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The Gospel of Matthew Chapter 6, Verses 19-23 reads

19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.

23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?

28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:

29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Permanent Things

Jesus opens this passage by telling us to "lay up our treasures in Heaven." As we often discuss here, Heaven isn't another place, and we don't go there when we die. Heaven is a condition of being, and our goal is to attain that condition here and now, while we sojourn on the Earth.

We are reminded here, that the things of the Earth are impermanent. Here moth and rust corrupt, thieves break and steal. Heaven is permanent, because Heaven is Eternal-- and this is a critical point. To the modern mind, "Eternity" means "for a very very very long time." In fact, that is not what it means at all. Eternity is not a long time, or the longest time; it isn't even forever. Eternity is outside of time.

As Plotinus writes,

That which neither has been nor will be, but simply possesses ever-being; that which enjoys stable existence as neither in process of change nor having changed -- that is Eternity...

Eternity, thus, is of the order of the supremely great; reason proclaims it to be one with God, God made manifest, God declaring what He is; a Life limitless in the sense of being all the life there is, a Life which possesses itself intact forever, a Life instantaneously infinite.

Can we fully achieve Eternity in Time, Heaven on Earth? No, not quite-- otherwise there would be no Earth, only Heaven. But we can live our live our lives in such a way that we carry Heaven with us. When we do this, we will find death to be as simple as putting off a garment.

But how?

Take No Thought of the Morrow

In Platonic thought, Time is only a moving image of eternity. All the forms of physical things in this world are themselves only the shadows and traces of higher things, the eternal ideas which shape the living world.

Since everything eternal has its reflection in time, so eternity itself has its reflection in time. What is this reflection?

Well, we only have three options, since time consists only of three parts. These are, of course, the Past, the Present, and the Future.

Now, remember that Eternity is not the same as forever, or for a very long time. Since Time extends into the Past either forever, or for a very long time; and into the Future either forever for a very long time, neither Past nor Future can have anything to do with Eternity.

But the Present-- What is its duration? In a real sense, it has none. No matter how much you subdivide the moment, you never come to a length of time which is small enough to be the present-- by the very fact of having length, it isn't the present. In this way, the Present is the image of Eternity within Time-- Like Eternity, it has no duration, and no interval.

Plotinus again:

We must, then, have ourselves some share in Eternity, since there can be no understanding without some point of contact, and what contact could there be with the utterly alien?

That point of contact is the present moment itself; this is what Jesus is teaching us in these verses.

Becoming Present

Plotinus asks,

What if one should never laps from this vision [of eternity], held by the spell of its grandeur, capable of it because of a nature itself unfailing, or, if, pressing towards Eternity, one were then to rest in it, assimilated to it, co-eternal with it, contemplating Eternity and the Eternal by what is eternal in the self?

Let's remind ourselves of a few things.

Jesus has taught us that we must change our nous. He has taught us that the Heaven is within us. He has taught us that by purity of heart, we will see God.

Here, he teaches us that we must focus on Eternity, not Time, using the metaphor of "laying up treasure." He tells us that if we do so, our hearts will be open to Heaven-- "where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." And he tells us to give no thought to tomorrow-- which implies that we should also give no thought to yesterday, either.

This tells me that we must make a spiritual practice of presence. And that means meditation.

Meditation

Many readers here are probably familiar with the practice of discursive meditation, which is the form of meditation taught by John Michael Greer. Rather than stilling the mind, as Eastern systems of quiescent meditation systems do, discursive meditation consists of actively focusing and using the mind, usually through the contemplation of a spiritual text.

Discursive meditation is a wonderful practice and I strongly recommend it. I practice it myself; most mornings I begin my day by sitting down with The Complete Works of Plato, reading 5-10 pages, and then meditating on what I've read. If you're a Christian, you can practice discursive meditation using the Gospels or other part of the Bible or a spiritual text like The Imitation of Christ or True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. I have several books on my shelf of meditations meant specifically for clergy that I plundered from a defunct Catholic seminary. If you've never tried it, I strongly encourage it; you will find both the texts and your relationship with the subject of those texts coming alive as never before.

In my view, though, and it's a view derived from my experience, discursive meditation is not enough. Mr. Greer tends to deride Eastern forms of quiescent meditation, particularly the forms of "mindfulness meditation" that have become popular in recent years, as mere "mindlessness meditation." I strongly disagree. I believe that active meditation and passive meditation-- or meditation and contemplation, to give them their older and more proper names-- are like two wheels of a cart. Both are necessary. My experience is that if I practice only discursive meditation, I come up with extraordinary insights, but at other times of the day I'm unable to stop my mind from brooding over past mistakes or injuries or worrying about the future. My experience of people who only practice quiescent meditation, on the other hand, is that they often appear unable to think at all-- and so find themselves at the mercy of whatever thought forms and mental currents are passing through the popular culture.

