Originally posted by Alice:
Dear Gaudior,
I don't know, but I have never self congratulated myself on much...as nothing I do, even if good, measures up to what is expected of me, and I am humbly and unworthily aware of this.
Alice, who hopes that she is making sense
Dear Alice�
I would like to use your post as a springboard, if you do not mind.
I do not disagree with you - at all. What I would like to try and do is take it further - sharpen it. But I think I will have to do that in two parts as I can not stay up as late as when I worked at home. And my work is more physical now - so I need my beauty sleep.
First - to all�
May I suggest that our Lord was talking about what he never tired of talking about. Providence. Doing the Will of his Father in heaven. As I explained elsewhere - heaven (to them at this time) as a mental experience (as opposed to a physical location). �Our Father in heaven�� means the God which we experience when we are silent inside and very near our conscience.
�Let us form man in our image�� is the work of Providence which bring to-be - all that is - at every moment. The mundane events, from day to day which we complain about and blame on others - are all arranged by God. They are the hands of the potter as he works with the clay (note that clay is earth and water - body and spirit which is physiological mind. What is it that God is forming into his own likeness? It is person. It is personality - the only thing that is formed �down here� that we take with us when we die.
It is the doctrine of the Latin which is called �Providence� and the doctrine of the East which is called �Uncreated Energies� which is the action of �forming�. By our cooperation with Providence - in the daily situations we are place and by attention to conscience - we are fruitful (virtues). And it is the eventual habit of virtues - which becomes the ground of our union with God - while yet still alive. The East calls it deification - and it begins here - before death - if we cooperate.
When our Lord speaks �Do the Will of the Father� he points out - the means of union. It is not intellect. It is not intelligence at theology. It is not enlightenment (that is but a tool that God uses and then withdraws)� it is - likeness of - will and intention.
�Pease to mean of good will.�
What Jesus here does (in this portion) is liken our will - to the will of God (the origin of Providence). And what Jesus speaks about - is - exactly - how the Father - acts. His motives - and his actions.
Originally - in the Hebrew - the word �hate� meant to - ignore - and have no interest. It was not specifically an aggressive act. It was more of a detachment. During the time of the early prophets it had the meaning of �pay no attention� to something. Under the doctrine of Moses - if you hates someone or something - you �paid no attention� to it.
As Israel progresses and strayed from the guidance of Moses - Providence began to weaken in their minds. From the God who controlled all things and all events - Yahweh slipped to being just another god similar to other gods. They would worship in the temple on Sabbath - and during the week they would cover all bases by sacrificing to Baal (the god of economic progress) on the hill tops. The measure of how holy a man was began to be measured by �glory - that is: the count of cattle, the span of land, the grand house, the rich clothing. Similar to one view of capitalism - under Moses profits beyond your needs was a sin. Under the Deuteronomic Reforms - profits beyond ones needs was - glory - and a proof that God approved of you. Sickness was proof that you had sinned and God was not pleased (like the man born blind which Jesus healed and the Pharisees said his blindness was due to his own sins of the sins of his parents).
Be looking at the words of Jesus which began this thread - we can tell - how it is - that Providence works. For everything said - can apply to Providence - and by that we can peek - at the Will - which we shall be like - in his image. There is nothing to �see� about God - so the image that we are formed to be like - is the - act - or actions (the Will) of God.
We are to do (through being formed by God) everything that God does. And this means far less what we see of physical acts (miracles and such) and far more - to have the same - intentions - that God has.
The Lord said, "And as you wish that men would do to you, do so to them. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the selfish. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful."
We can consciously try to do everything that Jesus lists here. We can try to remember and make mental rules to act by and follow in all these instances he mentions. But we should keep in mind that - this is the short list. IF we try to do these things in this way - we are trying to mimic - what we should be doing. This is not bad - it is good - but we should not go so far as to think that we can every - remember enough - to act in the proper way in all circumstances. For such a way is an intellectual - imitation - and we will often be disappointed that it remains shallow and does not spring up automatically from - the heart.
Now before we begin - let me say one more thing about love and hate.
