IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 385

Love is the Fulfilling of the Law

ON GOD; Part CLXVI

“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 ended yesterday’s post with some ideas about the relationship of heart as consciousness, the role of vanity as illusion and glamour and the reality of treasure as it is related to the focus of a man in form. All of this may seem unrelated to the two sayings by the Master which we have been posting now for several days but they can be seen as the specific subject if one can look at them apart from the doctrines of the church and any preconceptions that one may have developed based on such doctrine. It is clear from our discussions that the understood interpretation of heart is varied as are the use of the words Spirit and Soul and this we covered in much detail in In the Words of Jesus parts 374 through 376. Simply, the doctrinal understanding of heart in this context is this from our preferred texts; we have eliminated the physical references which can be found in the parts cited above:

• From the lexicon, the heart; 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.

In these references we should be able to grasp what it is that is commonly understood as heart in the context of the Master form our subject verses. This is what we are calling consciousness and the idea is the same as above except as in our usage it is stripped of the references to Spirit and Soul and is, as we have be discussing, the activity of the Soul in form. Now one can argue that the consciousness of a man is the Soul and this could be a valid position but only if tied to the understanding that the consciousness that is experienced as a man is not directly related to the ways of the Soul but is rather that part that is “made subject to vanity, not willingly” (Romans 8:20) as the Apostle Paul tells us. We should see then that the Soul, Pure and unblemished in his own right, is incarnated into Life in form and in doing so is  “made subject to vanity, not willingly” and thereby is ‘lost’ in the world of illusion and glamour in which we live. From this perspective the consciousness is the Soul or, as we would say, the consciousness is lent to the Life in form by the Soul who gives Life to the incarnation; in this way we can see the dynamic relationship between the Soul and the form and should be able to understand that it is only so long as the Soul remains in the form that the form is alive and only so long as the Soul permits is the form conscious. In a strange and rather incomprehensible way the Soul and the form Life are one yet they are separate much like the Trinity of God can be seen as ONE but at the same time separate. Note that we say the form Life and not the form as the body and its attendant mental and emotional apparatus are simply the physical home of the incarnating Soul in this world. Again, can we see the dynamic relationships here especially in the Light of the ONENESS of the Trinity of man, that he IS Spirit, and he IS Soul and he IS the expression of that Soul in form.

We said yesterday that the consciousness receives input from the Higher and the lower and we can expand this to see as well that the Soul is expressing himself through the form and, at the same time he is Life in his own realm which we can consider the Kingdom of God. These ideas are a part of that mystery that the Master tells us of as He speaks to His disciples saying: “Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand” (Luke 8:10). This revelation of the mysteries is laid in the fact that many may hear and read the same words, the words we publish here or the parables of the Master, and some will understand while others will not and this because some degree of focus on the Higher Life is required and it is this focus that makes of a man an aspirant and a disciple.

So we have the heart, the consciousness, alive in form and yet, at the same time, an extension of the Life that IS the Soul; the consciousness is grounded in the Earth Life for a time and subject to the vanity of which Paul speaks and it is yet Pure and unblemished from the perspective of the Soul. In the last post we described as best we can some of the stages of this consciousness as regards the Spiritual aspect of Life; on the lower side, the side of mammon, the consciousness is of those who are among the “children of this world” while on the Higher side we have the consciousness of those who are among the “children of Light” (Luke 16:8) and these latter are likely limited to the True aspirants and disciples of the Lord. In the center of these two poles is that great majority of humanity who live their lives in form alternating between the one pole and the other an not necessarily at the outer reaches of either end but Truly in the middle; they attempt to, as the Master tells us, “serve two masters” and to do this is impossible as the Master also tells us in saying “Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24). It is here that the heart of man is determined simply by his focus and, of course, his focus is the sum total of those things to which the man pays attention. It is in this context that we must understand His sayings from the top of our page:

• In the first saying from Luke we begin with “For every tree is known by his own fruit” and in this we should understand that this fruit is the result of one’s focus and attention. If a man attends to the things of the world he can be considered to be doing that which is spoken of in the second saying where the Master tells us that we should “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt , and where thieves break through and steal” Conversely if a man is attending to the things of God, to the promptings of the Soul, the Christ Within, he can be considered as doing that with the Master tells us to do saying “lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal“.
• We should see here the reality of this in His words “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” which is to say that whatsoever it is that takes our attention and our focus is where the force of our consciousness will be. If our attention is on family, then the is the direction of consciousness, if our focus is on building wealth, then this is what occupies our time and our conscious endeavor. Whatsoever is taking our attention is taking our conscious effort as well, taking our heart as the Master tells us. We have often said that there is no evil in this as is commonly understood through some doctrine but rather the Master is speaking about the ordinary everyday endeavor of the man in form who IS NOT focused upon the Lord and the Lord’s things. Again we must remember that this idea of treasure is not as is commonly understood; that this is more that just money and possessions. It is rather inclusive of ALL that a man may attend to; it is attitudes and feelings as well as money the  physical possession of things.
• In the first saying above the Master explains that in addition to the focus and attention of one’s Life determining the where that his consciousness is at any given time, that this focus and attention will also dictate his actions. This is an important thing for us to remember. Again, as in the first point here, we should see that if a man is attending to the things of God that he will “out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good” and, if the man is focused upon the things of the world that he will “out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil“. We must remember here again that this idea of evil IS NOT what is commonly perceived but in this context it is simply man’s subjection to the vanity and the illusion and glamour of the world upon which the man is focused and this can range from the vilest of things to the simple selfishness of man. Here the Master tells us that it is based upon ones focus whether he has that good treasure that comes from placing one’s attention on the things of the world or the bad treasure that comes from focus upon the things of the world and that it is based upon this treasure that a man will act.

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.

Noticed today that although this Quote of the Day has been posted for many days now, the Quote on the front page has not changed and we will rectify this today.

We have left this saying for several days now and want to here say that within this reflection is the reality of a True Son of God, a disciple if you will, and it is by accomplishing these things that a men can be seen as disciples and, for those who try to achieve, those who strive, as aspirants.

Evening Reflection

May the Power of the One True God flow through His group of all true servers;

May the Love of the Christ characterize the lives of all who seek to aid in His work;

May I fulfill my part in the one work through self-forgetfulness, harmlessness and right speech

(Evening Reflection)