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Welcome
Feature from Los Angeles, California
Dreams of Gratitude
Why the Spleen?
Book Recommendations
Gratitude in the News?
Who’s Who in Gratitude
The Child's Garden
Poetry

From the Editors

This month we are featuring Gratitude, number 20 of the Descending Principles (numbered 20-29).  Gratitude is one of those principles that seems straightforward; we assume it means the quality of being thankful.  But it’s more than just the readiness to say “thank you.” Gratitude pervades all of life; it grows out of sensitivity to the miraculous and the wondrous and even the bizarre.  It is associated with “sentient beings” because sentience is the ability to feel the nuances of change and respond to those nuances with appreciation and a deep knowingness.  It is the spiritualization of the emotional realm. --Ed.

Thanks to Cammie Doty, Carol Bucklew, and Connie Kaplan for their help on this issue of our newsletter!

Report from Los Angeles, California

This month's principle is Gratitude. Here is a teaching from one of our dream sisters:

Here

Here is a story is from Emma Bragdon in her column, “Creating Spiritual Alliances” (May 2007). A female humpback whale had become entangled in a spider web of crab traps and lines, and was weighed down by hundreds of pounds of traps that  caused her to struggle to stay afloat. She also had hundreds of yards of line rope wrapped around her body, her tail, her torso, and a line tugging in her mouth. A fisherman spotted her just east of the Farralone Islands and radioed an environmental group  for help.  Within a few hours, the rescue team arrived and determined that she was so bad off, the only way to save her was to dive in and untangle her – a very dangerous proposition. One slap of the tail could kill a rescuer.

 They worked for hours with curved knives and eventually freed her. When she was free, the divers say she swam in what seemed like joyous circles. She then came back to each and every diver, one at a time, and nudged them, pushed gently around-she thanked them. Some said it was the most incredibly beautiful experience of their lives.  The guy who cut the rope out of her mouth says her eye was following him the whole time, and he will never be the same.

Dolphins, along with chimpanzees and a few other animals, really do express gratitude. We're not the only emotional beings on the planet, and the more we tune into our connection with all beings, the more "spiritual alliances" we will have at all levels.

--Connie Kaplan

Dreams of Gratitude

We can learn about the principles by examining our dreams. Here are three dreams of Gratitude:

My husband and I are in a small art gallery in a house. Lots of small glass pieces, lovely, mostly white and crystal. He signs up for Michael’s “color seminar” at the place; I plan to go later in the week.
When I go, I walk a long way. At one point I ask a bus driver, but the street he says he’s going to isn’t the one I want; he doesn’t go far enough. So I walk. A young man joins me who needs $20 for the seminar. I tell him my money is tight right now, but I will ask a friend; he’s very grateful.
At the seminar we are talking about emotions. A man starts talking about people who can’t express certain things. He goes into detail and I recognize he’s talking about the survivors of a big war. Then we move into a different room, set up so people can lie or sit on the floor. A woman is the leader and is putting a gob of cream on each person’s foot and in their mouth. I think it must taste horrible. She says, “it’s sexual,” and I dream-know she means aphrodisiac. I wonder if people will soon be writhing on the floor in craving. Then I realize it’s whipped cream.

Gratitude is signaled by the $20 and the grateful young man. The seminar – by the angel Michael? - turns out to be about emotions, particularly the suppressed emotions of trauma.  The dream seems to be saying the work of Gratitude is connected to that of Desire (both are from the Yellow sphere in Connie Kaplan's color work, represented by the ‘seminar’), represented here by craving, sexuality and eating.

The great scientist David Bohm appears. I know his theory that everything has the whole universe enfolded within it. I ask, “How do you prove this experimentally?” He takes a light-yellow cartilaginous animal with bumps like a piece of ginger and points out 2 bumps that appear to be sense receptors, like proto-eyes. He asks what would be the difference if you dissected it between those bumps, versus cutting it in a way that the bumps would stay together in the same portion. I didn’t know; I was wondering if the bumpless side would die.

A new form of sentient being appears here, with yellow color and reminiscent of a spice of life, ginger, so also alluding to the world of senses.  The inquiry is about the wholeness of things.  Logically, if everything is in everything else, it shouldn’t matter how you slice the animal.  But the dreamer hypothesizes that in order for a piece to live, it has to have a “sense receptor.”  On the spiritual level, Gratitude is the foundation (bottom) of the Descending principles, linking them to the more familiar world of the Containing principles.  In other words, sentience and receptivity – and emotions, as in the previous dream – are the key to embodying the ethereal principles of the upper realms.

A large yellow bird, ostrich-size with a round bulbous head and a black beak like a swan, carries a baby on its back and has a “windshield” beyond its neck. A man is trying to tame it and use that windshield feature in transport.  She is annoyed and threatens to peck him, but doesn’t. 

