Love: Spiritual Monetary System (quote, faith, pray, Christianity)

[SuperSoul]

A monetary system dictates what is "accepted as a standard of value and measure of wealth." I believe that what matters most spiritually is how we love others and ourselves. By "love," I mean to appreciate, hope & strive for what is best for others and ourselves, through trial & error/active faith. Caring for others and ourselves is necessary for any society to function well, but is also the foundation of Christianity.

Christ taught 3 parables in Matthew 25. The first is about 10 unprepared and 10 prepared virgins. The 2nd parable is about talents, by which some try to justify the use of Jesus Christ's name to make money. Yet, when put in context of the subsequent parable about dividing the goats from sheep, it is clear that the servants of the talents were either praised or condemned according to how they made use of their spiritual (not worldly) wealth to love others as themselves. The sheep represent those who cared for those in need & "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these ye have done it unto me." The goats represent those who neglected to care for those in need & "Inasmuch as ye have NOT done it unto one of the least of these ye have NOT done it unto me." The talents are not literal but symbolic, as are most things in parables. The talents represent our capacity & choice to love. The 1st man was given 5 talents & with it made 5 more, the 2nd man was given 2 talents & made 2 more, the 3rd man was given 1 talent & hid it.

These 3 men represent us. Some of us have been given more abilities & resources to love, than others. When people are kind and loving to me and others, IMO, it reflects more about them & their capacity & choice to love than those they love. When people are rude to me & others, it reflects that they are "poor" in love &/or deciding to hide their ability to love, as the man hid the talent. How we use what we've been given to love others as ourselves is most valuable spiritually.

[Pleroo]

Preach on, sis. I always thought it was interesting that the 3rd man, who hid his "talent", was afraid of his boss (representing God in the parable). I think that says a lot about why some people find it difficult to love. (Going with your idea of what God is -- whatever our ultimate concern is -- it gives one pause about choosing that ultimate concern.)

Also interesting is WHY the man was afraid of the boss: because he reaped and gathered where he had not planted. I have thoughts on what that may mean, but it does seem like an odd reason to fear your boss.

[SuperSoul]

Originally Posted by Pleroo

Preach on, sis. I always thought it was interesting that the 3rd man, who hid his "talent", was afraid of his boss (representing God in the parable). I think that says a lot about why some people find it difficult to love. (Going with your idea of what God is -- whatever our ultimate concern is -- it gives one pause about choosing that ultimate concern.)

Also interesting is WHY the man was afraid of the boss: because he reaped and gathered where he had not planted. I have thoughts on what that may mean, but it does seem like an odd reason to fear your boss.

For sure, Pleroo!
I hadn't thought of it that way, but that makes sense.
God is love, not fear, but "perfect love casteth out fear."
When he "reaped and gathered where he had not planted", it likely got to his conscience & created fear.

I'd be a hypocrite if I said I always loved to my best capacity.
Sometimes I put myself before others, & sometimes I give to others even when it hurts me.
It's a "trial & error" thing.
I'd say it starts with awareness, though.
The more aware we are of how interdependent we all are, socially, globally & spiritually, we feel obligated to strive for what's best for all of us.

[Pleroo]

Originally Posted by SuperSoul

For sure, Pleroo!
I hadn't thought of it that way, but that makes sense.
God is love, not fear, but "perfect love casteth out fear."

As I see it, yes, God is love. Whether that is God as the consciousness from which we all have our being, or whether it simply means love as my ultimate concern -- for me, God is love/love is God. Or, at least, I want it to be my ultimate concern.

When he "reaped and gathered where he had not planted", it likely got to his conscience & created fear.

It was the boss who reaped and gathered where he hadn't planted, not the servant, so it can't be about the servant's conscience as far as that's concerned... that's why I find it odd. Why is the servant afraid of a boss who reaps and gathers other than where he has planted?

I'd be a hypocrite if I said I always loved to my best capacity.
Sometimes I put myself before others, & sometimes I give to others even when it hurts me.
It's a "trial & error" thing.
I'd say it starts with awareness, though.
The more aware we are of how interdependent we all are, socially, globally & spiritually, we feel obligated to strive for what's best for all of us.

