Lesson 31
Many methods of Teaching have been used to bring to students awareness that various things they thought they had accomplished were not completed by any means yet! One of the very common ones was to give a series of instructions as to behavior and then put up the challenges so they would very quickly have an opportunity to see if they could live up to all these things they felt they could. Of course, vanity (that false picture of self) always tells self that one can behave anyway one chooses. The old story of people as they faded away from the Teaching was: “Just tell us what to do and we will do it.” And of course, they usually wound up not being able to do it. But vanity can stay in us for a long time.
The great student of the Christ known as Peter, one time allowed that he would never deny the Christ, even if it should mean death. The Christ said to him, “You will deny me three times before the night is over.” And of course, we all know the story. Some little girl came around and in a certain tone of voice said, “You are one of those Galileans. You are bound to be with him because you speak with a Galilean accent.” Each time Peter denied, and on the third time he heard the rooster crow. In other words, his vanity took a mighty blow. He realized the vanity that was still within him, but earlier he volunteered that he could choose how he would behave. You see, there are little bits of conditioning that lurk around in dark corners and while it doesn’t show up in the ordinary circumstances, it sometimes shows up in very unusual circumstances.
Now such an event will be a portion of a parable that we will discuss for a moment. This is found in Luke, Chapter 6, starting at verse 27. Some rules of behavior are given; it is told how a person in a state of agape (one who had grown in agape, not just having experienced it a little bit), how such a person would behave. Such a person is described. Of course, most of the disciples, no doubt, felt that they could carry this out. So let’s listen to see what it says and as long as we are going to use it, we might as well take this one for a personal assignment. It will tell us how far in agape we have evolved, how much of it we have really experienced and are experiencing at the present time.
He says, “But I say to you who are listening: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you, pray for those who slander you.” Do you think you can do all of those things? We could easily think we can until it happens. So this is why we do everything in relationship. Somebody somewhere in the next few days will hate you, hiss about what you are doing, may even curse you in one form or another, say very naughty things about you, and they may slander you in one form or another. Then we will find out, will we not, whether we have experienced this degree of agape that the Master Teacher is speaking of.
It continues, “And to him who strikes thee on the one cheek, offer the other also; and from him who takes away thy cloak, do not withhold thy tunic either. Give to everyone who asks of thee, and from him who takes away thy goods, ask no return.” Don’t try to call the police to get it back or anything. After all, where did the goods come from?
“And even as you wish men to do to you, so also do you to them.” Now of course, this is called “The Golden Rule.” Has it occurred to us to really think of how we would have men do to us that we would do to them? Obviously, it is not saying if you like rare steak, that to everybody you would give a rare steak, because some of them wouldn’t like it.
So possibly in agape, as understood and experienced from a deeper level, it might be that we would consider other people, and that is really what we would like them to do to think about, how we like things, our tastes, our viewpoints, etc. And we would like them to be harmless to us, not necessarily to do us so much good but be harmless, and that they would make a contribution to the environment, to all the things around life that would make it, shall we say, more livable and worthwhile for everyone concerned.
So possibly if we consider these three: we would be CONSIDERATE toward all, HARMLESS toward all, and make a CONTRIBUTION to Life in a broad sense, not to any given one but what benefits all mankind that lives on earth. That is something to think about as to what is meant by THE GOLDEN RULE.
Continuing, “And if you love those who love you, what merit have you?” You know, we can sometimes feel quite proud of ourselves, or feel that we have merit because we have been kind or considerate to some people that we are associated with. But if they are kind or considerate to us, or if they approve of us, or if they like us, then certainly it is easy to approve of them. “For even sinners love those who love them.” That seems to be, and we could even carry it further and say apparently even the lower animals like dogs do that. “And if you do good to those who do good to you, what merit have you? For even sinners do that.” Anyone does pretty well returning favors. If you invite a person to dinner, he or she very shortly will feel like inviting you to dinner or some other sort of entertainment. They will return that “social obligation,” I believe it is called.
“And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive in return, what merit have you?” If you loan where you know you will get your money back, that’s real easy, isn’t it? Provided one has it to loan, whether it’s money, a cup of sugar, two blankets, a rollaway bed, or an automobile. “For even sinners lend to sinners that they may get back as much in return. But love your enemies,…” Consider them, be harmless to them, and make a contribution that will aid their way in some way or other. “…and do good, and lend, not hoping for any return, and your reward shall be great, and you shall be children of the Most High, for HE is kind towards the ungrateful and evil. Be merciful, therefore, even as your Father is merciful.”
“Do not judge, and you shall not be judged; do not condemn, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you shall be forgiven…” Cancel all the old accounts receivable by bringing them to awareness to where you feel no one owes you in any manner, form or fashion. Say someone borrowed a hundred dollars, cash money, a few months ago and haven’t paid. Do you build an account not only for the hundred dollars but for his mistreatment of you and his deceiving you because he hasn’t paid back as agreed? These are things one might think of as something one can do, a barometer as to what we have experienced, and see that we still need to spend some time in self-awareness. Observing the self is much like taking pickles out of a barrel. You open a big barrel of pickles and there are some pickles on top. You take them out and there are still pickles on top. They float up from the bottom. You can still take out another layer of pickles and there are still pickles. You can do this for a long time. Observing the self is very much that way.
