- Apr 17, 2005
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[bible]Matthew 5:5[/bible]
The above passage used to be one of those popular sayings that I did not like. I never fully understood it until recently, and what I did understand of it I knew only on face value. However, now these words do not seem at all like they were merely part of a greater story or something to be taken in passing but rather that they are a lesson of great consequence and principle to Christian and human morality.
Being a young man, the notion of being meek I hardly found appealing. We are taught that weakness is never a virtue. Being 'meek' has always had the image in my mind of someone who quietly allows themselves to be pushed around, makes way for others, does not strive for a sort of excellence but always attains a sort of mediocrity.
I never dismissed it but merely thought that perhaps the words were outdated. I usually thought of 'meek' as simply those that are humble and friendly, but in my current understanding, I am willing to accept the entirety of what meek is.
Meek is gentle, pacifistic, withdrawn; friendly even when being friendly to another person who is being mean to you makes you look weak or cowardly. Meek is choosing to never strive to have power over others or to exert your own will over somebody.
Meek is when the heart is so settled and resigned, so secure and built on the fortress of certainty that the words of others become irrelevant, power becomes irrelevant, glory becomes irrelevant.
Lao-tzu perhaps spoke of being meek when he said the 13th chapter of the Tao Teh Ching:
They are firmly planted and their hope and their fears have left them; firmly planted to no longer feel it necessary to exert oneself and to no longer feel threatened by others exertions over you.
The meek do not care about the success and the headway they make, thus they do not force themselves on others. They do not see it as any value to try to put themselves above another person. Their pride has left them and is replaced with loving others and seeing them as their brethren.
Meekness is to not feel anger or wrath towards those around you, but as it says, seeing them as yourself or as Christ would say, loving them as how you love yourself.
Meekness can become the root of the most moral persons -- in order to truly love others you must understand them, see yourself as them, forgive them, accept them and love them.
Aggressive behavior has no place in the issue, nor does pride or ego. The meek have forfeited their pride and looked passed it, have placed love as the higher. They have no desires for power, for prestige, as Lao-tzu noted that the difference between success and failure is minimal.
The meek will inherit the Earth because theirs is the way of Heaven, theirs is the way of love, theres is the way of honest thought untainted by personal vices of pride or fear.
The most basic root of all morality is to love others as you love yourself, as Christ commanded us; the direct result is meekness because when we have chosen to love others we have chosen to be meek and humble, understanding and forgiving. We sacrifice our pride and our ego, our ideas of success and failure, on the altar of God & His Love.
NOTE: Of course meek can be used as an adjective describing the behavior of a person, yet I am trying to examine the ethical virtues of meekness. Someone who is meek out of fear is obviously not what Christ speaks of; Christ does not ask us to go around fearing the world and cowering before it but rather walking boldly within it and challenging the Pharisees of our day.
The above passage used to be one of those popular sayings that I did not like. I never fully understood it until recently, and what I did understand of it I knew only on face value. However, now these words do not seem at all like they were merely part of a greater story or something to be taken in passing but rather that they are a lesson of great consequence and principle to Christian and human morality.
Being a young man, the notion of being meek I hardly found appealing. We are taught that weakness is never a virtue. Being 'meek' has always had the image in my mind of someone who quietly allows themselves to be pushed around, makes way for others, does not strive for a sort of excellence but always attains a sort of mediocrity.
I never dismissed it but merely thought that perhaps the words were outdated. I usually thought of 'meek' as simply those that are humble and friendly, but in my current understanding, I am willing to accept the entirety of what meek is.
Meek is gentle, pacifistic, withdrawn; friendly even when being friendly to another person who is being mean to you makes you look weak or cowardly. Meek is choosing to never strive to have power over others or to exert your own will over somebody.
Meek is when the heart is so settled and resigned, so secure and built on the fortress of certainty that the words of others become irrelevant, power becomes irrelevant, glory becomes irrelevant.
Lao-tzu perhaps spoke of being meek when he said the 13th chapter of the Tao Teh Ching:
Success is as dangerous as failure.
Hope is as hollow as fear.
What does it mean that success is a dangerous as failure?
Whether you go up the ladder or down it,
you position is shaky.
When you stand with your two feet on the ground,
you will always keep your balance.
What does it mean that hope is as hollow as fear?
Hope and fear are both phantoms
that arise from thinking of the self.
When we don't see the self as self,
what do we have to fear?
See the world as your self.
Have faith in the way things are.
Love the world as your self;
then you can care for all things.
Meekness is not to be understood in terms of cowardice or some sort of submissive attitude, but rather in the flooring philosophical idea of being firmly planted...Hope is as hollow as fear.
What does it mean that success is a dangerous as failure?
Whether you go up the ladder or down it,
you position is shaky.
When you stand with your two feet on the ground,
you will always keep your balance.
What does it mean that hope is as hollow as fear?
Hope and fear are both phantoms
that arise from thinking of the self.
When we don't see the self as self,
what do we have to fear?
See the world as your self.
Have faith in the way things are.
Love the world as your self;
then you can care for all things.
They are firmly planted and their hope and their fears have left them; firmly planted to no longer feel it necessary to exert oneself and to no longer feel threatened by others exertions over you.
The meek do not care about the success and the headway they make, thus they do not force themselves on others. They do not see it as any value to try to put themselves above another person. Their pride has left them and is replaced with loving others and seeing them as their brethren.
Meekness is to not feel anger or wrath towards those around you, but as it says, seeing them as yourself or as Christ would say, loving them as how you love yourself.
Meekness can become the root of the most moral persons -- in order to truly love others you must understand them, see yourself as them, forgive them, accept them and love them.
Aggressive behavior has no place in the issue, nor does pride or ego. The meek have forfeited their pride and looked passed it, have placed love as the higher. They have no desires for power, for prestige, as Lao-tzu noted that the difference between success and failure is minimal.
The meek will inherit the Earth because theirs is the way of Heaven, theirs is the way of love, theres is the way of honest thought untainted by personal vices of pride or fear.
The most basic root of all morality is to love others as you love yourself, as Christ commanded us; the direct result is meekness because when we have chosen to love others we have chosen to be meek and humble, understanding and forgiving. We sacrifice our pride and our ego, our ideas of success and failure, on the altar of God & His Love.
NOTE: Of course meek can be used as an adjective describing the behavior of a person, yet I am trying to examine the ethical virtues of meekness. Someone who is meek out of fear is obviously not what Christ speaks of; Christ does not ask us to go around fearing the world and cowering before it but rather walking boldly within it and challenging the Pharisees of our day.
