The Importance of Acknowledgement

The reason it is so vital to always acknowledge the source of whatever you have achieved or received is to avoid arrogance. When a person achieves anything, be it financially or spiritually, and they think they have done it on their own, they become arrogant and that leads to their downfall.

We do nothing on our own, we cannot even breath. If you tried to breath consciously, how long would you last? This is proven by trying to follow your breath. If you can focus on following your breath and not thinking of anything else for 20 or 30 minutes, controlling the depth and length of every inhalation and exhalation, you can do nothing else, your mind would be fully occupied.

This proves the obvious, there is something that makes our body function in a way we deem as automatic, simply to breath. Even if you attribute this automatic function to nature and disregard it as something that is done for you, what about air? Where does the air come from? All things have a source. Again we can say it is natural, but if we do not acknowledge the source of our oxygen, which is the forests of the world, we will continually cut down the trees until there are not enough left to produce enough oxygen to support humanity.

Only when you live with pure sincerity that you are fully dependant on everything you have due to someone or something else, then you can be truly humble. Take a moment and think of anything about you, simply to read this article for example. Who do you owe the credit for your being able to read? Are you even in the least way responsible for your ability to read, even if you claim you may be due to your own efforts? Could you have done this entirely on your own without any lessons? Could you even speak without having had other people talking to you so you could imitate them?

With true humility you will stand out and be exceptional in your work and personal life. Not only will you be regarded and highly respected as a special person, but your actions and words will have such a polished flow that being with you will be a joy to anyone.

Let us take this example. If you get some great but unique food which only comes from one shop, and you love it and want more, but then cannot remember the shop you bought it at, how will you ever get more?

Perhaps you remember the shop the day you bought it, but after a few days, a week or a month, you forget because you are in a strange land, this food and country is new to you and you are not so familiar with the marketplace that you could remember every shop so easily. Awareness of the source is what turns a one time lucky win into a regular occurrence.

This is why some religions teach us to say a blessing for everything you do or get at every moment, not just once at night before you go to bed, or just before you eat, thanking God for the meal and for the blessings of the day of which many you will have forgotten. Rather, thank God, or whoever it may be for everything you get as you get it, and that immediate response will burn the memory into your conciousness rather than hide it in your subconcious.

There was a great king who insulted a very powerful wizard. The wizard put a curse on the king that he could not pass gas. The king laugh at the wizard even more at hearing this curse. After a few days, the king was getting rather uncomfortable, and nearing a week, his physicians said he was in danger of dying, and so the king called for the wizard. He begged him to remove the curse and the wizard ask what the king would pay to be relieved. He offered half his kingdom. This was agreed and the king was released from his curse, which most of the kingdom could hear!

The wizard went back to his disciples as a man equal in wealth to the king and said; “You see, I gained all this for the price of one fart.”

Be aware of the little things you take for granted and give some appreciation, at least once a day, remember all the things you have received, materially, spiritually and in intellectual knowledge. This will help open your mind and heart by cleansing it with humility so that it can receive more.