Gate 184: לר — BEATITUDE

לר

Pillar 7: THE RETURN

[184:1] "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see

God."

[184:2] --- Matthew 5:8

[184:3] "The bliss of Brahman is the nature of the Self."

[184:4] --- Shankara

[184:5] "Joy is the infallible sign of the presence of God."

[184:6] --- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

[184:7] [184:1] Beatitude is the natural state---not something

to achieve but something to uncover.

[184:8] [184:2] The Beatitudes of Jesus describe not distant

rewards but present realities: "Blessed are\..." not "Blessed will

be\..." The poor in spirit are blessed now; the pure in heart see God

now; the peacemakers are children of God now. Beatitude is not future

promise but present recognition of what is already the case for those

with eyes to see.

[184:9] [184:3] In Sanskrit, the equivalent is ananda---bliss,

the third aspect of Brahman along with sat (being)

and chit (consciousness). Sat-chit-ananda: Being-Consciousness-Bliss.

Bliss is not a feeling added to existence; it is the texture of

existence itself when experienced without obstruction.

[184:10] [184:4] Why, then, do we not feel constant bliss?

Because we obstruct it. Identification with ego, clinging to what

passes, resistance to what is---these are the clouds that block the sun.

The sun continues to shine; we simply stand in the shadow we ourselves

cast. Remove the obstruction and beatitude is simply there, as it always

was.

[184:11] [FIGURE 184.1: The sun shining behind clouds. Sometimes

obscured, sometimes revealed---but always shining. Caption: "Beatitude

is not created but revealed."] [184:5] The mystics describe

beatitude in remarkably consistent terms: warmth, light, expansion,

peace beyond understanding, love without object, joy without cause.

"Joy is the infallible sign of the presence of God"---not because God

gives joy as a reward but because joy is the presence of God,

undistorted by the filters of fear and grasping.

[184:12] [184:6] Beatitude is not mere pleasure. Pleasure

depends on conditions---the right object, the right circumstances, the

satisfaction of desire. Pleasure comes and goes as conditions come and

go. Beatitude is unconditioned; it depends on nothing external; it

arises from the nature of consciousness itself when consciousness rests

in its own nature.

[184:13] [184:7] Nor is beatitude the absence of pain. The

awakened ones suffer; they weep at the world's suffering; they feel the

full range of human emotion. But beneath and within the pain, something

remains untouched---the ground of being that is joy itself. Beatitude

holds suffering; suffering does not negate beatitude.

[184:14] [184:8] To cultivate beatitude, cultivate what leads to

it: purity of heart (seeing without distortion), stillness of mind (Gate

152), surrender of grasping (Gate 155), love without agenda (Gate 4).

These are not payment for beatitude; they are the removal of

obstructions. Grace (Gate 154) does the rest.

[184:15] [184:9] The Witness (Gate 53) in its purity is

beatitude. When the Witness knows itself---not through thought but

directly---what it finds is not neutral awareness but blissful

awareness. Consciousness is ananda; the two are not separable. To know

yourself is to find yourself blessed.

[184:16] [184:10] "Blessed are you." Not "blessed will you

be" when you achieve something. Blessed are you---now, as you read

these words, as you breathe this breath. The blessing does not wait for

you to become worthy. You are worthy because you are. The pure in heart

shall see God; to see God is to know you have always been blessed.

[184:17] See Also: • Gate 4: אה (Ah) --- The Gate of the Omni

Function (Love as the path to beatitude) • Gate 53: גס (Gas, "Coarse")

--- The Gate of the Witness (who experiences beatitude) • Gate 149: טן

(Tan) --- The Gate of the Good (beatitude as the nature of the Good) •

Gate 177: כק (Kak) --- The Gate of Awakening (awakening to beatitude)