Tod Cage
Spiritual Teachings

The Four Primaries

  • On Love

  • On Justice

  • On Truth

  • On Peace
     If a person possesses Love, they possess the greatest of things.  You can be sure of Love by the fruit it
produces.  It is kind, it is gentle, it troubles none.  Love displays endless patience, without limit.  It is like a
steady, clear stream that runs neither too swiftly nor too weak.  Rather Love gently flows, peacefully, and any
who drink from it come alive and are satisfied and boundless.  Love fulfills, it does not tear down.  Love does
If a person claims love for another but raises their hand against them, that person claimed in vain.  If a person
says, "yes it's in my heart, I have it," but does not do everything in their power to help others, even their
enemies, that person never touched it.  If you claim love of God but walk by your fellow man who is
impoverished and in need, even if he be not willing to work, then you have claimed falsely.  Love does not
hear, "yes but..." Love does not have borders and finite rules.  Love does not distinguish.  Love does not
hesitate.  Love has great compassion, Love's bond is Eternal, Love is the Key.   

If any one claims love for you and does not match these sayings, be sure that they have not Love for you.  If
you claim Love for someone but your produce does not match these words, be sure that you yourself do not
have Love.  God has this kind of Love.  Can you bear God's Love for all things?      
      Most of the time the word Justice is associated with punishment, or an exacting measure.  An image of
people.  This however is not really at all the kind of Justice God is interested in, particularly since all too
often this kind of Justice is unfair.  Unfortunately that kind of Justice is favorable to the wealthy and the
powerful.  You may see by the atmosphere of a court that it seeks to assert authority and control all those
who are painfully oppressed beneath it, which are the common citizens.  The powerful are almost always
treated differently.  It is as old as man himself.

So man has always had a bent view of what Justice is, even relating to God. However God's Justice is to be
sure not like man's Justice.  God's Justice is based wholly on equality.  It means that all of life is equal in
God's eyes, he does not favor the powerful or the wealthy, in fact having those things makes it harder for a
person to find God.  People of power and wealth however are equal to those without it, not below, and not
above, equal.  All living things are seen like this by God, even a single celled organism.  That one celled
organism has the same treatment by God as a holy man or a criminal.  Why?

If you can answer this question and really mean it, then I will show you a person who has found love.  
Without profound love you cannot achieve or know true Justice.  From love Justice flows freely and
perfectly, unblemished and pure.  Seek for true Justice with all your mind, all your strength and all your will
but if you have not love it is impossible to find.  He who holds Justice holds the Key.  

Justice is eternal, it never fails for even a single moment.  Justice is perfect, like a flawless diamond or
precious stone.  Justice is balanced for all are equal.  Justice lives on love's fire, for without love's fire, it is
extinguished.  Seek Justice, for if you find it you find the heart of what is essential.        
At Home, in the family, there is often tension.  Parents are not able to cope with their children, neighbors are
not able to cope with each other, wives with their husbands and so on.   Young people in social situations very
commonly run into strife with each other when dealing with others.  

The unrest and lack of Peace has historically always been an issue, but now in such a fast moving world it is
amplified.  People today resort to a kind of  acceptance of the situation because it is so common.  If you look at
the issue of world Peace it does not need to be mentioned that there is little to speak of.  When two or more
countries get along, it is only for mutual benefit, a true and lasting Peace cannot be based only on this.  
Governments are corrupt and the people who follow them are usually led to oppression, war and or regarded
as a commodity to be exploited.  There has never been a government in existence that has shown otherwise,
yet people still look to their government for a Peace that never comes.  

What about the wars and conflicts?  Is it the role of a " real man" to fight, maim and kill others to prove his
valor?  Are you as a person willing to do these things to others?  Is that what the strong do to survive?  Do you
really believe that someone who would kill others to live and not make a Peaceful stand is the strong one?  
Going with the flow and the accepted way is always the easiest, how can that be seen as stronger?  If Peace is
so easy to attain then why don't you see it all around you?  

The answer is that peace is one of the hardest things to attain that there is.  Peace is the hallmark of God.  If a
man has Peace, true and lasting Peace, you can be sure that man is of God.  Only the most dedicated seeker
can find it.  Perhaps this is why the world does not have it.  But did you know it is possible to obtain?  The
question really becomes how dedicated are you to peace?  If you don't seek it who will?  Is Peace, left to the
Peace seekers, enough for the whole world?  The person who adopts this way has adopted a selfish attitude
and contributes to the world fire.  

If a man displays lasting, unbroken Peace, be sure that he is a true man of God.  If a man remains calm and is
not given to anger and temper, be confident that he has attained what is most essential.  If a man is found
without cursing some part of the world with his lips, then you know that man has found what others were not
able to.  Peace is balanced, it remains unbroken.  Peace abides, it does not agitate.   Peace is found at the
center, and radiates out.  Peace endures, it has no limits.  If a man breaks Peace be sure that he does not
know God.  Be a Peace seeker.   
    There is a very big confusion between Truth and belief.  Truth is not a claim or point of view.  It is an
ultimate reality, actuality, and fact.  A belief is confidence in, conviction, or opinion.   An individual might say a  
certain belief is the Truth.  However a belief is only a concept that you accept through a combination of
thoughts, feelings and actions.  A belief might be based on Truth, not the Truth itself, so this claim is always
false.

Truth itself can not be proven, it must be experienced.  Can you tell a person who was always blind what the
sky really looks like?  They must see it and experience it for themselves.  So a person may try to explain what
the Truth is like but they can not make you experience it.

There are many things that get in the way of Truth however.  The heart is a very good example, it can be
treacherous or false.  In fact, it is your heart that usually will get in the way of Truth because very often the
heart desires things other than the truth, commonly, selfish things.  If a woman says, "I love God with all my
heart," but then does not seek for him with all the powers available to her, that woman has lied to herself in
her heart.  The heart seeks its desires, and if seeking God was not really one of those desires, then God is
not really being sought.  

It could be that the thought of this Truth bothers the woman's conscience so that is
why she lied to herself.  
The woman might then reason, "every person seeks God in their own way and this is my way of seeking him".  
This would mean that the woman forgot exactly what she first declared which was,"I love God with ALL my
heart". So she knows that there is a lot more she can do to seek God but chooses to justify why she herself
does not fully seek him rather than say the Truth which would be, "I must not love God with all my heart".  

The woman may even renounce the belief that in order to experience God you must first love him with all your
heart.  She may do this in an attempt to create an alternate path, for the first is too consuming.  But did you
know that when you experience God he does consume you?

It is always much easier for people to justify their desires rather than accept the reality of their heart.  But If
you can accept the reality of your heart that is a very good step towards Truth, for you acknowledge your
heart's desires rather than justify them.    

It might be asked, "how do you know if you experienced Truth?  There is only one person who can answer
that for you, and that person is you.  Each of you is master of your own fate.  No one can do it for you or force
you or even take responsibility for you.  That is why any religions "forcing" conversions are wrong.  We have
what we call the conscience.  If you listen quietly enough and with profound searching, Your inner voice will
tell you the Truth.  If you do not put a profound trust in your inner conscience, you will never be sure of any
experience you might have, or of yourself.  Know thyself and you can know (experience) Truth.

Truth is not vague, it is sure. Truth does not wound, it heals.  Truth is the light that shines forth, not the
darkness, and all who trust in it do not trust in vain.  Build upon Truth, for it is the foundation of the spirit.