ON LOVE; PART MDXLIX
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FIRST IS THE GREAT COMMANDMENTS: “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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WHAT THEN IS LOVE? 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. While this IS from an older definition of Charity, which IS rendered in the King James Bible from the same Greek word agape which IS generally rendered as Love, we should amend our own definition here to include the idea that in the reality of Love a man will accord to ALL men ALL things that he would accord to himself and to say that Love IS our thoughts and attitude of the equality of ALL men regardless of their outward nature or appearance…that ALL ARE equally children of Our One God.
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PLUS THE EVER IMPORTANT AND HIGH IDEAL TAUGHT TO US BY THE CHRIST: “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12).
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We ended the last essay with some thoughts on Wisdom and changed our imbedded graphic away from the Mantram of Unification and to the words of Solomon on Wisdom. We tried to show the difference between Wisdom and wisdom using James words regarding both Wisdom as “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 3:15, 17) and wisdom as “This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish“. The former IS the Wisdom that flows as the Truth from the Soul into the receptive minds of men according to the Master’s words saying “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32). These words from our trifecta show us that the KEY to the Truth IS keeping His words and here we should try to understand that in this Truth IS the Wisdom “the wisdom that is from above“. This Wisdom IS NOT the same as the other wisdom that “descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish“. This IS the worldly wisdom of which the Apostle Paul tells us “the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness” (1 Corinthians 3:19). Through our words in the last essay plus what we show here, it should be easy to understand that the idea of “the wisdom that is from above” IS Wisdom of the Godhead while the other wisdom that “descendeth not from above” IS of the world and IS both “foolishness with God” and IS “earthly, sensual, devilish“.
Our point is that while there ARE several words that ARE rendered as ‘wise’ and ‘wisdom’ anc there IS in each a higher and a lower meaning. Our interest in the ideas of Wisdom and wisdom began with the closing words of the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew’s Gospel. There the idea of being Wise IS clearly shown us through the Greek word phronimos where the idea of keeping His words makes one Wise within the idea that James shows us as “the wisdom that is from above“. The converse of this in the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Builders IS found in the idea of those that DO NOT “heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them“; these ARE called the “foolish man” which, in our analysis, IS tantamount to the man that IS wise with “the wisdom of this world“. This man however may not be wise at all in regard to the world; he may be merely a “foolish man“. For our purposes however we will call him wise with that wisdom that “descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish” and paint him as DOES the parable as those that “heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not“. We again post the parable for clarity; Jesus tells us:
“Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it” (Matthew 7:24-27).
The point of these words should be clear to ALL but they ARE NOT particularly understood by much of the church that believes that they ARE keeping His words through their allegiance to their doctrinal approach to the Lord. Most ALL doctrinal adherents have replaced the Master’s words with their doctrines as a general rule although they DO lean on several sayings that support their doctrinal beliefs. We should note that the Apostle Luke offers us this same parable without the mention of the “wise man” or the “foolish man” that we see above in Matthew’s version. In Luke the Master’s words are:
“Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great” (Luke 6:47-49).
While Luke chose to NOT use the ideas of a “wise man” or a “foolish man“, the idea of these words IS still embedded in the parable. Who would have “without a foundation built an house upon the earth” but a fool. It IS such a man that may be wise in regard to such things that ARE “foolishness with God, or, this man may just be the fool. Either way what we should try to see IS a man yet entrenched in his vanity, a man still in his: perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends 4 as we define this idea. And this IS our point regarding Wisdom, that “wisdom that is from above“: this idea of Wisdom shows us the man who IS striving “to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able” (Luke 13:24). Here in these words we have a complimentary idea to Wisdom and wisdom; in these words we have those that strive, Wise men if you will, and we have those that CAN NOT, the “foolish man“. We must remember here that the main point of this idea of wisdom IS its source. Those that DO “Strive to enter in at the strait gate” ARE exhibiting that “wisdom that is from above” which IS ” first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy” or some measure of this Wisdom gained through Repentance and Transformation. Those NOT able “to enter in” DO NOT have sufficient measure of spiritual will, they ARE yet bound to their vanity, their “bondage of corruption” (Romans 8:20, 21) and whatsoever wisdom they man have IS “earthly, sensual, devilish“.
