LOVE IS FASTER THAN KNOWLEDGE
Jack Wood said that.
I never forgot it.

Jack Wood was many things during his lifetime.
One of them was friend to people.
He was a friend of mine.
He had compassion for the needs of people.
That sticks with me to this hour.

 
This is not a religious examination of a few words here.
I am not a religious man. At all.
I do aspire to be a spiritual man.
That is acceptable in this world if your spiritual aspriations are etheral, remote, internal even.

What isn't acceptable is an open show of your core spiritual values.
Especially if they show up, or expose the base nature of men.

Today this podcast is, rather, a look at the heart of our existence.
The very narrative of your human condition.

In the lead picture depicting the title, you see a man aiding another man.
This image is representative of a story from The  Unknown Book and tells of one specific person.

The Good Samaritan.

It is a story that conveys another story.
It shows that knowledge isn't enough.
There must be more.
We can excuse ourselves from just about anything with enough knowledge.

And we often do!

 
The "go and do likewise clause..."
Love is an action, not an intellectual exercise to be considered.

The Good Samaritan tells a story...
Of course, you have to go to The Unknown Book to read of it.
Go here;
The New Testament.
The Gospel of Luke.
Chapter 10: 25-37.

The Thieves.
A man fell among thieves they stripped him, robbed him, left him half dead.
They had knowledge, to do evil.
They lacked love.
They had no compassion.

A Priest.
A priest came by, saw him and passed by on the other side of the road.
Well educated in everything religious.
Disdainful of the human condition.
Above it.
Compassionless, callous, human failure.

A Levite.
Another religious man came by.
He looked at him and passed by.
Also on the other side.
Similar but curious.
Cold hearted.
Without compassion.
No better than the thieves and robbers.

All these men lived on "The Other Side." of life.
They had knowledge.
They lacked love.
They had no compassion.
They displayed the dark nature of the human condition.

The Samaritan.

The Samaritan came next, saw him and had compassion upon him.
Went to him.
Bound up his wounds.
Pouring oil and wine into the wounds to cleans and begin the healing.
Set him on his own beast.
Brought him to an inn.
Took care of him.
Paid for his care.
Planned to return to pay any other costs.

What you don't see here is that the Samaritan was the despised man in the story.
Half breed with no real national identity.
Aware of life and the burden of navigating the human condition.
Living with the speed of love before engaging in the act of knowledge.

The Author of love.

The teller of this incident is Himself not without compassion.
Always the quickest to act by loves demands before serving the effects of knowing.
Giving the example of the speed of things.

We learn that:
Love has a first Cause...
Go here;
The New Testament.
1John
Chapter 4:19.

We love him because he first loved us...

So says The Unknown Book.

We see that:
Love has a prime Effect...
Go here;
The New Testament.
1John
Chapter 3:16.

Hereby pereive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us...

Again so says The Unknown Book.

 
Charity is love in shoe leather...
Actions matter not an intellectual understanding.

Go here;
The New Testament.
I Corinthians
Chapter 13:1-13

The list of all the pursuits that men undertake.
Yet not one of them is worth anything if they aren't led by love in action.

Summarized in these words:

"... though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing."

You're passing by on the other side.
If your actions aren't building upon Charity.