If this yellow bird represents the Gratitude gateway to the upper realms (suggested by its great size and flying ability), it is a great protector for the innocent – those who are ‘babies’ on the spiritual path.  But its shield can’t be stolen for one’s own purposes; one has to ‘ride on the back’ of Gratitude.

To find Gratitude in your dreams, look for references to thankfulness, to actual work with emotions, the colors yellow, gold, or amber, or the number 20.

Why the Spleen?

The spleen is a small organ behind the stomach, just below the diaphragm, which for a long time was believed to function only to clean the blood of unwanted materials, especially old red blood cells. Recent discoveries, however, show that it plays an important role in fighting infections, and particularly transmitting information from the brain to the immune system (see "Gratitude in the News").

However, even this more accurate biological description doesn’t account for the history of associations to the spleen in various cultural traditions. The Greeks connected it with melancholic (what we would probably call depressive) temperament; the Talmud connected it with laughter; early modern Europe called a foul mood “venting the spleen,” and China also connected it with temperamental behavior.

On either approach, why would the spleen be a metaphor for the principle of Gratitude?  A healthy spleen cleanses of old, unwanted materials, and focuses appropriate responses to new challenges.  This is analogous to Gratitude, which encourages us to let go of memories that give rise to negative emotions. Giving thanks is an important part of recapitulating our past experiences. At the same time, Gratitude enables us to meet each challenge with a fresh vitality..

Book Recommendations

Touch the Ocean: The Power of Our Collective Emotions, by James Nemec
A playwright and cranio-sacral therapist, James Nemec here tells some of his personal story, at the same time raising the question of how our emotions affect the larger currents of human and planetary life.  Part of the creative questioning that characterizes alternative therapeutic approaches, this book also shows the hand of the artist – easy to read while at the same time raising deep issues.

Radical Gratitude and Other Life Lessons Learned in Siberia by Andrew Bienkowski and Mary Akers
At the age of five, Andrew Bienkowski had to move to Siberia with his exiled parents; he watched his grandmother die of starvation so they could live.  Now, with the background of forty years as a clinical therapist, he tells his story of developing an attitude toward life that would enable him to help others.

Gratefulness, The Heart of Prayer: An Approach to Life in Fullness, by David Steindl-Rast and Henri J. M. Nouwen
An older book – originally published 1984 – but now a classic. Written from the perspective of a monk, and infused with the spirit of the contemplative life, it focuses on the depth of Christian spiritual values.  Gratitude, Steindl-Rast says, is an “acquired taste,” and life’s challenges cultivate and broaden our taste.

Gratitude in the News

Humans like stories of gratitude; you can find them in the most ordinary places, from Reader’s Digest to subscription websites like http://gratitudemiracle.com/.And, as with some other principles (see our Generosity issue), there is a new “science of gratitude”; we can expect to see more of these kinds of studies in the future.  But here are a couple of articles that don't just talk about thankfulness. How do they help us understand the spiritual meaning of Gratitude?

• Headline: Spleen Key Player in Brain’s Infection-Fighting Message
  A team at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in Manhasset, N.Y., identified a new anatomical path through which the brain and spleen communicate. The spleen, which manufactures immune cells, is also where important information from the nervous system reaches the immune system.
  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/25

• Headline: Spanish MPs Push Apes’ Rghts:
  Spanish Socialist MPs hope to persuade parliament to back a landmark project seeking human-like rights for apes such as chimpanzees and orangutans. Campaigners say the intelligence and self-awareness shown by apes mean they deserve rights to life, freedom and protection from torture. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5058986.stm

6. Who's Who in Gratitude

The search for people with Sun in Gratitude brought up a wide-ranging list of individuals from many different fields.  Even when Gratitude is the Sun principle, it is not a predictor of a specific field of endeavor.  Perhaps this is because Gratitude is one of the principles from the “yellow sphere,” it highlights – as yellow does – whatever other principles with which the person is contracted.

• Clarence Nagin, 1956-
  Mayor of New Orleans at the time of hurricane Katrina. His Sun in Gratitude shone on his Uranus in Placement, making his city the focus for one of the biggest challenges in how to deal with natural disasters.
  
  
• Whoopi Goldberg, 1955-
  One of only 13 people who have won an Oscar, an Emmy, a Grammy, and a Tony award; known for being able to achieve an unusual balance of drama and comedy.
  
  
• Rupert Murdoch, 1931-
  Australian-American media mogul, director and major shareholder of News Corporation, which owns such important media as Fox News Channel and, through a subsidiary, MySpace.
  
  
• Anne Frank, 1929-1943
  Famous for her Diary which survived World War II to become a classic of Holocaust studies and also of the coming of age of a young girl in difficult times - as well as a testament of gratitude.
  
  
• Abraham Joshua Heschel, 1907-1972
  Leading Jewish philosopher of the 20th century, known for his comradeship with Martin Luther King, Jr., during the civil rights era. Of his many works, his companion volumes Man is Not Alone and God in Search of Man are spiritual classics on awe, wonder, and “radical amazement."
  
