Sermon on the Mount Part 3
Beatitudes 5 and 6

Today our "Sermon on the Mount" series continues with the 5th and 6th Beatitudes. To recapitulate the first four Beatitudes are : #1 "Blessed are those who are empty, teachable and open to spirit for they shall have true eternal peace.": #2 "Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted". : #3 "Blessed are those who have an open mind, faith in God, know that God’s will for us is joy, peace, and love, for they shall have both total conscious and subconscious control of their lives.” And $4 "Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for right thinking: for they shall be filled with inner peace." The main text for our continued discussion today once again comes primarily from Emmet Fox's book "The Sermon on the Mount".

The 5th Beatitude states "Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy." At last, we have one that reads fairly clear to us, as the words employed bare the ordinary meaning, which we give them in our daily life. "The point that the New Thought or Scientific Christian needs to note as usual ," states Emmet Fox, "lies in its application to the realm of thought. …What really matters," he says, "is that we be merciful in our thinking." Kind actions coupled with unkind thoughts are hypocrisy. The one action cancels out the other. This action happens, when we are in a place of fear or intimidation of another, perhaps, desiring self glory, or some other such ulterior motive. Now what might this look like in our daily lives?

I can remember one time being in a group of women many years ago and feeling uncomfortable, subconsciously irritated by one of the more controlling members of the group. Yet at the time, rather than being honest and either staying silent or confronting her directly with how I was feeling by her behavior, I found myself complimenting her. I am not very proud of that action. But, today, I understand how it happened. Plain and simple, I was intimidated, yet infatuated with what I perceived as her power over the group. I wanted her to like me. Now I feel, in retrospect, that I never fooled her or anyone else in the group by my words; for, who we are, what we are really thinking, comes through loud and clear by our nonverbal. In the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson "Who you are speaks so loudly, I can't hear what you say!" Thus, we in fact fool no one but ourselves. We may get away with it for a little while, but eventually our true colors shine through. In the words of P.T. Barnum "You can fool some of the people some of the time, and all of the people some of the time; but, you can't fool all of the people all of the time." Our kind actions coupled with unkind thoughts bless neither the giver nor the recipient.

sOn the other hand, a true thought about a fellow man blesses both the giver and the receiver spiritually, mentally, and materially. And what is a true thought? Jesus would answer that a person is a whole and healthy child of God regardless of outward actions or manifestations. "A Course in Miracles" would tell us that when a brother is acting insanely that is exactly the time to perceive only the sanity in him, as small as that seed of sanity may be. He will then slowly begin to see it in himself, it will grow, and he will act accordingly. Both statements are true thoughts and have the power to set our brothers and sisters free. In addition, Jesus stated, "As You judge, so ye shall be judged", thus, in setting our brothers and sisters free, we set ourselves free as well. Emmet Fox writes, "When a person's delinquency comes to your notice, remember that the Christ in him is calling out for help to you who are more enlightened at that given moment." We all have periods of more or less lucidity throughout the day usually based on what is going on around us and what we are focusing on at any given minute in the day. Bottom line...Be merciful!

And now let us look at Beatitude # 6 "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God." Here is another powerhouse statement. "Religion through the ages," states Rev. Eagan, my advisor, "has been focused on the relationship between mankind and his God or Gods." The biblical phrase "they shall see God" cannot actually mean seeing God with our physical eyes. If it were possible to see God or Spirit with our physical eyes, God would be physical and limited in form; but, God we know is unlimited. In bible metaphysics "to see" means to spiritually perceive the true nature of being. We live in God's world, but do we ever really see it? Heaven lies all around us. It is not a distant locality far away in the sky, as some traditional Christian Religions would have us believe. Jesus said it many times in many ways “Heaven is as close as hands and feet.”; “The kingdom of Heaven is within”, and so on. So why don't we see it? Emmet Fox puts it this way: "Heaven is the realm of Spirit, Substance; without age or discord or decay, a realm of eternal good; and yet, to our distorted vision, everything we see is aging, decaying, wearing out, getting reborn only to die, blossoming only to fade". Our world is an allusion. He says, "We are like a color blind man in a beautiful flower garden. And, this limitation in us is known in theology as "The Fall of Man". It comes from our using our free will to see the jar half empty instead of half full. "Thus we could say, to see God is to comprehend Truth with a capital "T", as it really is; and this is infinite freedom and total bliss. In this wonderful Beatitude we are told how to accomplish this task and who shall do it. Who? "The pure of heart" shall do it. Purity in the Bible means a great deal more than just physical purity. In its full sense, purity is recognizing Spirit alone as “First Cause” and the only real power in the Universe. It is the secret escape from all sickness, trouble, or limitation. “It is the overcoming," states Emmett Fox, "or the reversing of the ‘The Fall of Man". Because we lack this spiritual perception most of the time, we have actually shut ourselves out of heaven. Notice I said we did it, not God! Once again, it goes back to "Our thinking". It's a matter of mental habit. Emmet Fox puts it this way, "You and I by our mental habits, actually mold our experiences into the limited dimensions of height, width, and depth instead of unlimited dimensions. Our job is by our thinking to release the limits that we have placed on ourselves until we can see and experience things as they truly are. Those who live in spiritual purity don't soil their thinking with thoughts or fears of lack, sickness, sadness and the rest of the negative emotions of life. Their thinking is pure for it is only of God, or Spirit. They are not afraid of dying, of losing health, of financial problems, etc. They choose instead to see God in every person, every place, every rock, and every expression of life. Now the word "heart" in the Bible usually means what modern psychology calls the subconscious part of our mind. Jesus said "as a man thinketh in his heart, so he is"... Thus, "pure in heart" is "pure in knowing". To “Know” something with a capital "K" is unarguable. This is "Knowing" it even at the subconscious level of our being. Jesus thoroughly understood all this for that is why he stressed the fact that we had to be pure of heart or full of God in our subconscious mind. Modern psychologists in their efforts to reeducate "the subconscious" have the right idea, though they have yet to discover the best method of doing so. One good method, I feel, is what Fillmore referred to as Scientific Prayer, praying as if it has already happened. Another form of scientific prayer is that which Lisa Salemme, the Sufi master teacher, taught many of us to do. She referred to it as the Sufi practice of "Practicing the Remembrance". Mark, the Sufi Teacher who taught the workshop "The Heart of Business" said it was like storing up coins in the bank. He called the practice “Making a friend of God,” He said, "How do we make a friend of God? The answer was simply by spending time with God and "Practicing the Presence". The Practice is repeating the sacred name of God over and over aloud audibly or just in our minds again and again. It may be done in the midst of a troubling situation or just at a normal quiet time each day until we feel the peace of the power of God take over our mind and even more importantly our emotions. Jim Rosemergy, one of my favorite teachers at Unity Village, used a meditation technique that he called "seeking a friendship with God". He had us think of a situation that troubled us then repeat over and over to ourselves...."It is (meaning the situation),"God is,"(meaning God was stronger than any situation), and "I am" (Meaning God is within me at all times and in all situations). Slowly we would come around to a sense or feeling of peace.

Thus the text of the 6th Beatitude might be paraphrased something like this: "Blessed are they who recognize God as the only real presence practically and wholeheartedly in all their thoughts, words, and actions, bringing their own wills into perfect harmony with Spirit's: for they shall overcome all limitations of time, space, matter, carnal mind, and realize and enjoy the Presence of God forever.” In shorter form and in modern English, we could say it this way “Blessed are they who through their deep knowing, know only God; for they shall see God wherever they go and wherever they look.”

Namaste

Barbara