What can you say about the true meaning of “turn the other cheek?”
This is about breaking the vicious circles between people. These negative interactions go on and on, one person’s destructiveness hooking another’s and then back and forth, each seeing the others faults as the primary cause for their own response. To “turn the other check” means to knock that crap off. Take responsibility by looking at things with fresh eyes. Take a risk to open up and try to sort things out. Talk. Christ can reign like the Prince of Peace he is in a soul that lets this sort of light shine.
This phrase also means the same thing as “do not resist evil.” Don’t confuse this with rolling over and taking it when you should stand up and fight for what is right. Turning the other cheek just means to use your powers of differentiation to judge when fighting back would perpetuate aggression and play into the hands of evil, serving no purpose and having no chance of unwinding a bolloxed up mess.
We can have positive assertion only when we have clarity and a single-pointed motivation—we want to do the will of God and further his plan. Sometimes we need to express the Christ that shines through us, exposing ourselves and standing up for the truth without worrying about petty personal gains for our little egos.
The trick is to make sure we’re fighting for something—like truth or justice or a good cause—and not against someone who happens to have pissed us off. When our motivation is, pure and simple, God’s cause—and not our self-will or pride—we will feel strong and secure, and not held back by guilt.
To turn the other cheek also means to let go of our self-righteous case and look inside ourselves. Where might we possibly be contributing to a negative interaction? Where are we the one picking a fight with the other? This type of turn-around is a habit we need to work on, a spiritual muscle we need to invest the time to develop.
We need to give up the temptation to stand in our self-righteous position, having built a case against someone else that’s full of rationalization and rakes them over the coals for their wrong-doing. We need to look for how their negativity hooks into ours—where is the grain of truth of how it lives in us. This is always the case, no matter how wrong the other may be. Other times, we’re just making stuff up, seeing the other through such distorted lenses in our wish to whitewash ourselves, make them evil, and avoid looking at our own Lower Selves. When we fight from this vantage point, we have become a total plaything of the dark forces and we’re the ones perpetuating evil.
On a spiritual path like the one taught by the Guide, we learn that the victim is often as responsible as the perpetrator. This is a liberating realization. This gives us the secure self-esteem and genuine strength to fight when we should fight. We don’t remain shackled by a victimhood mentality, where we know in our minds that fighting would be appropriate, but we’ve been fighting in the wrong way. We’ve been insisting on a self-righteous position when we needed to adjust our stance so we can see inside ourselves.
In the Book of Exodus, people were told to collect manna only for one day and on the Sabbath for two days. If they collected for two days on any other day but for the Sabbath, it rotted. But for the Sabbath, it did not. What is the meaning of this?
The symbol of manna covers a lot of ground. It represents spiritual strength and spiritual truth, as well as divine blessings and everything needed to move ahead on one’s spiritual path of self-finding—in short, to find God. But even for those of us with the best intentions to be good little workers in God’s bakery, we need to have good timing. We need to have a proper balance between our active and passive forces.
Both of these forces must operate in a harmonious way if we want to fulfill the functions of our souls. If they’re in good working order, we are too. More often what happens is that one side of our nature is in overdrive, heading the wrong way, while the other side coasts, also going in the wrong direction. We tend to hoard what we’re going to need for later in the trip—whether it’s strength or knowledge—but the vehicle we’re driving just doesn’t run that way.
This text is essentially saying that we have to live in the moment, the eternal Now. We can only meet the requirements of each moment if we are living completely in each moment. And also, we shouldn’t bite off more than we can chew.
Whatever we absorb while we’re active, we’re going to need to digest and assimilate while we’re passive. For these times, we need to have a little reserve in the tank. It also happens in life that we go through periods when we can’t drum up the strength needed to be active. When we’re tired like that, we should rest. This is good for our souls. So there’s a day called the Sabbath that set out to be, among other things, a day of inactivity, or rest.
If we are living in the full strength of an active life on all levels—spiritually, emotionally and physically—we will have no reason to hoard. But people do that, so often, on all these levels. We become so anxious, fearing and not trusting God, that we also don’t trust the harmony of our instruments—our inner selves. Also, we don’t sense how we fit into the scheme of divine law, so we don’t trust letting go and going with the stream.
