Christopher Hills, Ph.D., D.Sc., is the author of 27 books on consciousness, the former president of the World Yoga Society, founder of the University of the Trees (1972)—a pioneer in developing food resources from algae to alleviating world hunger—and founder of the Light Force spirulina company. He is presently engaged in projects for the homeless, and emotional literacy in children.
I am most grateful when I have just had a close encounter with death. Once the front wheel flew off my Buick as I was driving down a steep, curving hill. I maneuvered it to the bottom of the hill in a shower of sparks and accompanied by a prayer. Another time I was deeply grateful when I was struck by lightning on the bridge of a ship that hit the upright stanchion two feet away from my face, and millions of volts of electricity were magically conducted to Earth through the steel into the ocean below. I gave thanks and have never forgotten the smell of burned air instead of burned hair.
When I was born, I was also struck by lightning inside my mother’s womb. She was badly burned on her arm, and I came out suddenly with a big red birthmark from elbow to wrist that lasted 14 years. My mother was so traumatized that she could never hug me without feeling totally overwhelmed. I was too young then to be grateful for the gift of life. But in retrospect, I give thanks that we both survived this electrical charge, and I am still alive and kicking in the human world.
I can think of many instances of gratitude that did not come until after I had begun to appreciate all the goodness that life has given me. I know now to express that gratefulness—not only in times of peril, or greatest abundance—but for all that I experience. I am grateful not only for incredible friendships, but also for those who have been liars and deceived me, because of the many lessons of life that they have brought me, thus sharpening my appreciation of those who walk their talk and live up to their spiritual words.
One of my most grateful moments was when I came-to after being knocked unconscious in a storm. I was on my yacht in the West Indies, taking guests around the island of Jamaica heading towards Port Antonio.
Louise Hay and her then-husband Andrew, who were, at the time, my partners in the spice trade, were among my guests on that trip. We got into a storm about a half day’s sailing from Port Antonio. The big boom, over one foot thick, suddenly flashed right over in a freak wind and knocked me from the wheel house into the scuppers. The side rail of the boat was practically under water. Somehow I got stuck between the rails and was lying there unconscious, and I blacked out. The next thing I saw, after what seemed like an eternity, was Louise’s face leaning over me and Andrew shouting at me and shaking me at the same time. He was saying I just had to wake up because nobody else knew how to sail the 90 tons of deadweight of this ship. No one knew the course to sail to Port Antonio, and we had lost sight of land.
This was one of my first experiences of being absolutely needed. Without me, Andrew was saying, we would all perish. As I regained consciousness and realized what he had said, I realized how some people are lucky to escape death, but there are those whose destiny can be strongly interwoven with another person’s skills. I have never forgotten my feeling of relief when I found I could still walk and talk! I had to wait another eight weeks for my wrenched neck to stop hurting me, but all the while, I thought about how thankful I was to be alive and how lucky for my guests that I could navigate them safely to Port Antonio.
I can still see Louise’s face as I woke up in the storm, with her makeup all washed off and her hair wet and dripping. I am even more grateful that 38 years after that event, life has made me even more grateful. I believe that I was protected by some higher power so that I could take a totally different course in life. I have no name for this power, although I have heard many. I prefer to feel it as a “Goddess Energy.” This energy comes to us when we make room for gratitude and appreciation in our heart. It can also come to us as subtle intelligence moving through our natural environment. Within our consciousness, we reach outward to this intelligence, but really, its frequency and energy are hidden within.
Gratitude and appreciation taken all the way to the source of life comes when we surrender to its hidden intelligence. This Goddess Energy has been much forgotten and ridden over roughshod in our culture. In many other civilizations, it is repressed entirely with not even the dignity of human rights. Under different banners, they kill it by promoting “the one and only way to salvation.” This is not the way we receive grace.
Ultimately, the feeling of gratitude comes from our attitude toward receiving. It is that form of appreciation that makes our gift have real worth. When we do not effectively “receive” a gift by not appreciating it, then the gift has not effectively been given.
The attitude of giving gifts is not greater than the attitude of receiving. It is much easier to give a gift than to truly receive one. Of all our natural talents, the precious gift of consciousness is more often taken for granted. How can we give to others in spirit what we have not fully received and appreciated in our own self? I believe in this case we must first receive gratefully that which we are giving to others, or our gift does not work.
I am grateful that I can find beauty and loveliness in life to shower my love upon and remain in bliss. Gratitude is knowing that all gifts have little value until they are fully received. In reality, it is our gratitude that gives real value to any gift. To be able to forgive all injuries is the greatest gift that we can bestow upon ourselves, but few are grateful for this choice.
If people don’t appreciate where the power comes from, they are not going to get very much from its source. All gratitude is the result of this appreciation.
To choose consciously to forgive the past and any hurts that may come in the future is a gift you can never reciprocate because it dissolves all karma. To get home free without karma is only possible when we honor and appreciate the deep power of gratitude. In offering up our gratitude, we open ourselves to receiving and living in a state of grace. This is the gift of the Goddess, and she is longing to bestow it on us all. Being so grateful even before you receive—this is the stuff that creates miracles.
