IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 374

Love is the Fulfilling of the Law

ON GOD; Part CLVI

“For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh” (Luke 6:44-45).

“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: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:19-21)

We have tried, over the last few posts, to reframe our past comments in order to show the essential unity of the ideas of Soul, heart, and the Kingdom of God and this was how we ended our comments in the last post. The overriding reality here is that ALL of these are within the man and, that subject to the realization of them, that they can be clearly seen by the man in form. For our purposes the Christ Within and the Soul are the same aspect of man under two different names and the heart and the consciousness can be seen as the same as well, again under two different names, and this is an idea that we recently presented as our topics have allowed this greater revelation. This leaves only the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven which are also the same and from these ideas above we have three distinct components which we also call an essential unity above in this same paragraph. How can this be? Only by a matter of perspective and the perspective taken is a function primarily of the focus of the Life of the man in form.

From the perspective of the disciple we cannot completely see but we can glimpse based upon our own experiences as aspirants to discipleship as well as from our reading about the apostles and the disciples of the Lord from 2000 years ago. In his view, the disciple realizes that he is the Soul, the Christ Within and is able to bring this realization into his everyday consciousness thereby making of this first part of our essential unity a reality and thereby following with the Christ who in the words of the Apostle Paul, “Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace” (Ephesians 2:15). Now this enmity that the apostle speaks of is for us, in our own lives, that sense of duality that comes when we recognize that there is that Inner Man that we Truly are while still being actively involved in the world of men; it is here that a man can properly sense the illusion and the glamour in which he has lived and it is here that a man can begin to find his way out. This eventually will result in discipleship and in the reality of making “in himself of twain one new man“. Simply put this discipleship is the expression by the man in form of the Power, the Wisdom and the Love of a Son of God which is the full potency of the Christ Within. In this state the Soul and the consciousness are ONE; the man is Soul Conscious; he has overcome the world; the personality now reacts only to the Soul and no longer to the world. This IS our High Calling.

Together with this we should see and understand that the disciple is worthy of and has attained the Kingdom of God which IS NOT a place but rather a state of being which is, from the standpoint of the disciple, the same as being a disciple. Can we see here how ALL of these ideas are the same and that in achieving one, ALL are achieved.

From the perspective of the man in the world the above scenario is does not work; for the aspirant at any level discipleship is a goal and for the average man in the world there is no real recognition of any of this as a reality. For the higher aspirant we should see this as we see ourselves; immersed yet in the world and the things of the world and yet at the same time focused upon the things of the Soul, of the Kingdom of God. It is quite a while since we have discussed anything in ranges of possibilities and, in some ways, there is not a greater example of this effect that in the state of the aspirant. This state can range from the slightest glimpse of Truth that a man can perceive from the prompting of his own Soul to the fullness of the struggle to overcome the illusion and the glamour of the world and up to the realization of the Soul as the True man as he stands upon the cusp of forsaking ALL for the Kingdom. There are likely as many points in this range of possibilities as there are men in and out of incarnation which is said by some to be upwards of 60 billion Souls. We should note that this number is far lower than the estimated total of stars in the universe which is currently estimated at 300 sextrillion; that is 300,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars versus 60,000,000,000 Souls….just food for thought. In this Light our range of possibilities is based upon the reality that ALL men are aspirants from the perspective of their own Souls although for very many there is not the slightest recognition of this in any given lifetime.

So then for the disciple ALL of our terms merge into one while for the aspirant there is only a merging based upon recognition and realization which are both based upon focus. As we continue here, we will now address only the Soul and the idea of heart as presented by the Master. Having seen the heights of realization as a disciple, we will look at the effect on the aspirant and on the average man. In the Master’s words above at the head of our essay we should be able to see His intent in line with our premise of this idea of heart being equal to and the same as the consciousness of a man. This is an idea not understood by the doctrines of the church as they linger in the confusion of the whole idea of what is the Soul, the Spirit and the man. Looking at some of the ideas we find:

