"Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land
which the Lord thy God giveth thee."
This Commandment is unique inasmuch as it addresses the child, the son and
the daughter. In one sense, this Commandment is as old and as modern and as
simple as can be. The parent speaks: If you are a good child I will give you a
lollipop. The promise of a long life is the lollipop. If we are good to our
parents we shall live long and well.
The ancient Israelites were taught veneration of their elders. During the
entire Piscean Age, the Patriarchs were held in highest esteem. Their judgment
was wisdom; their voice was law. Old age then was considered the natural time
of attainment.
Now, however, youth is the outward symbol of attainment, and the
Commandment must find a higher interpretation for our age. This Commandment is
addressed to the child who remains a child through all lives. Whether young or
old in years, we are all children of the Father-Mother God.
On the physical plane we, as children of our parents, owe them all in all.
Through their reciprocal love we were conceived and brought to birth. To them
belongs our debt of life. But now we are grown and, better versed in the
mysteries of" the larger life, we acknowledge God as the ewe Father-Mother.
Our earthly parents were instruments of birth, but our Father-Mother God is
the cause of our birth.
The subconscious regard of a normal child for its parents may be compared
to a steadily flowing stream. In this stream, the child as the pilot of his
little boat of life sails securely. The scream is home and parents. All his
needs are taken care of; all is complete. Then the child grows to full stature
of adulthood, and, in growing independent of our earthly parents, we forget
that we are still dependent children of the Father-Mother God. Yet, when the
storms of life come we are not so sure-footed on our road of independence. We
try to run to some sheltered place where stronger shoulders than our own will
assume responsibility for us.
If we are wise in observing the fifth Commandment, we turn to our Father-
Mother God, the ever-present help in trouble. But, often, we do not do this;
often we are laid low in agony of body and Spirit.
The emotion that causes a toddler to pour out his woes to his mother may be
but a frail band compared to the volume and intensity of the healing love that
flows to him from her. His frail band of emotion, however, represents his all
— his entire little being. The volume of understanding and love that flows to
us from the Father-Mother God is also infinitely greater than the love,
confidence, and feeling of dependence which we extend to Him. Unlike that of
the child, however, our band does not represent our all! This is the
difference between a trivial Commandment and a powerful, swift working one.
The fifth Commandment is correlated to the fifth zodiacal house of Leo. The
fifth house is ruled by the bodily symbol of God, the Sun, and in our bodies
Leo rules the heart. Leo stands for supreme divine love.
The full trinity of love is born of three signs: Gemini, Cancer, and Leo.
The lungs ruled by Gemini and nourished by the universal pabulum of air are
symbolical of universal love, the love that "casts its bread upon the waters."
Of the love symbolized by the breast and chest, ruled by Cancer, it is said,
"Whatsoever ye do unto one of the least of these ye do unto me." The love of
the heart, Leo, is nourished by the divinity of life itself. The love of the
heart is one-pointed, swift, intense. It is the intense love of the One and
Only in all the world. It is the love designed to be the ladder to draw the
heart of man to God. It is the love that is experienced by aloneness with God.
It is love undivided, therefore intense.
It is said of St. Francis and St. Claire that at times they would meet in a
hut in the forest to talk over the problems of their respective Orders. As
they sat, at opposite ends of a table, the intensity of their love for each
other, their cause, and their God filled and surrounded the hut with a roseate
light so brilliant that the peasants thought the forest was on fire. This kind
of love is the pre-requisite for the true children of God in the dawning New
Age.
Why, then, does the Commandment not say, Love thy Father and thy Mother? It
says, honor. Honor is purity of love. Honor is love vested in all the virtues
that make love noble. Honor changes the astigmatism of levity in love to
sacredness. Honor is love in selflessness; it implies self-restraint. Honor,
holding rains tight, allows no hurt to bruise love. In giving honor, we
acknowledge depths that have been explored by the honored ones which we have
not explored, and heights the honored ones have attained that we have not yet
climbed. The love that leads to the honor of our Father-Mother God is stripped
clean and stands in awe. Love in the Aquarian Age is honorable.
". . . that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God
giveth thee." Fullness of years is more important than length of years. Years
filled with service, study, contemplation, and growth are the years that
count, the years that bring happiness, peace, joy, and contentment to heart
and mind.
If we learn to love our Father-Mother God with the ecstasy of one who is
beloved — and we are beloved — our days shall indeed be long because they
will be rich and precious beyond dreaming, for the well-spring of our
gratitude has no end.
"Honor thy Father and thy Mother that thy days may be long in the land
which the Lord thy God giveth thee."
— Rays from the Rose Cross Magazine, October, 1976, page 455
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