We think we have to provide for the future. Which of course doesn’t mean that we should throw caution to the wind and become careless. No extreme is ever right. But we can live in the Now and make the best of each moment we are given.
Then our manna will always be fresh, because we’ll get a new supply every day. If we learn to live this way, we will relax during the next passive period, quietly nursing what we have so tenderly cared for and cultivated during the time of growth, or action. We will instinctively see to it that we have enough.
This can only happen if we are able to maintain a balance between activity and passivity in our personal lives. We can refine our inner senses so that we clearly feel what each moment is calling for—knowing whether it’s, metaphorically speaking, a weekday or the Sabbath. Nestled into this analogy is a reference to the variation in time periods. We will spend more time in the active phase, which needs to be longer than the resting period, although the latter will always need to reoccur on a regular basis.
What did Jesus mean by “the meek shall inherit the earth?”
The word “meek” refers to people who don’t hate or resent others, who have no self-will and no fear. They will have the humility as well as loving and understanding nature to not have to prove that they are right all the time. Many people aspire to being this way, but inwardly it’s frustrating when such a way of walking through life eludes them.
To be this way is to have a healthy soul. It means one has the strength, power and independence to live within the framework of divine law, rather than swimming upstream against God’s laws and creating disharmonious currents.
But note, when Jesus used the word “meek,” he in no way intended to infer that we should let the Lower Self of our brothers and sisters triumph over us. No, not on your life. Jesus Christ himself was no pushover. He fought many a time, and often quite vehemently. To wage war with the evil in the other—or in ourselves, for that matter—includes stepping up to the plate, taking it on the chin if we have to, and then learning and going on. No, Jesus never wants us to allow the lower nature of another to walk all over our meekness.
At first, it may seem like we’d have to walk on a tightrope to find the right way between these apparently contradictory courses—being a doormat or being a valiant knight. But it’s not as delicate as it may seem. We just need to test ourselves to see where our ego is getting tripped up—or maybe our pride or self-will. Right there, in that moment, we can search for the humility to see the truth, even if our ego doesn’t like it.
Until we neutralize our ego, we need to curb the enthusiasm of our fighting spirit. But after a while, we will be able to develop impartial judgment and objectivity. As the ego gradually fades and we are not needing to be the kingpin of our own universe any more, we will be able to stand up for what is right, and we will know how to fight in the right way.
This can’t happen, though, as long as we’re being blown about by our emotional reactions, letting them steer our behaviors. Because then, with our small ego standing in the center, it colors our judgment about everything. Until we can distinguish whether this is the case or not, we have more work to do. It will take a while before our views, reactions and feelings are no longer tainted by the stake of our ego in maintaining its position.
On the other side of this egocentric way of living is the humility that we want—that’s the meekness Jesus was talking about. This kind of humility gives us herculean strength for staying still when we’ve been hurt, so we can quietly forgive. Then we’ll know when to stand up to injustice and fight against evil forces, regardless of whether it personally touches us. Such discernment requires we become skilled detectives in seeking out our most hidden feelings and knowing their true nature. We need to become as well trained as we possibly can in this powerful and important task of self-observation.
What did Jesus mean when he said to Peter, “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it; And I will give thee the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever thou shalt loose on earth shall be bound in Heaven.” (Matthew 16: 18-20).
The meaning is that Jesus entrusted Peter to organize and spread his teachings. Many are aware that the Catholic church interprets this to mean that from that time on, everything was so settled that nothing the church said could be wrong. In fact, what Jesus meant was that Peter should spread the teachings just as they had been presented to him.
But that didn’t exclude further communication from the Spirit World of God. This form of communication was prevalent during that time of the first Christians. Jesus knew, even back then, how well a game of telephone would go, so he was far too wise to suggest these truths could pass from one generation to the next without becoming diluted.
He was pretty clear about human failings and the fact that they would result in errors and wrong interpretations creeping in—not to mention the danger of having the world of darkness weaseling its way in and twisting the truth. This of course is part of the package of having unpurified beings roaming around on Earth. So direct communications with God’s world was definitely the way to go whenever possible.
