Views from the ground floor, part I

My friend M. recently expressed interest in studying the Sermon on the Mount; and he asked me to write a bit about it.

I decided to take it up, since it seems like a good project to work on during our self-imposed viral isolation. It is, after all, one of the great spiritual classics of civilization; that being said, it seems arrogant to believe I can possibly bring any new insight to the meaning behind what Christ taught us. We are, however, obliged to make efforts not just physically in terms of sensation, and emotionally in terms of feeling, but also with our minds. I under took this project, therefore, with an effort to examine the words carefully, look at their meanings, and intuit the teaching behind the rather simple phrases.

Well, there is nothing simple about these phrases. Each one embodies a universe of intelligence once one begins to examine it with a critical mind and relate it to practical effort and inner work.

Each one of these brief essays as a starting point for one's own inner exploration of the meaning that Christ brought us. It is at the same time both universal and intimately human, even cellular, in scale. 

As I said to a close spiritual friend recently,  I’m not trying to climb the Empire State building. 

I’d just like to get out of the basement and get a view from the third floor.

Let’s call this set of essays, then, Views From the Ground Floor. 

Introduction to Views From the Ground Floor:  an examination of the beatitudes

Every line of the beatitudes begins with the word blessed.

The word was originally an English word, blēdsian, based on blōd, or, blood. The word may have originally meant, marked with blood, that is signified with a sacred bond of blood relationship—a very ancient tradition indeed.

 Marking with blood was a sign of protection or favor. It brings the one who is marked into a special relationship with the one who marks. They are bound together.

The English word was used in the middle ages to translate the Latin benedicere, to praise or worship. Later relationships with the word bliss are self-evident.

We derive a rich range of meanings here, all of them related to the idea of being selected, bound to, and in relationship with. While the modern context of the word as meaning favored by or receiving Grace from God retains its validity, looking at its roots offers some rich insights into the importance of the question of our relationship with God.

Relationship is an active thing that cannot be left to accident, even in ordinary life. Anyone who neglects their relationship with, for example, their loved one over their child learns this in painful ways. In order for a relationship to remain active and be successful, it requires attention. We cannot just leave it as it is and expect it to work out. Our initiative, our agency, is required.

Again, using the analogy of our ordinary relationships within families and societies, these things are eternally fluid and evolving and require constant attention and creativity in order to help them remain healthy and work out well. Our relationship with our spiritual side, our relationship with God, requires an equal attention.

Keeping this in mind, perhaps it's interesting to read beatitudes substituting the words in relationship with God for the word blessed. This idea of being in relationship with God is also expressed as being present, or being in the presence of God. 

The best book I know of on this subject is Brother Lawrence’s The Practice of the Presence of God.

May your heart be close to God, 

and God close to your heart.

Lee

Lee van Laer is a Senior Editor at Parabola Magazine.