Awareness of our interconnectedness is important, I agree.
I think it is equally important to come to the realization that we are capable of love. So many are injured emotionally/psychologically to a degree that it never even occurs to us that we have anything worth offering to others that can make a difference. aisi

[LuminousTruth]

I think the point of the story was that the employee felt bad that the boss was making THEM work while the boss sat back and waited (on interest)... Still, it was the boss' money and the 3rd employee decided to be a HYPOCRITE and REAP WHERE HE HAD NOT PLANTED HIMSELF by taking the money, and not investing it or working it like he was supposed to for the boss' benefit, then hiding the money to keep it for himself! Money that STILL belonged to the boss. While in reality, the boss HAD planted it by giving it to his employees to plant and grow it further! So the boss asked why he would HIDE it instead of giving it to the bankers who would have at least given interest. The boss was suspicious of why THIS employee would "hide the money" in order to give it back to his boss on his return. The only reason that slave only got one "talent" was because the boss didn't trust him as much as the others already, so the boss probably thought the bad employee already had a story ready about how it was stolen from him or how his investment didn't fare well, but when this bad employee saw the others doubled the boss' investment, he felt bad and wanted to at least have something. BTW these "employees" were actually SLAVES, so they had plenty to fear from a boss who DEMANDED interest. The moral of the story is SLAVES obey your masters!

[SuperSoul]

Good point, Luminous Truth.
All the servants received came from their Lord.

With parables, I don't think there is any just 1 way of interpretting it.
That's the beauty of parables - they speak to everyone based on where they're coming from.

Jesus uses this parable to teach about "the kingdom of heaven."
Is that equivalent to "the kingdom of god within"? Luke 17:20

The Lord of the Servants could represent God (however we interpret God/LOVE/Creator who gave us all).
The Lord of the servants could symbolize our higher self. Our higher self/spirit/subconscious is "Lord" of our serving ego.

In a way our subconscious minds "reap where it has not sown." It believes whatever our conscious tells it, whether true or false. Only when we bring things to light, and become conscious of them, do we help harmonize the conscious and subconscious, when often harmonizes others aspects of our lives.

[SuperSoul]

Originally Posted by Pleroo

As I see it, yes, God is love. Whether that is God as the consciousness from which we all have our being, or whether it simply means love as my ultimate concern -- for me, God is love/love is God. Or, at least, I want it to be my ultimate concern.

Same here.
Did you ever get the same message over & over in your life, like somebody's trying to tell you something?
Well, I kept hearing songs, or seeing phrases about believing.
That Journey song, "Don't stop believin'!" kept playing over & over - when I had the radio on.
Last night, a part of a scripture popped out at me... "Have faith in God."
And I thought that God is GOoD.
Have faith in goodness.

The challenge is that I don't always know what goodness is in any given circumstance. It's a trial & error (active faith) process. It's like the prayer, "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can & wisdom to know the difference."

Awareness of our interconnectedness is important, I agree.
I think it is equally important to come to the realization that we are capable of love. So many are injured emotionally/psychologically to a degree that it never even occurs to us that we have anything worth offering to others that can make a difference. aisi

True!
And it does involve a little risk to reach out to others. You could be rejected, as I felt the other day when I brought cookies to someone. It wasn't good timing for either of us really, but all of the past injuries of feeling rejected came rushing back & I still struggle with rejection. It makes me not want to reach out again. But a lot of it is looking at all of the considerations... so I don't conclude, "This means I'm not worth anything." The timing was bad, the woman I gave them to has displayed poor manners before - so this wasn't out of the norm. My husband told me about a possible crisis in her family, which seemed to be jumping to conclusions (partially but not completely true).

Basically, there's always more to the story, but we often cherry-pick things that fit with past beliefs, whether functional or not.
A lot of our capacity to love is influenced by the thoughts & feelings we hold about how loved we felt by our parents. If our parents neglected us, we tend to neglect ourselves. If our parents hovered over us, we tend to depend too much on external sources to feel good inside.

[SuperSoul]

"A loving heart is the beginning of all knowledge." -Thomas Carlyle

[SuperSoul]

Everyone cannot help but seek love, as defined by seeking what they think is best.

We often don't realize what is really best until we see the consequences of our attempts - live & learn!

There's superficial love - when striving for what is best is not truly giving one's all in discovering what is best & how best to accomplish it. There's superficial love - when one's ego gets in the way of seeing truth for what it is, in favor of what, how & when one wants.

Then there's deeper love - when one has experienced more to know what is best & to be willing to sacrifice in order to achieve it.

[Rj7237]

I think we see love in different lights.So, I'll tell you how I see love. Love is a word.(I hear the Duh! already) Love is a word like any other its value is based on the definer. Then how do I define it? Love is a word used to describe an emotion or several brought by pleasing chemical reactions by the brain which in turn are brough on by positive associations made by the brain to something or someone.Just saying you can get that love from any chocolate bar. So,would this love have monetary value? Maybe I don't like the word spritual. I think it's a BS word. Anyway, James wants love,and instead of buying some chocolate he invests his time, energy, possibly money as well to recive love from Amber.Amber evenutal gets those pleasing chemical reactions when she thinks or sees James, She wants more of this awesome feeling, so she invests time, energy, and possibly money to James. James's brain says "Amber is awesome !" so he gets that chemical reaction whenever he think or sees Amber. There's exchange.