But as happens, we misinterpret these words from the Bible—sometimes in ignorance and sometimes on purpose. (Those aren’t the only ones.) If these words had been understood in their true sense, exactly as Jesus was teaching and as Peter was trying to say—which was to include communications from the world of God—a lot would have happened differently in our history. That may shock some people, but there it is.
There are many, many instances in the Bible where we really can’t interpret Jesus’ message any other way. Even these messages written here are evidence that Jesus always intended that we should be in contact with his spirits of truth. That very message is part of what Jesus was asking Peter to spread.
How to go about this and what laws must be followed to have such communications with spirits of light and truth, well, this wasn’t published, or it was later taken out. Technically, there are many different ways for this communication to manifest, one of which was the way Jesus appeared to his disciples after he died. His materialization was such a form of communication.
Later on, it wasn’t Jesus himself who would appear, but rather he would send his emissaries. Prior to his death, Jesus had said, “There are many things I cannot tell you as yet, but will tell you later.” How would we imagine he could have done so if not through such communications with God’s world?
Yes, this was an integral part of Jesus’ teaching but, for a variety of reasons, it got nixed, or worse, twisted. In addition, the Bible quote means—then and now—that whoever binds themselves to God by way of adhering to Jesus’ teachings that Peter was put in charge of, would also be bound to God in heaven and could never be lost again. But those who refuse these teachings loosen their grip on God, and also won’t get to go hang out in God’s Spirit World after death—they’ll go back to the dark spheres they have been gradually evolving out of. This won’t be forever, but it will continue until the person changes their attitude and makes another choice.
To make such an inner declaration that one is ready to put God first and follow his will in all respects is called an “initiation.” This is a decisive step in a soul’s journey and is the essence of the meaning. It certainly didn’t mean that God and Christ would play favorites and only show up in one human church group, which would then be the sole organization immune to human failings and therefore to the charms of the Luciferic worlds. That doesn’t make a lick of sense.
But if one follows the real teachings of Christ and endeavors to develop and purify themselves, which means one then upholds the laws of God, they are then indeed immune to the influences of evil—“Hell will not prevail”—and will gain the Kingdom of Heaven. That’s the only way for this to happen—the only way. Thinking about this passage from this perspective makes much more sense.
What is the true spiritual meaning of the statement, “To those who have, more will be given, and to those who have not, what they have will be taken away?”
This passage refers to all divine qualities, including faith and love. For example, to those who have love, more love will be given. This is the nature of love—and really all spiritual qualities—to regenerate more of the same quality from itself. My cup runneth over.So if someone has love, more love will come to that person. And then they will be able to give it away to many. But if we’re short on love, and the little bit we’ve got is diluted by impure currents, we’ll lose that too. It’ll waste away.
Our job is to break this vicious circle. And we can do this. Because everything—both positive and negative—runs in cycles. So for as long as we’re of a mind to keep on breaking spiritual laws, the negative cycles will just keep on swirling. When that happens, the negative currents get so much stronger that we lose the least little positive qualities we had. If we can break this negative cycle and start up a positive one, then the positive quality is going to become inexhaustible. Then the more we give, the more will come out of us.
What’s the deeper meaning of, “All things work together for the good for those who love God.”
Having true love of God means we work spiritually to develop ourselves, getting to know the ways in which divine law pertains to us personally, in all its psychological aspects. So the words “those who love God” doesn’t merely mean that we believe in God, or that we say we love him or recite a bunch of prayers.
We must come to know ourselves through-and-through, so that not only do our thoughts, words and deeds match with spiritual law, but our emotions as well. We have to come to love God as a feeling. And that takes some effort and a good bit of time.
This means that only someone who is actively on a path of spiritual development of some variety can truly love God. So then what it does it mean that “all things work together for the good?” And is this even true?
Indeed, it is true that for anyone walking on a spiritual path of self-development and purification, everything that happens is for the good. Encore. We come to realize the rock-bottom truth of this as we go along. If we’re sincere on our path, proving our love for God through our good efforts, nothing that befalls us—no tragedy, mishap or seeming misfortune—doesn’t have a silver lining. Yet so many of us don’t know this.
Instead we like to believe this is a world of chance. We buy the delusion of coincidence, and even of injustice. This is widespread among us, but still it’s an error and a tragic illusion.