In the modern world, with most of our traditions in disarray, we often have to cobble a spiritual practice together out of pieces drawn from different sources. Zazen, transcendental meditation, or Taoist zuowang are forms of quiescent meditation that pair well with discursive meditation. It's worth noting, though, that the Western tradition has its own form of quiescent meditation. The traditional meditation practice called lectio divina, or "divine reading," has 4 stages:

1. Lectio, or reading, in which a passage of scripture or a spiritual text is read;
2. Meditatio, or meditation, in which the passage is turned over in the mind;
3. Oratio, or prayer, in which the meditator turns to God for additional insight; and finally
4. Contemplatio, or contemplation, in which thought is released and the meditator rests in the stillness and presence that is the active presence of God.

In this way of doing things, active meditation and passive meditation both have a part to play-- and notice that it is God that acts as the bridge between the two.

Our problem is that our minds are out of control. It's as if we're born with a severe case of restless leg syndrome. No matter what we do, our legs are constantly spasming, flipping and flopping us all over the place. Discursive meditation teaches us how to get our legs under control, so that we can go somewhere. Quiescent meditation-- or contemplation, to give it its proper name-- teaches us how to still our legs, so that we can rest.

Consider the Lilies

Most of what I've written here so far is within the bounds of Christian orthodoxy, supplemented by Plotinus and Plato. Now I want to step outside that orthodoxy, just a bit.

Occult Philosophy holds that the essence of every human soul is a kind of kernel of existence called the divine spark. This is the basic seed of existence around which our expanded capacities for action and mental representation are built. In theory, the sparks are eternal, and they begin their existence at the level of spiritual reality, in the presence of the Divine. That sounds great, doesn't it? And it is. The trouble is that it's a sort of trance-state; the sparks exist in the presence of God, but they live as if they were in a dream, unable to experience reality as an objective structure extending beyond themselves.

In order to become the sorts of beings that can not just experience but will and choose and understand, they need more. They go forth from the divine, and descent down the planes of existence, through the noetic level, the astral and etheric levels, until they finally descend to the level of physical reality....

And become a rock.

Yes, according to this way of looking at things, you were once a rock. A rock has physical existence, but nothing else. But because of its origin in the Spiritual Plane, it has the potential to become something else.

Ever so slowly, over long ages, the being that was once a rock takes on more complex capacities. It exists for a time as a crystal-- a rock, that is, in which the elementary form of growth has begun to evolve.

And after a time-- how long, who knows?-- the crystal is destroyed, and the spark within it is released. The spark can now take on a more complex form. It becomes a simple plant: A being in which the capacity to eat and grow is added to the capacity for physical existence. Over time, the plant too evolves more complex capacitis. It becomes a tree-- a kind of plant in which the rudiments of conscious experience are awakening.

And then the tree is cut down, and the spark is born again as an animal. Now the spark begins to gain the capacities of more complex mental representation, and above all, movement.

But there is a price: When existing as a plant, the divine spark was able to live off of sunlight and nutrients drawn from the soil. Now, it must eat other forms of life. It must kill in order to exist. Before, it only suffered evil. Now it commits evil.

On and on, through the long ages of animal existence, the soul is forced to do appalling, unimaginable things. As a hawk it tears babies out of their mother's arms and devours them. As a lion it destroys entire families. As a mouse, it eats its own young.

And so, ever so slowly, the soul gains the knowledge of good and evil. It gains this through experience-- it suffers both evil and good, and it does both evil and good.

Now, all this must sound familiar at this point. The state of original, blissful but trance-like presence of God is the Garden of Eden. The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is material existence. When Adam and Eve eat of the Tree, they descend into matter. Then they hear God coming, and they are ashamed, because they are naked. Their nudity isn't physical nudity; it's existence as naked souls. And so they weave clothes for themselves: That is to say, they clothe themselves in matter, taking on material existence for the first time.

The soul at the animal level has suffered evil and good, and has done evil and good. It still lacks one thing, which it can only gain at the human level of existence. And that is the capacity not merely to act, but to choose its actions.

The work of the human soul is to become capable of commiting acts of both good and evil, from a place of knowledge and deliberate action, not mere reaction.

What? We should learn to be evil? That sounds terrible, doesn't it?

But consider: When a wolf eats a deer, it is evil for the deer-- but it's good for the wolf. But it's also good for the plants, because if the deer population grows to excess, the local plantlife will be destroyed. And the next thing that will happen after that is that the deer will starve to death. And so when a wolf eats a deer, it's evil for the deer, but it's good for the wolf, the plants, and, ultimately-- for the deer as a whole.

