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!

Overcoming the Lower Nature

Overcoming the Lower Nature
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The lower nature, also called the "humanimal nature" and the "fear-nature," among other synonyms, can be both "enemy" and "teacher." If we fiercely resist and hate it, it becomes an enemy, and to have this "enemy within" is not the best situation.

So, let us begin our work with the lower nature by recognizing that God has permitted it to exist for a purpose. That purpose is education: Without the resistance of the lower nature, we might not learn anything at all from life.

Like fear generally, it is NOT a factor in God's active will, but is an aspect of His permissive will. It exists not because it is the will of Love, but because Love simply permits it, as a teacher.

The best way to eradicate the lower nature, or to neutralize its power in the heartmind, is to practice regular meditation, "interior prayer," or the "prayer of silence." In this relaxed state of mind, we invite the Love-nature to enter our minds and "take over" our lives. We permit it; we allow It; we surrender to it.

How we invite the higher nature to enter our lives is summed up by the word PLAYS. The enlightened person "plays" her way through life. This acronym stands for: Permits, Lets, Allows, Yields, and Surrenders.

We must first discover God (the Spirit, "Father," "Mother," "Absolute," "Ultimate," etc.) exists as purest Love deep within the Mind. Then, moving forward with this powerful conviction, we can invite God (Love) to begin to think and act through us. This phase is called "surrender."

NOTE: We never surrender our will to any human pastor, minister, preacher, guru, priest, rabbi, imam, or other religious leader. We surrender to only God as Love in the heart.

Gradually, through repeated inward reaching, introspection, and meditation, we begin to establish a relationship with the living Love-nature within. This becomes much brighter, stronger, and clearer with practice.

We also make an interior vow, not to be "perfect" (for that is unrealistic), but to follow the higher nature of Love in all our ways. The flipside of this vow is to cease the activities of the lower nature. These include all fearbased activities and all actions that can harm self or others.

This is an indispensable vow. It is called ahimsa. It says, "I solemnly vow, to God, the highest Self, and to all spiritual creation, that I will never again act in any way that can harm or hurt another living being-- especially human beings. I will refuse to harm anyone physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually."

Before making this sacred vow to God, we must be prepared to follow it. Then, we make it, with or without human witnesses to the vow; and after that, we live it every minute of every day. This is a very sacred and holy vow, and so, must not be made carelessly. And, of course, we call in the Holy Spirit to give us the strength to stay faithful to the vow.

These are the beginning steps in overcoming the lower nature. After a long time, it begins to lose its energy ("die"). The process, say enlightened souls, can also involve personal suffering. (In those cases, it has been called, historically, the "interior crucifixion.")

After these steps are taken, the lower nature is weakened significantly; it has very low energy, and is very "sick." But it does not lose all energy until we begin to live each and every minute, of each and every day, from the state of pure Love. This is Love for all creatures, and respects all; no one is excluded, not even "enemies." You can see, it is a challenging path!

But there is none more splendid, glorious, or ecstatic!
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Respectful Speech: An Expression of Love

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There is never a moment when the Love-nature can be "turned" or shut off, closed, ignored or neglected safely. For this Way of Love is not a mere religion; it is a pervasive Way of life. As such, it permeates our very thoughts; it saturates our thoughts and words, our very behavior.

It is a real part of the mind, even of the Soul. So, we can never "vacation" from Love. It guides us all the Way, all the time, in both matters large and small. This implies that in even our joyful, carefree "playing," we cannot conscientiously deny or ignore It. That is why the person of Love decides not to pass along jokes that are harmfully directed to hurt people. She will never make fun of a person's racial heritage, or in other ways mock the blameless and the harmless.

She shows equal respect for all good and honest people, all the time. She adamantly refuses to use words of disrespect, putting down others because of their racial heritage, neighborhood, educational levels, friends, or imperfections.

This does not mean that, for example, political parody or satire is "off limits," for it can be a relatively harmless form of political expression and/or freedom. But all mockery or evil condemnation of people of a certain national heritage is out of bounds, for it hurts innocent people. And, in reflective (karmic) psychology, it also condemns the joker who is poking fun. So, as in all things, we must live as honorably as possible.

For the people of Love, this includes the principle of ahimsa, or harmlessness (non-injury). This means that we have taken an interior and private vow, to ourselves, to create deliberate harm to no other living creature. (This includes physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual harm.) We especially want to avoid harming, or threatening harm, towards the innocent, minorities, the harmless, or the powerless. For in many societies, these people (or creatures) are already victims, and to add to their pain will definitely create negative karmic consequences.

