Knowledge of Word, the image of Life or God depending on our beliefs, reveals that envisioning is key to having agapé by stating: “We will be like him (Word) because we will envision him just as he is.”
Envisioning Correctly
“Envision” is the correct translation here, not “see”,1 indicating that the responsibility of actively doing something, rather than the passive act of seeing, falls on us—to envision Word just as he is, which is in his oneness with Name. Until we do, we cannot be like him but instead reflect the error in how we envision him back into ourselves.
This applies to how we envision Word in everyone and give Name all our agapé through them in our singularity. If I envision Word in you correctly, I reflect the agapé in Word into myself and can love you unconditionally, allowing me to give Name all my agapé through you. I can also see whether you are correctly envisioning Word in me and loving me and Name likewise.
Once we have envisioned Word correctly and know whether others are envisioning Word in us correctly, we can begin making our agapé grow, especially if they show us only conditional agapé, no agapé, or hatred. It starts with seeing Word in them and being willing to forgive them for being blind to Word in us and thus having little or no agapé for us. But be careful not to be against yourself.
Be Not Against Yourself
In other words, forgiving others with unconditional agapé, often without ever saying a word due to their blindness, gives us the clarity of mind to truly assess words or actions against us. But without agapé even for a moment, if it is willful, we misjudge them for better or worse and work against ourselves. For the agapé of Name does not use our past unconditional agapé to justify any willful lack of it in the present. But if we are willing, it becomes an opportunity to learn where we may not be envisioning Word just as it is in others.
To learn more about envisioning, see:
Learning How to See Spiritually
Among the four main Greek verbs translated “see”, only horaó forms nouns translated “vision”, which qualifies it to be translated “mentally see” or “envision” also. Horaó is used more often than the other three Greek verbs combined, making the New Testament a book of visions. For one of the primary reasons that Word came was to teach us how to envision (horaó) Name in order to see (blepo, main Greek word for see) Him—through envisioning Word.
Word said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see (blepo) might see (blepo) [if we learn his teaching, for this is not foremost physical healing of sight but a renewing of the mind and training of the senses], and that those who see might become blind.” (John 9:39) To the leaders of his time, Word said, “And the Father [Name] who sent me [Word], that One has borne witness concerning me. You have neither heard His voice at any time nor have you envisioned (horaó) His form.” (John 5:37)
“We know that when he (Word) manifests, we will be like him because we will envision (horaó) him just as he is.” (1 John 3:2)
Does that offer a reasonable basis for theoretical religiousness to be questioned or accepted? Does prescribing to one dogma lead to blindness or is it mostly through indoctrination and extremism?
Great read, but with inverted theology. Agape isn’t some metaphysical concept, and it was never about envisioning divinity inside yourself. Jesus gave willingly of Himself without reward. The whole point of Scripture is that we’re not the divine. We are meant to listen, obey, and respond. When you turn that into visualization and self-reflection, you strip out the discipline and make it about control. That’s basically Baalism in newer language. Basically, the danger of this is we run the risk of becoming self-reverential and we see the flaw of self-reverence in figures like King David. David is the seed of the line, but it's a dark seed. He was impetuous, deceitful, and his arrogance crippled him in old age. When Jesus arrives later, He says to "Love one another as I have loved you." This applies to everyone, and is offered freely. This is agape love.