The wolf does this unknowingly. In the human, the capacity for knowledge has awakened-- but it is not complete. The complete knowledge of good and evil is held by the beings that create and sustain the system of life that contains the wolf, the deer, and the plants-- that is to say, the gods. The work of the human level is the work of awakening to both the knowledge and the use of good and evil in the governance of the universe. That is what is meant by becoming divine.

This is also why Plato writes that humans who do evil are reborn as the animals they resemble. Such people have not sufficiently integrated the lessons of the animal level of existence, and so, like bad students sent back a grade, they need to go back and try again.

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?

When Jesus calls to mind the lilies, and the birds, he is reminding us of our stages of existence as animals and plants. Like the lilies, like teh birds, we should let go of our concern for the future and focus on the present only. In the present moment we find the image of eternity which is the image of God and the presence of God within ourselves. And so we can turn ourselves, our wills and our actions entirely over to God, the Eternal Reality within us.

This work of contemplation-- stilling the mind, focusing only on the present moment, and resting in stillness and divine presence-- creates in us the capacity to choose.

Isn't that a contradiction? We're enjoined on the one hand to trust ourselves entirely to the care of God, and on the other hand to develop in ourselves the capacity to choose our actions, and even become gods!

This is not a contradiction at all, and, indeed, the two things are consequences of each other. How this is so should be clear, if you've been following up to this point.

The Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 6, Verses 16-18 reads

16 Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

17 But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;

18 That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.

Epithymia

Why fast?

Remember the three components of the soul, according to the Platonists: Nous, Thymos, and Epithymia. Nous is the mind, but especially that part of the mind which extends beyond thought, becoming a window into the Eternal World. Thymos is the spirited part, the will or energy. And Epithymia is the appetite.

Now, when we start on the path, each part of the soul must be brought into balance-- and as they have different functions, there is a discipline and a balance proper to each.

When the appetite is unrestrained, it leads the soul to disaster, and is the root of our entanglement with matter-- and that which is worse than matter. As Plato writes in the Phaedo, his account of the execution of Socrates:

Every pleasure or pain has a sort of rivet with which it fastens the soul to the body and pins it down and makes it corporeal, accepting as true whatever the body certifies. The result of agreeing with the body and finding pleasure in the same things is, I imagine, that it cannot help becoming like it in character and training, so that it can never get entirely away to the unseen world, but is always saturated with the body when it sets out, and so soon falls back again into another body, where it takes root and grows. Consequently it is excluded from all fellowship with the pure and uniform and divine.

Now, Jesus has already told us the proper function of the epithymia, way back in the Beatitudes:

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.

Our appetite has an ultimate purpose, which is to lead us heavenward. It isn't that we should totally eschew the things of the material world-- we're here, after all, and to never to obey out appetite would be to commit suicide. But we must discipline our appetites.

And that's where fasting comes in.

Traditional Fasts

Traditionally, Catholics fasted Wednesdays and Fridays, and during select days and seasons throughout the year. These days, the Modern Church in its wisdom has abandoned the traditional fasts and today enjoins its members only to give up a random goody during Lent and to fast for real during one day of the year, Good Friday. Eastern Churches, who possess actual wisdom, have preserved the older custom; they continue to fast through all of Lent and Advent, and during Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays all year round. Tellingly, the Eastern churches preserved their traditions and have managed to undergo a rebirth despite suffering almost unimaginably brutal repression under the Communist regimes of Russia and Eastern Europe, while membership in the Roman Catholic Church, as well as participation in the masses and belief in its doctrines by its nominal members, has plummeted during the same period.

Let's leave that aside for now, though-- though it's relevant to our discussion. I want to say a bit more about the traditional fasts.

Before the wisdom of the '60s put an end to it, there were four three-day fasts set at each of the cardinal points of the year. These were called the Ember Days, and there was one for each season. It's very interesting to note some of the traditional justifications for these fasts. The Golden Legend, compiled by Blessed Jacopo de Voragine in the 13th Century, tells us:

The fourth reason is because the man is composed of four elements touching the body, and of three virtues or powers in his soul: that is to wit, the understanding, the will, and the mind. To this then that this fasting may attemper in us four times in the year, at each time we fast three days, to the end that the number of four may be reported to the body, and the number of three to the soul. These be the reasons of Master Beleth.

The fifth reason, as saith John Damascenus: in March and in printemps [that is, Spring] the blood groweth and augmenteth, and in summer coler, in September melancholy, and in winter phlegm. Then we fast in March for to attemper and depress the blood of concupiscence disordinate, for sanguine of his nature is full of fleshly concupiscence. In summer we fast because that coler should be lessened and refrained, of which cometh wrath. And then is he full naturally of ire. In harvest we fast for to refrain melancholy. The melancholious man naturally is cold, covetous and heavy. In winter we fast for to daunt and to make feeble the phlegm of lightness and forgetting, for such is he that is phlegmatic.

