Giving Thanks for the Gift of Consiousness

Yesterday, after our traditional Thanksgiving day meal, a friend requested that the eight of us around the dinner table express what we were grateful for.

I was not surprised with the responses, but hearing those responses from people family, friends, and acquaintances--all those "gratitudes" in one place at one time--was illuminating.

What everyone said centered around our common experience of being able to experience more fully our inner selves in an effortless and simple way through the practice of Transcendental Meditation. Out of this experience flowed the blessings of our lives, our expressions of gratitude. We were grateful for the support of our family, our friends, and our community. We were grateful to have the opportunity to have good meaningful work to do. We were grateful for our health and our curiosity and discernment in life. We were grateful for the peace and silence that coexisted along with activity.

We felt gratitude to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the man who revived and brought to the world the techniques for gaining our full potential in life. Easy, simple, effortless, in accord with the nature of the mind--how fortunate I was to find a way to keep myself alert and healthy, without having to change belief or philosophy . . . yet understanding over time those beliefs and philosophies more profoundly from the perspective of more comprehensive awareness, knowledge of the self. How fortunate to practice TM and to have not only my own experience of progress in life, but to see and follow the scientific research that validates my experience through the window of science.

The expressions of gratitude from around the Thanksgiving table revolved around this one focal point: thankfulness for being at this place at this time with our ability to do good work for the world.

There is an expression for this sentiment: selflessness. I think that expression is almost backwards, though. When we feel that the world is our family, we are not lacking in self. Rather, we are so fully expressed in our cosmic selves that the self that exists within boundaries is full and undemanding, is bountiful and giving. We spontaneously wish to help others.

My cup runneth over.

I am grateful to share such experience with such people on Thanksgiving day and every day.

Copyright 2011 by Thomas L. Kepler, all rights reserved