Love is the Fulfilling of the Law
ON LOVE; PART XXXII
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α
GoodWill IS Love in Action
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α
I am a patriot and I love my county
Because my country is all I know
I want to be with my family people who understand me
I’ve got nowhere else to go
In yesterday’s post we erroneously credited these words to Jackson Browne who made them popular; they were actually written by Steve Van Zandt. Nonetheless, these are moving and informing words for any who choose to view them in the spirit in which they are written. Before we return to our thoughts on focus and on service as we began a few posts back, let us explore the way that this all works out in the lives of men and the role that illusion and glamour play in what it is that a man may believe. Here in this use of these words we can see the relative effect of the vanity that is spoken of by the Apostle Paul and which we have writing much about; Paul tells us that: “For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope” (Romans 8:20). In our use of this very versatile word vanity we can find the defining terms that relate to illusion and glamour as well as the common understanding of self as reflected in today’s definitions.
Looking at the lyrics above we should see that the idea of patriotism is a function of what can be called an accident of birth. Born an American one is a likely to be an American patriotic supporter unless one breaks out of or does not readily accept that this is his place. The same can be said for one born in Mexico or in Egypt; that man learns the ways of being a Mexican or an Egyptian, he learns their customs and their ways that he becomes an Egyptian or a Mexican and is likely patriotic to their cause and this is not because of choice, by because this is where one is born and raised. So we are saying that one is not born into a nationality per se and this is seen in the movement of families from one country to another which is commonplace today. We can easily see that being born in a place or being moved to a place at a young age creates a man who claims that place for himself and thereby we have I am an American or I am a Mexican or an Egyptian. This is the clarity that we should get from the words Because my country is all I know.
Moving on we find the ideas that create this patriotism and allegiance are not innate ones but developed ones based upon the upbringing of the man and here again we see the reality of the writer’s words saying that “I am a patriot and I love my county, Because my country is all I know“. The fact that this IS all that the man KNOWS plays greatly in his allegiance and his patriotism and creates that very understanding in the man that he is an American or a Mexican or a Egyptian. Our point here is that it is what a person KNOWS that defines that person and, as we shall discuss further on, the best laid plans of a Soul be be in this place or that can be thwarted by the simple move of a family for whatever reason. This KNOWING as a man in form is a conscious KNOWING until a man gains contact with his own Soul and this is then a part of that great illusion that tells a man that he IS the form and here we find that not only is he the form but he is a particular brand of form and to this brand he pays allegiance. Here we find also that degree of vanity that causes a man to take whatsoever he has and make it of importance; the American will believe that being an American is supreme as will the Mexican and the Egyptian and this regardless of the facts of the many Mexicans that come into America for a better opportunity. These, if they are raised in Mexico, will consider themselves such even when they are in America; it is the next generation that will see themselves otherwise. We must remember that this is not true of ALL men as there are some who for whatever reason will not agree with the customs and ways of a place but this generally is a developed realization and one that is developed in conjunction with one’s overall realizations about Life. We could look at many of these type people as the pioneers who sense something better and go after it and this regardless of whether it is a thing of the world or a thing of God as emanates from one’s Christ Within, one’s Soul.
