Sunday Musings - November 12, 2023
I have often pondered and attempted to research the possible etiology of the thinking of Jesus and others who echo his teaching in the beatitudes as recorded in the Christian texts of Matthew and Luke.
In each account the Greek word which is usually translated as blessed is makarios which can also be translated as happy, blissful, or self-contained happiness. Interestingly, the island of Cyprus was also called “the happy isle”. Many associated the word makarios with the isle. The people on the isle believed that the perfect climate and the fertile soil provided all they needed to be happy. (Christianity.com)
Thus, one might assume that the intent of these teachings of Jesus was to remind we humans we can be content; at peace with ourselves, be happy if we are poor in spirit.
What could it mean to be poor in spirit? Most Biblical commentators have suggested that the intent of this first beatitude is to remind we humans the more accepting we are of the limitation of our humanness the richer or more blessed we are. We humans cannot have the perspective of the God of our understanding; a god who perceives beyond our limitations of time and space. We humans perceive and understand only a silver of reality which is clouded by our history and how our brains translate that silver.
It is only when we accept that we merely perceive and understand a clouded sliver that we are humble enough to learn; to forego the temptation of thinking we know all there is to know about an object, situation, or person.
We often applaud the person or persons who envisions the impossible; the person, for example, who postulates that sound ways generated by objects, people or animals can travel and be translated by someone some distance from where it originated. We humans communicate with drums, smoke, wires and finally through a series of wireless transmitters. With 5G and other new technologies the magic continues to expand. Magic is, after all, the ability to imagine the impossible; the ability to take a step closer to the perspective of vision of the God of our understanding; to that which is “I am”.
The poor is spirit perhaps are those who know and are at peace with the fact that the most visionary of us humans are still a zillion miles from “knowing” what is possible; from seeing into the heart and mind of another; from loving unconditionally; from being in a position to judge another; from dissolving all the socially constructed barriers such as race, nation, religion, gender and other constructs which keep we humans distant from each other.
The poor is spirit can only trust that they do not “know”; can only attempt to open their hearts and minds to trust what they cannot see; to listen for what they cannot hear; to scent what they cannot smell; to know that they are merely players on this stage of life; to accept that the most complex of person created symphonies cannot approach the symphony composed of the complexity of the interaction of the parts of the universe; to trust that time is a limited measuring tool; to relax with the knowledge that the most complex of our mathematical theories are a limited language for describing the interrelationship of all that is.
Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven; for theirs is the universes to explore and receive in tiny, digestible bites.
Next week I will invite us to meditate on “Blessed are those that mourn, for they shall be comforted.”
Written November 12, 2023
Jimmy F Pickett
Coachpickett.org
I have often pondered and attempted to research the possible etiology of the thinking of Jesus and others who echo his teaching in the beatitudes as recorded in the Christian texts of Matthew and Luke.
In each account the Greek word which is usually translated as blessed is makarios which can also be translated as happy, blissful, or self-contained happiness. Interestingly, the island of Cyprus was also called “the happy isle”. Many associated the word makarios with the isle. The people on the isle believed that the perfect climate and the fertile soil provided all they needed to be happy. (Christianity.com)
Thus, one might assume that the intent of these teachings of Jesus was to remind we humans we can be content; at peace with ourselves, be happy if we are poor in spirit.
What could it mean to be poor in spirit? Most Biblical commentators have suggested that the intent of this first beatitude is to remind we humans the more accepting we are of the limitation of our humanness the richer or more blessed we are. We humans cannot have the perspective of the God of our understanding; a god who perceives beyond our limitations of time and space. We humans perceive and understand only a silver of reality which is clouded by our history and how our brains translate that silver.
It is only when we accept that we merely perceive and understand a clouded sliver that we are humble enough to learn; to forego the temptation of thinking we know all there is to know about an object, situation, or person.
We often applaud the person or persons who envisions the impossible; the person, for example, who postulates that sound ways generated by objects, people or animals can travel and be translated by someone some distance from where it originated. We humans communicate with drums, smoke, wires and finally through a series of wireless transmitters. With 5G and other new technologies the magic continues to expand. Magic is, after all, the ability to imagine the impossible; the ability to take a step closer to the perspective of vision of the God of our understanding; to that which is “I am”.
The poor is spirit perhaps are those who know and are at peace with the fact that the most visionary of us humans are still a zillion miles from “knowing” what is possible; from seeing into the heart and mind of another; from loving unconditionally; from being in a position to judge another; from dissolving all the socially constructed barriers such as race, nation, religion, gender and other constructs which keep we humans distant from each other.
The poor is spirit can only trust that they do not “know”; can only attempt to open their hearts and minds to trust what they cannot see; to listen for what they cannot hear; to scent what they cannot smell; to know that they are merely players on this stage of life; to accept that the most complex of person created symphonies cannot approach the symphony composed of the complexity of the interaction of the parts of the universe; to trust that time is a limited measuring tool; to relax with the knowledge that the most complex of our mathematical theories are a limited language for describing the interrelationship of all that is.
Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven; for theirs is the universes to explore and receive in tiny, digestible bites.
Next week I will invite us to meditate on “Blessed are those that mourn, for they shall be comforted.”
Written November 12, 2023
Jimmy F Pickett
Coachpickett.org
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