Love is the Fulfilling of the Law
ON LOVE; PART LX
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
We began discussing the idea of GoodWill two essays back and got a bit sidetracked in that essay and totally off our intended subject in the last post because of a New York Times article on religion and the diminishing of church membership in America and worldwide as well. We attribute this to what we believe is the reality that there are many who are not attracted by the old and worn doctrines or who no longer are and this has been a part of the general theme of our essays. We discussed again the advent of the newer and sometimes carnally focused theologies and posited that these too are losing members to what has been called a secularizing trend which may or may not be true depending on one’s view of a secular society. Our view here is that there is no longer a foundation in the church to keep the attention of the modern and more mentally focus man, a man who cannot see the doctrinal realities of heaven and hell and cannot understand the underpinnings of faith in the way that it is taught by doctrine.
It is to these people that we hope to offer an alternative view of Life, of self and of God and we believe that in these essays is the fundamental basis for the Truths that can start a man on the Path toward that strait gate which opens into the Kingdom of God. As we have ofttimes said, it is up to each reader of these words, and any words for that matter, to discern that they are or that they are not a Truth and we have given guidance to right discernment in the words of our Tibetan brother and in the words of the Buddha, both of which tell us simply that we must measure what we hear in the Light of the Soul which idea can of course be nebulous. Let us therefore repeat these important words which are from the perspective of the Tibetan speaking of his books and his teachings and which sentiment we borrow in regard to our own writing:
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)
The Buddha has said this in similar context to the words above and we should remember here that both the Buddha and our Tibetan brother are speaking to disciples and to aspirants and if these cautions are given to them, how much more are they needed by the neophyte?
THE LORD BUDDHA HAS SAID
that we must not believe in a thing said merely because it is said; nor traditions because they have been handed down from antiquity; nor rumors, as such; nor writings by sages, because sages wrote them: nor fancies that we may suspect to have been inspired in us by a Deva (that is, in presumed spiritual inspiration); nor from inferences drawn from some haphazard assumption we may have made; nor because of what seems an analogical necessity; nor on the mere authority of our teachers or masters. But we are to believe when the writing, doctrine, or saying is corroborated by our own reason and consciousness. “For this,” says he in concluding, “I taught you not to believe merely because you have heard, but when you believed of your consciousness, then to act accordingly and abundantly.”
In these two sayings by these Masters we find the same Truth that is told us by the Christ, the Master of ALL and the teacher alike of angels and men. The Master tells us much in His words on hearing but they are couched in parable and difficult to discern but, when combined with ALL of His teachings, these words can become clear as day. We start with the last verse of the Master’s explanation of Parable of the Sower to His disciples as here may be a Path to right discernment:
“And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirty fold, some sixty, and some an hundred. And he said unto them, Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? and not to be set on a candlestick? For there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested; neither was any thing kept secret, but that it should come abroad. If any man have ears to hear, let him hear. And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear : with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given. For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath” (Mark 4:20-25).
We should see here the idea from the verse that ends the parable that the “good ground” IS the disciple, the True follower of the Master who brings forth much fruit. With this as a starting point the Master tells them that ALL things that come in the fashion of Light, which we can presume is the Light of the Soul or, that same Light that He tells us of saying: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16), will be made manifest and the things that were secret will be revealed. He comes then back to the idea of hearing; first He tells us of hearing the word as the “good ground” and then that we that have ears, we who are focused upon the Soul, should hear clearly but that at the same time that we should be careful of what it is that we do hear, that we must properly discern and not be led astray by the illusion and the glamour, that we should not be deceived.
Can we see the synthesis in these messages from the Christ, the Buddha and the Tibetan, that we must be ever careful that what is is that we believe is ‘weighed’ in the Light of the Soul so that that which we believe we are rightly discerning has been subjected to the scrutiny of the Christ Within and that the conscious decision on right discernment is not left to the personality but rather to the Soul? We should remember here that the personality that IS NOT living in the Light of the Soul or even so one that is only partially in that Light, is open to the attitudes of the self in form, his desires and his dreams which are generally aimed at self promotion, self devotion, self interests, self aggrandizement, self everything and anything and we should understand that this sense of self is extended to those we ‘love’ in the world. This extension goes then even farther; when we consider the idea of ‘ours’, we must then take into account ALL that a person holds dear and his sense of self will operate here by degree….my country, my religion, my baseball team and so on. This is the great dividing line in Life; and it reveals the Truth of the Master’s saying that “Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24, Luke 16:13) and here we should be able to see that these ideas of God and mammon do not only apply to things, to riches and to possessions, but to thoughts and to attitudes as well.
If what we believe defines us as men and what we hear results in what we believe, and this hearing is from above and below, then we should see the importance of right discernment in ALL things, in ALL areas of one’s Life. When we understand that the consciousness, when it is driven by the personality, is enmeshed in the illusion and the glamour of the world and this illusion and glamour feed ALL these thoughts of self, that they create the great I AM in the world of men. From the perspective of the True man, the Soul, this can be seen in Paul’s words that we recently studied in much detail; he tells us that “the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope” (Romans 8:20) and while we can see this idea of creature as the individual or the entirety of the creation of man, it tells us that this creature, this consciousness in form, is subjected to the personality in the world or the world en masse which is in turn subjected to the vanity or, as we KNOW them, the glamour and the illusion of Life in form. We also should try to see that in the rest of his saying the apostle is telling us that this subjection is not willingly by the consciousness but by the Plan of God which is the “reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope“. And, we should see the hope in the sense of the expectation of God that the consciousness in form, either individual or en masse, “shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21) which is both our objective and our goal and is the signification of discipleship and our attainment to the state of being accounted worthy of the Kingdom of God.
