TCR 406
A person is not born for his own sake,
but for the sake of others;
that is, so that he should not live for himself alone,
but for others.
TCR 410 [2]
Since, then, every person is the neighbor,
and the variety of people is infinite,
and everyone is to be loved as a neighbor according to his good,
it is plain that there are genera and species
and also degrees of love to the neighbor.
And because the Lord is to be loved above all things,
it follows that the degrees of love towards the neighbor
are to be measured by love to the Lord,
that is, by how much of the Lord or of what is from the Lord
the other possesses in himself;
for thus far he possesses good,
since all good is from the Lord.
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3 comments:
"it follows that the degrees of love towards the neighbor
are to be measured by love to the Lord,
that is, by how much of the Lord or of what is from the Lord
the other possesses in himself;
for thus far he possesses good,
since all good is from the Lord."
I do not understand this. Who is measuring the degree of love? When it says "how much of the Lord or what is of the Lord the other possess" who is the other. It seems like it is saying we can measure our love to the neighbor by how much love either they or we have for the Lord. Is any of that right?
Dear Terry:
TCR 410 begins by saying that charity resides in the internal person (the seat of good will) and from there in the external person (the seat of good actions). For this reason it is that the internal person is to be loved and from there the external person, that is, a person should be loved for the quality of the good in him or her, rather than the person's good actions (WHC - which could be coming from evil and selfish intentions).
This is then illustrated by a person choosing a steward to run his household from among 3 or 4 people. Does not such an employer investigate the candidates internal person, looking for what is honest and faithful? Similarly with a king or magistrate choosing among candidates for office.
Next the passage points out that people are infinite variety. So the question is, how do you judge the internal person of another. The answer is:
> because the Lord is to be loved above all else, it follows that the degrees of that love are to be measured by love to Him; in other words, by how much of the Lord or what is from the Lord he possesses in himself, for this is a measure of how much good he possesses too, because all good comes from the Lord. (TCR410.2 Chadwick)
The Lord then goes on to acknowledge that the internal person of another is "rarely to be discerned in the world," so it is sufficient to love the neighbor to the extent that you can see the good or charity in them.
> After death these are clearly perceived, for in that world the affections of the will and the resulting thoughts of the understanding create a spiritual sphere around them, which is felt in various ways. But in the world that spiritual sphere is absorbed by the material body and is enveloped in the natural sphere which then emanates from the person. The existence of degrees of love towards the neighbour is proved by the Lord's parable about the Samaritan, who had pity on the man wounded by robbers, though the priest and the Levite saw him and passed by; and when the Lord asked which of the three would seem to have been the neighbour, he received the reply, 'The one who had pity' (Luke 10:30-37). (TCR 410.3 Chadwick)
Hope this helps.
Bill
If I may come at the question from another angle...
The quote deals with how things are in the abstract.
In terms of how things actually work in a practical way, the next statement following in TCR 410[2] is, "But as these degrees are in the internal man, and the internal man rarely manifests itself in the world, it is sufficient that the neighbor be loved according to the degrees that are known."
In other words, it is the Lord who truly knows a person's heart, and how much that person is in love to Him.
We, on the other hand, can only make "judgment calls" based on our limited perceptions (or those of others with whom we may consult in a particular case).
Though we won't always get it right, to the extent that we ourselves are in good from the Lord, i.e., in love to the Lord, to that extent are we more likely be wrong less often.
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