My dog had nerve not thanking me for the food I plopped into his bowl! Do I have unreasonable expectations of gratitude?
“When you are completely present, gratitude no longer exists. Yet, giving thanks helps you get present.
A wave doesn’t thank the ocean.
A flower doesn’t thank the stem.
The earth doesn’t thank the sun.
But appreciating them all gets you in the ‘now’.”
In this image, the character ‘X’Tzu’ from ‘11:11 El Luchador Gauntlet’ is contemplating the real reason for gratitude. Kicking back, he’s come to the conclusion that gratefulness is an expression of knowing there’s freewill. It’s the acknowledgment that ‘one is in the present’, seeing ‘fate’ only as a specter of freewill viewed through eyes fixed in duality.
“If a carny buys a Chihuahua, you might expect them to take care of it, right? Demanding thanks for their ‘generosity’ strikes of manipulation or one heck of a thick skull. That’s not to say Chewy isn’t thankful, but his gratitude comes from the desire to have a shiny coat.”
“So ask yourself, does the creator of the carnival, cloistered in the management trailer demand a prayer of gratitude before you bite into your corndog? Does your ‘master’ want his dog to give thanks?”
Do you really have an expectation of gratitude? People who are rarely present can’t understand what it means when another person doesn’t buy into the excessive appreciation and flatter-worship of the commonly perceived world. Exaggerated gratitude for trees, bodies, health, environment, friends, and family is fine, but not as wonderful as the whole connected experience.
“….and who adopts who? Truly, the master should thank the dog for being non-judgmental, forgiving, and loyal!”
“Dogs are thankful for awareness between thoughts, the ability to be in the moment… and the hillside they scurry up to see outside the carnival.”
Who should give thanks? It’s tempting to think that gratitude cannot truly be in a place where ‘all things are in service to you, for what would be the point of gratitude if all was already decided.’ Yet this is the thought that stems from a relative vantage, one that only perceives in terms of time, never the here & now.
“Are you wondering if dogs exercise more freewill than people?
Perhaps the carnival creator isn’t really in that management trailer?”
Should you expect a ‘thank you’? To be in the belief that you are ‘giving’ or ‘receiving’ is to ride a shallow belief system.
“And maybe here in the moment, you might just create your own traveling show?
What would happen if you walked outside the carnival to view what your dog sees?”
Demanding gratitude is unbecoming. Many profess their thanks publicly to solidify their belief systems(s), to give it a pharisee style attention. A god who doesn't know or trust you are thankful is no god at all. Now the professing of thanking individually, when done as an expression of one with totality is pure. That thanks is really a communion with god… unlike the forced social ‘I’m righteous thanking’.
We’re waiting outside the gate, come on out…