IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 1129

ON LOVE; PART DCCXVIII

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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 our last essay we discussed the Master’s ideas from the fourteenth chapter of the Gospel of John; ideas that we see as the intersection of the concept of grace and the reality of the Holy Spirit. In our view grace IS the revelations and the realizations of divinity that allow for the man whose focus IS upon the things of God to have the ability to DO….to keep His words, and to incur the rewards, the wages if you wish, of so DOING. This reward IS more grace by measure, grace which grows in the Life of the aspirant and the disciple according to the measure of his focus upon the Good, the Beautiful and the True….the things of God. In this sense grace IS its own reward and IS the reward for ALL righteous action in the world of men. Grace however CAN NOT be stagnant or it IS NO longer grace; grace must be expressed to the world and this expression IS the activity of the Christ and the God Within as realized by the man in the world. This activity IS the reality of the Holy Spirit and we should try to see how that it IS within the reality of the Spirit that grace itself can come into the Life of the man in the world. In this we can try to understand that while the Holy Spirit IS the activity of the Christ Within in the world and in the man, it IS also the vehicle by which the grace of God comes into one’s Life. In this sense we can see the Holy Spirit as the Light of the Soul which flows into the consciousness of the man whose focus IS right. We should try to see that the many approaches and terms used to depict the spiritual reality of the man in form ARE simply to allow for his understanding when he IS ready and to confound the thoughts of those whose focus IS yet upon the self and the self in the world.

In the view that the mortal man, the body and the personality, IS NOT in any way a part of the Truth of man, we can come upon a reasoned approach to the Trinity of God and the microcosmic version of this that IS the reality of men. When we can see that the bodies and the personalities, the mind and emotional makeup, of men ARE of the world, we can begin to see the greater realities of the spiritual Life and in this find the Truth of the Master’s words that tell us to look past the worldly and toward the divine. It IS in this looking past that we have our idea of focus upon the things of God and it IS in this focus that the man ‘entombed’ in the body of flesh can begin to see his own divine nature, a nature that culminates in the Master’s words from our previous selection from Johns Gospel saying: “the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do” (John 14:12). This becomes possible when the divine nature of the man, the God and the Christ Within, can flow as the activity of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit, into the mortal Life of the man. This IS the greater reality of the Trinity which we should see as men and this IS NO different than the Trinity that we should see as God. This IS the Spirit of God, as the Father and the Son, flowing through the Life of the Master Jesus and this IS that same Spirit of God flowing through ALL Life in this world. The concept here IS difficult to see but it IS NO more difficult that the nebulous pronouncements of the various doctrines of the churches and, while this IS our view of Life today, this IS undoubtedly NOT the final word as we can hardly begin to understand the ultimate Truths that are before us.

This sense of the Trinity as the macrocosm that IS God and the microcosm that IS the True man, the spiritual man, IS the True basis to be discerned in those most misunderstood words from the Book of Genesis saying that: “God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Genesis 1:27). For us this IS the reality of God and of man: God IS a Trinity of Spirit, Soul and Expression and man IS the same. Here, while we CAN NOT directly approach a True understanding of God and the reality of these Three Aspects, we can approach them from the greater simplicity of our own share in God as we ARE ‘part and parcel‘ of Him and ARE in His image as Spirit, Soul and Expression. While this IS contrary to the ideas of doctrines that see the Trinity of God as Three Distinct Persons, it IS founded in the deeper realities revealed by the Master here in the Gospel of John that we discussed in the last post. In Jesus teaching here He reveals the nature of His Oneness with the Father and how it IS “the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works“. He takes this to the level of the apostles who are created “in the image of God” by showing them that these same works, these works of the Father, can be done by them as well and through them we should see our own reality. The Master also shows them how that the Comforter, that “he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you” IS the reality of the “Spirit of truth” (John 14:17) and IS who He later affirms to them as the Spirit of God as He tells them more as He shows them “the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost” (John 14:26). Finally, the Master tells us that not only DOES the Father “dwelleth in me” but that “I am in my Father” as well and here He also reveals the relationship of the Son to men as He tells us that we ARE in Him, the Christ, and He IS in us as he says “ye in me, and I in you“.

When we can view these Truths spiritually they can make much sense and show us the homogeneity of our being: that the Trinity IS One for man and for God and that it IS this sense of Trinity that lives within the body of the man in the world….ALL men. ALL else IS a matter of realization by the consciousness that IS for a time trapped in this world. While we DO NOT KNOW the reasons for this existence, we DO KNOW that there IS a progressive way out of the mire of worldly living to be found in the Master’s words and this way IS grace, it IS the realizations and the revelations of the Truth of our existence or as much of this Truth as the one’s measure of focus on the things of God can attain. We must remember here that the Master tells us that “the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do” and in this we should be able to see our future; that the Apostle John tells us that “as he is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17) and the Apostle Paul tells us of His nature saying that “in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9). It IS  glamour that IS the bane of religion yet today as doctrines erect walls around the deeper Truths that the Master Himself offers to us; Truths that are too often interpreted according to the ways of men in the world rather than according to the Ways of God.

