These verses, the opening phrases of the Sermon on the Mount, hold some of the Bible’s most beautiful and best-loved poetry. Part of its beauty, though, lies in the fact that the meaning is not quite clear. What does it mean to be “poor in spirit”? What does it mean to “inherit the earth” or to be called “the children of God.” The fact that there are many possibilities causes us to linger over the phrases, pondering them.

Understood in the internal sense, these blessings show the spiritual states of the various people who could be receptive of the Lord and the new church he was launching. On a deeper level it shows that states within ourselves that can lead each of us to the Lord and to a deeper understanding of His truth today.

The “poor in spirit” are those who know little about spiritual things, but want to learn. Those that “mourn” are those who want to be good, but see no desire for good in their church. The “meek” are those who love to care for and serve others. To “hunger and thirst after righteousness” shows a desire to rise up, to learn about what’s good and to come to desire it.

The “merciful” are those who love their fellow people. The “pure in heart” are those who love only what is good. “Peacemakers” are those who are in harmony with the Lord, gaining knowledge from Him and wanting what He wants. And to be “persecuted for righteousness’ sake” means acting out of love and care for others, even though you are condemned by others for it.

There’s something of a progression there, from those who simply want to learn to those who actively want to be good people to those who actually are good and acting out of love for others. None of it, though, describes those who are learned in the Jewish traditions, or even necessarily observant in terms of ritual; they are, rather, those who sense that it is possible to be a good person and are willing to make the effort.

And they are promised their rewards! The “kingdom of heaven” is the understanding the angels have of the Lord; “comfort” represents ideas that lead to the good of life; “inheriting the earth” is a state of loving others and being loved by them in return. The overall message is simple: If we truly wish to be good people, and are willing to let the Lord teach us how to be good people, we will end up filled with love and wisdom from Him. And that’s what we need to focus on: The desire to be good, and openness to ideas from the Lord. It’s not about ritual and intellectual “correctness”; it’s about ideas that lead us to be good.

But what of being reviled and persecuted? This depicts temptation, when the hells attack our newborn good desires and true understanding. They cause us to doubt our ability to be truly good and question the ideas that are leading us. And they can do it in many ways, reminding us of the fun we’ll be missing or reminding us of all the bad things we’ve ever done to render us hopeless. They will even attack the Bible and the ideas that come to us through it from the Lord; that’s represented by the idea that people also attacked the prophets.

These states, however, are blessed in their own way; only by battling these evils, which are rooted inside us, can we finally fully embrace the good life we have been striving for. That’s why it is pictured last, and that's why it leads to the “great reward” in heaven.

48. Of the natural and the spiritual.

How perverse it is that the world at this day attributes so much to nature, and so little to the Divine (n. 3483). Why it is so (n. 5116). When nevertheless each and every particular in nature not only exists, but likewise continually subsists from the Divine, and through the spiritual world (n. 775, 8211). Divine, celestial, and spiritual things terminate in nature (n. 4240, 4939). Nature is the ultimate plane whereon they stand (n. 4240, 5651, 6275, 6284, 6299, 9216). Celestial, spiritual, and natural things follow and succeed each other in order; so do Divine things with them, because they are from the Divine (n. 880, 4938-4939, 9992, 10005, 10017, 10068). Celestial things are the head, spiritual things the body, and natural things the feet (n. 4938-4939). They also inflow in an order similar to that wherein they follow and succeed each other (n. 4938-4939).

The good of the inmost or third heaven is called celestial, the good of the middle or second heaven is called spiritual, and the good of the ultimate or first heaven is called spiritual natural, whence it may be known what is the celestial, spiritual, and natural (n. 4279, 4286, 4938-4939, 9992, 10005, 10017, 10068); and in 20-28, 29-40 in the work on Heaven and Hell.

All things of the natural world are from the Divine through the spiritual world (n. 5013). Consequently the spiritual is in every natural thing, just as the efficient cause is in the effect (n. 3562, 5711); or as effort is in motion (n. 5173), and as the internal is in the external (n. 3562, 5326, 5711). And since the cause is the very essential in the effect, as effort is in motion, and the internal in the external; hence it follows, that the spiritual, and consequently the Divine, is the very essential in the natural (n. 2987-3002, 9701-9709). Spiritual things are presented to view in the natural, and the things manifested are representatives and correspondences (n. 1632, 2987-3002). Hence all nature is a theater representative of the spiritual world, that is, of heaven (n. 2758, 2999-3000, 4939, 8848, 9280). All things in nature are disposed in order and series according to ends (n. 4104). This is from the spiritual world, that is, from heaven, because ends, which are uses, reign there (n. 454, 696, 1103, 3645, 4054, 7038). Man is so created that Divine things descending according to order into nature, may be perceived in him (n. 3702).

With every man, who is in Divine order, there is an internal and an external, his internal is called the spiritual, or the spiritual man, and his external is called the natural, or the natural man (n. 978, 1015, 4459, 6309, 9701-9709). The spiritual man is in the light of heaven, and the natural man in the light of the world (n. 5965). The natural man can discern nothing from himself, but from the spiritual (n. 5286). The natural is like a face in which the interiors see themselves, and thus man thinks (n. 5165). The spiritual man thinks in the natural, consequently naturally, so far as it comes to the sensual perception of the natural (n. 3679, 5165, 6284, 6299). The natural is the plane, in which the spiritual terminates (n. 5651, 6275, 6284, 6299, 9216). The spiritual sees nothing, unless the natural be in correspondence (n. 3493, 3620, 3623). The spiritual or internal man can see what is being done in the natural or external, but not the contrary, because the spiritual flows into the natural, and not the natural into the spiritual (n. 3219, 4667, 5119, 5259, 5427-5428, 5477, 6322, 9109-9110). The natural man from his own light, which is called the light [lumen] of nature, knows nothing concerning God, nor concerning heaven, nor concerning the life after death; neither does he believe, if he hears of such things, unless spiritual light, which is light from heaven, flows into that natural light [lumen] (n. 8944).

The natural man of himself, by birth, is opposite to the spiritual man (n. 3913, 3928). Therefore as long as they are opposite to each other, man feels it grievous to think of spiritual and celestial things, but delightful to think of natural and corporeal things (n. 4096). He nauseates the things of heaven, and even the bare mention of anything spiritual, from experience (n. 5006, 9109). Merely natural men regard spiritual good and truth as a servant (n. 5013, 5025). When nevertheless the natural man ought to be subordinate to the spiritual man, and serve him (n. 3019, 5168). The spiritual man is said to serve the natural, when the latter from the intellectual principle seeks confirmations of the objects of his concupiscence, particularly from the Word (n. 3019, 5013, 5025, 5168). How merely natural men appear in another life, and what is the quality of their state and lot there (n. 4630, 4633, 4940-4952, 5032, 5571).

The truths, which are in the natural man, are called scientifics and knowledges (n. 3293). The imagination of the natural man, when viewed in itself, is material, and his affections are like those of beasts (n. 3020). But there is a genuine thinking and imaginative principle from the internal or spiritual man, when the natural man sees, acts, and lives therefrom (n. 3493, 5422-5423, 5427-5428, 5477, 5510).

The things which are in the natural man, respectively to those which are in the spiritual man, are general (n. 3513, 5707); and consequently obscure (n. 6686).

There is an interior and an exterior natural with man (n. 3293-3294, 3793, 5118, 5126, 5497, 5649). There is also a medium between them (n. 4570, 9216). The discharges of the spiritual man are made into the natural, and by it (n. 9572).

They who do good merely from a natural disposition, and not from religion, are not received in heaven (n. 8002, 8772).