Blessed Are the Poor

[Truthseeker]

Blessed [are] the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
(NKJV, Matthew 5:3)

And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed [are ye] poor: for yours is the kingdom of God.
(NKJV, Luke 6:20)

But woe to you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation.
(NKJV, Luke 6:24)

Jesus at different times blessed the poor and the poor in spirit and the Baha'i writings endorse both. Or perhaps they are slightly different remembrances of the same thing said by Jesus.

O Son of My Handmaid!
Be not troubled in poverty nor confident in riches, for poverty is followed by riches, and riches are followed by poverty. Yet to be poor in all save God is a wondrous gift, belittle not the value thereof, for in the end it will make thee rich in God, and thus thou shalt know the meaning of the utterance, “In truth ye are the poor,” and the holy words, “God is the all-possessing,” shall even as the true morn break forth gloriously resplendent upon the horizon of the lover’s heart, and abide secure on the throne of wealth.
, “The Hidden Words of Bahá’u’lláh” , p51

For some people, they have riches all their lives, especially when they are born in riches. However, they can't take their riches with them to the next life, and the rich tend to depend on their riches rather than God, so they can be poor spiritually. If we are confident in riches, we fall into the category of those who are rich and depend on their riches, rather than God, and thus we impoverish ourselves spiritually. We should trust in God, not in our riches.

Some people are poor materially all their lives, but poor people tend to trust in God, and look to God rather than money. In the end , this makes them rich spiritually. This is not universally true, though, we should recognize, despite it is appearing that Baha'u'llah is saying that. He's expressing a general principle to which there are exceptions. Likewise, there are exceptions to rich people allowing their riches to come in between them and God, as noted elsewhere in the Hidden Words. We should not be troubled in poverty, because we should pray to God to provide our material needs, and usually God will provide those. There are places in the world, though, we should recognize, where people chronically do not have enough, and they don't have enough food and shelter among other things. What God will provide for those people, though, is spiritually riches, if they reach for this. Also Abdu'l-Baha says that:

Those who suffer most, attain to the greatest perfection.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá, “Paris Talks” , 14.4

I should caution that this is not automatic. Suffering gives the potential to attain perfection. The greater the suffering the potential to gain perfection is greater.

That truth, though, is conditioned on the person keeping hold to the cord of God. Shoghi Effendi says this about the cord of God:

The word ‘cord’ so often mentioned in the Teachings means both the Faith itself and also the power of the Faith which sustains those who cling to it.
Shoghi Effendi, “Directives from the Guardian”

Some people suffer, and because they don't turn to God they don't get as much benefit as they could have. Even those who suffer a lot and have no faith, though, often have more empathy for those who suffer, especially those who suffer in the same way they did.

Suffering in the world is distributed unevenly, some suffer more than others. Some suffer so much, their character can be negatively affected. Those who have great faith can overcome this, but not everyone can do this. But for those who suffer more, God will recompense them more in the next life:

At first sight it may seem very unjust that the innocent should suffer for the guilty, but ‘Abdu’l-Bahá assures us that the injustice is only apparent and that, in the long run, perfect justice prevails. He writes:—

As to the subject of babes and children and weak ones who are afflicted by the hands of the oppressors … for those souls there is a recompense in another world … that suffering is the greatest mercy of God. Verily that mercy of the Lord is far better than all the comfort of this world and the growth and development appertaining to this place of mortality.
John E. Esslemont, “Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era” , 6.50

Baha'u'llah chimes in:

Say: Concourse of believers, be patient at what has befallen you and be not anxious concerning the harm and suffering that have afflicted you. He shall bestow full recompense upon the long-suffering.
Bahá’u’lláh, “City of Radiant Acquiescence”

Yet to be poor in all save God is a wondrous gift, belittle not the value thereof, for in the end it will make thee rich in God

This means to me focusing all of our attention on god's attributes, and striving to manifest those attributes in our life, and thus have God within us, in a sense. It means sacrificing our own human inclinations for those attributes, and thus be poor in our original human attributes, and rich in God.

and thus thou shalt know the meaning of the utterance, “In truth ye are the poor,” and the holy words, “God is the all-possessing,” shall even as the true morn break forth gloriously resplendent upon the horizon of the lover’s heart, and abide secure on the throne of wealth.

