Essene Technique of the Great Gratitude

One of the keys of respect, and therefore of inner happiness and enlightenment, is to learn to be grateful and to say thank you with gratitude and right understanding. You will certainly tell me that sometimes there is really nothing to say thank you for, and that it cultivates a naive, passive, and weak attitude. In truth, gratitude is everything except weakness. It opens the door to a higher knowledge and science. An act which comes from gratitude is always beneficial and beautiful. Not knowing how to say thank you is absolutely not a strength; it is a weakness. One who is a prisoner of discontent is plunged into negative states of mind which steal his force and energy from him.

The phrase "thank you" is not merely a polite convention; it is above all a truly magical phrase, a sacred incantation, a powerful mantra which was transmitted to all peoples by the greatest spiritual teachers and their enlightened students. Yes, many customs of life that we practice unconsciously were originally instituted by beings of light who wanted to help humanity. The phrase "thank you" has the power to open the consciousness and to awaken into true wealth. Those who know to say thank you when they are plunged into trials prove their inner value and connection with the higher consciousness. Such a thank you should come from a clear consciousness and a perfect knowledge of the laws of life. Then, it possesses the alchemical power to transform situations and states of mind.

Correctly pronounced, it has also the virtue of purifying the terrestrial soul and the relationships among beings. To say thank you to someone is to purify the atmosphere between you and this person. It sometimes clears up karmic links and difficult situations. "Thank you" has a liberating power; it makes detachment, letting go, and pardon possible. It can become a true blessing for oneself and others; it can be a bulwark against dark forces which often want to interfere in our lives in order to slyly perturb, complicate, and destroy everything. A solid foundation--on which it becomes possible to build a useful, harmonious, rich, and conscious life--can also be established in the psychological life through gratitude.

The virtues of gratitude are too numerous to describe them all; it is simplest to know them from experience by putting gratitude into practice. Indeed, we need a new perception of the world, much more spiritual and subtle. It is in the invisible world that "thank you" takes on all its dimensions. Of course, if we live without spirituality, without consciousness, if we turn our backs on the invisible world, then I admit that "thank you" can become a weakness: for a brute, to say thank you is to die. But I think we haven't come to that yet.

For those who are aware of their spirituality, and therefore of the subtle part of their beings and of life, to say thank you is to increase the intensity of life. Discontent narrows life, whereas gratitude dilates, enlarges, increases happiness, and opens the doors of infinity, of love. Those who receive love with gratitude receive it twice, whereas one who is discontent loses it. Gratitude is an art of tasting life with relish; it is also an intelligence of acceptance and work on oneself. The pampered child cannot be joyful, as it believes that everything is due to it. To live a lie is to sentence oneself to misfortunes and disillusion.

I am convinced that happiness depends on our attitude with life. If your "thank you" contains all of heaven, then it can become a fabulous prayer and gift of love. One who pronounces such a "thank you" understands that nothing belongs to him on the earth, and that everything is a gift from higher beings who take care of him. Even his body, his thoughts, his desires do not belong to him. To say thank you for all of these blessings is to enter the path of acquiring them truly, and of making something positive from them. When "thank you" is transformed into prayer, it acquires the power to triumph over all of the dark forces and negative states of mind which poison life.

More and more, the world resembles a jungle infested with insects and strange animals. To find oneself in situations where dark states of mind invade the consciousness and the sensitivity like a cloud of mosquitoes happens more and more frequently. We do not know any more how to escape these destructive states. The great "thank you"--the one which knows the path to the higher invisible world--can deliver us. I repeat myself, for it is important for me: the "thank you" which soars toward the heavens with respect and gratitude is the most beautiful prayer. Now it is the efficient prayer that delivers human beings from the ascendancy of dark forces and negative states of mind. The word "gratitude" also means rebirth to oneself. We must finally understand that we have allowed an artificial way of life which increases the negative to develop. This is why, in the future and even in the present, the techniques of inner alchemy will be more and more indispensable. Without them, it will be impossible to struggle and to keep one's dignity, one's treasure of soul, one's beauty. We must reinvent a new way of living on the earth in order to regain the forces of soul which open the doors of heaven and illumination. This is a necessity for the future.

When human beings carry heaven and earth within themselves, no negative forces can enter them. Understand me well: for me, discontent is a negative force. Of course, there is a beneficial discontent which allows us to get down to work again and to reach perfection, but this discontent is temperate and controlled; it is a tool of creativity. I am not speaking about this one, but about the one which gets into the soul and leads it to servitude, by closing the doors of higher intelligence.
"Thank you" is a word which unites heaven and earth. When the "thank you" is sincere and filled with the force of life, it has the power to touch and awaken the intimate center which is in the stomach and that the Japanese call the "hara". Real force comes from the deep "thank you" which touches the center of the being and unites heaven and earth. One who knows how to say thank you to the earth finds the foundation of psychological life. The earth cleans, purifies, and heals him of many psychological troubles, and even of physical diseases, for both are basically linked.