The sixth reason is for the printeps is likened to the air, the summer to fire, harvest to the earth, and the winter to water. Then we fast in March to the end that the air of pride be attempered to us. In summer the fire of concupiscence and of avarice. In September the earth of coldness and of the darkness of ignorance. In winter the water of lightness and inconstancy.

Lent was also kept as a fast, and in theory is to this day, though not in practice. Advent, the period of 4 Sundays before Christmas, was also kept as a very strict fast, though today, of course, it's an extended shopping season. The important thing to note, here, is that each fast ends with a feast. In earlier times, the 3-4 weeks of Advent ended in a very strict all-day fast on Christmas Eve. This was finally broken with a special meal at midnight, after which a 12-day party ensued, ending only on January 6th with the Feast of the Epiphany. And here's the point: It's hard, if not impossible, to imagine modern Americans fasting for 4 straight weeks.

But it's even harder to imagine them partying for 12 straight days.

And, indeed, it's the fast that allows for the feast, and the feast that allows for the fast. In magical terms, this is a very traditional principle. It is discussed in the late 19th century magical work called the Kybalion under the names "The Principle of Polarity" and the Principle of Rhythm":

4. The Principle of Polarity

"Everything is Dual; everything has poles; everything has its pair of opposites; like and unlike are the same; opposites are identical in nature, but different in degree; extremes meet; all truths are but half-truths; all paradoxes may be reconciled."—The Kybalion.

This Principle embodies the truth that "everything is dual"; "everything has two poles"; "everything has its pair of opposites," all of which were old Hermetic axioms. It explains the old paradoxes, that have perplexed so many, which have been stated as follows: "Thesis and antithesis are identical in nature, but different in degree"; "opposites are the same, differing only in degree"; "the pairs of opposites may be reconciled"; "extremes meet"; "everything is and isn't, at the same time"; "all truths are but half-truths"; "every truth is half-false"; "there are two sides to everything," etc., etc., etc. It explains that in everything there are two poles, or opposite aspects, and that "opposites" are really only the two extremes of the same thing, with many varying degrees between them.

5. The Principle of Rhythm

"Everything flows, out and in; everything has its tides; all things rise and fall; the pendulum-swing manifests in everything; the measure of the swing to the right is the measure of the swing to the left; rhythm compensates."—The Kybalion.

This Principle embodies the truth that in everything there is manifested a measured motion, to and fro; a flow and inflow; a swing backward and forward; a pendulum-like movement; a tide-like ebb and flow; a high-tide and low-tide; between the two poles which exist in accordance with the Principle of Polarity described a moment ago. There is always an action and a reaction; an advance and a retreat; a rising and a sinking. This is in the affairs of the Universe, suns, worlds, men, animals, mind, energy, and matter. This law is manifest in the creation and destruction of worlds; in the rise and fall of nations; in the life of all things; and finally in the mental states of Man (and it is with this latter that the Hermetists find the understanding of the Principle most important).

It is the fast which creates the feast, and the feast creates the fast. Lacking one, we can have neither.

It is for this reason that Plato has Socrates say in the Phaedo that he expects to awaken to another life after his death.

Are not all things which have opposites generated out of their opposites? I mean such things as good and evil, just and unjust—and there are innumerable other opposites which are generated out of opposites. And I want to show that in all opposites there is of necessity a similar alternation; I mean to say, for example, that anything which becomes greater must become greater after being less.

True.

And that which becomes less must have been once greater and then have become less.

Yes.

And the weaker is generated from the stronger, and the swifter from the slower.

Very true.

And the worse is from the better, and the more just is from the more unjust.

Of course.

And is this true of all opposites? and are we convinced that all of them are generated out of opposites?

Yes.

And in this universal opposition of all things, are there not also two intermediate processes which are ever going on, from one to the other opposite, and back again; where there is a greater and a less there is also an intermediate process of increase and diminution, and that which grows is said to wax, and that which decays to wane?

...

Now, said Socrates, I will analyze one of the two pairs of opposites which I have mentioned to you, and also its intermediate processes, and you shall analyze the other to me. One of them I term sleep, the other waking. The state of sleep is opposed to the state of waking, and out of sleeping waking is generated, and out of waking, sleeping; and the process of generation is in the one case falling asleep, and in the other waking up. Do you agree?

I entirely agree.

Then, suppose that you analyze life and death to me in the same manner. Is not death opposed to life?

Yes.

And they are generated one from the other?

Yes.

What is generated from the living?

The dead.

And what from the dead?

I can only say in answer—the living.

Then the living, whether things or persons, Cebes, are generated from the dead?

That is clear, he replied.

Then the inference is that our souls exist in the world below?

That is true.

