Mark 9:36 · World English Bible
Mark 9:36 Meaning He Took a Little Child
He took a little child, and set him in the middle of them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them,
What does Mark 9:36 mean?
Placing a child among men quarrelling over rank shows what has no rank at all. A child has not yet built the false center; nothing in him measures itself against anyone, and so he is free of the comparison that eats the adult from inside.
From the Indian Guru reading below.
Mark 9:36 through 1 lens
The same verse, read by one tradition.
Indian Guru
AWARENESS
Indian Guru
Placing a child among men quarrelling over rank shows what has no rank at all. A child has not yet built the false center; nothing in him measures itself against anyone, and so he is free of the comparison that eats the adult from inside.
This is not a rule for behaving humbly, which the ego learns quickly and wears as one more ornament. It is a quality of consciousness that returns when the accumulation of the mind is set down. No grown person can walk backwards into childhood, yet the same freshness arrives whenever thinking falls quiet and only watching remains.
Indian Guru lensGo deeper in the app
Indian Guru lens
Live Mark 9:36 today
- Give ten minutes today to looking at something ordinary, the street, the dishes, a tree out the window, without naming or judging it. Thinking quiets down and watching stays.
- Let a child, or anyone who is not trying to impress you, lead the next half hour. Follow what interests them instead of steering it somewhere useful.
- In the next meeting, go in as if you do not already know how it will go. Hold your conclusion loosely and listen like you might be surprised.
When did I last look at something without already knowing what it was?
The same truth in other traditions
Zen · Beginner's Mind
In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities; in the expert's, few. The freshness is not an age, it is what is left when the accumulating stops.
Tao Te Ching 55
One who is full of the way is like an infant: soft, undefended, not yet hardened into a position, and for that very reason not easily broken.
Hinduism · Ramana Maharshi
He did not ask people to improve their behaviour but to look for the one who wants improving. When that search comes up empty, what remains is simple and clear.
Free · No account needed
Read all of Mark 9 through 17 lenses
Lensightful opens every verse of the Bible through the traditions you choose. Save readings, ask a follow-up question, and get one verse a day.
Get Lensightful on the App Store