I consider myself to be something of a theologian, and one who compares the Christian Bible with the teachings that I have received as a devotee of Sanatana Dharma. In my time doing this, and with the help of a good friend who is a non-literal Theist of the Christian flavor, I've come to understand that the whole of Jesus' teachings are very much in line with the Dharmic teachings of many Yogic masters of the East. In fact, I believe that Jesus traveled to India - if one believes such a man really existed - and that accounts for the missing "chapters" of his life in the Bible.
Today I will focus on a certain phrase from Matthew in which Jesus said, "The meek shall inherit the earth."
I believe this phrase has been mistranslated, but as it is with all the great religions, they are purely allegorical because experiential things cannot be explained with words and intellect. In this sense, words are the finger pointing at the moon, not the moon itself. Thus, religions to me are very similar allegorical symbols of an inner, experiential journey which we all take.
"The map is not the territory," as Robert Antone Wilson said.
I ask myself, what did Jesus mean by this? The common interpretation of this phrase is to be humble, and certainly meekness has a component of humility, but it falls short of what I have come to understand about what it means to "inherit the earth."
I think, to understand what was said here, we need to evaluate what is meant by the allegory of inheriting the earth. The phrase says to me, "this is mastery", which can be seen as two fold - a humility in the things that one cannot change, and an intentional and willful ability to manifest "miracles" in one's own reality. Mastery is the way of peace, it is also the realization of non-dual reality, that spirit is fully embodied experience and this experience is spirit. It is the removal of all barriers set up in the mind, the separation between you and I and all that is created. It is a knowing of Creator, Creating and Created and how they are all inseparable - that Holy Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit- which is another metaphor I'll probably expound upon at some later time.
So to inherit the earth, as I see it, is mastery of the "lower" self: INTENT.
What is it to be meek, then? As I said before, I suspect that it goes beyond humility since it is only a portion of what it means to be meek. Compassion is one component, I'm sure, as is self-awareness. One who is meek deliberately chooses which course of action to take; he examines and understands the possibilities which lay before him, no matter how uncomfortable or familiar - he is unmoved by either. One who is meek is a master of control over her inner world - who actively practices "sensory withdraw" or "arousal control" over her emotions. Yet the mind remains free to explore all the possibilities, yet not act upon them till a precise moment.
To be meek is to be in-powered, to sense the ultimate truth as it bubbles up from within one's self - a recognition of what we know to be reality on an intuitive, heuristic, experiential level. There are many living masters among us, they would walk right by someone who is obsessed with the physical reality only. They pass without a trace, never leaving a ripple that was unintended. But the ripples they form travel far and wide through the Grand Web of the universe, beneath it's seemingly turbulent waves, within the quiet of the deep.
Thank you so much!
Thank you!
Looks like I have room for improvement! :) Thank you!