"Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of God." Matt. 5:3
This is possibly the most famous of the beatitudes by Jesus. But what does it really mean to be “poor in spirit”?
The truly poor in this world are usually described as those who live without any possession of their own. They own nothing of value and, therefore, they simply have nothing to get attached to. They are generally carefree. Unlike the poor, the rich and the not-so-rich are always preoccupied with many things and are anxious, even fearful, that they might lose their possessions.
In my humble opinion, to be poor in spirit means to behave like one and thus have no attachment to all kind of possessions, material or otherwise. That is, we must be willing to part ways with anything (or anyone) we have in this life that will hinder us from receiving the kingdom of God. Jesus himself said “No one of you can be my disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.” (Luke 14:33).
I'm sure Jesus did not mean that we should start giving away anything of value even at the expense of our own families. Instead, I believe it is related to the concept of detachment. To be honest, many of us will find the biblical passage quite difficult to understand and to follow. But, by learning certain philosophy of Buddhism (and, to a similar extent, those of the other religions from the Indian subcontinent like Hinduism, Jainism and Sikhism), the same phrase gets a bit easier to understand. Let me explain further. Buddhists believe that nothing in this life is permanent and that the root cause of all our sufferings (dukkha) is our craving for these impermanent things. Our material possessions, the people close to our hearts, all our pleasurable experiences, even our own bodies - all of them are impermanent and will go away.
If we can only fully comprehend and be mindful of this truth and then learn to cease
1.) our attachment to material things
2.) our attachment to pleasurable experiences
3.) or its opposite, our "attachment" to NOT experiencing any unpleasant feeling or experience like pain (avoidance is the better word).
4.) our attachment to the people we love and even to ourselves (narcissism)
then our sufferings will cease. This is not a suggestion to become a cold and distant person (who ignores the world) nor an exhortation to stop loving the people around us, especially our significant others. Quite the opposite actually. We are rather being encouraged to be "mindful" of this truth. Buddhists believe that suffering will continue to be experienced (from this life to the next) in perpetual cycle until one reaches nirvana, a blissful state where one is liberated from all these attachments. Among Hindus, they believe that when you achieve nirvana, you actually become united with the Supreme Being.
In this context, we can now bring ourselves to understand one of the most controversial statements attributed to Jesus, "I come not to bring peace, but to bring a sword" (Gospel of Matthew 10:34). I believe Jesus was only stating the truth on how we are going to "receive the Kingdom of God": that we must learn and be willing to detach ourselves from anything and/or anyone (including our loved ones).
He went on to say "...for I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man's enemies will be the members of his household. He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it." (Matthew 10:34–39). At first glance, it appears contradictory to what Jesus always preach to his disciples. In fact, when I first came across this passage, it was quite shocking to me to say the least. But once you put it in the context of Buddha's concept of detachment, you will start to understand where he was coming from.
At a practical level, understanding the concept of detachment will actually help us to quickly recover from tragedies that sometimes cross our path. You can just imagine, for example, the terrible experiences of the people who survived the devastating earthquake and giant tsunami that hit Banda Aceh, Indonesia in 2004 who also lost most, if not all, of their loved ones during the catastrophe. For the years that followed, many of them surely must have felt extreme guilt and got severely depressed for being the sole survivors of their respective families. It's easy to imagine that some of them end up losing their minds or, worse, committing suicide. But when you deeply understand and absorb the concept of detachment, if a similar tragedy will strike at you, I'm confident that you will learn quickly to move on with your life. You will still be the same loving and concerned parent, spouse or sibling to your family. Nothing else in you will change. Except that you are no longer "attached" to them. In the eyes of God, you have no more possessions and therefore have gained "spiritual poverty" and it's actually a good thing.
It must have felt quite liberating for Warren Buffett when he decided some years ago to donate almost all of his wealth to charity. Or, St. Francis of Assisi, for that matter. Or even the Buddha when he decided to let go of his wife and son, and all his wealth in his quest for spiritual enlightenment.
