BEING REGENERATED!

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 11: Being Regenerated “persecuted” – Regeneration: lifted to a consciousness of Light.

Matthew 5:10- “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

SM 43-44, “The will of God for us is harmony, peace, and joy, and that these things are to be attained by cultivating right thoughts, or ‘righteousness’… All this is very startling, and it is perfectly correct; only we have to understand that the source of all this persecution is none other than our own selves.”

DPWY 72, “In my quest for Truth I press on past my humanity to a deepening awareness and an increasing releasement of my potential divinity.”

PC 68, “Healing to those who have been shattered within from seeking perfect rest; holding them to life is heaven’s ‘I can!’”

Matthew 5:11-20, “You are the salt of the earth… You are the light of the world… Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfil them… For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

SM 47, “Jesus is addressing those who have awakened to the understanding of material bondage, and have acquired some spiritual understanding of the nature of Being… Such people he describes as being the salt of the earth, and the light of the world.”

8-limbs: Samadhi (absorption)

HTKG 175, “When, in meditation, the true nature of the object shines forth, not distorted by the mind of the perceiver, that is absorption (samadhi).”

8-fold path: Right concentration

BP 121, “Right concentration is concentration which is wholesome. There are many kinds and degrees of right concentration… there is right concentration in tranquil meditation.”

SUGGESTED READING:

SM 43-55.  DPWY 70-81.  PC 68-74.  HTKG 175-201.  BP 121-122.

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

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