Gratitude and Love

by Hoa Newens

​What Is Gratitude 

When a person receives something of value from another, the recipient appreciates the gift and is thankful. A young man was in need of money for the down payment on his first home and his parents extended an interest-free loan to him; he was grateful for the favor.
 
In this example, the feeling of gratefulness was derived from the perception of added value, or net benefit that the young man received. Would he have the same feeling if the parental loan carried the same requirements and terms as available at local banks?
 
As another example, when our family has food to eat at dinner time while the homeless population around us must beg for it from local food banks, we feel fortunate and grateful for the food. In a different scenario, we have the same food at dinner time, except that we live in an upscale neighborhood on the coast, with not a single homeless person in sight, and instead Michelin-starred restaurants abound around us, serving much better fare than what we have on the table. In this classier environment, would we have the same feeling of gratefulness?
 
Generally, when we perceive that we have received, or have access to, something of value in time of need, we feel grateful. This feeling depends on our perception of the value of the gift and is relative. Consecutive storms dumped much needed rainfall on California arid soil; farmers are grateful, construction workers probably not. Gratitude seems to be a relative feeling that changes according to circumstances and perception.
 
Our mind has been trained, as part of our education process, to constantly compare. In the context of our discussion, it automatically compares our present situation with a similar past situation or a current alternative. As a result, if it perceives that we are better off beyond our personal effort, such as when we have benefitted from the hand of Providence, we feel grateful.
 
Now let us consider another type of gratitude that is rather independent of our circumstances and arises spontaneously from the depths of our being.
 
As I was hiking the Bright Angel trail of the majestic Grand Canyon, during a pause to catch my breath, I experienced a momentary sense of gratefulness. I appreciated the fact that I was alive right then and there and wanted to thank the Lord for granting me this opportunity to be in this world. It was a fleeting sentiment that arose from the depths of my being and emerged spontaneously in a moment of no thoughts. It felt like my soul was experiencing a state of wholeness during the period that my consciousness was wholly absorbed in the task at hand, which was hiking up the steep trail then catching my breath, and now is rejoicing.

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​The funny thing was that I did not recognize that sentiment as gratitude until later, after returning to the lodge. At the time on the trail, it was simply a feeling of lightness and full appreciation of life. Back at the lodge, when my mind reviewed and relived that feeling, it recognized it as gratitude. Gratitude turns out to be a longing for that moment of oneness just lost. It is something that I feel following a full engagement in the present. During the engagement, I am fulfilled, I have everything that I need, I do not hanker for anything. There is no sense of past, so I have no regret for having lost anything. There is no sense of future, so I have no longing for anything. I am drowned in the immensity of the moment, and I do not even feel gratitude.
 
I do not have to be amidst majestic nature to experience gratitude. I experience it every time following a good workout in class as I get in my car to drive home; I am thankful for having a dojo with spirited students training in it. When the mind stops its chatter, the soul emerges and takes in the marvels of Nature that we call life.
 
I feel gratitude mostly when my mind returns to reflect on the preceding moment of fullness and acknowledges that I had received everything that I needed and was totally fulfilled, and I wanted to offer thanks to the Creator for granting me this gift. In this sense, gratitude is a reckoning by the mind of an earlier mind-free engagement.
 
Gratitude is a feeling that results from a conscious act. The true benefit to us conscious beings is the state of total presence that precedes and gives rises to gratitude. This is not to say that we should ignore the feeling of gratitude; we should acknowledge this feeling because it points us to the state of being that we long for and it reinforces our indebtedness, our connection to our Creator. However, we cannot practice gratitude; it happens to us, and we should remain alert and allow it to bubble up. What we can practice is being mindful in our daily life, and this practice will lead us to gratitude.
 
Gratitude Generates Beneficence 

When we feel gratitude, we acknowledge receipt of a favor from the universe. We open and lower ourselves (as in a bow) to receive. This act of humility facilitates future incidence of gratitude. In the long run repeated instances of gratitude promote the downflow of the beneficial energy from Providence, and it responds by filling the vacuum that we create, sending beneficence our way.
 
Gratitude and Love 

​In the state of being that leads to gratitude, I feel complete and filled with life energy. I note that if my mind does not interfere, this life energy fills me up and naturally bounces off me to reach other beings around me, helping me appreciate who they truly are, in their entirety, with no judgment or labeling. This reflection of the life energy off me toward another being, we call it love.
 
True gratitude generates love. When my consciousness turns inward, it feels gratitude and humility; when it turns outward it feels love and benevolence. Thus, gratitude and love are often mentioned together as the two fundamentally wholesome human feelings.

​Divine energy descends on earth and bounces into human beings and off them to generate gratitude and love. This is the resonance of divine energy on earth.
 
Hoa Newens
December 2, 2022