  
• Salvador Dali, 1904-1989
  Spanish surrealist painter, best known for his striking and bizarre images and highly symbolic work.
  
  
• Alfred Hitchcock, 1899-1980
  British-American filmmaker who pioneered suspense films and psychological thrillers.   One of the few film giants besides Disney to realize how important television would become, his show (1955-65) made him a familiar icon among Americans.
  
  
• Jeddu Krishnamurti, 1895-1986
  Born to a Brahmin family in India, he was brought to California by the Theosophical Society to be trained as the “World Teacher,” but when he came of age, he disavowed this title and became a spiritual teacher, focusing on meditation and analysis of the human conditionn.
  
  Martha Graham, 1884-1991
  American choreographer, a pioneer of modern dance, compared to Stravinsky in music, Picasso in art, and Frank Lloyd Wright in architecture. A dancer for 70 years, she is said to have used dance as a language to convey the passion of human experience, in her words: “permitting life to use you in a very intense way.”.
  
  Louis Sullivan, 1856-1924
  "Father of modernism" in architecture, known for coining the phrase “form ever follows function”; but his work often included decorative motifs and colors. Considered by many to be the creator of the skyscraper, he was also mentor to Frank Lloyd Wright.
  
  
• Irving Berlin, 1888-1989
  Born in Belorus (“White Russia”), a self-taught pianist, composed over 3,000 songs and created 17 film and 21 Broadway scores. His popular songs included “God Bless America,” “White Christmas,” “Anything You Can Do,” and “There’s No Business Like Show Business.”
  
  
• Amedeo Modigliani, 1884-1920
  Italian painter and sculptor, part of the Paris avant-garde of the early twentieth century who developed his own idiosyncratic style inspired in part by primitive art.
  
  
• Auguste Rodin, 1840-1917
  Pre-eminent French sculptor of the 19th century, who departed from the formal classic style of ornamental sculpture to make strong, realistic figures.
  

7. The Child's Garden

The spiritual parenting of our children – through studying their principles – teaches us as well as them.  We at Generosity Incorporated believe that bringing this work to the next generation can be one of the most powerful forces to heal humanity.  Here’s an example of learning from our children:

The other day my 18-year-old daughter took her driver’s test.  It was her third try.  I sat in the waiting room nervously waiting for her to return.  My cell phone rang and I answered eagerly. On the other end, her tearful voice said, “Mom, please come out here?”  My heart leaped to my throat – was the car bashed in the DMV parking lot? 

“Are you okay?” I said.  “Is the car okay?”  I could now picture the car out in the road, with the examiner and my daughter hiking back from an accident. 

“Yes,” she blubbered, “everything’s okay, just please come out here.”  All right, I breathed, it just means she failed her test.

When I got to the car, she was still crying but in a different tone.  “What happened?” I asked. 

“I think I passed my test.” She handed me the paper.  “What do you mean you think you passed?  Why are you crying then?” 

“I thought I failed.  He yelled at me and then just said ‘go inside.’  I fell apart crying, but after I called you, I looked at the paper, and it looks like I passed.” 

Sure enough, the examiner had checked “Passing” at the top of the page.  And, on further discussion, it turned out he hadn’t exactly yelled at her, but did discuss at some length the areas she could improve. After some nose-blowing and eye-wiping, she went in and got her license.

When she was finished, she said, “I’m so much more grateful now, because I thought I had failed.  It reminds me of some things that have happened to my friends – when we think something is impossible or horrible, then it turns out not to be so bad or even to be good, we’re more thankful.  Is that just human nature?”

8. Poetry

From Turtle Island (New Directions, 1974), pp. 24-25; available online at  http://www.wisdomportal.com/Gratitude/ GarySnyder-Gratitude.html

Prayer for the Great Family
Gary Snyder

Gratitude to Mother Earth, sailing through night and day—
        and to her soil: rich, rare and sweet
                            in our minds so be it.

Gratitude to Plants, the sun-facing, light-changing leaf
        and fine root-hairs; standing still through wind
        and rain; their dance is in the flowering spiral grain
                            in our minds so be it.

Gratitude to Air, bearing the soaring Swift and silent
        Owl at dawn. Breath of our song
        clear spirit breeze
                            in our minds so be it.

Gratitude to Wild Beings, our brothers, teaching secrets,
        freedoms, and ways; who share with us their milk;
        self-complete, brave and aware
                            in our minds so be it.

Gratitude to Water: clouds, lakes, rivers, glaciers;
        holding or releasing; streaming through all
        our bodies salty seas
                            in our minds so be it.

Gratitude to the Sun: blinding pulsing light through
        trunks of trees, through mists, warming caves where
        bears and snakes sleep— he who wakes us—
                            in our minds so be it.

Gratitude to the Great Sky
        who holds billions of stars— and goes yet beyond that—
        beyond all powers, and thoughts
        and yet is within us—
        Grandfather Space.
        The Mind is his Wife.
                            so be it.

                                                        after a Mohawk prayer

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