Sermon On The Mount interpretations:


“And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.”

...means: if what you’re seeing troubles you, the problem is in your vision, not in the thing you’re looking at. “Blind yourself” to the trouble by detaching from what you’re seeing. 

The best way to do this is through “ruthless truth-seeking inquiry” otherwise known as “prayer.” And be ruthless about it!

In the meantime, it’s okay to just stop trusting your eyes. It’s better to see nothing than to suffer. 


“And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.”


...means: if what you’re feeling troubles you, the problem is in how you feel, not the thing that’s “causing” what you’re feeling. “Cut yourself off” from the trouble by detaching from the feeling. 

The best way to do this is through “ruthless truth-seeking inquiry” otherwise known as “prayer.” And be ruthless about it!

In the meantime, it’s okay to just to stop trusting the part of you that’s doing the feeling. It’s better to feel nothing than to suffer. 


“It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement: But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.”

...means: Divorce is fine, but don’t think it’ll remove your suffering. You’ll need inquiry (prayer) for that. 

As long as you think your relationship with your spouse is a problem, divorce won’t change how you feel about their “transgressions.” It’ll still hurt. The suffering is the same whether you’re divorced or not unless you work through it within yourself. 

And if you marry a divorced person, don’t think they don’t come with an ex. And don’t think they don’t come with all the same baggage between them and their ex. 

The only way to be free of suffering in a relationship is to clear up the fact that the only relationship problem you’ll ever have is between you and “what is.”