There are no easy answers to the whys and the hows of Life; Life as a divine being, a Spirit manifest as Soul, or Life as the divine being lost in the world of things and trying to get out. These are great mysteries that are likely only revealed to the most spiritual of men but of which we can get glimpses in revelation and a part of this revelation is given by Paul to those who can discern what it is that he is saying. In these same verses from Romans the apostle says “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:22-23). Here we should see the right understanding of Paul’s use of this word that is translated as adoption, that it means nothing in regard to being adopted but rather in the True meaning of that status of the one adopted. Vincent tell us that: Spirit of adoption (pneuma uioqesiav). The Spirit of God, producing the condition of adoption. Uioqesia adoption, is from uiJov son, and qesiv a setting or placing: the placing one in the position of a son. Mr. Merivale, illustrating Paul’s acquaintance with Roman law, says: “The process of legal adoption by which the chosen heir became entitled not only to the reversion of the property but to the civil status, to the burdens as well as the rights of the adopter – became, as it were, his other self, one with him… this too is a Roman principle, peculiar at this time to the Romans, unknown, I believe, to the Greeks, unknown, to all appearance, to the Jews, as it certainly is not found in the legislation of Moses, nor mentioned anywhere as a usage among the children of the covenant. We have but a faint conception of the force with which such an illustration would speak to one familiar with the Roman practice; how it would serve to impress upon him the assurance that the adopted son of God becomes, in a peculiar and intimate sense, one with the heavenly Father” (“Conversion of the Roman Empire”).
To this peculiar and intimate sense, one with the heavenly Father we can lend the ideas of discipleship and of being accounted worthy of the Kingdom, these and ever more by degree which culminates in the world with “all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9) expressed in the Life in form and which we can surmise is the Transfiguration, and perhaps as well the final “redemption of our body“. This sense of adoption is far removed from the presentation of this in some doctrines, especially those that discount the reality that ALL are Sons of God. This is discounted in part because of the view that the form Life is the real man; when we can understand that we are Sons of God as Souls and that we are in fact Souls then this becomes easier to reconcile. From the perspective of some of these doctrines that deny this sonship, there are teachings like ‘only Christians’ or ‘only believers’ or ‘only the baptized’ or only ‘those that make the Roman’s 10 affirmation’ can be Sons and for many of these doctrines the words of Paul regarding adoption are construed this way. For us this understanding that we get from Vincent is far less nebulous than those of doctrine and far more universal which is a True sign of the brotherhood of ALL men that the Master and His apostles teach.
We did not yet get back to an interpretation of the words of Ms. Blavatsky which are, from a slightly different perspective, much similar to what we try to say here and we will do this in the next post. Today’s thoughts are not about any one thing but the general theme should be taken as discernment and why right discernment is ever so important in our journey to and on the Path. The ideas of adoption and of sonship are classic examples of how this works out in the world. Can we say that those that profess that Christianity is the only way to God are exercising right discernment in regard to what it is that they hear? Can we see how that these beliefs are contrary to the teachings of the Master whom they claim to Love and to follow? While we are likely in the minority with our beliefs and our KNOWING, this should not detract us from our objectives and our goals but should make us stronger through the realization that our right discernment is in agreement with the True teachings of the Master and His apostles on Love and on brotherhood and on the reality of our True selves who ARE made in the image of God. We should also not shy away from the practiced rhetoric of the organized churches who can quote chapter and verse to support their claims but who will also fail inthe right interpretation that they do not have. We should not debate with those who do not agree but rather find a way to simply give a message that the WHOLE OF THE GOSPELS can rest upon and that is those ideas that remain as our Quote of the Day.
We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.
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Potency |
Aspect of Man |
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Father |
Will or Power |
Spirit or Life |
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Son, The Christ |
Love and Wisdom |
Soul or Christ Within |
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Holy Spirit |
Light or Activity |
Life Within |
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.:
So that we do not forget that the reality of this ALL is still LOVE which is our Truth regardless of whatever other realizations may come to us in Life, we present here again the Apostle Paul’s words followed by our own understanding of this reality:
….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 (Romans 13:8-10).
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)
We should remember always to link to this Greatest Commandment that other saying of the Master that gives to us the practical understanding of how to love one’s self plus the practical instruction on how it is that we CAN Love our neighbour; He tells us:
Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them
(Matthew 7:12)
Unlike so much of the Master’s sayings that come to us in the form of parables and for which we can only surmise that we have the spiritual presence to understand, these sayings are very straightforward and they are the key to many of the promises of spiritual life; they are the very key to the Kingdom of God. To these sayings we add our adopted definition of the Greek word agape (agapao) which is translated into the English words Love and Charity and which is:
‘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’
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
