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Asking and Receiving

by Mark on 4-15-2014
It's a funny thing about gratitude... The concept has meant different things to me over the years. I have learned two things about it since I have been on my own:

1 - Ego doesn't like gratitude.

2 - Gratitude is the fuel for Positive Manifestation.

When I was 29 years old it was suggested to me by several branches of law enforcement, that I should stop drinking, 'for your own good and for the good of the community.' I did go to a few meetings and I did TRY to stop drinking but it didn't take. I was unsuccessful for a very good reason: My ego was completely in charge at that time and my ego did not approve of the suggested methods for staying sober and thus for staying out of trouble. The methods were concerned primarily with creating an 'attitude of gratitude' which supposedly paved the way for a personal revelation or Spiritual Awakening and the freedom from compulsive drinking that goes with it. It was inevitable, therefore, that I would continue to take my ego from bar to bar and express my egotistical self by drinking and getting into more trouble.

When I was 39 years old it was suggested to me by my attorney and the presiding judge that I quit drinking, or most certainly I would experience 'a life behind bars.' That life behind bars statement was very inspirational for me. It worked on a number of different levels, as they say, the primary level being the fear level. I was inspired and motivated by that fear of incarceration to discover what it takes to experience a Spiritual Awakening.

Consider the book The Game of Life and How to Play It, by Florence Scovel Shinn, [1925]. (go through the link for a FREE download of this wonderful work) sacred-texts.com

I agree with Florence when she says, 'the one who knows spiritual law, is undisturbed by appearance, and rejoices while he is "yet in captivity." That is, he holds to his vision and gives thanks that the end is accomplished, he has received.' What Florence is describing is one of those Ancient Wisdom precepts that Seth talks about in his new books.

You see, for me, in order to find my personal awakening I would have to find a way to be grateful in the moment for future benefits. And one of the most powerful techniques for creating gratitude I learned from Crazy Frank, or was it Crazy Dave? They called him Crazy because he had problems thinking due to a life of alcohol abuse. He said that when he was under stress, ready to surrender to the ego, he would begin chanting to himself, 'thank you thank you thank you.' He chanted until the urge to submerge subsided, and he was once again 'feeling spiritual.'

Seth describes the magic of gratitude in this way:'With sequential gratitude, you are consistently back engineering your Best Case Scenario. Faithfully, moment-to-moment, you are demonstrating your belief that you are NOW receiving what you most desire.'

I think I should also mention that it took some time to get it right. I did not have a Spiritual Awakening of note until many years later when I met Seth and started writing books with him. It is a perspective you cultivate, being grateful in anticipation of benefits to come. But it must always come AFTER that moment of reckoning, as in the ephipany I experienced when standing before the judge.

Florence Shinn is again quite right about that stage of awakening: 'Getting into the spiritual swing of things is no easy matter for the average person. The adverse thoughts of doubt and fear surge from the subconscious. They are the "army of the aliens" which must be put to flight. This explains why it is so often, "darkest before the dawn.'

In Recovery they call these times of trouble The Bottom. The spiritual awakening is preceded by the 'worst of the worst.' Seth calls it 'swimming in the personal underworld' or 'falling into the abyss.' In a sense, things have to get better because they could not get any worse. The personal identity falls into shambles and reintegrates at a higher frequency of reality ceation.

Now I see it as more of a continuum, a continuum of creation. It goes something like this: asking gratitude receiving gratitude asking gratitude receiving gratitude, and so on, in a process of manifestation that may lead to ever more integrating and ecstatic personal awakenings. There is always something wonderful to look forward to...

This article is based on Seth's concepts of Back Engineering, Consecutive Positive Assessments and Momentary Awakenings that you can read about in his latest books.