Douglas58

The two parts? A statement and a prophecy, but more than that; the statement can also be read as a goal, an instruction, a way of life and a description - a path to follow if you will. The prophecy is not 'do this and you shall get this', it is more subtle than that, it is saying by doing this (being aware of our spiritual poverty, practising meekness etc) we share in the Lord (the blessing) and the second part comes naturally. The initial statements are describing folks' actions, choices they make. Choosing to be aware of our own spiritual poverty; choosing to mourn for our own and the world's hurts, choosing to hunger and thirst for righteousness - these are not natural 'states', Jesus is saying is saying two (at least) things: 1. Choosing to do these things is the right way, the way of the Law, the Law that Jesus is bringing a new and correct interpretation of, and by doing them you share in the blessing of the Lord. So he is saying 'Act', and it is no coincidence that the Sermon on the Mount is bookended by calls to action: Matthew 7: 24-27 - Everyone then who hears these words and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.... 2. Feeling these things is good. If you do feel the pain of the world, if you feel merciful (and surely many of his audience did at many a point in their lives) then you are right and follow the Law and I am here to tell you so. This last point is amplified later in his description of hypocrites, Looked at this way (and it is not the only valid way to read the Beatitudes) , there is no paradox there is only God's blessing.

When we are aware of our spiritual poverty and of our sins then, and only then, we can mourn both for ourselves and for the world. Through this, we naturally recognise our own selves, both present and past in the abominations of this world, and it is only natural to mourn the pain, the hurt, the little deaths that we have caused. And we can truly mourn for the folks of the world as we are not putting ourselves apart from them. Mourning without being aware of our own poverty can be narcissistic, understanding our spiritual poverty without mourning...well, that can be lead to boastfulness. THe Lord knows when mourning is true - that is one of the strong messages of Isaiah and Ezekiel

Whether there is a world ideal I don't know. I venture there will be all kinds of ideals based on many facets of life. Gentleness and humility, however, applies to ourselves, not to our contrasting ourselves with an abstract world that we consider different. We can not judge that. What we can do is discard our own opinions, our own judgements, our own ways of bolstering our importance of validating ourselves. Meekness and humility means divesting ourselves of our opinions and opening our hearts to universal love, beauty and compassion. On this path we can start to emulate the path of Christ. By doing so, we are not patsys. We can have a stronger sense of self that does not rely on outer things or our opinions and beliefs about outer things. We can be more like Matthew 5:37 "Let your word be 'Yes, Yes' or 'No, No'; anything more than this comes from the evil one."