Love Is the Way I Walk in Gratitude.
1. To those who look upon the world wrongly, gratitude is a difficult lesson to learn.
²At best, they can only see themselves as better off than others.
³They try to find contentment in the thought that there are those who seem to suffer more than they.
⁴How pitiful and sad is such a thought!
⁵For who has cause for gratitude while others have none?
⁶And who could suffer less because he sees another suffer more?
⁷Your gratitude is due only to the fact that God has removed all cause of pain from the world.I
2. It is insane to be grateful because someone else suffers and you do not.
²But it is no less insane to fail to be grateful to the One Who offers you the certain means by which all pain is healed and suffering replaced with laughter and with happiness.
³Even those who are only partly sane would surely take the steps He shows, and gladly follow in the way He sets before them to escape a prison they thought had no door to the freedom now they see.
3. You see your brother as your “enemy” because you think he is the rival to your peace, the thief who steals your joy and leaves you nothing but a bitter black despair so ruthless and relentless that hope itself is gone.
²You now would try to bring him down with you, so helpless as yourself, and stripped of all the little that you have.
4. You are not grateful to God because your brother is more bound than you, nor could you be in truth more angry if he seems to be freer.
²Love makes no comparisons.
³And gratitude can only be sincere when it is joined with love.
⁴We thank our Father that in us all things will find their freedom.
⁵It is not possible to free some and yet hold others bound.II
⁶For who can bargain in the name of love?
5. Be grateful truly, then.
²And let your gratitude make room for all who will escape with you: the sick, the weak, the needy and afraid, those who mourn a seeming loss and feel apparent pain, who suffer cold or hunger, or who walk the way of hatred and the path of death.
³All these go with you.
⁴Do not compare yourself with them.
⁵For thus you separate them from your awareness of the unity you share with them, as they must share with you.
6. We thank our Father for one thing alone: that we are not separate from anything that lives, and thus we are one with Him.
²And we rejoice that nothing can make this untrue or reduce the wholeness of His Son, nor change His perfect and eternal function.
³We give thanks for every living thing, for otherwise we offer no thanks at all, and fail to recognize the gifts of God to us.
7. Let our brothers lay their weary heads upon our shoulders and rest a while.
²We give thanks for them.
³For if we can direct them to the peace that we would find, the way is opened up at last to us.
⁴An ancient door swings open once again, a Word long forgotten echoes in our memory and becomes more clear as we are willing once again to hear.
8. Walk, then, in gratitude the way of love.
²For hatred is forgotten when we cease to compare.III
³What other obstacle remains to peace?
⁴The fear of God is now undone at last, and we forgive without comparing.
⁵Thus we cannot choose to overlook some things, and yet retain some sins as “yet unforgivable.”
⁶When your forgiveness is complete, your gratitude will be total, and you will see that everything deserves your love because it loves you, and so does your Self.
9. Today we learn to think with gratitude instead of with anger, malice, and revenge.
²We have been given everything.
³If we refuse to recognize this, we are not entitled therefore to feel that we are treated unfairly.
⁴Gratitude becomes the single thought we substitute for all these insane perceptions.
⁵God cares for us, and calls us His Son.
⁶Can there be more than this?
10. Our gratitude will pave the way to Him, and shorten our learning more than you could ever dream.
²Gratitude goes hand in hand with love, and where one is the other must be found.
³For gratitude is but an aspect of the Love of God, which is the Source of all creation.
⁴God gives thanks to you, His Son, for being what you are: His Own Completion and the Source of love along with Him.
⁵Your gratitude to Him is one with His to you.
⁶For love can walk no road except the way of gratitude, and thus we walk the way that leads to God.
I This lesson addresses one of the most misunderstood subjects in spiritual practice: gratitude. For the gratitude Jesus speaks of here is not the kind the world celebrates. It is not being thankful for what you see, what you perceive, what you can name. It is not giving thanks because you are healthy today, because you have a job, or because your coffee turned out well. That is the gratitude of the dualistic thought system, and it is fine, it is useful. But it is not the gratitude this lesson speaks of.
Here you are being told of something else: of giving thanks for what you cannot see. Of giving thanks for spiritual realities that cannot be perceived, that can only be believed. Jesus asks you to give thanks for the Gospel He Himself has brought you, for the truth you cannot prove but can accept. He is teaching you to give thanks that you are the Son of God, that you have never sinned, that you are immortal, that you are safe—even when you do not feel that way.
And this has a profound reason: to give thanks for something is to affirm it. It is a way of saying, “This is mine.” Gratitude is not only acknowledgment; it is confirmation. It installs in your mind the certainty that what you have received is real. Gratitude acts as a kind of anchor. First, you receive an idea—you are the Son of God—and when you give thanks for it, you seal it in your mind. Acceptance is the first step; gratitude, the second. That is when you make it yours, when there is no turning back.
