Gratitude
The most important thing in your life, and my life, is to give thanks for what you have - as often as you are reminded to. I’m talking about giving thanks, not to anyone or anything in particular, but for what you are, what you have.
That may seem difficult … The self doesn’t really know what I’m talking about. The self wants excitement, wants to get something. But I’m talking about acknowledging the good without getting anything - because you already have it.
What are you thanking? What are you grateful to? It seems to be nothing. You can call it ‘God’. But what’s God? Nobody knows. What it is, doesn’t matter. The fact is: I am grateful for what I have. That’s the simplicity of it.
There is no more important thing in your spiritual endeavour than this. For it is the love of God. And there is nothing greater than the realisation: I love it, whatever it is. I am grateful that I am able to love it. I love loving it. And I don’t know what it is!
My constant communion is gratitude. It’s a one-way deal from me to ‘That’. I have so much. I am blessed with so much. What about you?
Edited extract from Barry Long’s talks at the Master Session 2000. The ‘Master Session’ was an annual event held for up to three weeks on the Gold Coast of Australia, attracting people from all over the world. Barry would talk for two or three hours, most mornings and afternoons.
The Timeless Truth