Magic Tree

January 16, 2011

I can see from what You have said that the Five Dispositions and Five Orientations have their correspondences to the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes of Matthew 5. 3-14 and that they are further elucidated by the rest of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew, chapters 5 – 7) as follows:

Disposition 1. Healing and wholeness to all beings –

Thou shall not kill –

Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy – Matthew 5. 7, also related are 5. 21-26 and 7. 1-5.

Disposition 2. Truth and beauty to all beings –

Thou shall not bare false witness –

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied – Matthew 5. 6, also related are 5. 33-37.

Disposition 3. Gratitude and sharing to all beings –

Thou shall not steal –

Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs in the kingdom of heaven – Matthew 5. 3, also related are 6. 1-4.

Disposition 4. Complete self control of the form in mind, emotion and body-

Thou shall not commit adultery –

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth – Matthew 5. 5, also related are 5. 27-28, 5. 31-32.

Disposition 5. Complete satisfaction with the forms given you to work with –

Thou shall not covet –

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted – Matthew 5. 4, also related are 6. 5-18, 25-34.

Matthew 7. 12 summarizes the first 5 beatitudes, the Five Dispositions of man.

Orientation 1. Toward purity and clarity –

Make no graven images –

Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God – Matthew 5. 8, also related are 5. 29-30, 7.1-6, 21-23.

Orientation 2. Appreciation for and contentment with what is –

Honor your father and mother –

Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God – Matthew 5. 9, also related are 5. 38-42, 6. 25-34.

Orientation 3. Intense inclination toward spiritual awareness and value –

Keep the Sabbath holy –

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven – Matthew 5. 10, also related are 7. 13-14.

Orientation 4. Spiritual interpretation of all things physical –

Thou shall not take the Lord’s name in vain –

Blessed are you when men revile and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.  Rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven, for so men persecuted the prophets who were before you – Matthew 5. 11-12, also related are 19-20, 6. 19-23, 7. 7-11.

Orientation 5. Devotion to I Am, The Love in everything –

You shall have no other gods before me –

You are the salt of the earth / You are the light of the world – Matthew 5. 13-14, also related are 5. 43-48, 6. 24.

I can see in the Five Dispositions and the Five Orientations correspondences to the Eight Fold Path of the Buddha.  The Five Dispositions appear to delineate Right Action while the Five Orientations constitute Right View.

Right Action has to do with principles for the way people need to treat each other if they aim to be in alignment with loving God, or the One True Self, through the loving of each other and all that is in form.

Right View is about the outlook that needs to be adopted if a person would establish (or should I say re-establish?) in his awareness a direct relationship to God (or the One True Self) through the practice of seeing through form (meditation) in favor of spirit.

Right Action and the Five Dispositions then, have to do with how to be in form in a constructive and healthy manner that treats all other forms with the same respect that one gives one’s own form, because of the recognition that all form holds within it, and is the manifestation of, God- the true Self.

Right View and the Five Orientations are focused on the spiritual side of life and how we might approach a more viable direct personal relationship to Spirit or God.  The one requires a more objective (“do unto others as you would have them do unto you”) approach because it has to do with form, while the other takes a more subjective (love God with everything you’ve got) line of thinking since it has to do with spirit.