ON LOVE; PART MLXXXVII
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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. While this IS from an older definition of Charity, which IS rendered in the King James Bible from the same Greek word agape which IS generally rendered as Love, we should amend our own definition here to include the idea that in the reality of Love a man will accord to ALL men ALL things that he would accord to himself and to say that Love IS our thoughts and attitude of the equality of ALL men regardless of their outward nature or appearance…that ALL ARE equally children of Our One God
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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).
We ended the last essay with some words from Hindu scripture; these words from the Bhagavad Gîtâ have also been captured by Hindu doctrinal thinking which perhaps sees the underlying Unity better than the Christian but who, at the same time, also misses the deep spiritual reality that Krishna’s words here to Arjuna ARE words of Love. The “material conditioning” that IS rendered from the Sanskrit in these words IS NO different than the nurturing and the indoctrination that we ofttimes speak of. This “material conditioning” IS the Life of the man in the world who IS subjected to vanity as the Apostle Paul shows us saying “the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same” (Romans 8:20).
It IS this vanity, this illusion and this glamour, that keeps the consciousness of the man in the world from seeing the True source of his being….the Soul. The Bhagavad Gîtâ tells us that the Soul IS NOT a partaker in the carnal activities of men and if we can see this idea in Vincent’s definition of vanity, we can better understand the True Life of a man and perhaps glimpse the Unity of ALL Souls who ARE entrenched in this same experience. Vincent defines this vanity for us as: a perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends 4. If we can understand that the Soul, the spiritual man, IS ever One with God and, as such, IS NOT involved with the carnal endeavors of his expression in this world, we will be able to see much of the way that this vanity keeps men from their own Truth.
It IS the understanding that comes in this glimpse of Truth that IS one’s measure of faith, one’s measure of KNOWING and the underlying reality of Love as agape. Repeating Lord Krishna’s words to Arjuna:
“Anyone who sees that all activities certainly in all respects are the result of material conditioning and that one as the soul is not the doer, sees perfectly. When one following that tries to see that the diversity of the living beings is resting in oneness and that it expanded to that reality, at that time one attains the Absolute of the Spirit” (Bhagavad Gîtâ 13:30-31).
We should try to see here how that the Soul, the Christ Within, IS the True man and that by his birth here and his years of “material conditioning“, his years of nurturing, indoctrination and experience in the ways of this world and his doctrinal view of Life, become separate from God as his consciousness embraces that which he has come to KNOW. It IS in this that the man, the Soul in form, IS subjected to that vanity, it IS in this that the man succumbs to the illusion and the glamour, while his impetus toward the Truth that IS the focus of the Soul remains hidden from his conscious view.
The Soul, the Christ Within, which the Apostle John refers to as the chrisma which IS rendered as the unction and the anointing, IS ever apart from this carnal Life as we read above in Krishna’s words that “the soul is not the doer“. This separation IS real and it IS lasting and doctrines DO NOT ease this sense of separation; on the contrary, doctrines enhance it as their focus IS essentially carnal in nature and because so much of the doctrinal focus IS contrary to the Truths that the Master brings. It IS again the vanity, the illusion and the glamour, that IS at play as the Truth IS obnubilated by one’s Life’s share of “material conditioning” and, in the end, it IS this that must be escaped from….it IS this from which the consciousness of the man in the world must be delivered.
This “material conditioning” IS both the cause and the result of “the corruption that is in the world through lust” (Romans 8:20); this nurturing, indoctrination and confirming experience IS one’s own personal prison, his own personal “bondage of corruption“. It IS from this that men must escape and it IS this from which one must be freed; this freedom or deliverance IS ONLY made possible by some sense of the Truth and it IS this same sense that allows for one to escape. And it IS this same sense of Truth that Jesus shows us in our trifecta where we find that it IS by keeping His words that we can be free; we read:
- “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free“ (John 8:31-32).
- “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).
- “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” (John 14:21-24).
The Apostle Peter shows us the reality of His Presence, His Kingdom and the Truth as the “exceeding great and precious promises” as he tells us that it IS “by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature“; he tells us that the way to this end IS to have “escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:4). It IS in the fullness “of the divine nature” that “one attains the Absolute of the Spirit” but it IS ever by measure that we attain this goal where one “sees perfectly“. And Paul shows us these same ideas in his words that we so often use in our posts. Paul shows us these promises as “the glorious liberty of the children of God” and he tells us that in its fullness we will find “the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:21, 23).
The logical sense of ALL of this as well as the reality of Love, of agape, IS lost in the doctrinal teachings that DO NOT see nor care to see the reality, or even the possibility, of reincarnation which IS our larger subject. Doctrines rail against this concept with NO evidence that they ARE right save for a few misplaced and misinterpreted passages from scripture and they have formulated and constructed their several teachings around both this denial and their own understanding that it IS NOT possible to Truly attain heaven in one’s Lifetime. Most ALL doctrines teach that it IS NOT possible to overcome and to conquer the flesh although the Master and His apostles DO tell us that we can. They DO NOT see that to “put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof” IS the end of the Journey as IS the reality that “they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts” (Galatians 5:24).
For us, the reality of reincarnation NOT ONLY helps us to come to terms with the Truth that “there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 8:11) while we see and live in a world that IS filled with examples of the opposite of this Truth. A world where from birth to grave there IS inequality that can ONLY come from God when one’s view DOES NOT see the Soul, the eternal Soul, as the True man who comes again and again in his effort to achieve “the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body“. For us there IS also the whole process of this Redemption and this Unity with the Godhead which ideas ARE complex but only from the perspective of the man in this world. It IS KNOWING the Truth that IS the key that unlocks the complex nature, a KNOWING that comes according to the trifecta to the man who will “continue in my word“.