In the end, God possesses everything in the form of positive attributes, and is also the possessor of this material world. As is said in the long obligatory prayer:

O Lord of all being and Possessor of all things visible and invisible!
Bahá’u’lláh, “Prayers and Meditations” , 183.22

If you are poor in all but God, we will be wealthy in God. We are all the poor compared to God, we should get all our blessings from Him.

to be continued:

 

[Truthseeker]

continued:

Say: I swear by God! No one is despised in the sight of the Almighty for being poor. Rather is he exalted, if he is found to be of them who are patient. (Baha'u'llah: Huququ'llah, page 496)

Here Baha'u'llah gives a condition for the poor being exalted, being patient. Those who are poor can hanker after immediate relief from their condition and psychologically this is harmful emotionally. They could also in their impatience do something wrong to bring himself out of poverty instead of relying on God in patience and harm his soul.

When Jesus Christ appeared, it was the poor who first accepted Him, not the rich. Therefore, you are the disciples of Jesus Christ; you are His comrades, for He outwardly was poor, not rich. Even this earth's happiness does not depend upon wealth. You will find many of the wealthy exposed to dangers and troubled by difficulties, and in their last moments upon the bed of death there remains the regret that they must be separated from that to which their hearts are so attached. They come into this world naked, and they must go from it naked. All they possess they must leave behind and pass away solitary, alone. Often at the time of death their souls are filled with remorse; and worst of all, their hope in the mercy of God is less than ours. Praise be to God! Our hope is in the mercy of God, and there is no doubt that the divine compassion is bestowed upon the poor. Jesus Christ said so; Baha'u'llah said so. While Baha'u'llah was in Baghdad, still in possession of great wealth, He left all He had and went alone from the city, living two years among the poor. They were His comrades. He ate with them, slept with them and gloried in being one of them. He chose for one of His names the title of The Poor One and often in His Writings refers to Himself as Darvish, which in Persian means poor; and of this title He was very proud. He admonished all that we must be the servants of the poor, helpers of the poor, remember the sorrows of the poor, associate with them; for thereby we may inherit the Kingdom of heaven. God has not said that there are mansions prepared for us if we pass our time associating with the rich, but He has said there are many mansions prepared for the servants of the poor, for the poor are very dear to God. The mercies and bounties of God are with them. The rich are mostly negligent, inattentive, steeped in worldliness, depending upon their means, whereas the poor are dependent upon God, and their reliance is upon Him, not upon themselves. Therefore, the poor are nearer the threshold of God and His throne.
(`Abdu'l-Baha: Promulgation of Universal Peace*, page 33)

Remember, not all the poor are dependent on God, impatiently they seek other means. Abdu'l-Baha doesn't mean to contradict Baha'u'llah, this is His way of encouraging these poor, looking at them with the eye of compassion and overlooking any faults this group of poor people may have.

O Son of Spirit!
Vaunt not thyself over the poor, for I lead him on his way and behold thee in thy evil plight and confound thee forevermore.
, “The Hidden Words of Bahá’u’lláh” , a25

Poor may mean more than lack of money. Poor could also be a lack of capacity, a lack of intellect, or being poor in spirit.

If we hold ourselves above such people we are not humble, and we will be deprived of spirituality. God will also put obstacles in our way.

If a person is poor in any way, God will help his poorness, and if we put myself above him we will be deprived spiritually and also have more problems in life.

Lay not aside the fear of God, O kings of the earth, and beware that ye transgress not the bounds which the Almighty hath fixed... Know ye that the poor are the trust of God in your midst. Watch that ye betray not His trust, that ye deal not unjustly with them and that ye walk not in the ways of the treacherous. Ye will most certainly be called upon to answer for His trust on the day when the Balance of Justice shall be set, the day when unto every one shall be rendered his due, when the doings of all men, be they rich or poor, shall be weighed.

If ye pay no heed unto the counsels which, in peerless and unequivocal language, We have revealed in this Tablet, Divine chastisement shall assail you from every direction, and the sentence of His justice shall be pronounced against you.
(Baha'u'llah: Gleanings, pages 250-252)

Most of the kings didn't listen and their royal line ceased to rule before long. This also shows Baha'u'llah watching out for the poor, and His loving-kindness for the poor. He did not regard the kings as above the poor in any way. Rather He addressed them sternly.

O Children of Dust!
Tell the rich of the midnight sighing of the poor, lest heedlessness lead them into the path of destruction, and deprive them of the Tree of Wealth. To give and to be generous are attributes of Mine; well is it with him that adorneth himself with My virtues.
, “The Hidden Words of Bahá’u’lláh” , p49

If the rich don't think of the plight of the poor, and are heedless, somehow this will lead to their destruction as well as deprive them of the Tree of Wealth. This can apply to all of us, we all need to think of the poor.

