ATTITUDES OF BEING
Based Upon
THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT
a thematic approach
Background:
Found in the Gospel according to Matthew, chapter 5, 6 & 7, the Sermon covers the essentials of Jesus’ teachings.
The Beatitudes, verses 3-10 of chapter 5, are not only the introduction but the framework or essence around which the Sermon is developed. The remaining verses discuss Jesus’ understanding of the “Blessed” state of the Beatitude, “Attitudes of Being”, but the order is reversed.
UNIVERSAL TRUTH:
In the Beatitudes, Jesus parallels a universal theme found in all of the world’s religions. Direct correlation is found in the Budha’s 8-fold path and the 8-limbs of Raja Yoga from the Hindu tradition.
Session 10: Being Peace – “peacemakers” – Realization: fulfillment of the Law.
Matthew 5:9 – “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”
SM 41, “The great essential for success in prayer… is that we first attain some degree of true peace of mind.”
DPWY 69, “Peace can only come when men become receptive to it and become peacemakers in the process of expressing it from within”
PC 62, “Aligned with the One are those who prepare the ground for all tranquil gatherings; they shall become fountains of Livingness.”
Matthew 5:17 – 26, “Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfil them… unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. You have heard that it was said to the men of old, ‘You shall not kill; and whoever kills shall be liable to judgment.’But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment…So if you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Make friends quickly with your accuser…”
SM 56, “Jesus came to carry the human race forward to the next great step… we have not merely to conform outwardly to outer rules, but to change the inner man too.”
8-limbs: Dhyana (meditation)
HTKG 173, “…is an unbroken flow of thought toward the object of concentration.”
8-fold path: Right mindfulness
BP 121, “… in order to directly experience the truth there must be mindfulness of the reality which appears at the present moment.”
SUGGESTED READING:
SM 40-43, 49-63. DPWY 69-70, 78-87. PC 65-67. HTKG 173-175. BP 120-121.
THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT, Emmet Fox. (SM)
DISCOVER THE POWER WITHIN YOU, Eric Butterworth (DPWY)
PRAYERS OF THE COSMOS, Neil Douglas-Klotz (PC)
HOW TO KNOW GOD: The Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali, Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isherwood (HTKG)
THE BUDDHA’S PATH, Nina van Gorkom (BP)
Rev. Matthew E. Long – Peace Unity Network, Box 837, Clarkston, MI 48347 – (248) 891-4365
peaceunity.net peace.unity@sbcglobal.net