What am I grateful for?

The Paradox of Gratitude in a Burning World

It can be difficult to remember to say “thank you” to this Universe.

Living as we do on this little sphere of rock, water and gas in the face of Infinite Mystery can be a tad overwhelming at times.

Watching the suffering of millions unfold before our eyes, feeling frustrated at the machinations of thought forms, and projections of our own shadow, run amok with violent intentions and cruel policies, can be depressing and scary.

Watching myself fail to live up to my own standards time and time again.

Seeing and hearing the fear and hatred in people's hearts and minds, spoken in vicious words and performed through murderous actions.

Feeling deep in the core of my being the pain of our Mother Planet groaning under the strain of sustaining Her unruly children as they make this transition from adolescence to adulthood.

Chemtrails full of noxious dust filling our skies and nobody seeming to know why they are being injected into them, or admitting responsibility for them....am I grateful for that?

Seeing people who are supposed to be the protectors of Truth and Justice and the family of Humanity act in a way that serves only to sabotage the meaning and reality of these ideals....am I grateful for that?

Watching as bodies, in their hundreds, keep washing up on the shores of Europe.....watching as those trained and employed to protect the rights and safety of the people become murderers, with impunity, of black people....seeing the reality of children being bought and sold to serve the unrestrained and perverted desires of people whose predatory instincts are out of control....watching hell-fire being launched and dropped from the skies onto whole cities of people and knowing that behind that display of incendiary magnificence is a world of pain, death and grief....knowing that I am contributing to these things simply by existing within a system of control and manipulation that it seems almost impossible to escape from....can I honestly say I am grateful for these things?

What kind of heartless monster could do so?

A man of faith?

Am I honestly grateful for the personal challenges in my life? Am I grateful for this blight of addiction that has dogged every step of my journey through life, and continues to hold me back from being the creature and creator I know myself to be?

Am I grateful for the pain that courses through my body and soul on a daily basis?

Am I grateful for the amount of effort it takes to convince people to part with a pound to help save lives, when they part with hundreds and thousands every day just to convenience their own, to indulge their desires?

Am I grateful for the loss of relationships with people whom I love?

When I hear that my friends, who have already suffered so much, continue to suffer at the hands of, and be in constant danger from, unreasonable authority and criminal mentality?

Am I grateful?

Difficult isn't it?

Yet I say “Thank You” to That Which Is (whatever you conceive That to be) every day.

Not for the pain of others, or the suffering or death of others. Not for the confusion and emotional turmoil of those I care so deeply about. Not for the pain and struggle of my Mother Planet and Her Children.

I say “Thank You” because I have been given another day in this time and place. Another day to breathe the rare atmosphere of this beautiful world. Another day to enjoy the companionship of the most amazing and mysterious creatures....

I have been given another day in which to shine, and express my heart, and seize every opportunity to make the experience of life both joyous and desirable.

Another day in which to be this “me” that I seem to be. Another day to get it right.

Given the unavoidable fact that one fine morning I won't be here, on this planet, or in this life. One fine day I won't awaken to these apparent realities. A morning will dawn when this mental construct called “Alan” will be over.....

...given these facts, and given this situation in which we find ourselves and the opportunity it presents for us to determine and choose what it means to be a living being in a beautiful and mysterious world....how can I not be grateful?

Love Courage and Strength to you all.

A

xxx