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The Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 7, Verses 13-29 reads:
Three Ideas
In this section, the Sermon on the Mount concludes with three ideas. Let's examine each of them one at a time.
The Narrow Way
Jesus tells us that his way is a narrow one, and few will find it. To put it more plainly: Jesus's path is difficult. And if you've been paying attention so far, you know just how true that is.
This statement apparently causes quite a bit of agonizing in some corners of the Christian world. I unaware of this until I went looking for commentaries on this verse, but it makes sense. For many Christians, Heaven is a physical place which some of us will make it when we die. The rest of us are going to another place, a place of fire and torment without end. If this is the case, then these verses are terrifying. Jesus is basically saying "Most of you are going to be sent to Hell, so good luck with that."
And so, many Christians simply choose to ignore these lines, and believe that everyone or almost everyone is going to Heaven. Others choose to take them rather more literally, and assume that God really is going to send most people to Hell. The former type is preferable to the latter, who are frankly creepy, but in my view both are wrong.
Reincarnation
The Phaedo is Plato's account of the last hours of the life of his teacher Socrates. The Phaedo opens with Socrates, in prison, about to be given the poison which will end his life. Several of his students are there, and they are full of fear and mourning, but Socrates tells them that he isn't afraid, and they shouldn't be upset. Instead, he says, every true philosopher will make haste to follow him. He then gives an account of the immortality of the soul and its experiences after death.
For Socrates, there are several options, once the soul is led by its guardian spirit into the Underworld. There is indeed what we would call Heaven and Hell, and Heaven is a place where the just are rewarded, and Hell is a place where the wicked are punished. Some-- in particular, those who have committed mass killings or who have committed blasphemy-- are sent to Hell (or, rather, Tartarus) for good, at least apparently. Most, however, will have a chance to return, once they have been purified. The just go to a place of reward, but this isn't permanent either-- it's merely a natural reward for their good deeds.
Eventually, all who have been judged in the Underworld return to Earth. Some return in human form, but others must return as animals:
But besides these, there is another option.
Socrates tells us that there is a true Heaven, above our physical world. There the air that we breathe is as dense and dark as the ocean is, and we appear to the people who live there like bottom-feeding fish, dwelling in the mud.
The practice of Philosophy is the way to this True Heaven; attaining it, one is no longer required to return to the Earth. For this reason Socrates, on the eve of his execution, tells his disciples to make haste to follow after him.
Does all of this sound familiar? Just the same idea is found in Buddhism, expressed (in a rather more concise form) by the Buddha himself in the Dhammapada:
For both Plato and Buddha, the end goal is the transcendence of wheel of birth, death and rebirth-- even very enjoyable rebirths. But are they right?
Moral Monstrosity
Let's put the matter as plainly as we can.
If it really is the case, as many Christians hold, that we get a single chance at life, at the end of which we are judged; and that the judgment is final, with only two possible results, a Heaven of everlasting bliss or a Hell of eternal torment; then Christianity is a moral monstrosity. It's a stupid, petty, childish system of psychological torture unfit to be taken seriously by any adult.
We've now come to the end of the Sermon on the Mount, which forms the core of Jesus's teaching. Does he seem like the kind of man who would teach such nonsense? Does that seem like what he is saying here?
An even better question-- Even if Jesus was saying that, does it seem true?
By Their Fruits Shall Ye Know Them
It's all so confusing, isn't it? there are so many spiritual paths, and paths within paths, all making claims which sound plausible enough. How are we to judge between them?
Fortunately, Jesus now gives us a very simple test by which we can know the truth or falsehood of any spiritual teaching whatsoever.
That test is this:
By their fruits shall ye know them.
For any spiritual path-- indeed, for any teaching or practice whatsoever-- if you want to know whether it works and how it works, all you need to do is look at what kind of people it produces.