Verily this is that Most Great Beauty, foretold in the Books of the Messengers, through Whom truth shall be distinguished from error and the wisdom of every command shall be tested. Verily He is the Tree of Life that bringeth forth the fruits of God, the Exalted, the Powerful, the Great.
, “Bahá’í Prayers” , 30.3

If Baha'u'llah is the Tree of Life, it stands to reason He is also Tree of Wealth also.

They could be destroyed spiritually because their heedlessness leads to things like spending extravagantly on themselves, and becoming very attached to their physical wealth, perhaps becoming addicted to alcohol or drugs. There are plenty of other examples. Not just the rich can destroy themselves this way.

This heedlessness will result from their disregard of the poor.

To give and to be generous are attributes of Mine; well is it with him that adorneth himself with My virtues.

If we acquire the virtue of generosity, in contrast when we are rich, it will be well for us, because then, we will be sharing this attribute of God, and as a result partake of some of his Spirit, and have eternal happiness, be in Paradise, and be a fruit on the Tree of Wealth.

Through the manifestation of God's great equity the poor of the world will be rewarded and assisted fully, and there will be a readjustment in the economic conditions of mankind so that in the future there will not be the abnormally rich nor the abject poor. The rich will enjoy the privilege of this new economic condition as well as the poor, for owing to certain provisions and restrictions they will not be able to accumulate so much as to be burdened by its management, while the poor will be relieved from the stress of want and misery. The rich will enjoy his palace, and the poor will have his comfortable cottage.
(`Abdu'l-Baha: Promulgation of Universal Peace*, page 132)

This is called elimination of the extremes of wealth and poverty.

But this does not endorse a poverty of fruits, there is nothing wrong with having wealth, so long as we are not attached to that wealth.

O My Servants!
Ye are the trees of My garden; ye must give forth goodly and wondrous fruits, that ye yourselves and others may profit therefrom. Thus it is incumbent on every one to engage in crafts and professions, for therein lies the secret of wealth, O men of understanding! For results depend upon means, and the grace of God shall be all-sufficient unto you. Trees that yield no fruit have been and will ever be for the fire.
Bahá’u’lláh, "The Hidden Words of Bahá’u’lláh", p80

Where it says wealth, before this I thought it meant material wealth, but given the supreme importance given spiritual wealth by Baha'u'llah, it means more than that. Crafts and professions creates material wealth for us, but more importantly it creates spiritual wealth if done in the spirit of service. Results depend on means. If we get material wealth with bad means, we won't have spiritual wealth. If we use good means for material wealth, we'll have the potential to have the grace of God, which is all-sufficient.

Good fruits, I should remind people can be performed after we have a job that we are paid for, in our retirement.

O Offspring of Dust!
Be not content with the ease of a passing day, and deprive not thyself of everlasting rest. Barter not the garden of eternal delight for the dust-heap of a mortal world. Up from thy prison ascend unto the glorious meads above, and from thy mortal cage wing thy flight unto the paradise of the Placeless.
, “The Hidden Words of Bahá’u’lláh” , p39

He says we should every day seek to do good things, and advance ourselves spiritually. What does He mean by everlasting rest, which seems to imply in the next world? I don't think it means rest literally, but a sense of peace within ourselves that we have striven in our lives to better ourselves and the world around us. In the next world, we continue to progress, but due to the grace of God entirely, and we can't progress by our own efforts, though we can pray for advancement there.

Barter not the garden of eternal delight for the dust-heap of a mortal world.

He has said similar things repeatedly:

How strange and pitiful; for a mere cupful, they have turned away from the billowing seas of the Most High, and remained far from the most effulgent horizon.
, “The Hidden Words of Bahá’u’lláh”

We should not be attached to this mortal world, and enjoy ourselves on that level, but see the eternal in all things, and enjoy the fruits of the spiritual world that grow in the garden of the spirit. Like a garden, our spiritual susceptibilities can grow over time.

Up from thy prison ascend unto the glorious meads above, and from thy mortal cage wing thy flight unto the paradise of the Placeless.

The reference to “prison” implicates the cage of our passions. Advancing spiritually is always referred to as going up, here using the word “above”. Interestingly, mead can refer a fermented drink or a meadow. We
can be intoxicated spiritually, and a meadow is a place where plants can grow, which implies to me growing