The Sermon on the Mount, Parts XXVIII and XXIX of XL

The Sermon on the Mount, Part XXVIII of XL
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TEXT: Continuing with Matthew 6:

26. Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his span of life?

COMMENTARY: This is perhaps the "least practical," and most "Taoist" aspects of the Sermon. For Jesus dares recommend unqualified, thought-free faith, or trust, in the cosmic Mind behind creation, and deep within your own mind. To live, literally, just like the birds would be to live in an upside-down bowl of grass in a tree, and Jesus does not ask this of anyone. But one aspect of life that we can and should learn from Sister Bird is how she lives so thoughtfree, and thus, care-freely.
She never worries, never lives in constant fear of death. Instead, she applies each moment to productivity and survival. She does not gather great quantities of food or other necessities, and Jesus also recommended against this. In fact, her mind is so very simple that it is "thoughtfree." This condition or state is the one for which experienced meditators search the mind, for it is utter stillness, utter tranquility.
So, Jesus' intent was that we live every day, or at least, portions of every day, in thoughtfree Mind, and in complete trust of the universal
Mind-- neither questioning, demanding, nor worrying.


The Sermon on the Mount, Part XXIX of XL
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TEXT:

28. And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O men of little faith?

COMMENTARY: Some inquire about Jesus and the simplicity of
the trust (faith) that he recommends. For example, they say, no one can live with the utter simplicity and the thoughtfree state of birdmind.

And it is impossible practically to live with a "flowermind"! And perhaps they are right. But if we cannot live as the birds, our challenge is made even greater by his recommendation that we live as "lilies of the field." So, the implication is, we must strive to move beyond even the birds in our thoughtfree simplicity. Is the person of Love's ideal a catatonic? No, for when she successfully becomes thoughtfree, a greater Mind, the cosmic Spirit, will begin to move, speak, think, and act through her. She will be as Its marionette.

It/She/He will guide her thoughts, words, and actions. And the more that she relaxes into Its guidance, and surrenders to It, the more that this profound Lovemind will "use her" to express Its creativity, brilliant intelligence, and Love. So, the enlightened being of Love PLAYS her way through life. This is an acronym for: Permits, Lets, Allows, Yields, and Surrenders. She renounces all illusion of any personal control of her life, and relaxes into the cosmic Flow. She does watch her life, to make sure that she always responds with a blend of noninjury (ahimsa) and Love; she dare not be careless. But she lets go of rigid control and micromanagement of her life. For "her" life is no longer "hers"; she belongs to Love!