Are they wishy-washy, preaching kindness and tolerance but with no backbone and quick to bow to whatever trend passes through the larger culture? Or are they rigid and angry, brimming over with hostility and with barely-concealed sexual constipation? Or are they kind and good, but with a deep reserve of strength and unwillingness to tolerate falsehood? Different forms of Christianity, and different spiritual paths outside of Christianity, can produce all three of these characters. Which seems best to you, and which does Jesus's Narrow Way seem most likely to produce, if it is truly practiced?
The Will of the Father
Remember.
The Father is the Good Itself, the Eternal Source of all existence. Heaven is the realm of the eternal Ideas, the spiritual forms which precede and govern the worlds of concrete thought and, finally, of matter. The Kingdom of Heaven is the community of all those souls which have raised themselves up to the presence of the Father, and now exist entirely on the level of the eternal Ideas. It is also that community of souls as they interact with one another in material form as they sojourn here on the Earth.
The Will of the Father is that we be united to Him; it is also, at the same time, and without contradiction that we become precisely those beings which he intended us to be when he brought us forth into manifestation. As the Father is eternal and his Will is eternal, to unite ourselves to Him is akin to building a house with strong foundations; the ceaseless movements of impermanence here in the world of Becoming will not change us. To fail to do so is to build a house on a foundation of sand. The winds of the world will blow and we will fall.
13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
28 And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine:
29 For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
Three Ideas
In this section, the Sermon on the Mount concludes with three ideas. Let's examine each of them one at a time.
The Narrow Way
Jesus tells us that his way is a narrow one, and few will find it. To put it more plainly: Jesus's path is difficult. And if you've been paying attention so far, you know just how true that is.
This statement apparently causes quite a bit of agonizing in some corners of the Christian world. I unaware of this until I went looking for commentaries on this verse, but it makes sense. For many Christians, Heaven is a physical place which some of us will make it when we die. The rest of us are going to another place, a place of fire and torment without end. If this is the case, then these verses are terrifying. Jesus is basically saying "Most of you are going to be sent to Hell, so good luck with that."
And so, many Christians simply choose to ignore these lines, and believe that everyone or almost everyone is going to Heaven. Others choose to take them rather more literally, and assume that God really is going to send most people to Hell. The former type is preferable to the latter, who are frankly creepy, but in my view both are wrong.
Reincarnation
The Phaedo is Plato's account of the last hours of the life of his teacher Socrates. The Phaedo opens with Socrates, in prison, about to be given the poison which will end his life. Several of his students are there, and they are full of fear and mourning, but Socrates tells them that he isn't afraid, and they shouldn't be upset. Instead, he says, every true philosopher will make haste to follow him. He then gives an account of the immortality of the soul and its experiences after death.
For Socrates, there are several options, once the soul is led by its guardian spirit into the Underworld. There is indeed what we would call Heaven and Hell, and Heaven is a place where the just are rewarded, and Hell is a place where the wicked are punished. Some-- in particular, those who have committed mass killings or who have committed blasphemy-- are sent to Hell (or, rather, Tartarus) for good, at least apparently. Most, however, will have a chance to return, once they have been purified. The just go to a place of reward, but this isn't permanent either-- it's merely a natural reward for their good deeds.
Eventually, all who have been judged in the Underworld return to Earth. Some return in human form, but others must return as animals:
And those who have chosen the portion of injustice, and tyranny, and violence, will pass into wolves, or into hawks and kites;—whither else can we suppose them to go?
But besides these, there is another option.
Socrates tells us that there is a true Heaven, above our physical world. There the air that we breathe is as dense and dark as the ocean is, and we appear to the people who live there like bottom-feeding fish, dwelling in the mud.
