ON LOVE; PART DCXXI
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GoodWill IS Love in Action
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“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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“Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:36-40).
In the last essay we continued our discussion on the idea of grace as this was found in the Apostle James’ words that God “giveth grace unto the humble“. Our view here IS NOT as that nebulous “gift of God” that is generally seen in doctrine but rather an active part of the Life of the man who Truly seeks God; that grace IS the actual revelation and realization that comes to a man in the Light of his own Soul. To merely say that grace IS the “gift of God” is to leave the whole of the idea undefined and to lead some to believe that the favor that IS implied can be those things of the world that one desires; this last part IS of course contrary to the whole idea that James IS presenting as we read our current sayings again:
“Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded” (James 4:4-8).
In the idea of “the friendship of the world ” IS the reality of those things of the world and in this plus the preceding words about lust and desire, we should be able to get James picture that this grace IS NOT the things of the world. Others see this as related only to the pride that IS mentioned as this IS commonly understood but, if we can expand our view of this idea of proud, we can see that it involves ALL that a man would take for himself especially with an attitude that those things are deservedly his. We should see grace as that which comes from God and understand that for the aspirant and the disciple this means from God and in this there IS NO relation to anything of the world. This word that IS rendered as grace IS used in many seemingly different ways in the New Testament but most of these can be reconciled into our view of what this idea of grace IS. Yesterday’s Verse of the Day from biblestudytools.com used this idea of grace in a way that would seem different to our current context; here we read the Apostle Paul’s words saying: “Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man” (Colossians 4:5-6).
The subject here IS how that one should address “them that are without“, them that ARE NOT yet among those who understand the teachings of the Master, perhaps even those who DO NOT KNOW of Him. And Paul’s message IS clear as he tells them it IS in grace, in the realizations and the revelations that flow into the consciousness of the aspirant and the disciple, that one “may know how ye ought to answer every man“. Can we see the idea that if one speaks with grace that he will NOT be speaking as a man but as an aspirant and a disciple. Contrast this view with that of John Gill offers us saying that: Let your speech be always with grace; “In grace, or concerning grace”: let grace be the subject matter of your speech and conversation. When saints meet together they should converse with each other about the work of grace upon their souls, how it was begun, and how it has been carried on, and in what case it now is; they should talk of the great things and wonders of grace, which God has done for them….Or this may regard the manner of the speech, and language of the saints; it should be in the exercise of grace; it should be in truth, faithfulness, and sincerity, without lying, dissimulation, and flattery; it should be in consistence with the grace of love, therefore evil should not be spoken one of another; nor should there be whisperings, backbitings, or anything said that is injurious to the character, credit, and reputation of another….8 Mr. Gill goes on with other similar thoughts on how one should speak but we should see here that he misses the point entirely because there IS NO understanding the Truth of the grace of God.
The Commentary Critical and Explanatory of the Whole Bible sees this differently and more along the lines that we have presented as they say: with grace–Greek, “IN grace” as its element ( Colossians 3:16 , Ephesians 4:29 ). Contrast the case of those “of the world” who “therefore speak of the world” ( 1 John 4:5 ). Even the smallest leaf of the believer should be full of the sap of the Holy Spirit ( Jeremiah 17:7 Jeremiah 17:8 ). His conversation should be cheerful without levity, serious without gloom. Compare Luke 4:22 , John 7:46 , as to Jesus’ speech 8. Here we are reading that this grace IS the sap of the Holy Spirit, and while this may not reflect our ideas of what this means, it DOES reflect the idea that these are words from above or, as James tells us, Wisdom from above versus those thoughts and attitudes that are “of the world”. The additional commentary regarding cheer and levity are a misplaced idea as if one IS expressing the Wisdom from above in ones speech, these ideas most likely DO NOT apply.