Some of us, because we enjoy a peace greater than any we ever knew, cease to observe the self, and of course, those lurking ones begin to raise a family and very soon there are a great number of them again. So what the great Teacher is bringing forth to his students is that they can have a means of finding out if they have experienced agape in any increased degree, or have they only had a smattering of it, a hint one might say, which can be so great, above the world of total contention and lack of understanding, that it seems like a miracle to the person who experiences it. But that is only the beginning! As one continues, one will find much more that interferes. If one would take on these various, shall we say, rules or challenges which are really what they amount to, that the great Teacher handed his students, and if they tried to live by them and observed what happens in the School of Life everyday, they would find there were areas where there was very little agape having been experienced. Possibly that would renew their intent to observe self, and be aware of all the lurking things still hanging around that are very subtle and somewhat different from the more brash ones that we observed when we first began to disidentify from, and to observe the self. The various Not-I’s are very much like foxes. They are rather bold when they haven’t been hunted, but once the hunters with the hounds begin to hunt them, the foxes become much more cunning, as are the Not-I’s. Sometimes we need a hound with a very good nose to smell them out.
“Do not judge, and you shall not be judged…” This is a very interesting one to see whether one thinks in opposites. This is good, this is bad. This is pretty, this is ugly. This is right, this is wrong. This is something one observes. To judge, is whenever we think in opposites. To describe, is to see in degrees, and to be able to use descriptive adjectives rather than judging adjectives or opposite adjectives. You see, judging is one of the more common things, so common that we take it for granted. And even if we have observed judging, we are constantly with people who do judge, and being 100% subject to suggestion 100% of the time, we are apt to fall into the suggestion again.
“Forgive, and you shall be forgiven…” Add up all those old accounts, drop them, and sure enough, you find that you have a tremendous load off your back, because when you forgive, you have laid down a terrific burden — you have been forgiven.
“…give, and it shall be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, shall they pour into your lap.” But you know, we don’t quite trust that. Say we have $200 and we see someone who would be greatly relieved of much misery and it would be an expression of mercy to give them possibly all $200, or even $100 of it. But we begin to think, “Well, I’ll need that for the rent, for the car payment, or I will need that for so and so.” So we give them a good word and try to see what we can do to “help” them, but we don’t give it out because we do not trust the endless supply of X.
However, one cannot do this as an act of will. One can only do it as one experiences agape, and it is interesting when one finds out what one has not been able to experience. Then one can begin to look at what has been obstructing it. You see, all the states of spiritual man: AGAPE, FAITH and GRACE are all available to us at all times, but we have them blocked off by various obstructions in the self until we cannot express them. We cannot experience them. So it is not a matter of making an effort to gain something. It is to be aware of the obstructions, and to bring these obstructions to light very carefully, beautifully, if one applies them as to what the obstructions are.
As we continue, we might see more about these obstructions, “For with what measure you measure, it shall be measured to you.” In other words, as one is able to see all mankind as an expression of X, even though they may be what we may call uncouth, or it may be that we feel that they are not polite and that they are not worthy people. But we are then comparing them to an ideal. You see, the rest of the world is based on ideals, and of course, ideals are all serving mammon. Many of them are subtle and hide under many nice justifications, but as we apply these things that were given to the students as a means to work with to discover for themselves, what their obstructions were that prevented them from experiencing agape more fully.
“And he spoke a parable also to them, ‘Can a blind man guide a blind man?’” Obviously not on a literal level. But he is talking about a man or woman who is blind to the obstructions in the self, things that are still hidden away, talking to X in the name of I, still giving false information, still seeing what ought to be as opposed to what is; seeing what is, but seeing the value only in what ought to be, and will not both fall into a pit of depression, a pit of unpleasant emotions, and possibly all the way down to the various adaptations that go with that? “No disciple [student] is above his Teacher…” Now, we begin to see possibly what [this] discourse took place.
Some of the students felt that they could be given the powers to do the things that the Teacher was doing. They wanted to be like him, or maybe even a little greater. Greed, vanity and pride ask for some strange things sometimes. No student is above his Teacher, but when he is perfected, meaning completed, in all the spiritual experiences. He may already have undergone CONFESSION, SURRENDER, REPENTANCE and BAPTISM. He may be a NEW MAN and have experienced a glimpse of AGAPE; but he is not completed in it as he only observes these obstructions to get even, to stick up for his rights, to have attention and approval, to have what is fair, to get over blaming, to quit trying to do and believe as he is told by his authorities, hoping that he can behave anyway he wants to, just by putting on a front; in other words, escape the ideas of the Scribes and the Pharisees. But when completed or perfected, everyone will be like his Teacher. In other words, the Teacher is capable possibly of complete AGAPE, FAITH and GRACE and the student when perfected or completed will be like him. But the student thinks, “Give me and then ‘I’ can do the things you do. Tell me how to have faith.” He is pointing out here how one will experience greater and higher spiritual experiences of agape, grace and faith.
