The Promised Helper 

In his farewell discourse to the eleven apostles following the last supper in the upper room, Jesus touched on several topics. The last topic that he discussed with the apostles was the helper – the Spirit of Truth – that he promised would come to them, and the whole world, after he had departed.

He described this new spirit as being just like him, but in the form of a spirit, so that he could minister to all the world, not just to those in his physical presence. He promised that this comforting spirit would live in their hearts; that all those who welcome this spirit and who make love real in their experience would be drawn towards one another.

An example of the function of the Spirit of Truth can be seen in the interpretation of the Golden Rule and the principle of non-resistance. By employing cosmic adaptability and flexibility to these time-honored practices, they can be perceived in new and beneficial ways through applying the living truth supplied through the Spirit of Truth.

“When I have gone to the Father, and after he has fully accepted the work I have done for you on earth, and after I have received the final sovereignty of my own domain, I shall say to my Father: Having left my children alone on earth, it is in accordance with my promise to send them another teacher. And when the Father shall approve, I will pour out the Spirit of Truth upon all flesh. Already is my Father’s spirit in your hearts, and when this day shall come, you will also have me with you even as you now have the Father. This new gift is the spirit of living truth. The unbelievers will not at first listen to the teachings of this spirit, but the sons of light will all receive him gladly and with a whole heart. And you shall know this spirit when he comes even as you have known me, and you will receive this gift in your hearts, and he will abide with you. You thus perceive that I am not going to leave you without help and guidance. I will not leave you desolate. Today I can be with you only in person. In the times to come I will be with you and all other men who desire my presence, wherever you may be, and with each of you at the same time.

“And when this new day comes, you will be indwelt by the Son as well as by the Father. And these gifts of heaven will ever work the one with the other even as the Father and I have wrought on earth and before your very eyes as one person, the Son of Man. And this spirit friend will bring to your remembrance everything I have taught you.”

Jesus looked down upon them all, smiled, and said: “My little children, I am going away, going back to my Father. In a little while you will not see me as you do here, as flesh and blood. In a very short time I am going to send you my spirit, just like me except for this material body. 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.”

The promised helper that Jesus assured would come into the hearts of believers and be bestowed upon all people is known as the Spirit of Truth. This heavenly gift doesn't represent just the words or regulations of truth, nor does it serve as a fixed or rigid focal point of truth. Instead, this new teacher is the deep inner conviction of truth, an awareness that provides certainty about genuine spiritual reality. And, this new spirit of truth is alive and continuously evolving, progressively revealing and adjusting to truth.

Divine truth is a living reality that can be perceived by the spirit. It resides in the highest spiritual realms where one realizes divinity and experiences a connection with God-consciousness. You can know and live this truth, witness its growth within your soul, and enjoy the freedom it brings to your thoughts. But you cannot confine this truth within rigid doctrines, codes, or human behavioral constructs. When you attempt to pin down divine truth in human formulations, it quickly loses its vitality. Trying to resurrect imprisoned truth afterward can, at best, result in a form of intellectualized, elevated wisdom. Rigid truth is lifeless and only suitable as a theory. Living truth, on the other hand, is dynamic and can only exist experientially in the human mind.

The genuine truth seeker looks for the presence of the Spirit of Truth within every wise expression. Those who intimately know God are continually raising ordinary wisdom to the living levels of divine meaning. Meanwhile, those who lack spiritual progress persistently pull living truth down to the lifeless realms of conventional wisdom and into the realm of mere elevated knowledge.

We all know the golden rule: Do unto others as we would have them to unto us. But, if we take it too literally, without seeking for the deeper truth of it, the golden rule can lead to offense, as you might think that if you want others to be completely honest with you, you should always speak your unfiltered thoughts to them. This simplistic interpretation could result in unhappiness and sorrow. But, when the golden rule is viewed through the spiritual insight provided by the Spirit of Truth, it becomes far more than a guideline for ethical behavior.

Different people view the golden rule in various ways. However, in the kingdom of believers who know God, it becomes a spiritual principle guiding interactions for the highest good of those who practice it. The golden rule is the yardstick by which we can assess all of our social interactions.

The most profound understanding of the golden rule comes from the realization of living this principle through the Spirit of Truth. It's about loving your neighbor as yourself, just as Jesus loved us all. It’s about relating ourselves to our brothers and sisters so that in every interaction, they will receive the highest possible good as a result of their contact with us. It’s about viewing through a spiritual lens and the connection to our human soul that our code of conduct is impacted.

When individuals guided by this spiritual insight truly grasp the essence of the golden rule, they are joyful with the certainty of belonging to a benevolent universe. Their spiritual aspirations find fulfillment only in loving their fellow beings as Jesus loved us all, and this embodies the actual realization of God's love.

This same philosophy of the living flexibility and cosmic adaptability of divine truth to the individual requirements and capacity of every son of God, must be perceived before we can hope adequately to understand the Master’s teaching and practice of nonresistance to evil. The Master’s teaching is basically a spiritual pronouncement. Even the material implications of his philosophy cannot be helpfully considered apart from their spiritual correlations.

In other words, to grasp the Master's teaching of nonresistance to evil, it's crucial to understand the philosophy of divine truth's adaptability to each individual. The essence of his teaching lies in the nonresistance of all selfish reactions to the universe while actively pursuing spiritual values like divine beauty, infinite goodness, and eternal truth. It's about knowing God and progressively becoming more like him.

Neither the golden rule, nor the Master’s injunction regarding nonresistance to evil can ever be fully understood as mere dogmas. They must be lived; lived through the interpretation of the Spirit of Truth. The Spirit of Truth is the guiding influence of our conduct with one another. Unselfish love must be constantly reinterpreted; and our relationships with others must be interpreted and adapted in accordance with the leading of the Spirit of Truth

The old religion teaches self-sacrifice; Jesus’ new religion teaches self-forgetfulness in the effort to coordinate social service and spiritual comprehension. The old religion is motivated by fear of God; the new religion is ruled by truth-conviction.

But even if we are devout truth seekers, it is important that we always cultivate the natural and sincere warmth that identifies those who have been born of the spirit. Nothing can take the place of real and heartfelt empathy towards our fellow human beings.