Our point here IS that this idea of grace can be see in our view and while we may NOT be totally accurate in our ideas, these are better than that nebulous approach offered by doctrine. The Commentary Critical offers us some links to ideas from Jesus words which we should see in the same way, that what He says is based in the same ideas of His own realization and revelation of the Wisdom from above flowing through His own consciousness as based in the observations of those who are listening. In the one we read that “And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth” (Luke 4:22) and in the other that “The officers answered, Never man spake like this man” (John 7:46). We should remember also the Master’s words to His disciples saying: “take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer, or what ye shall say: For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say” (Luke 12:11-12) as well as this from the Apostle John’s Gospel saying: “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you” (John 14:26). IS NOT this activity of the Holy Spirit the reality of the grace of God which comes to the man whose focus IS right?
We should try to see the idea that this teaching from the Holy Ghost, this idea that He “shall teach you all things” IS NOT any different than the unction, the anointing that we discussed in the last essay; in John’s words that “the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you” we should see the same activity of the Holy Spirit as the activity of the Christ Within in the Life of the man in the world. In the mystery of the Trinity that IS God and that IS the True man we should understand that from the perspective of the man in the world the Spirit IS Life, the Soul IS the consciousness and awareness of that Life in Union with ALL Life and the Holy Spirit IS the activity of the Soul, the Christ Within, in the Life of the man in the world. These Three ARE ONE; there IS NO separation, but the reality of activity in the world IS dependent upon the degree of the focus of the man upon the things of God. Here, as we close out this discussion on grace we can should try to see that this very activity itself IS the grace of God and it IS this activity that brings ALL things divine into the expression of the man in the world.
It IS this same idea of focus and of expression that we can read in the apostle’s words “Submit yourselves therefore to God” and then again as he says “Draw nigh to God“. Can we see this idea? that in our focus upon the things of God IS the reality of submission to the things of God and the Way that we “draw nigh” to Him. And it IS these ideas that are encapsulated in the Master admonition that a man strive as in this striving IS the reality of keeping His words. In the end of our selection of verses we have next James’ admonition to the aspirant and the disciple, to “Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded“, and in this we should remember that until a man can stand with the Master and say “I have overcome the world” (John 16:33), he IS double minded. The aspirant is actively “double minded” as he IS NOT so removed from his former Life in the world and still feels the desires and the pangs of attraction and attachment in such a way that he must think upon the choices. The disciple however IS more apt to automatically make the right choice without thought and the idea here IS that the choice IS still presented as the personality still recognizes the temptation and feels the desire.
Again we must remember that these things operate by degree and that the aspirant moves into discipleship without fanfare….there IS ONLY the end result of the Life changes, it IS always the next revelation and the next realization that move the man along the Path to the Kingdom of God. And we should try to see the use of the word sinners here as James IS speaking to those who KNOW the reality of this word, that it IS focus upon the self in any degree whatsoever that makes man such and this IS also the realty of double minded man here; that whenever the attention of the man shifts to the self and the world, he IS for that moment in sin and double minded. These ideas continue into the next segment of James words which are:
“Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up” (James 4:9-10).
These next words seem misplaced in the overall context of the apostles words here except when viewed as a continuation of the previous thought. When we read these together as “”Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded; Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness; we can get a better sense of His meaning. James takes us from the ideas of the world versus the ideas of God and tells us that we must resist the world; then, KNOWING the perils of duality he offers us these ideas which are clouded by the placement of verses in his words. We should cleanse or hands which should be read as to clear our heart and purify it in the things of God and this IS the Way to single-mindedness. Then we should “be afflicted” which translation may not be the right one for this world that IS ONLY used here in this verse. Vincent tells us that: Be afflicted (ταλαιπώρησατε); Only here in New Testament. The kindred noun ταλαιπωρία , misery, occurs James 5:1 4 while the lexicon offers us the definition of: to feel afflicted and miserable 2. In this we should see the idea of “feeling misery” rather than being afflicted and this in the light that the other ideas of mourning and weeping involve emotions and that we can see there that this would be the result of one’s double-mindedness. We recently posted some words from our Tibetan brother which we repeat here for our better understanding of James’ point; speaking of the condition of the aspirant, and to a lesser degree the disciple, he says: Now he is in a state of transition between the new and the old states of being. He is vibrating between the condition of soul awareness and form awareness. He is “seeing double” **.
