Uploaded February 2025 | Updated September 2026, 11 hours ago
Gratitude is a strange one
We know we are supposed to be grateful
And if we are in the position to have basic things
Like food and roof over our head
And a few friends or people that care,
Logically we know we should be grateful.
But the human condition and human nature
Is generally cursed to see what’s missing over what’s there.
To focus on lack
And the things that haven’t worked out.
We could even say our gravity tends to be negative
Without effort we drift into darkness
Where effort becomes more difficult
And darkness expands
Creating a hypnotic rhythm of negativity
That only gets harder to break with habit.
For the light we must work.
We must create routines of discipline and apply our minds towards the direction we truly want to go.
For me the realization that gratitude really wasn’t in my human nature
But mostly only aligned with my spiritual nature
Is helpful.
Because with that is the acknowledgment that gratitude itself must be a kind of work.
Something I strive for
Something I pray for
Something I allow to flood like light into the core of my being.
Something I cultivate
Something I put energy into perceiving and into believing.
The good news is I have (and I think most have)
Enormous amounts to be grateful for.
And as we cultivate it’s energy
The things in our lives to be grateful for expand and reinforce.
So much of our lives are determined by what we allow to resonate in our consciousness.
The whole spiritual battlefield takes place in the field of our consciousness.
And waking up to the realization that that space
Really is the primary focus of the most powerful energies in the universe,
We can begin to take seriously and root our days in the cultivation of that space.
To have anything resembling power or control there however, means living a life free of drift
Free of serious addictions
Free of overwhelming sin
And free of any habit that keeps us locked in the negative cycle of internal dialogue ego speak.
Or to put it another
Reaching for mastery over your mind space
Is no easy matter,
But it really is the only game in town.
I suppose the overall point I’m trying to make is that left to my own devices,
Gratitude is a far off ideal. I know is right or even righteous,
However not really intrinsic to my small minded nature.
So I must realign my internal nature to the deeper nature,
The more authentic nature
Of “I Am” consciousness
Or Christ consciousness
Or even present moment awareness (if you are uncomfortable with spiritual references)
For within that nature, gratitude is as natural as breathing.
In fact in that nature anything but gratitude seems kind of insane.
I find making these distinctions to be helpful.
It means I don’t damn myself for my human nature,
But rather give myself compassion for its inherent limitations and tendencies.
This is a forgiving frame
Because it’s understanding
That my human nature is to be basically ungrateful and seeking for more always.
So I don’t hate myself for that.
I don’t just see the fault in it with judgement or condemnation
But rather bemused acceptance
As I ask my higher self to rectify the situation within.
I don’t identify with my smaller self
But rather I do the work to identify with my higher self,
Where gratitude effortlessly becomes a normal state of being.
Effortlessly that is, after the effort to get it there.
The effortlessness arises from a source beyond my human mind
In the form of answered prayer
For gratitude.
For more information, art and music please visit Josepharthur.com
Thank you!
Gratitude is a strange one
We know we are supposed to be grateful
And if we are in the position to have basic things
Like food and roof over our head
And a few friends or people that care,
Logically we know we should be grateful.
But the human condition and human nature
Is generally cursed to see what’s missing over what’s there.
To focus on lack
And the things that haven’t worked out.
We could even say our gravity tends to be negative
Without effort we drift into darkness
Where effort becomes more difficult
And darkness expands
Creating a hypnotic rhythm of negativity
That only gets harder to break with habit.
For the light we must work.
We must create routines of discipline and apply our minds towards the direction we truly want to go.
For me the realization that gratitude really wasn’t in my human nature
But mostly only aligned with my spiritual nature
Is helpful.
Because with that is the acknowledgment that gratitude itself must be a kind of work.
Something I strive for
Something I pray for
Something I allow to flood like light into the core of my being.
Something I cultivate
Something I put energy into perceiving and into believing.
The good news is I have (and I think most have)
Enormous amounts to be grateful for.
And as we cultivate it’s energy
The things in our lives to be grateful for expand and reinforce.
So much of our lives are determined by what we allow to resonate in our consciousness.
The whole spiritual battlefield takes place in the field of our consciousness.
And waking up to the realization that that space
Really is the primary focus of the most powerful energies in the universe,
We can begin to take seriously and root our days in the cultivation of that space.
To have anything resembling power or control there however, means living a life free of drift
Free of serious addictions
Free of overwhelming sin
And free of any habit that keeps us locked in the negative cycle of internal dialogue ego speak.
Or to put it another
Reaching for mastery over your mind space
Is no easy matter,
But it really is the only game in town.
I suppose the overall point I’m trying to make is that left to my own devices,
Gratitude is a far off ideal. I know is right or even righteous,
However not really intrinsic to my small minded nature.
So I must realign my internal nature to the deeper nature,
The more authentic nature
Of “I Am” consciousness
Or Christ consciousness
Or even present moment awareness (if you are uncomfortable with spiritual references)
For within that nature, gratitude is as natural as breathing.
In fact in that nature anything but gratitude seems kind of insane.
I find making these distinctions to be helpful.
It means I don’t damn myself for my human nature,
But rather give myself compassion for its inherent limitations and tendencies.
This is a forgiving frame
Because it’s understanding
That my human nature is to be basically ungrateful and seeking for more always.
So I don’t hate myself for that.
I don’t just see the fault in it with judgement or condemnation
But rather bemused acceptance
As I ask my higher self to rectify the situation within.
I don’t identify with my smaller self
But rather I do the work to identify with my higher self,
Where gratitude effortlessly becomes a normal state of being.
Effortlessly that is, after the effort to get it there.
The effortlessness arises from a source beyond my human mind
In the form of answered prayer
For gratitude.
For more information, art and music please visit Josepharthur.com
Thank you!
