Cosmic Consciousness: The Man-God Whom We AwaitMcIvor-Tyndall, Alexander J. (Alexander James)
Religion
Cosmic Consciousness: The Man-God Whom We Await
McIvor-Tyndall, Alexander J. (Alexander James)
Theosophy
"And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all
knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have
not love, I am nothing.
"And if I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be
burned, but have not love, it profiteth me nothing.
"_LOVE NEVER FAILETH_.
"But whether there be prophecies they shall be done away; whether there be
tongues they shall cease; whether there be knowledge it shall be done away.
For we know in part and we prophecy in part, but when that which is perfect
is come, that which is in part shall be done away."
It must be remembered that in the days of St. Paul the high priests and the
prophets were accounted the wisest and most exalted persons in the
community.
The ability to prophecy presupposed a special favor of the God of the Jews.
St. Paul's exposition of the changed viewpoint that comes to one who has
entered into cosmic consciousness, was therefore aptly illustrated by his
open avowal that there was a far greater power--a more exalted state of
consciousness, than that of the gift of prophecy and of "knowing all
mysteries;" that state of one in which love was the ruler, and in order
that they might the more fully comprehend the simplicity, and yet the
perfection, of this state of consciousness, he made clear the fact that no
one truly who became "a new creature", as he characterized this change,
ever exalted himself, or made high claims; or became exclusive, or
"superior," or "holy," in the sense the latter word had been used.
How, then, would they know when they had attained to this state of
consciousness, of which he spoke, and which they but dimly understood?
How might they know when they had found this great love that was to make
them "a new creature"?
First of all, they might know because:
_LOVE NEVER FAILETH_.
Love suffereth long and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not
itself; is not puffed up, does not behave unseemly; seeketh not its own; is
not provoked; taketh not account of evil; rejoiceth not in unrighteousness,
but rejoiceth with the truth; beareth all things; believeth all things;
hopeth all things; endureth all things.
In fact, _LOVE NEVER FAILETH_. Love is always a safe guide. No matter what
may be said to the contrary; no matter how much suffering it entails; no
matter how seemingly fruitless the sacrifice; or how ungrateful the
results, _love_ never faileth.
How can it fail when we "seek not our own," but only love for love's own
sake, without regard to compensation or gratitude?
St. Paul, with all who have expressed in any considerable degree this
cosmic realization, seems to have expected a time, when cosmic
consciousness should become so general, as to bring the kingdom of love
upon earth. This corresponds to the Millenium, which has always been
prophesied, and which the present era fulfills, in all the "signs of the
times" that were to usher in The Dawn.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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