Can we see the point here of misery? Can we see that this man who strives toward the Kingdom and who yet finds himself susceptible to the throes of carnal living, to the desires and the attractions of the things of the world and perhaps the attachment to things familiar? Can we see that it IS in this misery that the aspirant and the disciple will take his stand and KNOW that he must not succumb but that he should rather “mourn and weep“. This IS the reality of one’s Life of duality where there IS no laughter nor joy regarding any worldly things that encroach upon ones’s striving and, if there IS it should be, they should instead be converted to mourning and heaviness which Vincent tells us should be rendered as: a casting down of the eyes 4. Here again we have James using a unique word that is ONLY found here. We should try to understand this ALL from the perspective of a man who must navigate many obstacles which ARE those same things that he at one time willingly indulged in, the thoughts, the attitudes and the actions of his Lifetime up to his point of Repentance; from which he IS now Transforming. The reality here IS that this ALL becomes easier day by day as one’s focus remains upon the things of God and as the aspirant becomes the disciple; and perhaps we should remember here that the aspirant IS striving to keep His words while the disciple can be defined as the man who DOES keep His words but who, like the Apostle Peter, still has some worldly tendencies.
Finally, and again, the apostle turns his attention from the perils to the solution; as we see earlier where his instruction IS that one submit himself to God and clear his heart, we see now the allied idea of “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up“. Here we should see the idea of letting go of ALL of those things that weigh upon us and remember the Master’s words on this idea of humble as we discussed in the last essay, that we must approach our task with a clear heart and like a “little child” who IS unaffected by the world around us. It IS when we can do this ALL as our expression of Life in the word that “he shall lift you up“; that we will find the reality of True discipleship, and of having overcome the world. It IS here that we come to that strait gate toward which we have been striving.
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.
As we approach the Wesak Festival at the Full Moon of May, it seems appropriate that we post the Great Invocation as our Quote of the Day. Wesak IS the Festival of the Buddha and it IS said that on this day the Buddha returns to us and stands with the Christ to help to focus the attention of men of GoodWill on the Truth of the Plan of God, the Plan that can come to fruition in the expression of the Light and Love and Power in the world of men.
From the point of Light within the Mind of God
Let light stream forth into the minds of men.
Let Light descend on Earth.
From the point of Love within the Heart of God
Let love stream forth into the hearts of men.
May Christ return to Earth.
From the centre where the Will of God is known
Let purpose guide the little wills of men–
The purpose which the Masters know and serve.
From the centre which we call the race of men
Let the Plan of Love and Light work out
And may it seal the door where evil dwells.
Let Light and Love and Power restore the Plan on Earth.
This prayer is a part of our Prayers and Meditations section and there is much information about it there and in our discussion of it in the Quote of the Day section of In the Words of Jesus parts 128-132
The above Invocation or Prayer does not belong to any person or group but to all Humanity. The beauty and the strength of this Invocation lies in its simplicity, and in its expression of certain central truths which all men, innately and normally, accept—the truth of the existence of a basic Intelligence to Whom we vaguely give the name of God; the truth that behind all outer seeming, the motivating power of the universe is Love; the truth that a great Individuality came to earth, called by Christians, the Christ, and embodied that love so that we could understand; the truth that both love and intelligence are effects of what is called the Will of God; and finally the self-evident truth that only through humanity itself can the Divine Plan work out.
Like the Lord’s Prayer, this invocation is a World Prayer which is as all that a prayer is intended to be. It is a prayer for the uplifting of the Human Family out of the mire of materialism and selfishness. The Lord’s Prayer asks nothing for the individual praying it but asks that its benefits be for US and for WE which is why it was given by the Christ as a prayer and as a model over 2000 years ago. This invocation is also attributed to the Christ who, as He promised, has never left us; He, through channels that we do not readily understand, has Himself instructed His disciples to distribute this prayer and to encourage its use as a world prayer and as an aid in preparing the world for His return.
The first three stanzas of this prayer should be understood as reflecting the effective potencies of the Trinity which is God and which, when brought down to an individual level, the Trinity which is Man. His Will, His Love and His Light we should seen as the Potent Powers of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!
- 2 New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
- 8 Bible commentaries on BibleStudyTools.com
- ** A Treatise on White Magic or The Way of the Disciple by Alice Bailey ©1951 by Lucis trust
