How Great a Gratitude on this Day of Thanks-Giving.

Dog Poet Transmitting.......

So... I wanted to say something today, it being a day set aside for Thanks-giving. Holidays are, for me, all about the spirit of them. Whatever the essential nature of the day, or the time period might be, I seek to immerse myself in the essence of the tradition itself. When I was younger, I spent a lot of holidays on the road. I shot so fast and so far outside the ring-pass-not of Normal that I was more like a ghost than a person. It took a really long time to 'somewhat' integrate' into the foliage of the flora of appearances. I learned that you don't have to be normal, as long as you look normal. Then you can come and go and work around other people and not be apprehensive that maybe some Donald Sutherland lookalike would suddenly point at you, his mouth open in a silent scream.

People don't have to know what is going on in your thoughts, unless you tell them. It took me some time to learn to not share everything I was thinking, especially with people who don't think. I have, LITERALLY learned to sashay, segue and sinuously move through a world of animate somnambulists, who operate at the various levels of dreaming. I'm not seeking to exceptionalize myself here. I am different, so... let's leave it at that; given that I have my shortcomings like the majority of us. Truth be seen (though it usually isn't) we are all different. We are all unique... even if we differ only slightly, as is the case with many, who are programmed into their roles, in these times of Material Darkness but... come times of light or shadow, this realm, this plane of being, is always... mostly... populated by people in search of themselves.

Many times here, we have said that existence is a spiral stairway, with people below you and people above you. In all likelihood, that particular dynamic will never change. It moves from abysmal darkness to light, so brightly effulgent, that it is a living thing. According to a particular school of philosophy, which has been around as long as any other; it's quite ancient. According to this school of thought, we are ALL THE SAME PERSON at a different, specific level of filtered presentation and partial awareness, which... is ALWAYS in flux. In the simplest way, let me say that the eternal self, which is the indwelling witness... the Atman... is ALL THE SAME PERSON but... the personality that comes and goes here, in the realm of TIME, SPACE and CAUSATION, is at a measurable distance from that eternal self, in terms of awareness... though the measuring tool is NOT in the hands of the temporary self.

I know there are those who will read what was just written and experience shock at the possibility of losing their 'precious' (“it's my precious!”) individuality. Never fear. You lose only what you didn't need (and a terrible drag it is), in any case, to gain the greatest thing there is. There is a mysterious process, by which your individual singularity is maintained. I wouldn't be concerned about it, now (grin).

People who have achieved true awakening... enlightenment... liberation... KNOW that the everlasting within them, is resident in everyone they encounter ...and are able to communicate with themselves in another, even if the other is unaware of it taking place. Such rare individuals, move around the world, releasing depth charges and time sensitive explosions, which go off at the appointed hour. A car horn sounds, a dog barks, the wind suddenly shifts the leaves in a nearby tree and... Presto! That Johnny Appleseed thing happens. Who was that masked man? Yes... they move among us but... you only see them if they intend for you to. There are countless tales in most every tradition that speaks to the mysterious stranger. He has appeared in works of fiction as well; when fiction is used to illustrate deeper truths as... was once the case but... hardly at all these days.

It is upon ideas and reflections such as these that my mind travels to, on those days set aside for common celebration, of enduring themes, in the lives of our kind. The idea of Thanks-Giving has been around for a lot longer than the recent historical event that we reference for that purpose. Constant thanks-giving is the way to go and it is the primary reason for this posting today, as I am mindful of all the comestibles in the kitchen that await my attention. Personally speaking... my gratitude increases in palpable increments. I am SHOWN, on a regular basis, how many reasons I have to be grateful. I am especially grateful that I happen to be grateful. I could be ungrateful, as so many are in times of material darkness. They rage in the moshpits of appetite, lashing out in all directions, having been taught the elemental, savage curriculum of looking out for Number One. One can readily see this on display, in times of material darkness.