It IS in the illusion of Life that we see ourselves as men in the world and it IS in the revelations of grace that this view can change. Here again we have the reality of focus and in this we can see ourselves as the carnal man in this world who IS born, lives for a time and then dies to some uncertain future, or we can see ourselves as a divine being who IS created “in the image of God“. Either view depends upon the focus of the man….the former ideas for the man whose focus IS in the self and the world and the latter ideas for the man whose focus IS upon the things of God. And this IS NOT a knock against religion but rather against the overall failure of men to see the Truth of who and what they ARE in the Light of the Master’s words, the words of His apostles and the Truths espoused by most every True world religion. So much of this failure IS tied up by the glamour of Life that our illusion brings as men come to see their own way, their own thoughts and doctrines, as the Truth and at times the only Truth.

It IS these things that the Master IS teaching us in these words about the relationship between God and man; His message IS hidden in His parabolic language and this IS intentionally so according to His own words. Again we should see the progression of His thoughts; first He speaks about His own relationship with the Father, that to see Him IS to see the Father as He answers Thomas saying “If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also“. Then, in His answer to Philip He shows how that they should KNOW this by the very works of the Master, His miracles and His teaching, and He says that it IS “the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works” (John 14:7, 10). Here we have the Father dwelling in the Son and we should understand this idea as that the Father abides in the Son; we have also the understanding that it IS the Father in Him that “he doeth the works“. This IS the light in which Jesus then paints the picture of His disciples own relationship with the Father as He tells them that they too can do these same works…these works that are actually done by the Father, by the Spirit that IS God. It IS up the us to tie these ideas together as the grace of God gives us the realizations of Truth and it IS up to us to also see the next point that Jesus makes….that the Comforter IS not so much for their comfort but for their use as the movement of the Spirit of God in their lives. Words fail us here as there IS NO real English idea that corresponds with the Greek word parakletos but this should NOT hinder our view as the Master DOES tell us that this IS the “Spirit of truth” and that this IS the Holy Spirit.

And we should try to attend to the words that He uses as He calls the Comforter as “another Comforter” and as He tells them in the midst of this discussion that “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you” (John 14:16, 18). In this most parabolic language we should try to see the reality of the Christ Within, that He will be for the apostle and for us as the Comforter, the Spirit of God in Life in the world. Jesus speaks this to the Eleven against their losing His Presence and He speaks this to us as that we KNOW that the Christ Within, the Soul, IS that divine presence that IS ever with us in the world; this divine presence IS the Truth of man. And the Master continues into our next section of text from John’s Gospel were we repeat the last verse of the last section; it IS here that we see the most intimate relationship of the Christ Within man and the man within Christ and we should understand that the idea of the man in Christ IS the reward, the realization, of the man whose focus IS upon the things of God. In this ALL IS tied together for us in such a way that we should understand that God IS Truly within each man in this world and that this God IS the Trinity of man who IS created “in the image of God“. We should try to see the idea of man as the Truth of Christ: that the Father IS in Him and that He IS in the Father as a conscious realization in this world. This IS the God Within which the Master brings to our attention as the Spirit of God who “remains by your side and is in you” as the Weymouth Translation frames this; this IS the Holy Spirit at work in the Life of the man whose focus IS right. In the introduction of the Christ Within we have yet another dynamic introduced by the Master and here we should remember the idea that the Father abides in the Son; that these are inseparable and yet separate Aspects of the One Divine Whole that IS God. Repeating our current selection from John’s Gospel:

“At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, 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. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me. These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you” (John 14:20-26).

Here we see two things from Jesus in successive statements; first that the Christ will manifest Himself to the man and second that the Father and the Son will come to abide in the man. Again, these ARE inseparable and they come into the Life of the man who meets the criteria that IS set forth above…that this IS for the man who “hath my commandments, and keepeth them“….the man who “will keep my words“. This IS the reality and in this we should be able to see through the parabolic language and into the dynamic of realization rather than the doctrinal view of Jesus coming to live in the heart of the believer. Perhaps the KEY here can be found in the Master’s use of the idea of Love; here we should try to see that God Loves ALL creation and this because that “God is love” (1 John 4:8). If then God Loves ALL, there must be a special meaning to this Love that He speaks about here saying both that “I will love him, and will manifest myself to him” and that “my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him“. Can we see this particular sense of Love as grace, as the realizations and revelations of the things of God to man?

And it IS the activity of this Love, the activity of this grace, that IS the Holy Spirit and this we see in Jesus words that show us the very idea of revelation as that the Comforter “shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you“. Should we relate these words and this idea to the words of John in his First Epistle we can come to an yet greater understanding of the Christ and the Holy Spirit; we read the apostles words saying: “ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things….the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need * not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him” (1 John 2:20, 27). Here we should remember that the word rendered as anointed and as unction IS the Greek word chrisma which IS a kindred word to christos as the noun and the adjective form of the verb chiro which IS to anoint…..and Christos IS Christ. 

We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.

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!