One who knows how to say thank you to the intelligence of heaven finds the direction and the goal of his life. It is a light which enlightens with true knowledge. All we need is to get down to work. Many things in our lives depend on the way we direct our energies.
Intelligence absolutely does not rest in swallowing in parrot fashion, but in the ability to understand the positive meaning of one's life and to walk in this direction for the good of oneself, others, and the world. Everyone on earth should offer their sincere and warm thanks to all beings--not to the little artificial self in them, but to the Nameless One, who is present everywhere. The acknowledgement of the divine, of the sublime, of the infinite, of the immortal, through human beings and through the Whole, is the perfection of the "thank you".
I am now going to teach you an old Essene technique.

Old Essene Exercise of Purification and Health

Stand in living nature, between the earth and the sky.
Feel the earth under your feet; feel how the earth carries you and holds you up.
Feel the infinite sky above you; it inspires, straightens, and elevates you.
In the sky, think of the origin of your spirit and of your intelligence.
In the sky, think of the origin of your eternal soul, of the higher universal consciousness.
In the earth, think of the origin of your terrestrial soul, of your individual consciousness.
Feel yourself as a living union of the forces of the sky and the earth, of the infinite and the development.
Kneel on the ground, and with your right hand, dig a little hole in the earth.
Put your hands together in front of the center of your chest (mystical heart), in the sign of prayer and inner union with heaven and earth within you.
In this sacred posture, let a beautiful light, a force, a presence of the heaven flow through you: the omnipresence of the Father of all living beings. You can imagine a diamond light, transparent like pure water.
Bend down with love before Mother Earth, and place your hands around the little hole. Bend down completely so that your mouth is laid on your hands.
Offer then by your word the "thank you" of heaven to Mother Earth; offer also the "thank you" of your heart, and, through it, the "thank you" of the heart of humanity.

Pronounce the words:
"Mother Earth, I offer you the "thank you" of my heart and, through it, the "thank you" of the heart of all men and women. May all beings that you carry within your bosom, nurture, protect, and let grow be blessed."
Stretch yourself out on the ground and abandon yourself totally to the earth. That your body and your soul born from it be one with the Mother-Earth and her hidden splendor.

Think and say:
"Mother Earth, take all of my illnesses and my faults according your will, so that I may receive the blessing of the heavenly Spirit to transmit it to all living beings according his will."
Remain in silent communion while letting the earth purify you completely.
Rise to your knees again, and put your hands together in front of the rose of the sun of the heart.

Think in your spirit, feel in your soul, and say with your force of life:
"With love and gratitude,
I offer my loving "thank you" filled with light.
To the Mother Earth, thank you;
To the water of life, thank you;
To the precious air, thank you;
To the sacred fire, thank you;
To the stable minerals, thank you;
To the plants, thank you;
To the animals, thank you;
To humanity walking on the path of evolution, thank you;
To all of the angels, thank you;
To the cosmic intelligence which created my thought, thank you;
To the ocean of love which created my sensibility, thank you;
To the universal life which impregnated my future with the seed of individuality, thank you;
To all of the beings of the world, I give my "thank you" within Him, the unique Source who unites all beings within the origin and the goal."

Fold your arms on your chest, bow slightly your head, and pronounce the word of conclusion: "Amen".
Then, refill the hole that you had dug to speak to the Mother of the world.

By practicing such exercises, which are totally suitable for our contemporary life, you will notice that you receive a force of balance and harmony which lets you remain more centered and be more yourself in life. The technique of gratitude allows one to develop a finer sensitivity to the higher world. Not an unhealthy sentimentality, but an awakening which makes one become more lucid, more strong, more fair. Our life is our life; it is we who have to live it, and no-one else. But it is obvious that, in order to live it in a beautiful way, we need force and lucidity. The technique of gratitude allows one to gain these and more.
One is generally afraid of sensibility, because one thinks that the more sensible a person is, the more he/she is unhappy and ill. Of course, if the "thank you" is not right, it can make one ill, because the energies are not directed toward the sky of the spirit, but remain unconscious and too personal. The one who thinks he/she is the center of the world while saying thank you only expresses a dead conventional polite phrase in order to hide the true being he/she is, for the sake of appearances.

The true "thank you" opens the perception of beauty, wisdom, greatness, and love. If the human being no longer perceives the reality of this omnipresent higher world, then he is lost. It is only a matter of time; downfall is inevitable. Only a right cultivation of a higher sensibility can lead humanity toward a real evolution of light and harmony, and enable it to overcome all trials and temptations.
A source of well-being and intense beneficial life is to offer oneself moments of solitude when harmony with all of the forces of original good can be cultivated in silence and calm, and when the magical phrase of the great "thank you" can be spoken. One can then share all this with others through simple acts, friendly words, smiles filled with a light and a warmth which come from a world where the human reigns.

Olivier Manitara

http://www.essenespirit.com