THE SUBSTANCE OF LOVE

THE PURPOSE OF THE UNIVERSE

God is Infinite Reality. Now, for anything to be real, it must have SUBSTANCE and FORM. God's SUBSTANCE is LOVE and the form of LOVE is TRUTH, Divine Order or the Word of God.

When we understand the nature of God's Substance, we understand why God created the universe and matter.

" Matter was made as the only means by which the end of creation might be effected.The End of Creation, the purpose for which the world was made, lies in the highest or first Degree of the Divine Nature, in the Divine Love. Love by its very nature demands an object. That object must be another than self, else the love of it would be self-love. Love, then, in order to exist, must create another than itself.This other that Love creates must not only be wholly other than its creative source, must feel itself to be absolutely apart and distinct from it, but it must be able to reciprocate this love, to love in return. For it is only in reciprocation that love is satisfied, that the end of love is attained.These being the qualities and motives inherent in love by its very nature, it follows that creation must necessarily result, and that the Divine Love is, for no other reason than its own being, the Creator of the world.To create a world which shall not be the creative Love itself, but the object of it and the reciprocator of it, the Divine Love proceeds by spheres emanating from itself, and yet not itself. These spheres, actuated by the Divine life from within, become the living forces and substances out of which a world is made. As living forces and substances, they constitute the spiritual world or the world of creative instrumental causes.  " Frank Sewall

So the reason God creates the spiritual and material universe is to realize his own essence and substance which is LOVE itself. In order to be realized, LOVE needs somebody other than itself to LOVE. God creates an image of itself which can receive and return Love. That image and likeness is MAN. God is Divine Love and Truth. And man has the power to understand Truth and realize Love by means of his freewill.

"We have also observed that Love in God is a substance, and that the nature of all love is perpetually to return as in a circle to its source. Hence the activity of love as a substance flows into recircling lines; supremely so in the primitives and firsts of finiting, which embody, and are, the creative love of God in immediate outgo, activity, and gift. And all things framed and concreted thereof show feature of a like reflexing potency and activity." Lillian G. Keegan

The activity of LOVE is always to flow from God or Infinite Being into all creatures (involution) and to return from all creatures (evolution) to God or Infinite Being. When these two actions are perfectly realized, LOVE is realized, and God and Man are united and joined in the mystery of LOVE.

God freely gives of his Substance or LOVE and this LOVE must be FREELY returned by man.

THE UNIVERSAL LAW OF USE

Now that we understand why God created the universe, we must next understand how to realize God's purpose in our own individual life. The only way Love can be realized or put into effect in the universe is by means of service or usefulness. The ultimate moral law of the universe is the law of use:

"This law of use, which is, we may say, the divine end of the universe put into effect, is the law of service ; but the law of mutual service, not the service of self. Upon this law, we hold the universe was constructed from its first emanation in spheres of divine energy and light and heat out of the Creator himself to the elementary plane of nature. The same law governs the three realms of nature, mineral, vegetable, and animal, in their upward climbing to man, the highest type of creation, and from whose rational and voluntary nature there is the conscious aspiration and return again to Deity.

Thus is completed the divine and never-ceasing current of infinite love as a first end or prime mover, operating by infinite wisdom, as by the spiritual means or instrumental cause, to the production of infinite uses as effects in the plane of nature and of humanity. Thus the very essential nature of Deity is the giving of itself for another, or the creating of a universe which may be an object of love to a being whose essence it is to love ; a universe not created from nothing but from the eternal substance of Deity itself, and yet in such a way that it may be ever distinct from Deity, just as every action is the effect of a desire and thought and is yet distinct from these, or as an artist s creation is from him and of him as to its whole formative principle and being and is yet not himself, nor does its distinct existence imply a proportional lessening of his own substance.

So God is conceived of as himself existing only to serve, and in finding the fullest and divinest satisfaction in the service of others than himself. God is the great creator and never-resting performer of uses. The whole universe is a great work of uses, and not the smallest atom exists in its material depths, nor the purest angel in its celestial spheres, which is not actuated wholly by this one universal divine law of life, and order, and happiness, the mutual service of things." Frank Sewall

So, man returns Love to its source by being of use or service to others and God. We can readily observe this law in operation in all lower species. Minerals serve in the creation of plants. Plants serve as food for animals. And all three lower kingdoms are of use to man. It is then reasonable to conclude that man must be of service to his neighbor and God if he expects to live a meaningful life.

And, in fact, real joy and love for man may only be derived by being useful to others and God.

WHAT IS MAN?

"Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." GENESIS 1:26

The Bible was written by means of spiritual correspondences. That means that every natural thing corresponds to a spiritual reality.

image >> a receiver of Truth

likeness >> a receiver of Love

fish >> natural or scientific knowledge

sea >> natural atmosphere

birds >> thoughts

air >> intellectual atmosphere

livestock >> emotions

earth >> lower emotional atmosphere

creatures >> all seeds that fall on the subconscious mind

ground >> subconscious mind

So, here we see that man was given dominion or power over the whole universe, natural and spiritual. If he chooses to live in Truth and Love, he will generate beautiful thoughts and loving affections within his consciousness. These holy seeds will fall upon the ground of his subconscious mind and they will ultimately manifest paradise on earth. But, in order to do this, man must tend the garden of his mind; he must watch his intentions, thoughts and feelings, and make sure they are in harmony with Truth and Love.