"Blessed are the poor in spirit. . ."
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the
mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to
speak, and taught them, saying:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be
comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are
those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed
are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called
children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people revile you and
persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way
they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
From a wisdom
perspective (that is, from the point of view of the transformation of
consciousness), “poor in spirit” designates an inner attitude of receptivity and
openness, and one is blessed by it because only in this state is it possible to
receive anything. There’s a wonderful Zen story that exactly translates this
teaching. A young seeker, keen to become the student of a certain master, is
invited to an interview at the master’s house. The student rambles on about all
his spiritual experience, his past teachers, his insights and skills, and his
pet philosophies. The master listens silently and begins to pour a cup of tea.
He pours and pours, and when the cup is overflowing he keeps right on pouring.
Eventually the student notices what's going on and interrupts his monologue to
say, “Stop pouring! The cup is full.” The teacher says, “Yes, and so are you.
How can I possibly teach you?”
The first beatitude
speaks to that principle. In one of his most beautiful insights, the
contemporary Christian mystic Thomas Merton once wrote, “At the center point of
our being is a point of nothingness which is untouched by sin and illusion, a
point of pure truth, a point of spark which belongs entirely to God.” From time
immemorial, wisdom teaching has insisted that only through that point of
nothingness can we enter the larger mind. As long as we’re filled with
ourselves, we can go no further.
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