On Gratitude – Rev. Norma Nakai Burton

UnityAshInspirations, Rev. Norma's Writings

From Norma’s  Sermon on Gratitude

Greg Braden offers that we can ask ourselves the following questions to begin activating the magical practice of gratitude:

1.)         Do I acknowledge that there is a single source of all that is or ever may be? Do I acknowledge that every life event including this disaster is part of the ONE?

2.)         Do I TRUST in the process of life as it has been shown to me here?

3.)         Do I believe that each and every circumstance drawn to the people involved is a chance to demonstrate their mastery in life?

4.)         Do I believe that life mirrors our request to know ourselves in all ways?

5.)         Do I truly believe that the life essence of each of human, whether perpetrator or victim, is eternal and that everybody may have the same experience of eternalness in this universe of love?

Answering “Yes!” to these questions is a spiritual practice where we are seeking to find within us that point of convergence where we bear witness to a universal purpose. A purpose that may be beyond our rational understanding.  To converge with the holy is an act of surrender of our thinking minds – all the way to a softening of our hearts – then we enter the heart mind – the boddhicitta  – the place where we experience the oneness.

When we can get to this softening of our hearts then there arises a Lack of Polarization – coupled with Absence of Numbness – and this signals an opening of the heart to compassion.

To say Yes to compassion and gratitude is a big step – It addresses the big questions of human life:

How can I not judge these events as wrong or bad when they do so much damage?  How can our Creator be wrong? How can I believe these events are outside of the ONE? Yet still why did they have to happen?

The gift of thankfulness is that it takes no sides and sees no right or wrong. Without condoning, agreeing with, or encouraging the action, practicing gratitude simply acknowledges the divine nature of the action that has occurred.

I feel the great sadness for all those who give themselves to this lesson so that we humans may know ourselves. In the spiritual practice of gratitude –  There can be no “them” – we are all one.

So how do I move beyond the lump in my soul for that part of me that has just suffered or died with them?

In the spiritual practice of gratitude we ask ourselves – Can I move beyond my gut reaction of an old paradigm based in polarity, to a place within me that recognizes the sacred nature of that which has played out? Have I arrived at the point in my life where I can choose to move beyond the polarity that allows such tragedy in the first place?

If the answer to these questions is “yes” then it is time to accept the powerful tool of the practice of gratitude.

At first just begin to speak the words of the blessing of gratitude even if you do not yet have the feeling in your body.