measure of grace that IS in one’s Life in this world. It IS the grace that brings the revelations of Truth and Love to the consciousness in the world of the man who IS focused upon the things of God and in this way we can see this idea of grace as the Light of the Soul. Here we can take the Master’s words from the Sermon on the Mount to greater understanding as He tells us of the very nature of the Life of the aspirant and the disciple in the world:
“Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:13-16).
If the disciple IS “the salt of the earth” in this parabolic saying, then the idea of his savor IS grace. It IS grace that gives the Life of the man in the world its spiritual meaning and worth just as it IS the savor that makes the salt’s worth to men in the world. Here the Master IS telling us that without the savor, without the grace that comes from the Soul, the Christ Within, the spiritual Life of a man has no value just as the salt without savor “is thenceforth good for nothing“. This IS again the practical nature of the idea of grace and we should try to see here that this word that IS rendered as grace, this Greek word charis, has this meaning of that which comes from God, from the the God and the Christ Within, and that this IS a sprirital factor and NOT a carnal one. Jesus goes on to compare the aspirant and the disciple to “the light of the world” and in this idea we should see the greater reality of the Light of the Soul, a term that IS not used in the New Testament but which IS well understood in more esoteric circles. This Light IS grace, and in this context we should try to see here the relationship between grace and the Holy Spirit and how that this fits into our own view of the Holy Spirit as the activity of the Christ Within in the Life of man.
We will continue with this idea further on as we develop the Master’s meaning regarding this idea of Light. Jesus tells us in the Gospel of John that “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12) and as we should see the same effect in the idea of the Christ Within, that he IS the Light of the world when he IS expressed through a man’s Life in form. This IS the Master’s message to His disciples and through them to us who strive toward that High Calling and we should understand His context: that they ARE this Light because they ARE disciples and aspirants and that they must use this Light, tht they must express it in the “good works” of Love. When a man has this Light or even an inkling of it, he should NOT hide it but use it; it IS in the use of this grace, in its expression as mercy as the Love of God in forgiveness and understanding, that one can make his Light shine.
In these ideas we have the revelations and the realizations that come to a man’s consciousness from the Soul as Light and in our context we should see this Light as the grace of God which IS the reality of those revelations and realizations; this IS the impartation of the qualities of the Soul to the consciousness of the man by degree. Again this degree or measure of grace IS the same as the measure of Light as these should be seen as synonymous terms in this context; Light shows us the flow of the Love and the Power of the Soul imparted to the consciousness while grace shows us the quality of that Light, that it IS from God according to the scriptures. As we have been discussing over the last several essays, this measure of grace, and now of Light, IS in direct proportion to the focus of the man upon the Good, the Beautiful and the True, upon the things of God. In this we must try to see the need to use this grace to get more grace, the need to express the Light to get more Light, and this getting and using IS the natural action of the spiritual Life of the Soul in form. This IS the growth of the Kingdom of God within and the Transformation of the aspirant and the disciple into completeness. This the Master reminds us of this growth in the Parable to the Master and the Servant which we read again because of its pertinence to our context here today:
“But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat? And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink? Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do” (Luke 17:7-10).
We should remember here that this parable IS told as part of the Master’s reply to the apostles’ request that He “increase our faith” which request He answers in terms of grace. And in the underlying meaning of His words we should see that more grace, more KNOWING in the form of the revelations and realizations of grace…which KNOWING IS the Truth of faith, comes to the man who realizes the Truth that the disciple must ever DO more, that he must ever grow and that the reward of grace for his normal duty IS already paid. As that savor IS the ability of the salt, and as Light IS the inflow of that ability into the consciousness of the aspirant and the disciple, so should we see the idea of grace, the practical idea of grace. And from our perspective we should be able to understand this grace as the inflow into the Life of the man in the world of the Holy Spirit, as the Love and Power of God expressed by the Soul to the consciousness of the man in the world. Further also we should see that the expression by the man in the world of the revelations and realizations, of the Light, the Love and the Power of the Soul, to the world of men IS the activity of the Holy Spirit in the world.
Can we understand the perspective here? The Soul gives Life and consciousness to the form and the Soul remains in his own state of being…in his own place if you will. Similarly the Spirit, while expressing Light, Love and Power, expresses these trough the Soul as the Spirit too remains in his own state of being. When these expressions reach the world of men, we see then the activity of the Holy Spirit; first as the expression of the Soul to the consciousness in form and then as the expression of this consciousness to the world of men. We should understand here that the doctrinal ideas of the Holy Spirit are just as nebulous as the ideas presented in the word rendered as grace and that in the practical nature of the Truth of spiritual Life these terms, charis rendered as grace and Holy Spirit, ARE essentially the same thing in the Way of the disciple but perhaps from different perspectives. A hint of this can be seen in the words of Jesus from Luke’s Gospel which we show below along with the similar ideas from Matthew’s Gospel:
- “And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” (Luke 11:9-13).
- “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?” (Matthew 7:7-11).
