From Karma to Grace. John Van Auken

poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. Love suffers long, and is kind; love envies not; love exalts not itself, is not puffed up, love never fails—but where there be prophecies, they shall be done away; where there be tongues, they shall cease; where there be knowledge, it shall be done away. But now abides faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these is love. Follow after love; let all that you do be done in love. My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.

      Excerpts taken from 1 Corinthians 13-16

      It is in one of the letters of the apostle John that we find an important insight into why love is so important. John tells us that the quintessential quality of God is love. Love is the music of God, the vibration of God, and the spirit of God.

      My loved ones, let us have love for one another because love is of God, and everyone who has love is a child of God and has knowledge of God. He who has no love has no knowledge of God, because God is love. No man has ever seen God; if we have love for one another, God is in us and his love is made complete in us. His Spirit, which he has given us, is the witness that we are in him and he is in us. And we have seen and had faith in the love, which God has for us. God is love, and everyone who has love is in God, and God is in him.

      1 John 4:7-16; BBE

      God is love, and all who live and express love, live in and express God. Perhaps the most difficult of the teachings on love is that we are not only to love our neighbors but also our enemies.

      You have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy; but I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for them that persecute you; that you may be sons [and daughters] of your Father who is in heaven: for he makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust. For if you love them that love you, what reward have you? Do not even the publicans [tax collectors] the same? And if you salute your brethren only, what do you more than others? Do not even the Gentiles the same? You therefore shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

      Matthew 5:43-48, ASV; brackets mine

      Perfect? Yes, Jesus wants us to become perfect, as is our Heavenly Father. Paul affirms the perfecting power of active love for all in this statement:

      Above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.

      Colossians 3:14

      Jesus expanded on this teaching:

      But love your enemies, and do them good, and lend, never despairing; and your reward shall be great, and you shall be sons of the Most High: for he is kind toward the unthankful and evil.

      Luke 6:35

      If God expresses lovingkindness to the ungrateful and wicked, how can we become companions with God if we cannot do likewise?

       A Mystical-Psychic View of Love

      To say that love is an exchange of psychic energy is to know life at a deeper level. For example:

      The woman who scans the face of her lover anxiously when he is disturbed, and reaches out with a soothing hand to comfort him, is actually transmitting to him a healing force within her own nature. She is obeying the same kind of impulse that directs the heart to pump more blood to the wounded limb.

      Dr. Smiley Blanton, Love or Perish

      Edgar Cayce, one of America’s greatest seers and psychics, devoted over two thousand of his more than fourteen thousand “readings” to teaching spiritual seekers to live, think, speak, and abide in love. Here are his comments to four different people, obtained while he was attuned to the Universal Consciousness:

      Let the beauty of your joy, in manifesting the light and love as shown in the Christ-Spirit, that makes for the new song in your heart, keep you in your daily walks of life.

      Let others do as they may, but as for you and your house, you will love the living God. Know His love is sufficient to keep you. No matter what may be the trial, His love abides, and He is not unmindful of your prayers.

      The beauty of your life rises as a sweet incense before the altar of mercy. Yet it is not sacrifice but peace, grace, and mercy that we would manifest among the children of men. For God is love.

      Keep your paths straight. Know in whom you have believed, as well as in what you believe. For the love as passes understanding can, does, and will make your pathway brighter. Keep in that way.

      EC 262-116

      A mature love requires that we “rightly divine and divide the truth.” Cayce often referred to this teaching, as in this example:

      First, study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman not ashamed, rightly divining—or dividing—the words of truth; that is, giving proper evaluations to the material, the mental, and the spiritual relationships, the economic, the social, the orders of things in their proper form. Be not hasty in decisions but know that the answers may come from within.

      EC 189-3

      From his deep trance state, Cayce said that Jesus had a secret prayer that He repeated to himself, “Others, Lord, others.” This kept the Father’s power that flowed through Jesus on the right track—not glorifying Himself but revealing the Light and Love that flowed through Him—God’s love, our Father and Mother’s love. Selfless loving is the ideal—giving, caring without expectation of getting something in return.