The state of being grateful; thankfulness.

thank you for your thankfulness.  i also am extremely grateful for this beauty and wonder and adventure we call "life"!  it is truly wonderful.  and amazing.  continue to ride that wave, my brother, and may your dreams take you to greater and greater levels of learning and existence.  keep an eye on those desires and expectations being for the greater good, and climb that ladder/tree/mountain/whatever for a more expanded perspective on the big picture...  but that fire, while it can be shared, is for YOU alone to use to improve and become whole.  we may all have reflections or insights into one another's experience, but the greater lessons come from gestating those seeds within until they mature into something.  rather than let it all out to be stillborn.  unless you want to merge and become a conglomerate being...  but we're not quite there yet!

other egos (yours, mine, whoevers) sometimes take everything personally and react selfishly to others joy.  if i'm not happy, you shouldn't be either!  this is the big cosmic joke.  all and nothing is personal.  that's a cosmic koan...

some are born to sweet delight, some are born to endless night...  thank you, william blake.  and happy birthday, john steinbeck!

I, too, am thankful for your gratefulness, Eric. I find this to be a key attitude that makes all the difference in my life. I choose love and joy no matter what. Take care and enjoy the weekend.

With much love and warm wishes,
Fred

i'm getting there, my friends.  i'm still a highly reactionary and volatile indiviual, but trying to get back to the humor and silliness of my younger days as an outlet, rather than poopiness.  and i believe you both, because i also choose love.  too bad everyone doesn't KNOW what that word means...

i was at tassajara years ago and had an interaction with someone who was posturing for attention from an attractive female in the group and didn't believe me when i said i loved him regardless of his emotions.  he thought it was an ego battle and dismissed it as bullshit.  it hurt a little, but then i realized love and like are not the same.  you can love someone and still not like them.  odd but true.  and it has nothing to do with sexual attraction either.  it can be superimposed over anything and everything, of course, but it is unique unto itself.  and sets up an attraction all its own.  vortices...  be careful what you attract!

loving both of you on this beautiful day.  and have a lovely weekend.  everbody's workin for it, after all.  ;)

You go, Chris! I have no doubt that if you hold clear and strong to your intention, you will get there. And yes, though it is easy for me to love everyone, I don't always like them. May we all open to ever more love and respect in our lives.

With much love and warm wishes,
Fred

the onion had a great pie graph article once of "reasons people are working for the weekend"...  want a second chance, a little romance, etc.  good stuff.

i had an interesting "ah-ha" from the gnostic website wendy posted.  it mentioned we don't really have ONE ego, we have many.  all vying for our energies or passions.  makes more sense to me.  we may be building our souls, but there is much pulling us in this or that direction.  also, though i hesitate to say it (my only readily available example), is jesus and the "passion".  not mel gibson's, mind you.  he was about controlling one's passions, making thine eye as it were one (odin)...  to achieve the goal.  of course, in the case of THAT goal, all of your energies have to be directed like a fucking laser to accomplish it.  and it's still not easy.  people, desires...  all over the place.

may be related to the 72 djinn of king solomon's bottle or (the names of god, ssshhh) the siddhis of yogis...  one needs to focus or deviation occurs.  but if it is in service of all, then it can remedy itself in a multitude of ways.  drunvalo also mentions the above in the fol books and brings up the sacred mystery schools, etc.  says there are that many specific paths or ways but that there is actually another one which doesn't "specify".  an open-ended one, if you will.  that must be me because i look at all paths and, for some reason, choose none.  except whatever one i'm on anyway.

and i was born in '73, so go figure.  and i LOVE the 80's.  i remember, as a kid, i had a notebook that i wrote all of my favorite songs and movies in.  my own little radio/boombox...  aaahhh.  bittersweet.  i also recall how many of the songs of that time had "love" as a theme.  not that it hasn't been for ever and a day, but in the 80's it was more heart-wrenching and desparate.  vietnam fallout, i guess.  and many of my still favorite flics are from (specifically) 1984 & 1985.  lots of classics.  "the goonies" at the top of my list.  that's like, where you live, huh?  up for an adventure or some treasure seeking?  ;)

well, i DO have an actual brother named eric, also born in '76.  february 23rd.  synchronicities do run DEEP.

had an insight once like a voice in my head that said "there aren't really that many of us" in reference to the global population and probably the whole "in l'akesh" thing...  we are all mirrors and reflections of one another, and we do have to build our souls into something more formidable, or all the elements are just recycled back into their various kingdoms after death.  i say this because i believe some of the old prophecies of "the dead walking the earth" have actually come true in various strange ways.  the ancient egyptians and probably some other cultures separated the lungs, liver, small intestine and stomach during mummification because these all had different origins and energies which would help the spirit's freedom...  blah, blah.  too complicated to get into all of it here.  but they wouldn't have supported organ donation (and niether do i) because of the karma, etc. that we affect upon our bodies and the possible negative effects that would have on another.

so, my point is that modern medicine and such has made this world unnatural because it forgives people the sins of which their bodies suffer, and they are as so many dead walking upon the earth.  plus the media and the pacifier of this circus/charade that has so many zombies walking around that can't think or feel for themselves.

such are the times in which we live.  the age of the transformation of matter.  by fire, it would seem.

would love to do some treasure hunting!...  we're hittin the road in a couple months and maybe we'll make it up there...  have fun!

This is the first thread I have read since (just now) entering the community, and it was beautiful. Thank you! I am grateful to you too Eric!

can't help you with that question.  still spending much time with the computer!...  apples and oranges, my friend.  it IS about the choices one makes every day in how they spend their time.  and especially in regards to other beings and time spent with them or not.  but, hate to tell you, a computer isn't much "better" than a t.v. when you use it for all of the some things.  ;)

p.s. i get much of my insight from so-called "fiction".  i've never even owned a gun, but my wife has a bow and some arrows...  actually a few of the "teachings" which really drove it home to my entertainment addicted and collector mind were from some manga and anime.  "trigun", "cowboy bebop", and "outlaw star" were three of my favorites fourteen years ago...  you can't watch them dubbed or they lose a lot of their flavor/nuance.  anyway, guns don't kill people, people kill people.  rocks and sticks work just as well, my brother.