The Urantia Papers on loving our Neighbor.
What constitutes loving our neighbor? And how do we go about actually doing it?
We learn about this concept from an elaboration in the Papers of the role of the new teacher, the Spirit of Truth, that Jesus stated he would send after he had "gone away." This was in response to a question from Judas Alpheus. In his reply Jesus had stated:
"This new teacher is the Spirit of Truth who will live with each one of you, in your hearts, and so will all the children of light be made one and be drawn toward one another. And in this very manner will my Father and I be able to live in the souls of each one of you and also in the hearts of all other men who love us and make that love real in their experiences by loving one another, even as I am now loving you." (1950)
There follows a discourse on the meaning of the "golden rule" that requires us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Included is this statement:
"The true cosmic meaning of this rule of universal relationship (the golden rule) is revealed only in its spiritual realization, in the interpretation of the law of conduct by the spirit of the Son to the spirit of the Father that indwells the soul of mortal man."
So how does the spirit of the Son interpret this law of conduct that demands that we love our neighbor?
"Love, unselfishness, must undergo a constant and living re-adaptive interpretation of relationships in accordance with the leading of the Spirit of Truth. Love must thereby grasp the ever-changing and enlarging concepts of the highest cosmic good of the individual who is loved."
Here we have a highly specific statement on how to love our neighbor. Our love must be in accord with the "highest cosmic good" of the one who is loved. That is, our love is not to confine itself to the immediate need of our neighbor but must take into consideration his/her eternal universe career.
The true meaning of "highest cosmic good" can readily be appreciated in situations in which parents satisfy the immediate needs of their children to the point of spoiling them--actions done in apparent love that could jeopardize the cosmic, universe careers of their offspring.
Loving our neighbor is such a complex requirement that none of us is capable of interpreting the true meaning of the term in particular instances--which is why we are instructed to interpret our love in accord with the leading of the indwelling Spirit of Truth.
"And so must we clearly recognize that neither the golden rule nor the teaching of nonresistance can ever be properly understood as dogmas or precepts. They can only be comprehended by living them, by realizing their meanings in the living interpretation of the Spirit of Truth, who directs the loving contact of one human being with another." (1950)
Loving our neighbor is not something we can do on our own. We must learn to listen to the Spirit of Truth of Jesus who, through the Father-Spirit that dwells within us, so interprets our love of another that it actually is directed towards their "highest cosmic good."
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