Counterpoint: for the one who is not on a spiritual path—doesn’t love God above all else—the best things in their life won’t be, well, all for the best things. They won’t be for the good. They’ll end up creating difficulties and tests, and might only turn into working for Team Good in some future life when the person sets foot on the yellow brick path towards home.
Till then, nothing is ultimately going to go well. But from that time on, everybody wang chung tonight. The mood of the party will then start to improve. That’s a pivotal period in a soul’s evolution when things start turning around. Then, everything that happens, has happened and will happen, will be for the good. Party on, dude.
What’s the explanation for the saying of Jesus, “Come as a little child?”
Jesus is referring to having a lack of prejudice—like we’d have with a childlike, but not childish,attitude—which should also be our approach to this whole path. We, as human beings, suffer constantly and greatly from our widespread prejudices of others. Why does this make us suffer? Because if we are continually looking at the world with a particular slant, this points to an image—a wrong conclusion about life—festering under the surface. Images are not in truth, and when we go against the grain of truth, the friction creates pain—for others and for ourselves.
Whereas a prejudice is a wall of darkness, children are like a blank sheet of paper, without prejudice—at least as far as the way they interact with the world. All the influences that will later form their images—and therefore prejudices—haven’t yet had a chance to do their work in building up such walls. That’s why children will often have a clearer view of truth than adults do.
A good way to look for images is to look for prejudices. As we identify them, we can come to understand their origins, our defenses that made us adopt them and the rationalizations that cover them up. The word “prejudice” itself causes an emotional response for people, as we each have a different concept and connection with it. What we’re most charged about will be the prejudice we’re most sensitive about. We may overlook that these prejudices exist inside our own minds. These might even be stronger than what we encounter in other people.
If we feel like we’re constantly haunted by prejudices in others, it’s time to turn that mirror around and start digging. Because bingo—pretty good chance there’s an image in our soul that is like a high-powered magnet for people with the same letter-number combination. Of course, we only see it in them, projecting outwardly what we’re actually feeling inside in a different way.
Want another hint? OK, think about what you are constantly thinking about. Shouldn’t be too tough. For one person, it might be rejection. For another, it’s prejudice. A third might fear that someone will steal their stuff. Everyone has their own pet concern. We need to get clear about ours. That’s a good general rule of thumb: we need to get clear about what we’re feeling. Once we’ve clarified our emotions, we’ll have a good idea of what to search for.
So many people are walking around feeling rejected. So where to search? “Perhaps I’m the one always rejecting others in one way or another.” Maybe it’s done out of fear. Maybe we’re so afraid of rejection we try to beat the system, rejecting others before they can do the same to us. And then, when they react badly, we get our feelings hurt because, geez, we feel so darned rejected. Yup. All the time.
It takes a very wise, spiritually mature person to not bite that hook. Most of us will hit the bobber hard. Our insecurities trigger one another, and our co-obsessions with rejections will lock us into a vicious circle. This is how we continually hook and affect each other with misunderstandings, hurt and rejection. And it’s very painful.
The only way to break the line is by not waiting for the other to do it first, to “turn the other cheek.” Someone has to open their arms, in spite of the soul picture our emotional storms are painting. We need to forget our vanity for a minute, lay down our insecurity, open our arms—and then see what happens. We need to take a page from a child.
“He who wants to win his life will lose it. He who is ready to give it up will win it.” What does that mean?
It means that if we are so afraid of a little pain that we hold on for dear life with our ego, nursing our sensitivity and vanity, we won’t give up our life. Rather, we hold on too tightly and therefore we must lose it. In the spiritual sense, to lose means we can’t find peace, harmony or happiness, from within ourselves or from without.
But for those who don’t take themselves so seriously, for whom the creature comforts of the little ego are not so terribly important, and for whom the everyday pains and hurt pride aren’t such a big deal, who don’t constantly think, “If I let them see my true affection, what will they think of me? I might get hurt, or I might jeopardize something,” and who truly give up their ego-selves, they will receive life, in the spiritual sense.
By going with the law, they will find harmony within, and love and respect from others that would forever have escaped them if they’d kept holding onto themselves so tightly.
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