"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
These words of Jesus have echoed down through the centuries, but what do they mean?
Let's translate that phrase into more modern language:
"Blessed are they who are spiritually bankrupt, for they will experience the infinite's love for itself through them."
Spiritually bankrupt? Yes.
Only when we are humble enough to understand that we don't really know anything can we begin to be present to this moment, and thus experience the radiance that lies within it.
Only when we are humble enough to know that we can't run our lives anymore from our thoughts and feelings can we begin to experience our life being run from something deep inside that doesn't think but just knows.
Only when we begin to understand that we don't even exist as separate beings can we begin to embrace our precious humanity with all its "mistakes" and "flaws" as being perfection itself.
Only when we are humble enough to surrender to our utter spiritual bankruptcy can the fragrance of the unlocatable begin to express itself through each flowering moment.
Then we don't do anything, because we see it all happening by itself. There's nobody separate who's doing anything, but rather, the energy of the ungraspable simply moves by itself, through us, as us.
"The kingdom of heaven is within you," Jesus said.
Radical acceptance of the outer and inner world as it is brings on the kingdom of heaven here and now, as we also see that it's been right here, always and forever. And that it could never be anywhere else but here, because nothing is separate ever.
"Blessed are the poor in spirit." When I know that I know nothing, and that all thoughts and words are just a playing with stories, then I become willing to listen, to just listen to the moment. What does it want? Where does it want to go? And when it goes there, wherever that is, will I be willing to let it and thus inherit the kingdom of heaven instantly?
Listening to the moment can start out as a quiet voice inside, but eventually is wordless. The inner guide or voice or inner energy or whatever we want to call it just moves by itself, and we begin to play in the deep and mysterious waters of gratitude.
—jim sloman, for 8/11/01
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