• In the New Testament the Greek word that is translated as heart is kardia which, according to the lexicon means: the heart; that organ in the animal body which is the centre of the circulation of the blood, and hence was regarded as the seat of physical life; denotes the centre of all physical and spiritual life; the vigour and sense of physical life; the centre and seat of spiritual life; the soul or mind, as it is the fountain and seat of the thoughts, passions, desires, appetites, affections, purposes, endeavours; of the understanding, the faculty and seat of the intelligence; of the will and character; of the soul so far as it is affected and stirred in a bad way or good, or of the soul as the seat of the sensibilities, affections, emotions, desires, appetites, passions; of the middle or central or inmost part of anything, even though inanimate². Strong’s tells us in their terms that kardia means heart, mind (seat of thought and emotion), the heart was thought to be the seat of the inner self (composed of life, soul, mind, and spirit). ‘heart’ is similar in meaning to ‘soul,’ but often the ‘heart has a focus on thinking and understanding³. Vincent does not address the idea of heart from our verses above but in another place says that Out of the heart. Compare Plato. “For all good and evil, whether in the body or in human nature, originates, as he declared, in the soul, and overflows from thence, as from the head into the eyes; and therefore, if the head and body are to be well, you must begin by curing the soul. That is the first thing” (“Charmides,” 157)⁴. In yet another place Vincent tells us that With all thy heart (ejx o[lhv th~v kardi>av sou). Lit., out of thy whole heart. The heart, not only as the seat of the affections, but as the center of our complex being — physical, moral, spiritual, and intellectual⁴.
• Contrasting this word to the word psuche which is the Greek word that is translated as Soul we find that the lexicon defines this as breath; the breath of life; the vital force which animates the body and shows itself in breathing; of animals, of men; life; that in which there is life, a living being, a living soul; the soul; the seat of the feelings, desires, affections, aversions (our heart, soul etc.); the (human) soul in so far as it is constituted that by the right use of the aids offered it by God it can attain its highest end and secure eternal blessedness, the soul regarded as a moral being designed for everlasting life’ the soul as an essence which differs from the body and is not dissolved by death (distinguished from other parts of the body)². Here Strong’s gives us life, soul, heart, mind, a person; the immaterial (and eternal) part of inner person, often meaning the animate self, which can be translated by pronouns: “my soul”, “I, myself”⁴. Vincent tells us of Soul that Soul (yuch~v). The word is often used in the New Testament in its original meaning of life. See Matthew 2:20; 20:28; Acts 20:10; Romans 11:3; John 10:11. Hence, as an emphatic designation of the man himself. See Matthew 12:18; Hebrews 10:38; Luke 21:19. So that the word denotes “life in the distinctness of individual existence” (Cremer). See farther on yuciko>v, spiritual, 1 Corinthians 15:44⁴.

Vincent, in another place says that My soul — spirit (yuch>_pneu~ma). See on Mark 12:30. The soul is the principle of individuality, the seat of personal impressions, having a side in contact with the material element of humanity, as well as with the spiritual element. It is thus the mediating organ between the spirit and the body, receiving impressions from without and from within, and transmitting them by word or sign. Spirit is the highest, deepest, noblest part of our humanity, the point of contact between God and man.⁴. In this phrase the actual translation should be my Spirit and not my Soul which should help us to understand the confusion and the complexities of the words and their usage. This last part should show us the relationship that is put upon Soul and Spirit by Vincent and the confusion of heart and Soul by ALL insofar as the doctrinal teachings are concerned.

We leave this for today with another repost of our chart which is posted for the simplicity of its value which we will futher discuss in the next post along with our understanding of the verses that are at the head of our essay.

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 leave this Mantram of  Unification again for today as it does go well with our topic.

Today’s quote of the day is a repeat of the Mantram of Unification which is an affirmation of the Oneness of the human family from the perspective of the disciple and the aspirant and any who hold these ideals as important. In this we find the essence of the two ideas that we have discussed from Values to Live By and that these are firmly grounded in the desire to Love not hate; to serve and not exact due service and to heal and not to hurt. It is Love shown as Truth and justice that is at the heart of this mantram.

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.