Righteousness.....

Jesus said;" For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.........................The Scribes and Pharisees forgot the first commandment, to "Love thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind"..They are very ethical, upright men in their way, but they cling to forms and outward observances, and this leads them toward intolerance, narrowness, and dogmatism...the righteousness which exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and pharisees is the very opposite of this...It is an ethic which regards the observance of forms and rituals, not as an end in itself, but as a means to enter into the kingdom of heaven.....When we love God, we must love our neighbor as our self,,,because our neighbor is our very Self....Through the practice of self-control, the inner restraint of the passions, we develop spiritually toward union with the absolute good...The man who attains this ultimate state does not have to discriminate consciously between right and wrong, or practice self-mastery...Holiness and purity become his very nature...He transcends relative righteousness and enters the kingdom of heaven........................