We have often said that it is in the way that a man incarnates that helps to frame the objectives of an individual Life and this of course if from the perspective of the Soul which has some ‘idea’ going in as to the type and usefulness of the body and the personality that he will be able to build and about his ‘place’ of incarnation as these factors have much to do with the individual’s Soul having the ‘best’ chance of serving the Soul’s purpose. In this respect the more advanced a man is as a Soul, that is the better control he may perceive that he will have over the form nature, the more advanced a Life he can lead and this from the perspective of a more sure sense of recognition by the consciousness in form of the Soul of which it is a part. We must understand that the free will of the man in form, limited as it may be, also plays a large and important part in this drama we call Life; if the Soul can not get the attention of the consciousness away from the things of the world and the lower self, he will not be able to take proper advantage of his advanced ‘place’. We must also remember that these pictures are at best a generalization of the way that these things can work and that while the principals may be True, that is that the Soul IS the reality of the man and the Soul IS what incarnates and gives his Life and consciousness to form. That there is an presumably infinite array of different possibilities that this Life itself may bring into incarnation based on his several ability to build forms and his propensity to control such as well as the karmic responsibility that he carries, makes any accurate presentation near impossible and to this is added the necessary adjustments that are required to overcome factors that are quite out of the control of the incarnating Soul who may plan for quite a different Life than he actually experiences. In this we must see natural disasters of a regional or world scale, wars, accidents, violence, famine and even the effect of Life on the parents and the movement of which we speak of above. All of this can be regarded as a part of the ‘free will’ effect of Life in a general way as this moves and changes the incarnated destiny of any who are in its path. These listed are presumably negative effects but there are positive as well, effects of the kind that can be experienced for example by those coming into incarnation tomorrow who can benefit by how we, and Souls in form today, can implement the Great and Awesome Plan of God by the spreading of the Love, Harmony and Brotherhood that is the hallmark of this Aquarian Age which we are rapidly entering.
Can we prove that any of this is real, no we can not. These types of ideas are founded in the reality of the Life of the Soul which works through the consciousness of a man in form and which are interpreted by that consciousness. When a man is free from the vanity and the illusion and the glamour then the ideas that stream forth are clear and lucid and take on the properties of the “wisdom from above” as elucidated by the Apostle James. And, again, there are degrees to this clarity and lucidness which can range from uncertain rambling to the clarity of the message of the Saints. However, regardless of how lucid and clear one may consider these words, they are better than the alternative belief in heaven and hell and a single random existence as a man in form in this world who hopes that he is eternal and who does not KNOW any more about his Life than that. What happens next is still uncertain and without any formal structured teaching although some believe, by not in any concrete way, that there is a resurrection and that they will be alive again in these bodies somewhere and somehow. James words on Wisdom say: “But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy” (James 3:17); as we have oft said, these words should ever be our measure of what is the Good, the Beautiful and the True in Life.
We started here with the words above from the lines of a song that tell us that we are patriots and we love our country because it is all that we know and this is a Truth that we need to deal with in Life no matter how we view the dynamics of birth and death and this Life in form. We must take from these words of Truth and the thoughts that they engendered, the notion that WE ARE ALL THE SAME; in the picture that we paint of incarnated Souls the idea of overriding importance is that WE ARE ALL SOULS. It is in this realization that we can KNOW that our brothers ARE THE SAME AS WE…..SOULS; that they believe whatsoever is offered to them in what they may KNOW as being born a Mexican in Mexico or an Egyptian in Egypt. This forms for them as it is forms for us, the relative reality of their worlds; as strongly as an American can feel about being an American, so an Egyptian can feel about being an Egyptian and the same is True for the Mexican and the Indian and the Chinese. Granted there will be MORE that may rebel against their relative reality in a place where human rights are not held in high esteem by the rulers but there are rebels in ALL lands an it is on them that much change depends. Having said this, we must realize that for the many in each ‘place’ there is that sense of national pride and likely a set of excuses for any national shortcomings or wrongdoings in the past. Do we see the vanity on an individual, a cultural and a national level which feeds the illusion and the glamour of being of this or of that national origin. The Buddha puts this whole idea together for us in saying:
See yourself in others. Then whom can you hurt? What harm can you do? He who seeks happiness, By hurting those who seek happiness, Will never find happiness. For your brother is like you. He wants to be happy. Never harm him5.
