Campbell Meditation Column – Always With a Thankful Heart
Give thanks in all circumstances. We have heard it so many times and many are actually trying to carry it out. However, it is not as easy as it sounds. ‘Why can’t I be thankful?’We regret our inability to feel gratitude and resolve to give thanks. It seems that human mind is unable to give thanks easily and that it actually comes more naturally to feel a sense of entitlement. We naturally have irritation and complaints about conditions surrounding us, and it is difficult to find our thankful heart. Why? Wouldn’t our mind be the cause of all these problems? As we reflect on things that we have only carelessly thought about, we might realize that all of the problems have been caused by ‘me.’
The world’s truth is that you see the world as it is, as you see it. This is the logic of the world. However, people are stuck so deeply in their mind world that they cannot see the world as it is, as it is seen.That’s how life is today. ‘I have been trying this hard but then how come I have gained only this much?’‘Why do I only get this much in return although I have given so much?’They are living in the world of their own mind that is full of ‘me’. One’sown thoughts, such as‘I have given enough so that I deserve this much in return,’ are definitely pushing them away from thankfulness.
Humans took everything that they have experienced and acted in their mind. And based on this, they live expecting something in return. If I have received something in return as expected, I would say that I am thankful for that. Otherwise (actually, more often than not), I would keep making complaints that it isn’t enough. Conditional thankfulness cannot be seen as true thankfulness. If I could give thanks anytime, anywhere and in whichever condition, I would live happily anytime, anywhere and in whichever condition. Then, I would give thanks to that happiness again. This way, my life would be continuously full of thankfulness.
The world is giving me everything without a word. From small things – air to breathe, water to drink, warm sunlight – to all of the conditions that enable me to live my life, the world is giving everything even without the mind of giving. If air is eliminated at this moment, I would die at once. If I live day by day with gratitude for the world, I would live with utmost happiness. If I blame myself who cannot live like that and throw away that self, I will become the mind of the world itself and live as the world itself. I will just adapt to the world and live according to its will.
Wouldn’t it be good if you could accomplish this? If I throw away that self that is living deeply trapped in my mind and my thoughts, and controlling my life, I can find great freedom, great liberation and great peace of my mind and become the world itself. Then, I will live in the age of the everlasting world. Wouldn’t it be the first step to gratitude for the world? That’s why I throw away me today again. That’s why I am grateful today and happy, as always.