Musing on the Beatitudes

Why I think the Beatitudes are a wonderful statement of Humanism – despite the religious language.

Here is probably one of the most famous quotes about beatitude:

“Not from earthly riches but from the milk of human kindness comes true beatitude.”
Attributed to St. Gregory of Nyssa, A mystic who lived in Cappadocia in Asia Minor around 380 AD.

I love this quote – because I agree with it. Miriam Webster defines beatitude as “a state of utmost bliss.”  Actively practicing kindness feels really good. In fact, I would say that the above quote is a perfect encapsulation of the Humanist approach to happiness.

Which brings me to – The Beatitudes – which are the 8 blessings Jesus gave during his Sermon on the Mount.  What you will notice is that – Jesus sounds A LOT like a Humanist – except for his references to God and Heaven and what he thinks will be their rewards.

Basically, he is saying that those who are the most blessed are people who choose to live their lives like the Humanists do. Here me out.

• Blessed are those that are poor in spirit – people who aren’t very religious. Check.
• Blessed are those who mourn – people who feel deep empathy for those who suffer and die. Check
• Blessed are the meek. People who are humble enough to realize they don’t know everything. Check
• Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Check.
• Blessed are the merciful – people who care enough to help the needy. Check
• Blessed are those who are pure in heart – people who are unstained by guilt or who act morally. Check
• Blessed are the peacemakers – people who seek out compassion based solutions instead of fighting all the time. Check
• Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake. Given how often Humanists are attacked for standing up for the poor, truth and for advocating for peace – yeah – Check. 

If you were to describe the values a Humanist holds dear – this is a pretty darned good list. And, I can tell you from personal experience – that practicing these character traits does indeed leave to high levels of beatitude in your life.

So live life as Jesus wanted you to – like a Humanist.

The power of metaphor

So, yesterday I got an email from someone who doesn’t understand what a metaphor is. And upon hearing the words “it’s as if” did not realize that what came afterwards was not meant literally. The actual construction was “it’s as if you told me you believe in invisible flying pigs.” It’s in a video I made on youtube. Anyway, this person sent me an angry email telling me that they don’t believe in invisible flying pigs as that would be ridiculous. (sigh)

Ok. So what is a metaphor and why are they important? Ignore the fact my example is actually that of an analogy. A metaphor is a way of comparing two different things as a way of showing how they are the same. My construction was that someone telling me they believe in god is the same as if they told me they believe in invisible flying pigs. Both are ridiculous to me – not to be offensive to anyone of faith – it is just if faith made sense to me I wouldn’t be an atheist. Would I?

Anyway the reason metaphor is important is because if you take everything literally, then when Jesus says he is the bread and water of heaven – you would think the man was literally made out of bread and water. Which of course would be ridiculous even though the 2nd half is of course, true, we humans do have a lot of water in us. This passage is best understood as metaphor – as in, he is as central to heaven as food and water is to life itself. In other words, without Jesus, no heaven. See how much more interesting things are when you understand metaphor?