Preparation for Death

In the Phaedo, Socrates then goes on to tell his followers that the true work of Philosophy is to prepare for death. This is done, in part, by detaching from the body and its needs, its pleasures, and its pains. This withdrawal is what we call fasting, to which Jesus enjoins us here.

Now the Laws of Rhythm and Polarity comes back into play. In traditional practice, the Fast is followed by the Feast as Life is followed by Death. In the fast, we prepare for death, by withdrawing ourselves from the appetites of our body. But the feast too is a preparation for death! Just as the long fast of Advent is followed by the joy of Christmas, and the long fast of Lent by the joy of the Easter Season, so the long and weary earthly pilgrimage is followed by the awakening to Eternal Life.

Why Fast in Secret?

Let's close by reminding ourselves that Jesus tells us to fast in secret, as we are to pray in secret-- and for just the same reason. If we fast to win points from our fellow men, we'll achieve that goal. If we fast to be rewarded by our Father in Heaven, we'll achieve that, as well.

The Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 5, Verses 14-15 reads

14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:

15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Sayings

In the verses that follow the Lord's Prayer, Jesus gives a series of short teachings. Each is very important by itself, and so for the rest of this week, I'm going to go through them one at a time.

I don't get into so-called "historical Jesus" or modern "Biblical criticism" scholarship, because my experience is that these things tend to reflect the prejudices of academics more than anything else. But I feel like one modern idea is worth mentioning, and that is that the gospels of Matthew and Luke were compiled using the narrative Gospel of Mark and another document, now lost. That lost document is a sayings gospel, usually referred to as "Q."

Again, most academic ideas about Christian origins are half-baked when they aren't willfully hostile, but this is one that seems to me to have some merit. In the first case, one can very easily imagine passages like this compiled into a document of sayings like the Daodejing or the Pythagorean Aphorisms. In the second case, we actually have an intact Sayings Gospel, the Gospel of Thomas.

Forgiveness

Jesus opens this section by reminding us if we do not forgive others, we will not be forgiven by the Father.

Here are three things to takeaway from this:

First, we are once again being taught the law of karma. Everything we do has consequences, and everything we do returns to us. We are punished not for our sins, but by them, and rewarded not for our good works, but by them as well. And in the exact same way, by granting forgiveness, we are ourselves forgiven.

But why do we need forgiveness?

Remember that to be united to the Father is to be made Whole. The Father is True Being, and in uniting ourselves to Him, we become what we are intended to be.

As God is Being, and God is Good, true good is the same as true being. Evil, in a real sense, does not exist. When we do evil, we remove ourselves from being and remove ourselves from existence!

Here is another way to see it-- the Nous is the Eye of the Soul, by which we perceive God and spiritual realities. Evil deeds and habitual sin act like a crust that gradually forms over our soul, firming and hardening until it blocks out the light entirely. In order to return to the light of God, we need to remove the accretions of evil built up around our souls. That is what forgiveness is.

None of us is separate. When another sins against us, it affects us-- and holding onto our anger or resentment at the sin affects them. To exist at all is to have something of God within us. By forgiving others, we participate in the creative work of God himself, helping them return to the light of True Being. By participating in the energy (energeia, action, grace) of forgiveness, we open ourselves to receiving forgiveness.

Recovery

People in recovery from addiction are often taught to be mindful of their resentments. Holding onto resentment leads the addict to pick up a drink or a drug. How does this work? Addiction is a spiritual illness, regardless of its physical components. By releasing resentments and practicing forgiveness, the addict himself is freed, and no longer has to compensate for the pain by dissolving his mind into intoxication (this is a form of non-being, of course).

The truth is, though, that "Addiction" is actually a sub-set of "Sin." When we sin and reject God, by whatever means, we dissolve back into non-being. Notice that this is also a type of hardening-- Life is energy, one of the three primary powers of the Cosmos, and living things move. All sin attempts to become habitual, and so to become addiction; and forgiveness is always an act of healing. Forgive others, participate in the creation of the world, and watch yourself become divine.

(Updated 9/6/21)

The Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 6, Verses 9-13 reads:

9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

10 Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

11 Give us this day our daily bread.

12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

This, of course, is the Lord's Prayer. Let's take it one bit at a time-- and we'll use a modern rendition for the analysis.

Our Father

We begin with an invocation. Who or what is being invoked? The Father.

Set aside your 21st century understanding of the world for a moment. As far as the First Century knows, the male is more or less entirely responsible for the generation of life. It is he who produces the seed. The female's job is to germinate the seed provided by the male, as the grain is germinated in the soil.

By opening with an invocation of the Father, we're going straight to the top, to the Maker of the universe himself. Two things are worth noting here:

First, in the Platonic cosmos, the create act doesn't consist of bringing something into being out of nothing. It consists, rather, in the imposition of order onto formless Chaos. This is how the creation is described in Plato's Timaeus. In an orthodox Christian context, this simply means that Creation begins at Genesis 1:2-- "And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters."