We must understand here that as the Soul, as the unction and the anointing, that we DO “know all things” and it IS this same unction that the Apostle John tells us “teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie” (1 John 2:20, 27). In these words we should be able to see that it IS the Soul that reveals the Truth to the consciousness that IS the man in this world and we should remember here that this IS NOT possible until one’s focus comes off of the self in the world and IS fixed upon the Truth and the things of God. Here we should note that the end of this process of revelation IS “the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” which IS that point where the man in the world can say with the Master that “I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
There IS a reason in the Great and Awesome Plan of God that men, as Souls, must take part in this constant parade of Souls taking form, living for a time, and then returning to an afterlife state which IS itself based in whatsoever spiritual collateral one has garnered. Perhaps it IS here that some idea of hell can be experienced although this IS NOT a ‘lake of fire’ as some doctrines paint this; it IS rather a state of being that likely continues the personality Life of the man without the wherewithal to DO anything to satisfy his residual desires. We should try to see here that the personality, the mind and the emotions, ARE components of the body nature which live on for some time and ARE likely responsible for the psychic phenomenon through which they communicate with the living. None of this IS heaven and none of this IS hell as these ideas are commonly understood.
It IS important to understand that whatsoever we say here IS based in our own view of Life and death as there ARE few who really understand the nature of the afterlife and beyond. It IS also important to understand that the doctrinal view of these things IS just as uncertain and, from our perspective, even more so as much IS based in superstition and fear. We should try to see how that the New Testament IS a handbook on avoiding participation in this afterlife scene whatsoever it may be and this avoidance can be readily seen in Paul’s words to the Ephesians which we have been studying and which we repeat here again:
“This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles men walk, in the vanity of their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But ye have not so learned Christ; If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness” (Ephesians 4:17-24).
Normal and common men, everyman if you will, will participate in this afterlife scene and it IS for this reason that the apostle admonishes those who have glimpsed a measure of the Truth to “walk not as other Gentiles men walk, in the vanity of their mind“. We should remember here that the word other IS added by the translators and that ethnos, the word rendered as gentiles, IS more accurately defined in terms of men….as: the human family 2 according to the lexicon. Paul shows us that it IS common men who “walk, in the vanity of their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart” and we should try to see that this IS the Life of man in that corruption which IS Life in this world.
That doctrines teach that DOING what is necessary according to their idea of being “born again” takes a man out of this corruption that IS Life in this world IS a disservice as it IS ONLY the man whose Life IS focused upon the things of God that Truly IS and, by measure, those who DO Truly strive toward His Kingdom. Naught however IS wasted and those who Truly live according to their doctrines, those who DO express some measure of goodness if we can use that word here, will garner some measure of spiritual collateral. It IS perhaps in this way that the masses of men DO progress on the Path to Truth which IS a Path that can ONLY be walked while here in this world.
And so the sense of urgency in Paul’s words above and in his words from our selection from Romans below. Together we should see “that now it is high time to awake out of sleep” and, in DOING so, to “put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness“. It IS when one can Truly “put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness” that he will find “the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body“. And it IS here that the journey as we KNOW it, the journey through Life in this Earth IS completed.
In this completion there IS most certainly more that every Soul should accomplish and we can imagine what this may be, there IS NO KNOWING yet of these mysteries. It IS enough for us to accomplish what must be DONE here in this Earth and we should try to understand that it IS our direct proportion of the measure of Truth, His Presence and His Kingdom that one can achieve here in this world, that defines our measure of True consciousness in the afterlife. Perhaps here IS where we can try to understand that there ARE levels of existance in this afterlife as they ARE here. We can build an imaginary pyramid and see that the pinnacle IS the fullness of “the glorious liberty of the children of God” while the base IS a Life spent wholly on the “the flesh with the affections and lusts“. It IS this same message that we should take from Paul’s words to the Romans that we have been discussing; repeating the apostle’s words again we read:
“Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof” (Romans 13:10-14).
Again we should understand that the context of these words IS Love in the reality of agape and of the Great Commandment and this sense of Love IS the Great KEY to that “glorious liberty of the children of God“. Here again the apostle’s message IS the same; here he tells us to “make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof“. This message plus the reality of his words saying “they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts” DOES make one wonder how blind ARE some of the doctrinal teachers, a blindness that can ONLY be attributed to “the vanity of their 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 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 a Quote of the Day that we spent much time with over the course of our essays. In this affirmation we find the Truth of discipleship as we have been ever been expressing and here we can relate our themes of the last few days; “take no thought” for the things of the world and that we approach the Kingdom and discipleship in the nature of the little child, in humbleness, meekness, unashamed in any way and unassuming. The message that this imparts for us today IS that it IS the Soul that is at work in the world of men as it expresses to some degree the purpose, power and the will through Life in this world. These words are from a meditation offered to his students by our Tibetan brother and in which we find greater understanding of the message of the Master. This IS Truly the way of the disciple.
My Soul has purpose, power and will; these three are needed on the Way of Liberation.
My Soul must foster love among the sons of men; this is its major purpose.
I, therefore, will to love and tread the Way of Love. All that hinders and obstructs the showing of the Light must disappear before the purposes of the Soul.
My will is one with the great Will of God;. that Holy Will requires that all men serve. And unto the purposes of the Plan I lend my little will.
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
- 2 New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