We should try to see and to understand that in both Matthew’s and Luke’s gospels the Master’s words that ARE called the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Builders follow upon a long dissertation on the idea of agape and should we relate the Wise and the wise to agape, we can perhaps gain greater insight. In both the main point IS in regard to keeping His words and while this IS a subject NOT well entertained in today’s religious philosophies, it IS nonetheless the main point of this parable. And it IS a point that IS carried throughout the gospels as we should see from our trifecta which we repeat here saying:
- “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32).
- “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).
- “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me” (John 14:21-24).
Keeping His words IS the point of our trifecta and, again, we should stress that the idea IS NOT that we should keep His words because He IS the Master, the Christ, or because they ARE written in scripture. ALL these things ARE True yet they have NOT moved men to keep His words for 2000 years. And the Master foresaw this, as well as the conduct of the church, as He tells us such things as “why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). This rhetorical question has never struck a chord in the church. In these words we have the fullness of the vanity of men at play as so many gleefully call on the Master as Lord, Lord, as millions upon millions ‘worship‘ Him and His name and claim Love for Him, yet most ALL DO NOT even effort to keep His words. This idea DOES NOT stand alone; it IS accompanied by many sayings, some of which we frequently use. In regard to men’s ‘worship‘ we should see the idea that we present in regard to the doctrines of men; the Master tells us that “in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Mark 7:7). In these words we should see the vainness of men’s worship when they react to “the commandments of men” but NOT to the clarity of the Master’s actual words. In regard to men’s claim that they Love the Lord, we should see His words from our trifecta saying “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me” and “If a man love me, he will keep my words“; these words ARE reported by John after Jesus shows the idea a commandment saying “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15). The clarity of these words should be deafening to the Christian but they ARE NOT as so many continue to proclaim their Love for the Lord while ignoring His words.
Finally we should see the idea of the rhetorical question as the idea IS shown us in Matthew’s Gospel. While we understand Jesus words here to be predictive and NOT overly concerned with His time 2000 years ago, this IS NOT the view of most ALL of the church. The Master tells us “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:21-23). Can we see the point here? Can we see that the Way to the Kingdom has naught to DO with the doctrinal pronouncements of men who believe that they ARE saved by their doctrines. We should note that these words immediately precede the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Builders in Matthew’s Gospel and should we understand this placement in terms of keeping His words we can likely better understand the whole point. Can we see that the Christian idea of prophecy in the church, the idea of healing framed as casting “out devils“, and the idea of DOING “many wonderful works” ARE meaningless even if Truly accomplished if one DOES NOT “doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven“. Here, as we imply in our trifecta, this idea of DOING “the will of my Father” IS tantamount to keeping His words; this the Master shows us saying “the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me”. There IS NO reconciling these word ideas to the doctrines of men which ignore even the need to keep His words. Until the church recognizes that the Master’s words saying “This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Mark 7:6-7) ARE indeed addressed to them, the church will NOT change its path nor will they recognize that their doctrines ARE NOT the Way to the Kingdom, nor the Truth, nor True discipleship, nor the True Presence of the Lord in one’s Life. ALL of these ARE the rewards for keeping His words as the Master clearly states in our trifecta.
We should wonder why such clarity in Jesus’ words IS so easily ignored by the church at large in favor of their doctrinal approach to the Lord. The simplicity of His saying that “in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” has NOT resonated in the church and the reasoning for this IS rather bizarre. There ARE some that believe that the Master’s words here ARE intended for the Jews in that time and NOT for current day Christianity. Others focus upon the example give in the following verses; in Mark’s Gospel this IS “tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do” (Mark 7:8). In Matthew this idea IS precedes the idea of the vanity of worship which IS a question posed to the Master who responds by citing the commandment “honour not his father or his mother” and adding that “ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition” (Matthew 15:2,6). In both cases the examples ARE NOT the issue nor the intent of the Master’s words yet it iS such things as traditions that have clouded the reality that “in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men“. Most ALL DO NOT see their own doctrinal ideas as traditions passed down for centuries as the Truth of scripture despite the reality that most ARE NOT covered in the Truth of the words of the Master nor His apostles. In the Master’s words we have a rather clear saying regarding the elevation of doctrines over the True commandments and sayings of the Lord. We should try to see that even the idea of His words versus the idea of the commandments IS muddied in the doctrinal church that fails to see that Jesus’ every word of instruction IS a commandment; this IS the point of the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Builders. Again, we should understand the complexity of the Greek word logos which IS rendered as word and as sayings in the parable but which carries much more weight in other places. We should remember, as we cited previously, that the Apostle John tells us that “In the beginning was the Word Logos, and the Word Logos was with God, and the Word Logos was God” (John 1:1) and in this we see the elevation of the idea far beyond the simple idea of words. Google’s Gemeni AI engine tells us that: The concept of Logos (divine reason, word, or principle) echoes in other religions through ideas like Dharma (Hinduism/Buddhism), representing cosmic order; Dao (Taoism), the natural way; Sabda Brahma (Hinduism), the creative sound; and in Islamic thought as Kalemeh (Word of Allah), showing universal themes of divine intelligence, order, and creative expression found across cultures**.
