The Information Channel Felist.Com -*-------------------------------------------------------------------------- +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | [ http://unityway.wordpress.com ] Unity Way | | | | January 7, 2007 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | Gratitude | | by Andrei Yashurin | | | | In the last year we touched the subject of meaningful life. Someone might | | ask a reasonable question: what are signs of a person who lives | | meaningfully? How does he or she look like? | | | | One thing is certain - meaningful life is not directly correlated with | | outward accomplishments of a particular kind. Psychologists could tell us | | many stories about their patients who are successful in their work, yet | | suffer from inner emptiness and turmoil. Their lives are compartmentalized: | | although they know principles which make them winners and achievers, they | | are far from being whole and fulfilled. | | | | I think that the foremost quality of a person who lives meaningfully is | | peace. This peace transcends current experiences of an individual, so it is | | possible for him/her to be peaceful even if things aren't going well. A | | person is at peace with himself/herself, the Higher Power, and with the | | whole world. And the next vitally important quality of such happy | | individual is gratitude. | | | | Gratitude is not just about being nice and polite. It comes from deep | | understanding of the nature of things. | | | | Gratitude is not something that we do when we feel like it. It is not | | something that we do in obedience to some religious law in order to avoid | | sufferings and to earn blessings. Gratitude is the way we perceive our | | relationships with whole life. | | | | So, what is gratitude? It is joy and rapture which we experience when we | | discern inherent goodness of a thing, a person, or an event. | | | | Some people insist that only believers in God can be truly grateful. I | | understand their point, but I think that their vision of reality is | | slightly distorted. They make the same mistake as those who say that only | | believers in a certain doctrine can be truly loving. You just have to look | | around carefully enough to become convinced that it is not true. | | | | Gratitude comes not from our minds and ideas contained therein, but from | | our innermost being, from our divine nature. Even unbelievers possess this | | nature. We all live, move, and have our being within God. Yet we can make a | | conscious decision to stay attuned to the spirit of gratitude, and to give | | it outward expression. We will learn from our experience that gratitude is | | one of the most important life's dynamics which contributes to our | | happiness and fulfillment. | | | | If we are uncertain which way to go, gratitude will show us the best path. | | If we are ambiguous how we can ever achieve success, gratitude will | | multiply all good things in our world. It will attract to us even greater | | blessings from the storehouse of the universe. | | | | Some people object to that. They think that an attitude of gratitude is | | counterproductive, because if a person is perfectly satisfied with | | everything, he/she doesn't want to improve life. He/she accepts things | | which are actually unacceptable. Could this criticism be justified? | | | | It seems that those remarks come from people who never gave themselves to | | the practice of gratitude. Therefore, their position is the one of a casual | | observer. They really haven't experienced that which they judge. For true | | gratitude never leads us to resignation and never makes us passive. | | | | The same innermost being from which our gratitude flows, is the source of | | creative ideas and urges to move on in our outward expression. It is the | | new dimension of opportunities and resources at our disposal. All those who | | tap into that source never become disappointed with it. | | | | As I mentioned before, there is no need to be an adherent of a certain | | doctrine in order to be grateful. Yet consciousness development of | | gratitude is certainly a spiritual experience. | | | | (to be continued) | | | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | Recommended Reading: | | | | [ http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location= | | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FCreative-Life-Eric-Butterworth%2Fdp%2F1585422703 | | &tag=talksontruth-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325 ] The Creative | | Life by Eric Butterworth | | | | Previous Articles of Andrei Yashurin: | | | | [ http://unityway.wordpress.com/2006/12/23/from-meaning-to-meaning/ ] From | | Meaning to Meaning | [ http://unityway.wordpress.com/2006/12/17/ | | meaningful-life-and-non-attachment/ ] Meaningful Life and Non-attachment | | | [ http://unityway.wordpress.com/2006/12/09/meaningful-life-and-others/ | | ] Meaningful Life and Others | [ http://unityway.wordpress.com/2006/11/ | | 25/meaningful-life-and-self-knowledge/ ] Meaningful Life and Self-knowledge | | | [ http://unityway.wordpress.com/2006/11/18/meaningful-life/ ] | | Meaningful Life | | | | [ http://unityway.wordpress.com ] Talks on Truth Blog | | | | [ http://zme.amazon.com/exec/varzea/pay/T3FSLT9BWIHSWQ ] If you find these | | messages helpful, please send a donation to Andrei Yashurin | | | | If you like our list, please recommend it to others. | | | | To be unsubscribed, click the link at the bottom of this message, do not | | write to the author. | | | | E-mail: [ mailto:yashurin@gmail.com ] yashurin@gmail.com | | | | Information: The publisher of this list technically cannot subscribe/ | | unsubscribe anyone. You are responsible to do it yourself. Please check | | links at the bottom of this message. | | | | All messages (c) 2007 by Andrei Yashurin | +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ -*-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: http://felist.com/member/unsub?grp=lit.unityway&email=e@mail http://felist.com/ mailto:ask@felist.com