I like the name "Beattitudes" because they are the way we should BE and the ATTITUDES we should have.

Mt 5:3 ¶ Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

I don't much know what to say in the way of discussion. It would be hard for anyone to misinterpret the meaning unless they were trying to do so. And if they want to misunderstand I think we should let em do it.

There are some expressions that are a little vague. For example what does it mean to be "poor in spirit", and how is this a virtue.

I think it means to be humble. Not proud.
Not poor economically necessarily, but having the humility that would normally go with poverty.

Why is it blessed to mourn?
I guess it means because there are things that we should mourn about. Later in the chapter it says that we should rejoice and be glad about persecution, so the mourning doesn't preclude joy.

But there is a false doctrine (as in the family) that we should rejoice about everything. That we should always have the "victory" no matter what happens.

But I know that Jesus wept, especially over the hard hearts and unbelief of his countrymen.

So while we can and should rejoice about persecution and other blessings, a part of us should mourn the things that aren't right.

We get a blessing for being persecuted for righteousness' sake. Since the persecution comes from others, there should be no blessing for it unless it means that if we are righteous in the way Jesus wants us to be, we will automatically be persecuted. Paul did say that "all who will live Godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution."

So, to sum up, we should be meek, humble, happy & sad, hungry & thirsty for righteousness, merciful, pure in our hearts, pacifist (in the sense of trying to make peace) and righteous to the point of getting persecution for it. And we need to be persecuted for Christ's name's sake too so I guess we better keep giving Him the glory for any good we do so that our persecutors know that it's Jesus' name they are persecuting.