Gratitude but to whom

[Glow]

So I am finding I have a habit of thanking an outside entity but that no longer suits my understanding.
If we are all one I am not thanking an "other" or addressing an "other" in prayer yet thanking little me or praying to little me seems not quite accurate either.

So when talking to your entirety how do you address us without seeming to be addressing "other"?

Mostly its the gratitude that gets me. When i feel blessed by an energy/feeling or experience I want to burst with thanks but it always feels I don't know how to express it since we are all god and so speaking gratitude only away from myself seems to be separating myself from the giver of the gift.

Hard to articulate this so I hope you can understand the gist. I don't want to imply separation if possible.

[anagogy]

There is nothing wrong with a leaf expressing appreciation towards the roots and trunk of "treeness" that it ultimately extends forth from. It is simply a recognition/acknowledgment that there exists a more developed and further along aspect of the Self.

One can recognize/acknowledge functional differences and understand it is not necessarily synonymous with separation.

[Coordinate_Apotheosis]

Hi me, I love you and thank you for being here. Y/our kindness and aid has been unmistakably the kindest thing you have given to me personally.

Did I just perform a service to self?  Doesn't matter. All's well, I'm grateful but befuddled yet persist on.

There's greater things in kindness than the Law of One can enunciate in most of its published pages.  Whether it be good or painful, your choice and choosing to be kindly overall is more powerful than any magic.

Also speaking gratitude away from yourself to yourself is akin to.getting what you give.

There's no greater gift than genuine compassionate love and thanksgiving. (Also see Jade's signature)

...I hope I didn't miss the point of your post o:

[Dekalb_Blues]

So I am finding I have a habit of thanking an outside entity but that no longer suits my understanding.
If we are all one I am not thanking an "other" or addressing an "other" in prayer yet thanking little me or praying to little me seems not quite accurate either.

So when talking to your entirety how do you address us without seeming to be addressing "other"? ....

"O Great Self:
May I be given what I truly need;
May I be taught how to learn;
May I be fitted to serve.
I surrender myself to your expertise like a corpse in the hands of an undertaker.
May love prevail, no matter what -- this is my intention."

[APeacefulWarrior]

My personal take is that, once one understands Oneness, then to express gratitude to a specific thing is also to express gratitude to the cosmos as a whole. Like, at the moment, I'm having a dish of chicken and rice with peanut sauce, and I thanked all three prior to eating. I'm simultaneously expressing gratitude to the Creator as a whole for this day and its oppotunities, but also to the specific forms of the Creator which existed so that I could have this yummy satay.

Am I also, after a fashion, thanking myself? Sure. But I don't see a contradiction in accepting separation while I'm choosing to inhabit a body in a realm of experience which is fundamentally founded upon separation.

[Glow]

So I am finding I have a habit of thanking an outside entity but that no longer suits my understanding.
If we are all one I am not thanking an "other" or addressing an "other" in prayer yet thanking little me or praying to little me seems not quite accurate either.

So when talking to your entirety how do you address us without seeming to be addressing "other"? ....

"O Great Self:
May I be given what I truly need;
May I be taught how to learn;
May I be fitted to serve.
I surrender myself to your expertise like a corpse in the hands of an undertaker.
May love prevail, no matter what -- this is my intention."

Love the address "O great self" and the prayer. O great self actually feels better to me than anything else I have tried so thank you.
The photo on the bottom is stunning.

[Glow]

I know this sounds nit picky, not wanting separation in how I address thanks and prayers but it feels like something I am being taught at the moment, like I can feel something coming this is a necessary step for so indulging it is something I am going to do.

Great Self seems to not ruffle the energetic vibe that felt off about how I was sending out the energy so I'm going to move along those lines. See what comes. thanks all

[rva_jeremy]

I've been holding off posting but here's an idea, take it for what it's worth: why does there have to be an object of gratitude at all? Can one not simply feel the emotion of gratitude purely without attributing it to someone or something else? Maybe I'm misunderstanding but I find the feeling of pure gratitude to be so wonderful. Are we limiting the concept of gratitude to the word and grammatical limitations? The experience itself requires no such constraints (maybe it doesn't require a subject, either, and one can simply feel gratitude without needing to attribute it to any sort of exchange at all).

[Glow]

That is a really very good point. I think that is sort of the direction i am working toward. I'm going to have to think about that a bit.
thanks

[APeacefulWarrior]

I've been holding off posting but here's an idea, take it for what it's worth: why does there have to be an object of gratitude at all?  Can one not simply feel the emotion of gratitude purely without attributing it to someone or something else?  Maybe I'm misunderstanding but I find the feeling of pure gratitude to be so wonderful.  Are we limiting the concept of gratitude to the word and grammatical limitations? The experience itself requires no such constraints (maybe it doesn't require a subject, either, and one can simply feel gratitude without needing to attribute it to any sort of exchange at all).

I agree, that's a very good point. And I have had that feeling at times myself, particularly gratitude for things on a more cosmic or similarly diffuse\non-targeted scale. At the same time, I do try to have appreciation\gratitude for individual sub-components when they've made a particular sacrifice, such as in the case of lunches. No matter what I eat, something died to provide me a meal, and I always try to remain mindful of that.

[Night Owl]

I find it is sometimes useful to practice gratitude towards positive and negative situations and people. For exemple it is natural to be grateful for someone that made you smile or made you happy today. But it is a lot less intuitive to think about being grateful for those who have hurt you, stressed you, made your day bitter. But I think it is nevertheless important to think about it because those people and situations help you grow and be stronger. So there is value in being grateful for all sorts of things. And without the external, this growth would be impossible. It is the illusion of seperation that makes movement and improvement possible. That is in a way why all paths leads to the creator. You just have to be willing to see the love and the creator behind all things, even external things. I think what is important to realize about the illusion is mostly that the external is a reflection of the internal, not that the external is inexistant or false. By this realization you open your inner self to all that it contains instead of restraining it your current awareness of what you think it contains.

[Dekalb_Blues]

I've been holding off posting but here's an idea, take it for what it's worth: why does there have to be an object of gratitude at all?  Can one not simply feel the emotion of gratitude purely without attributing it to someone or something else?  Maybe I'm misunderstanding but I find the feeling of pure gratitude to be so wonderful.  Are we limiting the concept of gratitude to the word and grammatical limitations? The experience itself requires no such constraints (maybe it doesn't require a subject, either, and one can simply feel gratitude without needing to attribute it to any sort of exchange at all).