“…AS THYSELF”

“…AS THYSELF”

Thursday, March 03, 2011
By Rev. Dr. Larry Delano Coleman


"And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? 29And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: 30And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. 31And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. 32And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he: 33And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. 34And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question."

Mark 12:28-43

“…As thyself,” Mark 12: 31, is an ancient and immanent measuring principle continually governing and animating human dynamics and human interactions.

We look outwardly and assess inwardly. We look inwardly and assess outwardly.

“The self” looks to itself, continually. Its measuring rod, its plumb line, is itself, its consciousness of itself. Its only impulse is to itself: to know itself, to preserve itself, to nourish itself, and to reproduce itself.

Whether the self’s human bearer, its “vessel,” Isa. 29:16, will or can perform any of these functions, for the benefit of its physical person, or not, its immanent, inner self must continually impel it to do so, in ever greater degrees of intensity. It cannot help itself. It must do this for itself, so long as there is life in itself. It is that “still small voice” 1 Kings 19:12, which I know as “the God-self.”

One’s personal “God-self,” though, is neither exclusive, nor discrete, of others’ God selves, appearances to the contrary notwithstanding. “You are not your own,” is literally correct, as the Apostle Paul taught centuries ago. “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own.” 1 Cor.6:19. As such, you are never, ever alone, but are a vital part of God’s infinitely interlocking network of connectivity which continuously renews itself. “For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone.” Rom. 14:7.

Like amino acids in a protein molecule, we bind and cling together to perpetuate our own survival by promoting our own protein’s potency. What is true for protein molecules is also true for couples, families, tribes, creeds, and nations. Such combinations empower and extend “thyself” exponentially far beyond the physical capacity of the singular self, even though the self at all times retains its own capability, its own autonomy, and its own “God-self” impulse, which particularly includes “assembling together.” Heb. 10:25.

What we call “The Self” is our portion of The Holy Spirit. It is what I have termed “the God-self,” in my 1985 essay in THE NILE REVIEW newsletter, “Exhalations from My Soul,” which was self-published and is now extremely rare.

Jesus Christ taught “Love thy neighbor as thyself”. Mark 12:31, Matthew 22:39. The root of all things is “thyself.” Without “thyself,” nothing else exists. Thus, everything else must be perceived as an extension of this primal dimension, thyself.
Jesus was restating a much older pre- Old Testament value, when he said “love thy neighbor as thyself”:

Leviticus 19:18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.

Leviticus 19:34 But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.

These irresistible “God-self” tendencies even caused Jesus the Christ to cry out in the Garden of Gethsemene “Father take away this cup from me!” Mark 14:36, Luke 22:42. And it also caused him to cry out on Mount Calvary’s cross, “My God! My God why have you forsaken me!” Matthew 27:45-46; Mark 15:16-39.

The point is clear. If even the God-self in Jesus Christ must cry out for succor to God, so also must we, in the midst of adversity. No one’s God-self is exempt. Let no one diminish “thyself.” Part of you is divine; that portion known as the “God-self.”

6 I have said, Ye are gods; Joh. 10.34
and all of you are children of the Most High.


7 But ye shall die like men,
and fall like one of the princes


Psalm 82:6-7.

Some may be annoyed by this emphasis on the self, and of the attribution of divinity to the self. Such was certainly the case in the days of Jesus among his own people, the Jews:
30 I and my Father are one.
31 ¶ Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.
32 Jesus answered them, Many good works have I showed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?
33 The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; Lev. 24.16 and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.

34 Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods Ps. 82.6 ?

35 If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the Scripture cannot be broken;
36 say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?
37 If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not.
38 But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works; that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.
39 ¶ Therefore they sought again to take him; but he escaped out of their hand,
40 and went away again beyond Jordan into the place where John at first baptized; Joh. 1.28 and there he abode.
41 And many resorted unto him and said, John did no miracle: but all things that John spake of this man were true.
42 And many believed on him there.

John 10:30-42

The world, continually, would have you believe that you and I are “man.” The truth is you, and I, are gods. Jesus came to teach us who we were and to demonstrate to us our true power and our true identity by his birth, life, death and resurrection!
Do not be conformed to this world, but continually be transformed by the renewing of your minds so that you may be able to determine what God's will is-what is proper, pleasing, and perfect. Rom.12:2

These “God-self” impulses may be transmuted by divine love to look beyond itself into: “this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:19. At this point, the self is relinquished, surrendered, subtracted, leaving only “God.” The “self” is extinguished, only for some higher, greater mission or duty which is anchored and tethered in a love and “peace that passes all understanding.” Phil.4:7. It is succored in divinity, itself: “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13.

This is the ultimate consummation of the “royal law” described in James 2:8. Thus, in the end, Jesus Christ was able to say “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” Luke 23:34. An abject request by one whose love overcame the world.