That is why Jesus does not ask for gratitude for Himself. He does not do so because it is “the polite thing to do,” nor because God needs your praise. He asks it of you for your own sake, because He knows that this mental act—giving thanks for what you cannot see—strengthens your faith, consolidates your decision, and turns a belief into an experience. For gratitude reinforces the awareness of having. It helps you remember what you do not see. And that is essential on this path, which is walked blindly but with trust.
This lesson is profoundly practical. It offers you a tool to strengthen your spiritual identity without needing to perceive proof. It asks you to give thanks for the evangelical message this Course represents. And that simple act, if you practice it, will be the seal of your acceptance. It is not the culmination of the path, but its consolidation. As if you were saying, “Yes, I have heard it, and I make it mine.”
To give thanks is a way of choosing again. And if you are constant in that gratitude—not emotional, but spiritual—one day, not far from now, you will feel that all you once gave thanks for in faith… you now know from experience.
II Matthew 16:19 “And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven.”
III This Lesson reminds you most appropriately that you not only suffer because of your decision to be alone and separate from every living thing, but also because of the competition you establish with your brothers and with everything. The ego is the basic, primal instinct to prey upon the environment and to attack everything it perceives as a threat—even itself. In that sense, the mind that believes it is separate competes with and attacks everything it perceives, in a demented attempt at salvation.
Notice how Jesus invites you to completely reverse the way you regard what you think is apart from you: everything that surrounds you and, above all, your holy brothers. Instead of comparing, competing, and trying to seize what you think you need, He invites you to honor and give thanks for your equality with all things. Notice that this is an indispensable step toward experiencing unity, knowing, and loving. Now we give of ourselves and offer comfort, protection, and help, and in doing so, we find them for ourselves.
Making comparisons is the foundation of specialness—that is, the foundation of the ego. Its purpose is to stand out and be superior, and to achieve that it has no qualms about trampling others and elevating itself above them in a demented attempt to construct a false, particular identity. The ego does not aspire to be good, but to be better than others; it does not want to have much, but to have more than others; it does not aspire to be powerful, but to dominate its surroundings. The ego is a narcissistic aberration.
The ego is so insane that it competes with itself. It measures and compares itself with unattainable ideals, and then condemns itself and feels perpetually frustrated and resentful. The ego hates what it beholds and compares it with a capricious idea it has established of “what reality and you—you yourself—must be,” never asking “why” and never “what for” it must be that way.
Become aware of these dark inclinations within you and uproot them firmly and decisively; they are dragging you into loneliness, fear, and despair. They are infernal anchors that keep you from taking flight and rising to your Father.
Realize that this is a journey you cannot possibly make alone or by yourself. Your brothers must walk hand in hand with you, for you need their strength as much as they need yours. How could you possibly save yourself alone? What happiness can there be if you see suffering around you? You are not someone seeking salvation; you are a savior, for saving is the only way to be saved.
Gratitude is another most powerful resource for experiencing peace, joy, and love. Gratitude is light, for it is the recognition of truth. Set your will on giving thanks, for in doing so you will come to know and to love. When you give thanks, the path to your Self shortens so much that all distance disappears. In that sense, gratitude is very much like patience: it leads you to peace instantly.
Also recognize one essential characteristic of all the resources Jesus offers you in this Course: all are instantaneous; all give you everything in the present. If it were not so, they would be neither real nor effective. Truly, you have no need of time at all—why would you need an illusion? Time is but the expression of your unwillingness to awaken; nothing more. You purchase your false identity with time. Delay and postponement are your currency of exchange.
You are afraid, that is true. You fear leaving the little shelter you have built to hide from God, but you are also afraid to remain in it. You are in a pathetic situation—but realize also that, in truth, it is laughable; it is all a matter of perspective. From where do you want to see yourself? From inside or outside that imaginary hole? What do you want to do—laugh or cry?
Awaken. You have every reason to feel blessed and to be grateful. Especially you, who are taking a Course that deals with joy and freedom. You are in exactly the same situation as all your brothers and all living things, but the path to Heaven has been placed before you, and you have been given a precise map so that you will not lose your way. Walk the path with gratitude and determination, and learn it well, for soon it will be your turn to serve as guide. Your brothers need you.
One more thing. Remember that gratitude, like love, has two aspects: one is to feel it, and the other is to express it. Your gratitude remains incomplete if you only feel it, for then it will remain a weak and fleeting sentiment. Express your gratitude and offer it to the world so that it may spread and multiply. If you manifest it openly, it will grow stronger within you and become contagious. Your joy will cause your brothers to resonate with it, and their minds will open to the possibility that happiness in this world is not only possible, but well founded.