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The Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 5, Verses 13-16 reads
Note that the discussion of Salt and Light follows directly on the Beatitudes. This shows us that Jesus is now outlining the work of his Initiates. But what is that work?
Salt and Light
Let's start by considering what Salt and Light do in the most basic, literal sense. Salt is added to food in order to improve its flavor. It does this, however, by enhancing or drawing out the flavor which already existed in the dish, rather than adding a quality of its own. Salt makes things more what they are.
In a similar way, a Light in a dark room reveals what is there. It also scatters those creatures which thrive in darkness and which are often noxious to human health. Light is the source and the revealer of physical Beauty.
You could draw a contrast between salt and light by saying that salt is a form of matter which enhances ordinary matter, while Light is beyond matter, as its ultimate source is beyond the physical Earth.
The Good and The Beautiful
In the Platonic tradition, Beauty is never mere prettiness. Physical Beauty is an image or echo of Eternal Beauty, which is divine. As Plotinus says,
Now, flavor is to taste as beauty is to sight; by adding flavor to food, Salt reveals the Beauty of food, as Light reveals the Beauty of objects. Salt is matter which is added to matter to raise it to the Divine; Light is something above matter, which descends into matter and, in effect, brings the Divine with it.
Three Terms
Here is another way to look at it:
Salt and Light are a binary, which cry out, then, for a third term to resolve them. The solution is this: The Flavor of Salt is itself the third term. Light is the world of spirit, or, to be more precise of the Intellect or Nous. The world of Nous is also called Divine Mind or Ideal Form in the translations of our texts. In contrast to Intellect is Matter, the Earth-- that which is shaped by the Forms. Between Nous and Matter is Soul. The Christian Initiate is a particular type of awakened Soul. In Alchemical terms, Salt is matter at its purest; lacking Flavor, it would be fit only to be trod underfoot. But with its flavor, its work is to awaken Divine Beauty everywhere in the material world.
Works of Salt, Works of Light
The Christian, then, is to do work in the world, of a particular kind. The work will improve the world, not by destroying it, but by making it more fully what it is, by raising up to the divine, while drawing the divine down to it.
The Works of Salt are all those works which beautify the physical world. The building of a cathedral is a work of salt. The corporal works of mercy are also works of Salt: These are the practices of feeding the hungry, giving alms to the poor, and so on: the charitable works which are the finest expression of the Christian impulse in the social world. to hey are themselves acts of Beauty: "Minds that lift themselves above the realm of sense to a higher order are aware of Beauty in the conduct of life, in actions, in character, in the pursuits of the intellect; and there is the beauty of the virtues," writes Plotinus.
Please note that these are not political works. It is, of course, possible to interpret these verses in a political sense, and many have done so. This is a trap, and to fall into it is to reveal that one's soul is still invested in the human social world, which is the world of the dog pack. To personally undertake the Corporal Works of mercy is a radically different action from the use of state power to impose change by force-- which is what politics is, after all. All politics.
The Works of Light are those works-- we can call them "sacraments" and "prayers" and "sacramentals", but what we really mean is magic-- which draw the Divine down into this world. The highest expression of Christian magic or Theurgy is the Eucharist. An English clairvoyant of the last century, attending a Catholic mass in Sicily, had the following to say about the Eucharist:
This is the light that cannot be hidden.
To raise the world to God, to draw God down to the world: These are the works of the Initiated Christian.
13 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Note that the discussion of Salt and Light follows directly on the Beatitudes. This shows us that Jesus is now outlining the work of his Initiates. But what is that work?
Salt and Light
Let's start by considering what Salt and Light do in the most basic, literal sense. Salt is added to food in order to improve its flavor. It does this, however, by enhancing or drawing out the flavor which already existed in the dish, rather than adding a quality of its own. Salt makes things more what they are.
In a similar way, a Light in a dark room reveals what is there. It also scatters those creatures which thrive in darkness and which are often noxious to human health. Light is the source and the revealer of physical Beauty.
You could draw a contrast between salt and light by saying that salt is a form of matter which enhances ordinary matter, while Light is beyond matter, as its ultimate source is beyond the physical Earth.
The Good and The Beautiful
In the Platonic tradition, Beauty is never mere prettiness. Physical Beauty is an image or echo of Eternal Beauty, which is divine. As Plotinus says,
We hold that all the loveliness of this world comes by communion in Ideal Form. All shapelessness is ugly by that very isolation from the Divine Thought...
This, then, is how material thing becomes beautiful-- by communicating in the thought that flows from the Divine.
This, then, is how material thing becomes beautiful-- by communicating in the thought that flows from the Divine.
Now, flavor is to taste as beauty is to sight; by adding flavor to food, Salt reveals the Beauty of food, as Light reveals the Beauty of objects. Salt is matter which is added to matter to raise it to the Divine; Light is something above matter, which descends into matter and, in effect, brings the Divine with it.
Three Terms
Here is another way to look at it:
Salt and Light are a binary, which cry out, then, for a third term to resolve them. The solution is this: The Flavor of Salt is itself the third term. Light is the world of spirit, or, to be more precise of the Intellect or Nous. The world of Nous is also called Divine Mind or Ideal Form in the translations of our texts. In contrast to Intellect is Matter, the Earth-- that which is shaped by the Forms. Between Nous and Matter is Soul. The Christian Initiate is a particular type of awakened Soul. In Alchemical terms, Salt is matter at its purest; lacking Flavor, it would be fit only to be trod underfoot. But with its flavor, its work is to awaken Divine Beauty everywhere in the material world.
Works of Salt, Works of Light
The Christian, then, is to do work in the world, of a particular kind. The work will improve the world, not by destroying it, but by making it more fully what it is, by raising up to the divine, while drawing the divine down to it.
The Works of Salt are all those works which beautify the physical world. The building of a cathedral is a work of salt. The corporal works of mercy are also works of Salt: These are the practices of feeding the hungry, giving alms to the poor, and so on: the charitable works which are the finest expression of the Christian impulse in the social world. to hey are themselves acts of Beauty: "Minds that lift themselves above the realm of sense to a higher order are aware of Beauty in the conduct of life, in actions, in character, in the pursuits of the intellect; and there is the beauty of the virtues," writes Plotinus.
Please note that these are not political works. It is, of course, possible to interpret these verses in a political sense, and many have done so. This is a trap, and to fall into it is to reveal that one's soul is still invested in the human social world, which is the world of the dog pack. To personally undertake the Corporal Works of mercy is a radically different action from the use of state power to impose change by force-- which is what politics is, after all. All politics.
The Works of Light are those works-- we can call them "sacraments" and "prayers" and "sacramentals", but what we really mean is magic-- which draw the Divine down into this world. The highest expression of Christian magic or Theurgy is the Eucharist. An English clairvoyant of the last century, attending a Catholic mass in Sicily, had the following to say about the Eucharist:
At the moment of consecration of the Host glowed with the most dazzling brightness; it became in fact a veritable sun to the eye of the clairvoyant, and as the Priest lifted it above the heads of the people I noticed that two distinct varieties of spiritual force poured forth from it, which might perhaps be taken as roughly corresponding to the light of the sun and the streamers of his corona. The first... rayed out impartially in all directions upon the people in the church; indeed, it penetrated the walls of the church as though they were not there, and influenced a considerable section of the surrounding country.
This is the light that cannot be hidden.
To raise the world to God, to draw God down to the world: These are the works of the Initiated Christian.