We should try to see that the sayings and the words of the Master ARE logos and not merely spoken words and ideas; they ARE, from His perspective, commandments and instructions on the Truth of Life and our escape from our vanity. We can relate his words to commandments through the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Builders or we can see the reality of the words of God in His words through such sayings as “the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me”. These ideas ARE rather clear but the idea that the Master’s words ARE commandments still eludes the doctrinal reality of the churches. While the church accepts the Master’s words from Matthew’s Gospel as their Great Commission, they ignore the idea that His words present. There Jesus tells us through His apostles to “Go ye therefore, and teach make disciples of all nations people, baptizing immersing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20). While our changes here ARE intended to clarify the translations offered, it IS NOT necessary that we agree as the greater point IS found in the idea that the church should be “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you“. Again we have simple language that IS clearly stated yet it IS ignored or changed to suit the doctrinal needs of denominations and sects.
The examples above should show us that there IS a clarity in many of the sayings of the Master that IS ignored or changed by the doctrinal ideas of men. The same IS True regarding our trifecta where NOT only ARE the Master’s instructions clear, but also ARE the promised rewards for DOING the one thing: keeping His words. In the first part we should clearly see the idea of keeping His words as the Way to True discipleship and the Truth; that the idea IS declared as “If ye continue in my word” DOES NOT detract from this reality; this IS a difference without a distinction. In the second part of our trifecta we have a change in the dynamic as the idea that men should “doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” IS the requirement rather than the idea that we should keep His words. Two things here; first the idea that we keep His words ARE inclusive of the will and the words of the Father and we should understand this symmetry from Jesus’ words above saying “the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me”. In these words that tell us to DO “the will of my Father” we have the reward of the Kingdom and we should understand that this IS the Way to the Kingdom….the Way which IS NOT found in the “teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” which IS the doctrinal practice of the churches.
The final part of our trifecta perhaps offers the greatest reproof of the doctrinal ideas of the churches as it attacks the very substance of their ideas of praise and worship. In the Master’s words here there IS the idea of Love for the Lord and while we most often refer to the reality that the word used IS agape, the idea that we ARE pursuing works with either understanding. When it comes to the idea of agape in reference to the Lord, the dynamics ARE a bit different; agape IS NOT the common idea of Love that men use in interpersonal relationships. Agape IS an attitude of Unity, of the Oneness of ALL creation where ALL men ARE seen the same, as Souls living for a time in form in this world. Agape IS far removed from the mental and emotional attraction and attachment that men have to others and to the things of this world. The idea of agape in the saying “If ye love me, keep my commandments” must also be free from these ideas of emotional and mental response. Agape in regard to the Lord IS a unique idea that IS difficult to address because there IS NO True definition of agape other than its relationship, false relationship to be sure, to the common ideas of Love. Perhaps the idea can be best described in terms of focus, that to Truly Love the Lord He must be the focus of the man in this world; a focus that overwhelms the focus of men on their little lives. We use this idea of focus in many ways in our writing but, in the end, the idea IS ever the same. It IS our focus upon the Godhead and the things of God that ARE the essence of the Great Commandments where we read that “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“. In these words IS the totality of men’s focus on the Lord and the KEY word used by the Master here IS ALL: our expression of agape must be with “all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength“. While one may try to conclude here that this sense of ALL forgoes our expression of agape to ALL and the second Great Commandment saying “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Mark 12:29, 31), it surely DOES NOT. There IS NO conundrum here and such a conclusion would be false.
