The King James Version of the Holy Bible, Mark – “{12:30} 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. {12:31} And the second [is] like, [namely]this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”
Most people who practice a religion can identify with these commandments. However, those who don’t subscribe to a particular theology may struggle with the definition of who or what we are commanded to love.
I was raised as a Christian but subsequently explored various religions looking for answers and, finding none that satisfied me, decided that I must be atheist, a non-believer. However, a niggling doubt remained; can the sophistication, complexity and wonders of life and the universe simply be the result of a series of evolutionary accidents? Consequently, I moderated my atheistic certainty to conclude, I just don’t know, which rendered me agnostic.
Over recent years, through the process of co-creative learning within Critical Thinking, I sensed an increasing probability of an ultimate intelligence or consciousness of which we are all part. Quantum physics and esoteric knowledge suggest an ethereal dimension to existence and sacred geometry is integral to nature and the universe. It was this realisation, reinforced by exploration of Hermeticism, the Tarot and many other sources that I came to understand the relevance and importance of universal law aka. God.
John Cord explains universal law as all of the law.
CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS’ TEN COMMENDMENTS vs TEN COMMANDMENTS; “ALL EYES SHALL SEE” – John Cord
We are all instances of universal consciousness and are governed by universal law; we cannot escape it. We may not understand it but it is the context for everything we observe and experience. There are many aspects to universal law in application but if there is an overriding condition, it is balance; recognition and acceptance of the existence of both “good” and “evil”. In Eastern philosophy, it is referred to as YinYang or the balance between full and empty.
We can aspire to fulfil an ideal (the person we would like to be) but it is essential to realise that we are all fallible human beings and that bad things can happen, whether by intent, thoughtlessness or for no immediately identifiable reason.
Recognising that we are an integral part of universal consciousness, any damage we inflict on nature and others is an act of self-harm. This is what love thy God with all thy heart etc. means; if we don’t approach life with this mindset, to nurture our environment while avoiding harm to others, we suffer ourselves; we are lost, rootless and adrift in our being, irrespective that we may have surrounded ourselves with material wealth, status and icons of worldly success. This state of “disconnectedness” often causes psychoses which, in turn, debilitate our immune systems leading to physical degradation, particularly relevant amidst the alleged coronavirus “pandemic”.
The second commandment, to love thy neighbour as thyself, is almost superfluous;. If we are all instances of universal consciousness, then clearly harming anyone is an act of self-harm.
The Pharisees (who enforced “exceptionalism”, isolating their “tribe” from the rest of mankind while claiming moral, intellectual and spiritual superiority) attempted to trick Jesus into “confessing” that all people are our neighbours in contravention of “the Law”, as laid down by them and their ancestors. From The Controversy of Zion.
On the second occasion, “a certain lawyer stood up and tempted him, saying, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” In his answer Jesus again swept aside the great mass of Levitical Law and restated the two essentials: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart … and thy neighbour as thyself.” Then came the baited trap: “And who is my neighbour?”
What mortal man would have given the answer that Jesus gave? No doubt some mortal men, knowing like Jesus that their lives were at stake, would have said what they believed, for martyrs are by no means rare. But Jesus did much more than that; he disarmed his questioner like an expert swordsman who effortlessly sends his opponent’s rapier spinning into the air. He was being enticed to declare himself openly; to say that “the heathen” were also “neighbours,” and thus to convict himself of transgressing The Law. In fact he replied in this sense, but in such a way that the interrogator was undone; seldom was a lawyer so confounded.
The Levitical-Pharisaic teaching was that only Judeans were “neighbours,” and of all the outcast heathen they especially abominated the Samaritans (for reasons earlier indicated). The mere touch of a Samaritan was defilement and a major “transgression” (this continues true to the present day). The purpose of the question put to him was to lure Jesus into some statement that would qualify him for the major ban; by choosing the Samaritans, of all peoples, for the purpose of his reply, he displayed an audacity, or genius, that was more than human:
He said that a certain man fell among thieves and was left for dead. Then came
“a priest” and “likewise a Levite” (the usual stinging rebuke to those who sought the chance to put him to death), who “passed by on the other side.” Last came “a certain Samaritan,” who bound the man’s injuries, took him to an inn, and paid for his care: “which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?”
The lawyer, cornered, could not bring himself to pronounce the defiling name “Samaritan”; he said, “He that showed mercy on him” and thereby joined himself (as he probably realized too late) with the condemnation of those for whom he spoke, such as “the priest” and “the Levite.” “Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.” In these few words, and without any direct allusion, he made his interrogator destroy, out of his own mouth, the entire racial heresy on which the Law had been raised.
In short, our eternal salvation is not found in religious ritual and doctrine but is delivered through observance of these two requirements.
Is there a way back from transgression against these fundamental truths, ie. are those who’ve been complicit in the fabrication and continuance of the current system of tyranny redeemable? Fortunately, for us, that is not our call. All are judged under universal law, not necessarily to be obviously punished in this life but in terms of spiritual development. When the Bible, for example, alludes to sinners being cast into the burning fires of hell and damnation, we can assume that these are figurative or metaphorical, rather than literal, consequences.
There is a path of redemption in contrition, ie. ceasing to live as one did before but, with real sincerity, to observe the first two commandments.
We are all complicit in the current system of tyranny to varying degrees and that is something we need to accept as fact. In this following video, Alan Watts explains we’re in an impossible bind. The decision itself, to live “differently”, is an invitation to the “devil” (our human fallibility) to thwart us,
The Ultimate Lecture 3 5 Hours Alan Watts
But the worst thing we can do is beat ourselves up about it. We have to accept the “balance” within ourselves and the universe while recognising we are blessed.
This talk by Alan Watts from decades ago is as relevant today as when he gave it.
Just Trust The Universe – Alan Watts
“…and power that comes to you in that opposite way, is power with which you can be trusted.” Alan explains: Psalms {37:11} But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.
