The Beatitudes: Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.
“The idea that a man can receive inner help or comfort by going against himself is not easy to grasp. Yet if there be a higher level from whence bliss proceeds with which communication is possible, the idea is not so remarkable. ‘Blessed are they that mourn’ means that bliss or happiness can reach a person from the higher level of the Kingdom if he mourns or if he is poor in spirit. But is it to be supposed that a man must go about openly weeping or openly mourning or wearing mourning? This idea is utterly impossible in view of what Christ teaches in the next chapter of Matthew, the sixth, where it is said that a man must do everything in secret—give his alms in secret, fast in secret, etc., and not do anything for the sake of his self−love, for the sake of praise, and merit, in the eyes of others. Now one mourns the dead in a literal sense. But to feel that one is dead in oneself is to mourn in its psychological meaning. Christ says many things about the dead—those who are dead, psychologically, internally, in their real inner part that only can evolve to the level of higher Man, but do not know it, and so do not mourn.” Maurice Nicoll, The New Man, p149.
“From a Wisdom perspective, this second Beatitude is talking about vulnerability and flow. When we mourn we are in a state of free fall, our heart reaching out toward what we have seemingly lost but cannot help loving anyway. To mourn is by definition to live between the realms. Mourning is indeed a brutal form of emptiness. But in this emptiness, if we can remain open, we discover that a mysterious something does reach back to comfort us. To mourn is to touch directly the substance of divine compassion. Just as ice must melt before it can begin to flow, we too must become liquid before we can flow into the larger mind. Tears have been a classic spiritual way of doing this.” Cynthia Bourgeault, The Wisdom Jesus, p43.
Logion 58
Yeshua says...
Blessed are the troubled.
They have seized hold of life.
Read more Impressions on the Beatitudes.
Page numbers for Maurice Nicoll’s The New Man refer to Martino Fine Books, Eastford CT, 2019
Cynthia Bourgeault, The Wisdom Jesus, Shambhala Publications, 2008
Quotations from the Gospel of Thomas are from Lynn C Bauman, Ward J Bauman, Cynthia Bourgeault, The Luminous Gospels (Praxis 2008)
Read the Impression introducing the Gospel of Thomas.
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