When we consider the idea of “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” against the totality of our expression of agape for the Lord, our sense of Unity if you will, we must also consider that ALL men, indeed ALL things, ARE of the Lord and mankind has its special place as part and parcel of the Godhead. While this Oneness may NOT be apparent in the physical world, as Souls we ARE ever One, along with ALL Souls throughout the Universe that IS the Godhead, One with the Lord, One with the Godhead. Such ideas as this ARE rebellious to organized Christianity where the idea of God IS much the same as we would understand from ancient Greek and Roman philosophies where there ARE Gods and there ARE people who ARE subjugated, if we can use that word here, to the Gods. And perhaps this IS the difference between the Christian relationship to the Godhead and the ancient Greeks and Romans: the Christian world sees NO idea of subjugation as they feel free to exercise their free will without concern. The reality that as Souls we ARE One with the Lord, part and parcel if you will, IS however a fundamental Truth that most ALL men CAN NOT yet fathom. We exist in form as Souls and here we should try to look at the idea that it IS the Soul that IS the True man, the Christ Within, and try to imagine ourselves in Jesus’ words saying “At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you” (John 14:20). This IS a statement of the Oneness of ALL.
Returning to our trifecta, the third part where the topic IS agape Love, we should be able to clearly see the relationship between keeping His words and one’s sense of agape for the Lord, one’s recognition of the essential Unity that men have with the Father and the Son. We read first that “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me” and while the whole to the Master’s statement IS in regard to the reward of His Presence in one’s Life, this particular part shows us that it IS impossible to Love the Lord unless we keep His words. Again, the idea here IS agape and NOT the generally accepted ideas of Love; here, our sense of agape, the idea of our Unity with the Lord and with ALL men, IS the actual essence of keeping His words and Truly following the Great Commandments. Looking at the Great Commandments logically can provide much insight into the reality of what the Master IS saying, a reality that IS NOT conveyed by the words. If we DO “love agapao the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength” there IS naught left to love agapao another when the idea IS viewed as Love. This IS True using the common idea of Love as well as any other emotional or mental ideas of Love which we can create. However, when we substitute the Greek word undefined, when we look at the Master’s words using agape, we can then make sense of this commandment. Unfortunately there IS NO adequate meaning given for agape in the bible dictionaries and commentaries, there IS ONLY the word Love attached to this Greek word. Vine’s however DOES give us a hint that the idea of agape IS more that can be conceived through the rendering of Love. Vine’s tells us of agape/agapao that it IS: Love (Noun and Verb): and the corresponding noun agape present “the characteristic word of Christianity, and since the Spirit of revelation has used it to express ideas previously unknown, inquiry into its use, whether in Greek literature or in the Septuagint, throws but little light upon its distinctive meaning in the NT. Vine’s goes on to explain agape/agapao in terms of Love as this IS the ONLY idea that men have been able to glean from it; none seem to have discovered its distinctive meaning in the NT.
Leaving the idea of agape as the Greek word DOES NOT help us to understand it however but this can change with even a rudimentary understanding of the Apostle John’s revelation that “God is love agape” (1 John 4:8, 16). In these words we have the nature of the Godhead and looking out at what we can understand of the Godhead we should be able to see the Unity of ALL things as a singular idea of existence in time, in space and in unseen realms of existence. God IS. None of this can be separated from itself, it IS One ideation and perhaps the best understanding that we have IS from the Theosophical writings of H.P. Blavatsky where we read that the Godhead IS “One Boundless Immutable Principle; one Absolute Reality which, antecedes all manifested conditioned Being. It is beyond the range and reach of any human thought or expression“***. This then IS both the Godhead and agape. While the Christian churches decry Theosophy as a form of occultism, most modern day Christians have never dared to explore its ideas. Most shun any form of occultism or esotericism simply because it IS contrary to their doctrines; doctrines that they have convinced themselves ARE Truth from the times of the church fathers. For our discussion here however the idea that the Godhead IS One Boundless Immutable Principle; one Absolute Reality should be enough to show us the Oneness of ALL things within what we humbly call God or the Godhead. It IS in this Oneness that we exist as Souls where we ARE part and parcel of the Godhead and the idea of agape IS our essential nature as well. In the New Testament the idea, hidden from view to be sure, IS to bring this sense of Oneness into our lives in this world. It IS in DOING so that we can understand how to “love agapao the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength“. When agape becomes our nature as men in this world, we then can Truly and fully Love agape the Lord. It IS here that our full focus IS upon the Godhead which idea fulfills the idea of “all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength“. The idea here of the Great Commandment IS found in the understanding of our Oneness with ALL of creation, in understanding that the separation that we feel IS a part of the vanity into which we ARE born and from which we must escape. This IS the essential meaning of agape, a meaning that CAN NOT be expressed in words other that this ideas of Oneness and Unity.