You can't really blame people for being the way that they are. This is where they've congregated, on that wide landing of the spiral stairway. There is a general ground zero, where the majority of humanity congregates. They may not know this and they may be completely unaware of each other, BUT... when seen through the lenses of their common appetites and desires, they share a great deal. Some are more morally upright and some less so and the general climate of that is dependent on the degree of darkness, in the material darkness, of whatever moment we've screen captured for an example. Right now? This particular moment? Sure... why not.

My heart floods with gratitude at the oddest moments. Apropos of nothing at all, I will feel an interior surge in my chest and simply the awareness of KNOWING that there is a divine being. KNOWING that the divine being is aware of me and... leading me... encouraging me... beckoning to me... from that far doorway, that brims with celestial light... a wonderment of shifting hues, within the brilliance of its achromatic splendor. It is as if the rainbow winks so quickly in and out of presence, so that only the afterimage remains, as a reminder that... within the singularity, is contained all of the potential variations and complexities of life. Sorry about the floral arrangement there. I get carried away a lot.

Like I said, there is this internal surge and it momentarily makes me forget myself... and everything else. If I am truly grateful for anything, it is for the TRUTH contained in this statement from ages past; “These three are difficult to obtain in this world and depend on the mercy of the gods- the human birth, the desire for salvation and the company of the great souled ones.”

I remember the moment when I first saw that sentence. It was a few months ago. I came across it in my readings from The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, which I finished last month and am now reading for the second time (grin). On that occasion, my heart soared again, as my mind checked off all three of those blessings. I literally felt that trembling at the back of the neck; that rolling, tickling sensation, as if invisible fingers were trailing across my skin.

I am grateful every day, when I awaken and think upon the GREAT GOOD FORTUNE that causes me to think about my creator and then consider how I might declaim upon the beauty and majesty... the glory and abiding everlasting flow of DIVINE LOVE, which permeates the universe entire! “What a wonder!” This is what Bawa Muhaiyaddeen used to say, when presented with the splendor of the ineffable, in whatever direction his eyes would travel. How fortunate am I? How incredibly blessed am I that this is the main feature of my life? It is the centerpiece of my life. Simply to have God in my thoughts, is cause for celebration. This is interspersed with the attendant sorrow, concerning the many souls that are tossed upon the uncertain waters of cause and effect.

I am so very, very grateful to be as I am today. When I look back at the road traveled to get here, it astounds me that I could be in such a paradise of being... now. The mercy and incalculable kindness of God... Oh my!!! It is a very good thing to be grateful... the fates might well be inclined to give you more reasons to be grateful. Now that I think about it... it might not be a good idea to ask God for patience as, by the same token, he might give you something to be patient about... heh heh.

When I think about all the ways I can be tripped up by my own thought processes... once again, I am grateful that God is present and in the midst of them. Without exception, not a moment can pass when I am not able to think of more reasons to be grateful.

There are people in desperate straits this very moment. People are living and dying right now and worse... far worse. Turmoil is massing at the borders of our shared reality, looking for ingress and it is being shepherded and bankrolled by the worst among us, as they pursue chaos...; UNLEASH THE HORSEMEN! They cry out for disorder but... angels are everywhere as the world and its inhabitants WILL BE brought to epiphany and we shall see, in short order, what is moving behind the curtains that are blowing in the wind. Over all and within all... God reigns supreme.


May god bless us on this day and awaken the great gratitude in all of our hearts, that we may prosper in the only fashion that matters... an increasingly abundance of Love within and in demonstration ...and the promise of joy everlasting, which awaits those whose Determination is set, whose Certitude is fixed and whose Faith cannot be shaken, as it rests upon the foundation stones of the master, set from the beginning of the world.


End Transmission.......


Today's Thanksgiving message. Narrated by Patrick Willis;

Gratitude

Today's Song;

♫ The Love ♫

And then there's Pocketnet, now recovered from last night's debacle; Pocketnet.