And in this fair region everything that grows—trees, and flowers, and fruits—are in a like degree fairer than any here; and there are hills, having stones in them in a like degree smoother, and more transparent, and fairer in colour than our highly-valued emeralds and sardonyxes and jaspers, and other gems, which are but minute fragments of them: for there all the stones are like our precious stones, and fairer still. The reason is, that they are pure, and not, like our precious stones, infected or corroded by the corrupt briny elements which coagulate among us, and which breed foulness and disease both in earth and stones, as well as in animals and plants. They are the jewels of the upper earth, which also shines with gold and silver and the like, and they are set in the light of day and are large and abundant and in all places, making the earth a sight to gladden the beholder's eye. And there are animals and men, some in a middle region, others dwelling about the air as we dwell about the sea; others in islands which the air flows round, near the continent: and in a word, the air is used by them as the water and the sea are by us, and the ether is to them what the air is to us. Moreover, the temperament of their seasons is such that they have no disease, and live much longer than we do, and have sight and hearing and smell, and all the other senses, in far greater perfection, in the same proportion that air is purer than water or the ether than air. Also they have temples and sacred places in which the gods really dwell, and they hear their voices and receive their answers, and are conscious of them and hold converse with them, and they see the sun, moon, and stars as they truly are, and their other blessedness is of a piece with this.
The practice of Philosophy is the way to this True Heaven; attaining it, one is no longer required to return to the Earth. For this reason Socrates, on the eve of his execution, tells his disciples to make haste to follow after him.
Does all of this sound familiar? Just the same idea is found in Buddhism, expressed (in a rather more concise form) by the Buddha himself in the Dhammapada:
Some are reborn in hell,
Some in this world,
The good in heaven.
But the pure are not reborn.
For both Plato and Buddha, the end goal is the transcendence of wheel of birth, death and rebirth-- even very enjoyable rebirths. But are they right?
Moral Monstrosity
Let's put the matter as plainly as we can.
If it really is the case, as many Christians hold, that we get a single chance at life, at the end of which we are judged; and that the judgment is final, with only two possible results, a Heaven of everlasting bliss or a Hell of eternal torment; then Christianity is a moral monstrosity. It's a stupid, petty, childish system of psychological torture unfit to be taken seriously by any adult.
We've now come to the end of the Sermon on the Mount, which forms the core of Jesus's teaching. Does he seem like the kind of man who would teach such nonsense? Does that seem like what he is saying here?
An even better question-- Even if Jesus was saying that, does it seem true?
By Their Fruits Shall Ye Know Them
It's all so confusing, isn't it? there are so many spiritual paths, and paths within paths, all making claims which sound plausible enough. How are we to judge between them?
Fortunately, Jesus now gives us a very simple test by which we can know the truth or falsehood of any spiritual teaching whatsoever.
That test is this:
By their fruits shall ye know them.
For any spiritual path-- indeed, for any teaching or practice whatsoever-- if you want to know whether it works and how it works, all you need to do is look at what kind of people it produces.
Are they wishy-washy, preaching kindness and tolerance but with no backbone and quick to bow to whatever trend passes through the larger culture? Or are they rigid and angry, brimming over with hostility and with barely-concealed sexual constipation? Or are they kind and good, but with a deep reserve of strength and unwillingness to tolerate falsehood? Different forms of Christianity, and different spiritual paths outside of Christianity, can produce all three of these characters. Which seems best to you, and which does Jesus's Narrow Way seem most likely to produce, if it is truly practiced?
The Will of the Father
Remember.
The Father is the Good Itself, the Eternal Source of all existence. Heaven is the realm of the eternal Ideas, the spiritual forms which precede and govern the worlds of concrete thought and, finally, of matter. The Kingdom of Heaven is the community of all those souls which have raised themselves up to the presence of the Father, and now exist entirely on the level of the eternal Ideas. It is also that community of souls as they interact with one another in material form as they sojourn here on the Earth.
The Will of the Father is that we be united to Him; it is also, at the same time, and without contradiction that we become precisely those beings which he intended us to be when he brought us forth into manifestation. As the Father is eternal and his Will is eternal, to unite ourselves to Him is akin to building a house with strong foundations; the ceaseless movements of impermanence here in the world of Becoming will not change us. To fail to do so is to build a house on a foundation of sand. The winds of the world will blow and we will fall.