While this somewhat explains the idea of the first Great Commandment and our relationship to it, this still leaves us with the second and another perplexing conundrum. If we “love agapao the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength“, how then can we have the space left to “love agapao thy neighbour as thyself“? On the surface the Great Commandments ARE illogical; the first demands that “all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength” be focused on the Lord while the second demands that some part of this sense of agape must be given to the neighbor. The sense of this IS found in the reality of the Oneness that IS agape and IS the Godhead and is perhaps intended to bring the height of the Unity that IS agape down to the realities of Life in form. In previous essays we have discussed the idea that the Godhead exerts NO influence over the little lives of men in this world. We have cited James words saying “the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (Jame 4:4) and Paul’s words saying “the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Romans 8:7). In these sayings IS the seed of our understanding that the Godhead exerts NO influence over the affairs of men in this world as a general concept in Life. However, there IS the influence of God in this world through the disciple and the saint and through the efforts of those who can realize their own divinity as Souls in this world. This IS however NOT today’s point as the idea here IS to see that it IS this idea of discipleship that IS the intent for everyman. That in our individual lives we can bring the idea of the fullness of our focus on the Godhead down to the individual parts of that Godhead in the lives of men in this world. Here, recognizing ALL as Souls, as part and parcel of the Godhead, enables us to see ALL men the same and treat them as our equals as men on the same Path to divinity despite the way that their carnal lives in vanity, have affected their existence. This IS the reality of agape as it works out in this world.
We recognize that our view of these ideas of Life, the Godhead and the reality of agape ARE NOT in tune with the ideas of the church nor with most ALL propounded theories on Life in general. This however DOES NOT rule out our philosophical ideas which may NOT be specifically correct but which ARE correct according to the words of the Master and His apostles. Our point IS NOT to erect an understanding of the Way that the Godhead works save to show that the common ideas of men in most ALL doctrinal religions ARE wrong and to show that it IS agape that IS the KEY to ALL of the mysteries of Life. In the end we must come to understand one’s relationship with God IS NOT that there IS a God that sees ALL and KNOWS ALL that one must please, a God that looks down upon His creation and acts upon the requests, prayers if you will, of the little lives of men in this world. Jesus shows us the reality of our relationship in many ways throughout the New Testament and He shows us the Way most often in clear terms. Such IS the nature of our trifecta, clearly stated Truths regarding the need for men to follow in the Ways of the Lord, to Repent and Transform. It IS in our Repentance and Transformation that we come to understand as men in this world the reality of agape and the way that it must work out in our lives. It IS in our Repentance and Transformation that we come to understand that while the Great Commandments seem absolute, that we must have this change in our Lives. That we come to understand it as our goal, our endpoint if you will, and that we will grow into this by measure as we strive to Transform our lives and grow in our “knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord” (2 Peter 1:2).
While we did begin this last part of our essay by breaking down the third part of our trifecta we then went off in what seems another direction and we will come back to our analysis on this in the next essay. As we close today we should reflect again upon the ideas offered in the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Builders where the idea of it ALL IS keeping His words. The Master tells us here, in a more parabolic form, that we must DO, that we must hear His words of Truth and DO them which IS the same message that we get from James who tells us to “be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22). We should remember here that our hearing IS NOT ONLY what enters into our minds from our ears but that our hearing IS also from our own Souls, from realizations of what we may hear with the ear or read with the eye and from our Soul’s link to the carnal mind which IS our conscience.
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 |
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition
- 9 Thayer’s Greek Lexicon on blueletterbible.org
- 9a The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible on blueletterbible.org
- 9b Vine’s Expository Dictionary on blueletterbible.org
- ** Google AI on logos
- *** A Treatise on Cosmic Fire by Alice A Bailey © 1951 by Lucis Trust
Those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road
Voltaire, Writer and Philosopher