In saying the Lord's Prayer, we're connecting to the creative power that brings order to the cosmos. You can see this prayer, then, as a specific theurgical ritual designed to bring about "repentance" or metanoia, the changing of the nous.

Second, after we bring order to ourselves, we can begin the work of bringing order to the world. This prayer is an especially potent formula for invoking the Creator of the Universe, and we can use it to cause change in the world of our experience.

Who art in Heaven

As we have seen, "Heaven" refers to the Noetic level of being-- the level of the nous-- in which the eternal powers that shape the changeable, material world reside. The Father is a part of the Noetic realm, but he is also beyond it-- he is the Father there, as well.

Hallowed be Thy Name

The word "hallowed" or "holy" is agiasthētō, in Greek, from hagia. This word originally means "set apart" or "different." That which is of the gods is different from ordinary things, as the spiritual is distinct from the physical.

We have already seen that the Name of God has power. Remember יהוה‎, YHVH: He brings into existence everything that exists.

It's worth comparing the meaning of YHVH to Plato's analysis of the name of Zeus in the Cratylus:

The name of Zeus... has also an excellent meaning, although hard to be understood, because really like a sentence, which is divided into two parts, for some call him Zena, and use the one half, and others who use the other half call him Dia; the two together signify the nature of the God, and the business of a name, as we were saying, is to express the nature. For there is none who is more the author of life to us and to all, than the lord and king of all. Wherefore we are right in calling him Zena and Dia, which are one name, although divided, meaning the God through whom all creatures always have life (di on zen aei pasi tois zosin uparchei).

Cratylus is worth reading in its entirety; it consists in large part of a half-serious, half-playful analysis of the names of the various deities. The one just given for Zeus is an example." Zena" and "Dia," which mean "Life" and "Because of," are not the actually etymological roots of Zeus's name, and Plato probably knew that. But by being willing to play around with the name, he is able to derive a meaning which sheds light on the nature of the thing named. Meaning itself, as meaning, is a function of the noetic level of being, which is above the rational; it doesn't matter whether any human consciously intended Zeus's name to mean "He causes life." The meaning can be found, and it teaches us something true about Zeus and his nature.

Plato also tells us, in the same dialogue, that the gods love a good joke.

In a similar way, the English word "holy" is used to translate the Greek "hagia." "Holy" relates to the word "whole" or "wholeness," and from this we can learn that "holiness" relates to "being made whole." Now "wholeness" is a type of "Oneness" and is therefore derived from The One itself, which is God. By invoking the Holy Name of God, we do the work of becoming whole, which is the work of becoming what God has intended us to become.

Thy kingdom come

This is the Kingdom of Heaven, which is to say, continuous existence at the Noetic level of being, of which we've heard so much. Here, we unite ourselves to the Kingdom of Heaven, and ask both that the kingdom come to all who can receive it.

Thy will be done

Every thing which exists has its natural Act, or, in Greek, energeia. The natural Act of God is the creation of the Cosmos and all that is within it; the Act of every creature is derived from the primordial Act of God. Evil is the embrace of nothingness, non-being, the rejection of the Will of God. We do God's will when we live according to our own proper purpose, uniting our Act to God's. As Plotinus writes,

Can we conceive that for any being the Good can be other than the natural Act expressing its life-force, or in the case of something made up of parts, the Act expressive of that in it which is best?

There is no separation in the Deity; to unite our Will with the Will of God is also to become Whole as God is Whole.

Now the word "Act" is often used to translate energeia in the works of Plotinus. As a word, it is technically correct but somewhat awkward. A more common English translation of energeia, especially in Christian writings, is Grace.

On Earth as it is in Heaven

This is, in effect, a prayer for the completion of Creation. "Let God's will be fully realized in everything. Let everything in the astral and material worlds perfectly express its archetype in the spiritual realm. Let Earth and Heaven be united."

If we are praying for a specific intention, we can imagine the Divine Energy of God pouring forth from Heaven, moving into the world, and accomplishing our goal.

And give us this day our daily bread

We pray that we may receive that which we truly need. Since we have just invoked the Lord of Heaven and prayed for His Will to be done throughout creation, we can confidently say that Jesus isn't just talking about our material needs. Our ultimate need is to be united with God, and we are asking that we receive what we need in order to move closer to that end.

And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

Again we are reminded of that most basic of magical principles-- We will receive exactly as we give. Here we are especially enjoined to give forgiveness. Now this is being expressed literally in the form of debt and repayment, and the suggestion is that the weight of our sins keeps us from full union with the Good, which is to say, with God. Often this is because we are trapped in a pattern of sinful behavior which we are unable to break. If we release others who have sinned against us, forgiving them their debt, we will often find that our own patterns of sinful behavior begin to fall away.