In contemplation - there are two ways to be stuck like glue - to thoughts. WE come to prayer after being very busy self arranging and manipulating the things and people of life - to our benefit. WE roll over in our mind the things �I should have said�� and we make plans of what we should say or do when we meet this person of come into such and such a circumstance. The goal and purpose (the will) of the body (the law of the members) is survival - security - and safety. However the mind of the body - can only comprehend things that are appropriate to it. As much as we believe that we - are - the body - is the measure by which our spiritual nature (physiological mind) is obsessed with the mind of the body and the emotions. And so it is not easy (because it is habitual) to cease the thoughts and planning of our self-providence (the original sin).
As I said - during our efforts to reach for contemplation - there are two ways which glue us to thoughts involved with self-providence. The first way is to be attracted to something (eros - love - as an attraction). By this we - pull - it to ourselves - we roll it over in our minds and we examine the possibilities of the ways in which we might arrange things (and people) to have it turn out - to our self-providence.
The second way to be stuck like glue - is to hate something about the thought. If we paid it no attention (like the original meaning of the Hebrew word) the though might still be there - but we are not investing - our self - into it. We pay it no attention. But often what we do is aggressively - push it away. We dislike it - want nothing to do with it - and wish it would go away. Every where it is - we loth it and turn away from it. We try to find ways to - destroy it. But the thing to understand is that when we �hate� in that way - we are not detached. Loving something makes that something a master over us. And hateing (in this aggressive way) also makes that thing a master over us. Either way (attraction or hate that takes action as I described) means that we are - re-acting. We are not acting from our own will - our will has been formed by the thing we love - or hate.
Once we have raised from the concept that the world is controlled in a war between good and evil - as if conspiracies and the will of men or lesser gods - frustrate the creator - we enter the doctrine of Providence which Jesus here presents.
For God (Providence) always has only one single purpose in mind �let us form man in our image�. He never departs from the purpose. A purpose - of love.
God (Providence) may hate for a short time (in the meaning of - pay no attention) but it not ever his will to hate (as fundamentalists present that he does). The sun - shines on all men. Regardless of race or religion (or atheist). This goodness (of the sun) does not select only certain men. The rain falls on all the earth and grows plants and food. The only reason there may be more here and less food there - is so that we might care for each other.
Jesus, uses the terms love and hate - as they had become commonly used.
�If you {only} love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good {only} to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.�Human fathers can some times use punishment because we are not always interested in changing the heart - we are sometimes interested in changing something of the body habits. For example - it would do little good to try and reason with a three year old what kind of danger he would be near if he wandered into the road way. So it may sometimes be appropriate to punish by way of some discomfort - in order to modify the emotions of the child - in order to keep the child safe (keep in mind that I said the child is incapable of understanding the reasons). This is a temporary �fix� designed to keep the child alive until such time as the child can reason for himself that playing in the roadway is a danger.
God - does not do that. One reason is that He has control - of every thing - and every event. The human father has no control over cars in the roadway - but God - does.
The human father�s immediate interest is in forming the child�s intellect - God�s immediate interest is in forming - the will. The intentions.
God�s one purpose - is to form every human being - into something similar to his own will. And so every action God does to all men and every individual man - is an act of pure - love - on his part. Love to the saint and no less love for the sinner.
And so the way in which we are to become like God (and as I said we can not become like him in nature nor in intellect) is that we too - on the ay to union - love all people - as he loves all people.
Q: And how is it that he loves all humans?
A: By doing those things that have the intention of forming them into God�s own image.
So when we love all people (saint and sinner) by having the intention to act in a way which assists God to �form� them into his own image - our will is now fully united to the will and purpose - of God. WE - assist - Providence - in doing its work.
If we lead to others - expecting a return - then our motive for lending is - self-providence. A profit and gain for our own self security.
God lends us all we have. Our house. Our car. Our furniture. Even our employment. God himself needs nothing like this stuff. We are to use it - to do the work of - assisting people to be formed into the image of God (as he uses the stuff). Of course we can not second guess God (he acts according to the deep way he knows our hearts) so our assistance to God in his work - must be - founded within our own cooperation with Providence. We can not assist with what we do not know by way of experience. And so it is that a holy man can assist others to be holy� while a man who only has knowledge of holiness - falls in the same pit he leads others to.
(end of part I)
This is the way I see it.
-ray
