III. The Investment in Reality, P 1
1 I once asked you to sell all you have and give to the poor and follow me. This is what I meant: If you have no investment in anything in this world, you can teach the poor where their treasure is. The poor are merely those who have invested wrongly, and they are poor indeed! Because they are in need it is given you to help them, since you are among them. Consider how perfectly your lesson would be learned if you were unwilling to share their poverty. For poverty is lack, and there is but one lack since there is but one need.
Journal
This is an interesting paragraph. Jesus is explaining the purpose of a biblical quote, the meaning behind the words. In the Bible he was quoted as having asked that a man sell all he had and give it to the poor in order to follow him. It seems that what he meant was that his followers should give up their investment in the world. I suppose selling material possessions would be a symbol of having given up the love or need of them, that is, giving up the attachment to the world of form.
What would be the meaning behind giving to the poor? He tells us here that the poor are all who fail to know where their treasure lies. If we have no investment in the world, we can teach others through our words, our deeds, and through our freedom that they will remain poor as long as they think the world and all that is in the world, is valuable. We could not teach freedom unless we were free.
As long as we think there is something to long for, some need as yet unmet, we are not free. Need is poverty, it is the expression of lack. There is only one thing we need and that is our awakening. Once we let go of the attachment to the things we own, and the things we want to own, we are free to follow Jesus to our awakening.
Does this mean that I should sell all my belongings and my house and walk the earth unburdened by them? Being without things will not bring me to the awakening. If I were without all these things and felt poor for it, I would not be free. However, being without the need for these things will allow me to discover my true treasure. I can have a lovely home and many beautiful things and enjoy them without needing them. This leaves my mind free and open to what does matter. It is not things that tie me to the world, it is the need for these things that does that.
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