Remember that "sin" means "to miss the mark"; the mark is God Himself, and sin is everything that leads us in other directions.

And lead us not into temptation

That is, let us not be impacted by the rebellions of the passions or the manipulation of our desires by our society or by harmful spirits (the world, the flesh, the devil).

But deliver us from evil.

When we fall, as we will, stretch forth thy hand, and raise us up again.

For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory.

This is a phrase much used in Cabalistic magic. The most common interpretation is this:

"Thine is" is the sphere of Kether, pure being;
"The power" is the sphere of Geburah, Divine Wrath, and the Pillar of Form generally;
"The glory" is the sphere of Chesed, Divine Mercy, and the Pillar of Force generally
"The kingdom" is the sphere of Malkuth, the created world.

In this way, God is shown as having three aspects-- Pure Being, Power, and Activity, which three together bring the universe (the Kingdom) into being. And so we close the prayer as we begin it, with an invocation, which seals the prayer and expresses again God's power to bring about whatever we have asked him for.

Addendum 1: The Cabalistic Cross

It is common in the Golden Dawn tradition to begin magical operations with a Hebrew invocation that goes "Atah malkuth ve'geburah ve'gedulah le oh lam, Amen." These are the words said during the Cabalistic Cross, and the whole ritual goes like this:

1. Imagine yourself growing to immense size, so that the Earth is the size of a basketball beneath your feet.

2. Visualize a point of light at an infinite distance above your head. Now imagine a column of light descends downward, arriving at last at the crown of your head, where it forms a star.

3. Using the first two fingers of your right hand, reach up and draw the star down to your forehead. Chant "ATAH."

4. Now, draw your hand down to your chest, and visualize a coulmn of light descending from the star at your forehead into the heart of the Earth. Chant "MALKUTH."

5. Use your hand to send a column of light out through your right shoulder into an infinite distance. Chant "VE GEBURAH."

6. Use your hand to send a column of light out through your left shoulder into an infinite distance. Chant "VE GEDULAH."

7. Extend your arms out to your sides, forming the shape of a cross with your body. See the cross of light descending from remotest heaven, through your body, into the heart of the Earth, and out to either side. Chant "LE OH LAM."

8. Bring your hands together at your heart, in the prayer position. Chant "AMEN." Feel and know that you are standing alone and at one with God at the center of the Universe. You can stay here for as long as you like.

This invocation comes from Eliphas Levi, and is said, both by Levi and the Golden Dawn adepts that followed him, to mean "Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, amen."

There's just one problem: It actually does not mean that. "Atah malkuth ve'geburah ve'gedulah le oh lam" means "Thou art kingdom and power and glory forever." So what's going on here?

I believe that the mistranslation is deliberate. "Thou art the kingdom" is technically a heresy, identifying creator with creation. But the Name of God associated with Kether, the First Sphere of the Tree of Life, is אֶהְיֶה, "AHIAH," which means "I am." "Thou art" is a very proper response to "I am;" by saying "Thou art," the initiate invokes the highest Name of God while still identifying God as other than himself.

So, taken literally as a sentence, the Cabalistic Cross is heretical. It's also grammatically somewhat nonsensical-- "Thou art kingdom"? If, on the other hand, it is a series of names-- or, rather, Names-- it makes much more sense. And notice, again, that in the word "Atah," the initiate is simultaneously identifying himself with God, while acknowledging the radical Otherness of God.

Addendum 2: Two Speculations Regarding the Mother

As we have seen, this prayer invokes the Father. But men do not create without women-- not today, and not 2,000 years ago. By invoking the Father, Jesus implies the existence of a Mother. Who is She?

Speculation 1: A Father still requires a mother; a seed does not sprout without soil. In the Timaeus, Plato suggests that there are three basic principles governing the creation of the universe: The Form, the Formless, and the Formed. Now the first principle is the Father, the creative impulse; the second principle is the Mother, the formless something which receives that creative impulse; and the third principle is the Child, that which is created:

For the present we have only to conceive of three natures: first, that which is in process of generation; secondly, that in which the generation takes place; and thirdly, that of which the thing generated is a resemblance. And we may liken the receiving principle to a mother, and the source or spring to a father, and the intermediate nature to a child; and may remark further, that if the model is to take every variety of form, then the matter in which the model is fashioned will not be duly prepared, unless it is formless, and free from the impress of any of these shapes which it is hereafter to receive from without. For if the matter were like any of the supervening forms, then whenever any opposite or entirely different nature was stamped upon its surface, it would take the impression badly, because it would intrude its own shape. Wherefore, that which is to receive all forms should have no form; as in making perfumes they first contrive that the liquid substance which is to receive the scent shall be as inodorous as possible; or as those who wish to impress figures on soft substances do not allow any previous impression to remain, but begin by making the surface as even and smooth as possible. In the same way that which is to receive perpetually and through its whole extent the resemblances of all eternal beings ought to be devoid of any particular form. Wherefore, the mother and receptacle of all created and visible and in any way sensible things, is not to be termed earth, or air, or fire, or water, or any of their compounds or any of the elements from which these are derived, but is an invisible and formless being which receives all things and in some mysterious way partakes of the intelligible, and is most incomprehensible. In saying this we shall not be far wrong ; as far, however, as we can attain to a knowledge of her from the previous considerations, we may truly say that fire is that part of her nature which from time to time is inflamed, and water that which is moistened, and that the mother substance becomes earth and air, in so far as she receives the impressions of them.