Can we see the idea in this of this sameness we speak about above and in so many of our essays and can we understand from our own lives and in the words here from the Buddha that each of us wants to be happy in that which he is and the Life that he has been born into? Can we see also the reality of these thoughts as they are affected by the teachings of the Master on Love. In His simple pronouncement the Golden Rule we can see the whole of the Buddha’s idea:
“Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets” (Matthew 7:12)
Let us move the idea now from the realm of national allegiance to religion and try to see and understand these same things. These are, at least in the West, not the same forces at work because there is a ‘choice’ of religion but we must understand that this choice IS NOT the choice of the incarnating Soul any more that the place of birth is. While we have premised that the Soul chooses a place to be born that will best result in a successful incarnation from the Soul’s perspective, the same can be said of religion. These are not however the choices of the man in form and although the Plan of the Soul may have been implemented, the man is unawares from the perspective of his Life in form until such time may come as he can realize the Presence of the Soul and focus on that Presence. Our point here is that one’s religion must be seen in this same way as one’s nation and we can say, according to the song, that I am a Christian and I Love my religion and the way that I worship God, because this religious way is ALL that I KNOW. We can frame this then as I am a Hindu and I Love my sense of God as Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva which are in their way similar to the Christian idea of the Trinity; and this because it is ALL I KNOW. We can take this same into Islam and say that I am a Muslim and I Love my sense of God as outlined in the Holy Koran and the many names of God that depict His attributes; and this because it is ALL I KNOW.
Can we see the far reaching effect of what we KNOW or believe that we KNOW? We are, ALL of us, indoctrinated in so many ways and it is only in KNOWING this that we have opportunity to break out and move past the illusions and the glamours of the world of self. Can we understand also that based upon our depiction of the how and the why a Soul comes to be incarnated in a certain type of body and in a certain culture, a certain religion and a certain nation, that it is in these certain things that the Soul perceives his best opportunity for progression as a Soul and that the success of the Life in form is of a secondary or even lower nature? And in this can we see the words of the Buddha who tells us clearly that your brother is like you.
There is much food for thought here and we do not present any of this authoritatively but rather present it as a possible painted picture of the realities of Life as an incarnating Soul. In closing today we borrow some words from the Tibetan who has written extensively with Alice A. Bailey on ALL things spiritual, arcane and esoteric. He tells his readers: The books that I have written are sent out with no claim for their acceptance. They may, or may not, be correct, true and useful. It is for you to ascertain their truth by right practice and by the exercise of the intuition. Neither I nor A.A.B. is the least interested in having them acclaimed as inspired writings, or in having anyone speak of them (with bated breath) as being the work of one of the Masters. If they present truth in such a way that it follows sequentially upon that already offered in the world teachings, if the information given raises the aspiration and the will-to-serve from the plane of the emotions to that of the mind (the plane whereon the Masters can be found) then they will have served their purpose. If the teaching conveyed calls forth a response from the illumined mind of the worker in the world, and brings a flashing forth of his intuition, then let that teaching be accepted. But not otherwise. If the statements meet with eventual corroboration, or are deemed true under the test of the Law of Correspondences, then that is well and good. But should this not be so, let not the student accept what is said. (EXTRACT FROM A STATEMENT BY THE TIBETAN)
It is in this same way that we offer here our ideas and thoughts and it is in this same way that they should be accepted or not.
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 leave our Quote of the Day for yet another day and will try to tie this to our themes of focus and service as well as out ideas from today in the next post.
Do not live in the world, In distraction and false dreams. Outside the dharma. Arise and watch. Follow the way joyfully through this world and beyond. Follow the way of virtue. Follow the way joyfully Through this world and on beyond! For consider the world – A bubble, a mirage. See the world as it is, And death shall overlook you. Come, consider the world, A painted chariot for kings, A trap for fools. But he who sees goes free. As the moon slips from behind a cloud And shines, So the master comes out from behind his ignorance And shines. The world is in darkness. How few have eyes to see! How few the birds who escape the net and fly to heaven!5
This Quote of the Day is from the Dhammapada, the sayings of the Buddha, and exemplifies from His perspective the same basic message that we have been seeing from the Christ. Follow the way of the Soul, focus upon the Real and not on the illusion and thereby attain the Kingdom. If we read and reread this we should be able to see the thread of reality in forsaking ALL for the Kingdom.
- 5 The Dhammapada Translated by Thomas Byrom
