It might seem strange, but my big takeaway from the ministers meetings this week was to reflect on how little we (including myself) know, and how necessary this state is to effective listening and learning. This put me in mind of the following 1968 editorial in New Church Life on the first of the 10 Blessings. May we
too endeavor to be "poor in spirit", so that ours may be the kingdom of heaven.
Miss you all, and look forward to seeing you this weekend!
Love and Peace,
Ethan
"Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
By the poor in spirit are meant those who acknowledge from the heart that they know nothing from themselves; that they have no knowledge, understanding or wisdom in the things [of truth] and the good of love from themselves, but from God alone.
This acknowledgment, when it is from the heart, brings heaven into us. It [connects us] with the angels, all of whom are in that acknowledgment, and it opens our mind to receive those things of the Lord's Divinity which make heaven, and [once received] constitute heaven.
The paradox is that the poor in spirit are those who are spiritually rich. Their intellect and affection opens their minds to those truths of faith and goods of love which are the indestructible treasures of heaven. Because they not only know and perceive that they are entirely dependent upon the Lord but love
it to be this way, Divine truth (which leads to wisdom) flows in continually, and they receive it in the measure in which they are affected by it and therefore love it for its own sake.
Evidently the first pre-requisite to learning is a full and frank recognition of one's need to learn-of the teacher's knowledge and understanding and one's own ignorance. The humble spirit is the teachable spirit.
Yet in spiritual things we are prone to suppose that we can become wise from ourselves, that we are already very wise, or that we have at least sufficient wisdom for our needs. This illusion, deeply cherished as it is, must be put off before we can become poor in spirit.