This, for Plato, is the primordial Triad which brings everything into existence. Who is this Divine Mother? Some have identified her with the Holy Spirit; others with the figure of Sophia, Divine Wisdom; others with the Virgin Mary. Or it may be that all three are correct.

Speculation 2: If human culture is shaped and determined by higher, spiritual principles, then it was the will of the gods that the First Century saw the universe in the way it did-- and it is their will that we see it in the way that we do. We have made the "discovery" that, in sexual reproduction, the female contributes as much as the male-- rather than the male providing her with a seed, in fact they each have a seed. We can say that both create, though in different ways-- the male creates by going outside of himself; the female creates by drawing into herself.

If we know this today, it is the Divine Will that we should know it, and that we should think somewhat differently about the role of male and female did than our ancestors did in earlier times. Not entirely differently, as the extract from Plato shows-- but differently enough that we can justifiably believe that it is both proper and divinely ordained that the roles of men and women ought to be different in our place and time than in earlier places and times.

Such changes happen from time to time. Women in the time of the Sumerian priestess Enheduanna, who lived about 4,300 years ago, had higher status than they did in the Greece of Plato's day, 2,000 years later; and in Enheduanna's time, the planet Venus signified War as well as Love.

The Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 6, Verses 1-8 reads:

1 Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.

2 Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:

4 That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.

5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.

Top Dog

Jesus opens by telling us that if we do our alms before men, we will have no reward from our Father in Heaven.

Why is this?

Remember that neither Heaven nor its Father are remote from us; both are always present. The Reward that the Father grants is the reward of Heaven, which is the eternal spiritual realm that shapes and gives meaning to physical existence.

Let's back up a bit.

Everything we do is informed by our intention. Everything we do has an effect, and every reaction provokes an immediate reaction. This is the basic law of existence, and it's also what is meant by the word karma. If we do an act of charity specifically to be seen by other human beings, this will have a specific effect, and that is to give us social power. Jesus has already shown us what the ultimate source of human social power is. "All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me."

The top dog in any dog pack is still a dog.

The Rewards of the Father

As sin is its own punishment, charity is its own reward. Moreover, both habitual sin and habitual charity have an enduring effect on the soul. The soul which habitual engages in acts of charity, mercy and kindness takes on a very different light from the soul that is habitual caught up in addiction, wrath, and vice. The internal state changes-- it feels very different to be a saint than to be a sinner-- but it goes beyond this. One finds that one's social environment and physical surroundings come to reflect the internal life, and things come unexpectedly from the outside in the form of sudden changes and chance encounters which confirm the state of the soul.

Vain Repetitions

Jesus enjoins against "vain repetitions." Christians of some schools take this to mean "never repeat anything" or "always pray extempore." This is incorrect, as demonstrated by the fact that Jesus immediately gives us a formula to use in prayer. Praying from a formula is not the same as vain repetition, and we can understand the difference easily if we consider our own lives. Most of us use the phrase "I love you" on a regular basis-- and if you don't, I'm sorry, and I hope you will get the chance to soon. "I love you" is probably one of the most commonly repeated phrases in the English language, but that does not make it a vain repetition-- rather, it is a very meaningful repetition.

"I love you" has a proper response: "I love you too." When you say "I love you" and don't receive "I love you too" in return, it feels bad. This is because "I love you," "I love you too" form an energetic circuit. The same is true of "Thank you" "You're welcome"; "I'm sorry" "That's okay"; and so on.

Now, any of these formulae can become vain repetitions. We can say "Thank you" and not mean it, we can say "I'm sorry" when we're really not. A cheater caught in the act might make an elaborate profession of love that he does not mean. In this way he is like the hypocrite piling up words on the street corner.

Go Within

Jesus tells us to go into our room and shut the door when we pray. In saying this he is teaching us the art of meditation. To meditate we need to find stillness and turn our attention inward. We connect to the Father, that is, to the eternal spirit which is within us and all things. And then we may say the words of the prayer he has given us-- mindfully, intentionally, never meaninglessly. We don't need to pile up words-- it is enough to simply connect to the Father.