Our Daily Bread meaning in esoteric Christianity

Maurice Nicoll talks about ‘our daily bread’ in the Lord’s Prayer: “In Greek it does not mean daily, but ‘what is needful.’ It also has the meaning of ‘trans substantial bread’ or ‘what is beyond ourselves.’” p941 Bread does not mean literal bread, but “psychological insight, mental nourishment, coming from a higher level.” p941 

In The Mark, Maurice offers a deeper translation of ‘epiousios,’ or daily bread: “This part of the Lord’s Prayer is a personal request to feel what has been lost, this lost feeling, and to feel it now – this day, this moment – because this feeling is food – not literal food – but the food that enables a man to become alive.” Maurice Nicoll, The Mark, p155

In summary, Maurice says, “The Lord’s Prayer is a prayer about inner evolution and the bread asked is the bread of understanding necessary for it.” Maurice Nicoll, The New Man, p32

Annie Lou Staveley says, “Which of the events that come my way today can I receive as my daily bread? Pleasant, unpleasant, glad, sad, hard, easy—all can be received as food for my work of development. How to receive?” The Plan is Good, p137

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Logion 96
Yeshua says...
The Father's realm can be compared
to a woman who takes a tiny bit of yeast,
folds it into dough
and makes great loaves of bread out of it.
Whoever has ears for this, listen!

Logion 69
Yeshua says...
Blessed are all those who are persecuted
down into the depths of the heart.
Only there will they come to know
their true Father and Source.

Blessed are the hungry ones.
Their inner longings will be satisfied.

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Page numbers for Maurice Nicoll refer to Psychological Commentaries on the Teachings of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky (Eureka Editions:2020) unless stated otherwise. 

All quotations from the Gospel of Thomas are from Lynn C Bauman, Ward J Bauman, Cynthia Bourgeault, The Luminous Gospels (Praxis 2008)

Page numbers for Annie Lou Staveley refer to The Plan is Good, (Two Rivers Press: 2023)

Page numbers for Maurice Nicoll’s The New Man refer to Martino Fine Books, Eastford CT, 2019

Page numbers for Maurice Nicoll’s The Mark refer to Thomas Nelson & Sons, New York, 1954

Read the Impression introducing the Gospel of Thomas.