We want to live reasonably, so as to avoid the creation of any bad or hurtful karma for ourselves. But this desire (or need) to avoid bad consequences is not the reason that we strive to live in goodness, without any deliberate or voluntary evil. No, we do this because we are committed, heart and soul, to becoming a higher life-form. We are not-- none of us-- just "naked apes" in a "human zoo." No, we are the children of God (Love); and, like genetic children, we truly want to reflect the qualities and characteristics of our spiritual Father/Mother, Who is Love. We want to be good, or improved, people not because of the fear of karma, which is negative, but because we long to become beings of purest Love. The becoming of pure, unmixed Love is still in our future, but, at unconscious levels, as the Buddhist sisters and brothers remind us, we are "already the Buddha."

To reach for this splendid, glorious goal is the Way of the wise and enlightened. It is the Way of growth, development, and spiritual evolution. So, it is inevitable. Love pushes us in the right direction, always. Each must love maximally-- and there are different "maximums" for each and every Soul. So, do not work towards a flawless perfection. Instead, work for improvement-- to be and do better today than yesterday, or last week, or last month. This helps us to avoid fanaticism and perfectionism-- both of which are psychological disorders-- and to reach instead for a realistic and reachable goal.

So, at all times, even in humor and lighter conversation, do not allow yourself to fall into the "grime" and "sludge" of disrespectful or hateful talk. We do not have to respect all behaviors, for some are evil and do not deserve respect. But still, we must respect the tiniest spark of God (Love) even in the most ignorant, cruel, or stupid. We can criticize their activities, but we can never "send anyone to hell
forever." For that is to judge them-- evaluating their total being as forever irretrievable and irredeemable. For if we do this to others, it is only a matter of time until we do it to ourselves. And a negative selfesteem is the root of almost all psychological hells.
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"A Course in Miracles" and the Dreamworld

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I like some of the content of the book A Course in Miracles, but the book is seriously over-named. It is clearly not a "course in miracles," for it does not tell how to do miracles, in the accepted definition of that word. So, the title is actually a bit absurd. Despite the "grabber" of a name, no doubt to sell more copies, it does contain some good and useful material. It is largely an adaptation or modification of much of the Twelve-Step program material.

Sadly, a cult is forming around the book. It is seen as the "new Bible." Believers are gathering, and dividing themselves spiritually and socially from "inferior" non-believers. I do not accept the dogma that the book was "written by Jesus Christ," as believers insist.

Nor do I see the book as infallible, as many believers are starting to claim. The book was written by a psychologist, not by Jesus. A realistic, practical assessment tells us that we can include this book in our libraries and sources, but we cannot reasonably join the cult that is forming around the book, without sacrificing our independence and other freedoms.

There is nothing particularly original, and certainly nothing "spectacular," about the book. The writing is clear but ordinary. It contains a few good ideas, but, again, has nothing to do with miracles in the usual definition of that word.

Re your inquiry about the "reality" of the everyday world. It is true that the great saintmystics, particularly of Indian tradition, point out that our world is a "virtual" one, or, a dream. No material object is real. They are all products of Mind. They are dreamimages, or "virtual" reality.

But Mind is real. Since this Mind indwells you, this means that you-- and all other thinking beings-- are real. That is why human and other sentient (self-aware) life is so sacred. All thinking and aware beings are real,and holy.

Life on earth is a great school. We do things, and accomplish tasks, not so that they will last forever (they do not), but so that we can learn from them. Every minute is valuable because we can learn from that moment, and enrich our minds and hearts.

The whole "show" is about Love. Earth is a Love-school. So, every event and situation is designed to help us learn to love ourselves and other creatures. Just as a little child can learn about real estate and real money by playing Monopoly, although it is "just a game," we can learn very much about ourselves, and about compassion, goodness, and kindness from the various environments to which earthly life exposes us.

Every person is of inestimable value. So, we are here to learn to "invest in people," not just bucks and unreal material things. (The reason that they can never satisfy is that, deep down, we know that money and "stuff" are unreal.)

Your friend has gone way too far, and has misunderstood everything important, if he says that human beings are illusions. Instead, they are a part or expression of Mind, or Reality. In an unreal world, human beings are certainly, and very, real indeed.

In spirituality, we are always talking about "sentient" beings. These are self-aware beings. This category includes most of the higher mammals, and certainly, includes all human beings. Any creature who can say, "I am," with meaning, distinguishing herself from other creatures, is a "sentient" being. (This category includes all developed brains of mammals, but does not include reptiles, amphibians, fishes, insects, microrganisms, etc.)

Deliberately harming any of these sentient beings can create terrifying and disastrous karma. This is where the principle called ahimsa enters the life of the wise. For this principle is taking a vow never deliberately to harm any sentient being.

So, your grand-daughter, like yourself, is both real and sacred. She is to be treated with kindness that, in its fullness, blossoms as Love. Love is the most important principle in the enlightened life.
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