“But why dost thou see the speck in thy brother’s eye, and yet dost not consider the block in thy own eye?” The eye is the inner perception which perceives that which puts on the value. It is the awareness factor of the awareness aspect of man. He is saying, how come you are so capable of seeing a little flaw in your brother? Your brother told a little fib or your brother did this, but you do not see that big block in your own eye? In other words, one has felt that one is further advanced than one is, that one has experienced much more than one has. This vanity that is forever painting a false picture and trying to convince man that he is more aware than he is that he has already gotten all the pickles out of the barrel. In other words, these students were wanting to go out and get other people all straightened out. Possibly somebody was sick. “How come I can’t heal him? Give me the power to heal him!” But you see, there are certain things that obstruct that, and when the obstructions are removed, it is the natural state of affairs. It comes about as natural as breathing.
“And how canst thou say to thy brother, ‘Brother, let me cast out the speck from thy eye,’ while thou thyself dost not see the block in thy own eye?” So easy we think to judge the other person, to see their flaws and faults, but how can we see those in anyone unless we have an ideal to compare them to. We always come back to that ideal. So we try to experiment to behave in a certain way, spontaneously, under living conditions. How, we can each sit in a room and say; “I do not care what anybody says to me, I’m not going to get mad or upset.” But we walk out and in a few minutes somebody really does do a certain thing, strikes someone, decidedly disapproves. Suddenly and we find that the great claim that one would not get angry, etc., has all dropped because one has certain hidden areas that react. This is not something to feel bad about; it is something to feel very thankful for. It is why such experiments as this one are given. Such stories are told so that one does not become negligent in observing the self. Even though we have been doing it for many weeks, there is much in the self, because it is recharged constantly by suggestion. Some have been overlooked because they were not activated at an earlier stage.
So the idea of self-knowing does not end with discovering a few things about self. It does not end with discovering that “I” have a tendency to complain, to stickup for rights now and then, to kowtow to those who “I” think are greater than “I,” that “I” want to impress, or that “I” still believe and do as “I” am told by those people “I” look up to and accept as authorities. We are discovering that it is very easy for a person to put on a performance, to behave in a certain way because he thinks he can do it by will power, and therefore his conduct will demonstrate his great inner strength. We can all do that conduct on the stage. We can all do it when everything is going smoothly, or when there is no second force coming by. But in the real living situation of everyday existence in the School called life, or in a special School, there is always the resistance to one putting on a front. One discovers very rapidly that there are areas one hasn’t observed, discovered, re-evaluated, and reported to X as having no value, because they have never been seen.
The great Teacher continued, “Thou hypocrite, first cast out the block from thy own eye, and then thou wilt see clearly to cast out the speck from thy brother’s eye. For there is no good tree that bears bad fruit, nor is there a bad tree that bears good fruit. For every tree is known by its fruit. For from thorns men do not gather figs, neither from a bramble do they harvest grapes.” Not from complaining, sticking up for rights, blaming, putting on a front, or from quoting various and sundry authorities, does one gain anything except self-improvement ideas, and they only work when there is no second force. So you see he’s saying how one will tell when one has experienced the higher spiritual experiences. Even the person who never heard of the first word of the Teaching, and could be less interested if he heard of it, treats those well who treat him nice. He lends to those he hopes to receive from. He returns social favors. In fact, he is a real nice guy as long as he thinks the other is going to be a nice guy to him.
He continues, “The good man from the good treasure of his heart [from his spiritual frame of reference, his spiritual body, he brings forth wonderful things because they have all been experienced] and the evil man from the evil treasure [all conditioning; the treasure of the conditioned man: all the ways of defending, sticking up for rights, keeping a good false picture of self, standing up for what is fair, etc.] brings forth that which is evil [which is merely another word for conditioned]. For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks [that’s when one is in a challenging situation, when second force comes along, I can speak out of the mind].” When everything is going smoothly like being on a stage and having learned one’s part, one speaks out of the mind. The moment there is a challenge, then one speaks forth from what one considers to be good or valuable, and you see, that’s not under the control of the watchful little conscious awareness of the fifth decision that says the whole purpose of living is to be different. One can do this beautifully as long as one is on parade and showing off, but it cannot be done when there is a challenge.
This is why the Man laid out the many things that said when these things, which are very decidedly challenges, attack you, and come across your experiencing, then you will know how little agape you have experienced; you will know why you have no faith as yet; and you will know why you do not understand grace.
Copyright © 1973 by Rhondell. All rights reserved. This material is for an individual student’s personal use; it is not to be duplicated or loaned to another.
