The Quality Of Kindness
Martin Cecil January 28, 1961
“The spirit of God in action through human form generates feeling in human form,
so that the words and the acts are filled with feeling.”
Our Master's revelation of love in action on earth included, of course, the characteristic of kindness. Reading the record as it has come down to us, as we maintain attunement with the spirit of God ourselves, we become aware of that wonderful quality in Him—kindness. And yet, as you also know, He had some pretty hard words to say on occasion—He spoke roughly, very roughly. I suppose those who heard, to whom the words were directed, could have said, from the human standpoint, that they were unkind words; but they were not. They were kind words. They gave an opportunity for those who heard them to awaken to that which was present in themselves. It was apparent that most of those to whom the words were directed did not awaken, and consequently they were incensed and indignant that anyone would speak to them so, and it increased their intent to do away with Him. But the words were in fact spoken in the spirit of love, which includes the quality of kindness. If they did not awaken, He knew very well what would happen. It would not have been kind for Him to leave them in that state, seeing that the opportunity presented itself for Him to do something about it. And not only this, but there were other things in relationship to His ministry as a whole which required that such words should be spoken, that the line of demarcation should be made clear, so that there could be no misunderstanding. And I think, even though the words which have come down to us may not have been actually His words, nevertheless they convey something of what He said, and they certainly convey something of the spirit which was moving through Him at the time they were said.
So we need to remember that kindness may appear to be cruel to those who rebel against the spirit of God. The very moment a person stops rebelling and begins to acknowledge the truth of the words that are spoken, he realizes that they are kind. Such an individual will take the attitude, “How awful it would have been to be left in that state without being made aware of it.” So there are occasions when kindness takes the form of seemingly hard words, or hard actions. Here again, then, we cannot judge by the outer form. If it is the spirit of God in action, then the form will be right. As we find what it means to maintain attunement with the spirit of God we will let that form be brought forth with an understanding of the sense of the fitness of things, regardless of the human mind's tendency to judge.
Now, we are walking on rather delicate ground here, because the self-active mind likes to indulge itself in expression which certainly is anything but kind. If it imagines that it can excuse itself for such expression on the basis of the fact that, “Well I'm just being cruel to be kind,” that keeps the individual concerned moving in the direction of perdition. There must first be a keen and consistent attunement with the spirit of God, and an awareness of it. There cannot be that attunement if the individual is subject to his or her own emotions. There must be a clear pattern in that regard. But when there is the attunement, when the spirit is allowed to take its right form according to the need of the moment, and that need of the moment calls forth something that is seemingly hard, a current of feeling will be moving through that expression. That which is brought forth will not be brought forth by reason of the feeling. It will be brought forth by reason of the spirit of God, but it would not be an expression of the spirit of God if there was no feeling moving through it. Always, when there is attunement with the spirit of God, so that that which finds expression through the individual is of the spirit of God, it is accompanied by feeling. It is not a cold, hard, unfeeling thing.
When you read our Master's words you have a very distinct awareness of a strong current of feeling moving through them. He was not just speaking words. There was something really driving home, and that can only be achieved through the intensification of the current of feeling brought forth by the movement of the spirit of God; not brought forth by reaction to the circumstance, and yet to the unknowing there may be something which seems to be the same thing, but it is not.
There are those who have taken the attitude that when our Master drove the moneychangers out of the Temple He had lost His temper, and they have tended to glory in that and say, “Well look how human He was!” He was Divine. The divine expression appeared through the human form, but the expression which appeared was not human. When He drove the moneychangers out of the Temple there was power in what He did. Presumably they came back in again and got back into business, but for the moment they were certainly aware that something had hit them: the spirit of God in action through human form.
The spirit of God in action through human form generates feeling in human form, so that the words and the acts are filled with feeling. In that case there was certainly a feeling of indignation. There is that which is referred to as “righteous indignation,” and human beings use this as an excuse for their reactions to external circumstances. “Oh,” they say, “but this was unfair, so I had righteous indignation”—a reaction to the unfairness. That is wrong, that is destructive. It is not an evidence of the working of the spirit of God but an evidence of the working of the spirits of this world. When there is the working of the spirit of God there is no loss of control and the individual is perfectly capable, at any moment, of letting the current of feeling settle down. He is not so carried away with it that he cannot stop it.
Control!—control of feeling, use of feeling. That current of feeling may manifest in different ways, according to the circumstance. I am thinking of this at the moment from the standpoint of that kindness which is the meeting of an issue on a positive basis. We need to learn how to do it, not becoming subject to our feelings and then excusing ourselves and saying, “Oh well, that was the current of the spirit.” We need to be honest. We cannot even approach the subject if we are not honest. Just as our Master had to meet issues during the course of His ministry on a very positive basis, so does that same requirement devolve upon those who follow Him, and we need to see there is kindness in such function when it appears by reason of the working of the spirit of God, taking form through us on that basis. When it takes form through us it takes form in thought, it takes form in feeling, and it takes form in whatever action is necessary. These are all aspects of form for the manifestation of the spirit of God, but the spirit of God must bring forth its own form, and human beings cannot rightly decide that “the spirit of God would act this way in this circumstance, therefore I'm going to react to the circumstance and feel thus and so and become all disturbed,” calling it righteous indignation or something else, which it is not at all in such case. It is not a right thing at all.
There is this aspect of kindness. When we function in true service it is necessary sometimes to be kind in this way. When we do so, we are meeting something at a certain vibratory level—a vibratory level that we have referred to as “coarse.” We spoke of coarse pneumaplasm. There is correct function, from the divine standpoint, at that level of pneumaplasm. There are all kinds of physical substance. It is not all one substance that human beings might classify as being pure in some fashion. We have all kinds of substance, physically speaking, in the world. The pneumaplasm that is generated from protoplasm emerges close to the vibratory level of the protoplasm, something that we might call coarse, relatively speaking. It is much finer than physical substance but it is still coarse as pneumaplasm.
Pneumaplasm is not generated jumping over all the intervening realms, so that it is immediately fine—up somewhere. There is that which is present at every level—coarse and fine. Human beings in their self-activity have been able to distort the coarse, because they could function at that level. They have, to all intents and purposes, obliterated the finer pneumaplasm insofar as their awareness and function is concerned, and they consequently, in their dealings one with another, in their conversation, in their actions, in their living, are constantly working with this coarse pneumaplasm, distorting it, making it into a worse mess than it was before. And then it comes out into form of feeling, thought, word and deed—a horrible mess in the sight of God.
And yet there is right use for that level of pneumaplasm. It is not going to be eliminated. It is needful. If it was eliminated there would not be anything to connect man with the higher levels of pneumaplasm and, consequently, with God. So, occasionally it is necessary to function at that level. We cannot entirely ignore it; we have to work with it, and when we do so, we may use words and expressions which relate to that level. But here again, let us remember that it is only right when it is the spirit of God in action, taking the form that is fitting under that circumstance.
© emissaries of divine light