There IS much misunderstanding of this idea and especially from Matthew’s version where so many believe that these “good things” can be carnal favors and that the asking IS simply prayer. Asking is a step toward the Kingdom; seeking perhaps a bigger step and in knocking is perhaps the idea of the final stage of entry and while these may NOT be the actual view intended by the Master, we should be sure that there ARE NO carnal considerations involved. This should be seen in the way that the Master tells us of prayer; comparing His teaching to the hypocritical prayer of some Jews Jesus says: “Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him” and in this the message IS that “your Father knoweth“. Similarly, in the ideas from later in the Sermon on “take no thought“, we find Jesus’ words, speaking of food, drink and clothing, that tell us “your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things” (Matthew 6:8, 32). If we can see these ideas as carnal considerations as they are sought by the hypocritical Jews, and then in the factual carnal considerations in Jesus words on “food, drink and clothing” we see the general idea that “your Father knoweth“. This IS NOT repeated in these ideas of asking, seeking and knocking however as in these words the reality IS NOT to carnal considerations but to spiritual revelations and realizations, grace, Light and, according to Luke, the Holy Ghost.
In the idea of “good things” from Matthew’s version above we are reminded of the words of the Apostle James regarding the “good things” of God which we recently discussed; James says: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:17). In this we should try to see that from a spiritual perspective there IS NO thing Good from this world and that the things of God ARE from above or, to be more accurate, from within which IS a concept that is confused by the renderings and the interpretations of men. The concept of heaven in the sky or above IS an age old one that IS likely offered for the convenience of understanding by the men in those days; the reality however IS that God IS as the Kingdom IS and of this the Master tells us “The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:20-21). Our point here however is in the idea of “Every good gift and every perfect gift“, that these ARE from God as ARE the “good things” that the Master references above and, of course, the Holy Spirit which IS the way that Luke paints this idea of “good things” for us.
The Master tells us that the things of the world ARE corrupt or that they ARE corrupted and while this idea IS NOT offered for us in the light of day, we can see His Truth in the right discernment of His words and ideas; Jesus says that we should: “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt , and where thieves do not break through nor steal” (Matthew 6:19-20). Luke presents this a bit differently saying “Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth” (Luke 12:33). In the Greek words rendered as corrupt and corrupteth in these sayings we should see the idea of destruction and of vanishing and, when we can look at these ideas on a psychic level we can get the proper understanding that they, the treasures upon Earth, become as it were worthless. In the parabolic nature of this saying there ARE several ideas that are covered by words that have hidden meanings for the man who can see; these include the idea of corrupt, of moth and of rust but most importantly there is the parabolic value of the idea of treasure which, while hidden, IS hidden in rather plain sight.
We have often discussed this idea of treasure and how that this IS thought to be the wealth and the possessions of the world but which we understand as the fullness of ALL things that one holds as important in his Life; what one focuses upon and to what one gives his attention and his time. We should understand here that “treasures in heaven” ARE the things of God and that these ARE the “good things” that the Master speaks of and, in a word, this IS grace. Conversely the “treasures upon earth” ARE corrupt and in the ideas of moth and rust here we can see the simplicity of the ways of the world; that it IS the very nature of things of the Earth to be corrupt. Here we should be able to see that while destruction and vanishing and even consumed 4 as Vincent tells us may be seen as suitable renderings for the Greek word aphanizo, the greater idea is found in the understanding of their worthlessness from a spiritual perspective; and this we can extend to include every thought, attitude, action and thing that IS NOT of the “good things” of God. While these ideas will NOT make sense to the man who IS grounded in the world of things nor to the man whose focus IS on the self and the interests of the self in the world, they will make sense to the aspirant and the disciple who can see the Truth of that choice that must be made between the “treasures upon earth” and the “treasures in heaven“; that choice between God and mammon.
Here then we have our ideas on the “good things” of God, our ideas on “Every good gift and every perfect gift” as James tells us; that these ARE grace, that these are those revelations and realizations of Truth that “cometh down from the Father of lights” by way of our own Souls and through our focus upon the Good, the Beautiful and the True, our focus upon the things of God. And here in the alternate ideas of these “good things” as presented by Luke, we have the added understanding that this grace IS the Holy Spirit as well, that this IS the activity and the Light that IS God in the world of men. There are many views in the gospels and the epistles regarding the Holy Spirit which in many places refers to the Spirit that IS God and the apostles thoughts about Him; for our understanding of this Aspect of the Trinity that IS God however we should look at the presentation of the Master in the Gospel of John as Jesus tells us of Him as the Comforter, the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Truth.
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.
We repeat here again a saying that is from the Bhagavad Gita, which goes well with our theme of the God Within, the Soul, which we see as the Christ Within and while this is good in the Christian world and is True based upon our understanding of the Christ as the manifestation of God, we should also see in these words below that it does not matter what these divine ideas are called; that it matters not what we call this Inner Man, that he is the same in ALL, he is the Soul.
Thou carriest within thee a sublime Friend whom thou knowest not. For God dwells in the inner part of every man, but few know how to find Him. The man who sacrifices his desires and his works to the Beings from whom the principles of everything stem, and by whom the Universe was formed, through this sacrifice attains perfection. For one who finds his happiness and joy within himself, and also his wisdom within himself is one with God. And, mark well, the soul which has found God is freed from rebirth and death, from old age and pain, and drinks the water of Immortality.—Bhagavad-Gita
It is difficult to tell just what verses of the Bhagavad Gita the above is from; whether it is a paraphrase or a combination. It is from the book “The Great Initiates” by Édouard Schuré which was originally published in French in 1889 and perhaps it is in the translation of the verses that they become hard to recognize. However, the sheer beauty of the presentation caught my attention and so I share it with you. The Path to the Kingdom is the same no matter what religion one professes.
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
