A title like this sounds like a book on the rack of an airport bookstall. And a quick googling indeed shows there are several out there, formulaic recitations of predictable listicles. 'Gratitude' as a concept feels very New Age but has roots in eastern and western religious traditions.
It's easy enough to be grateful to your fellow human beings when they show you a specific act of kindness; the act has a subject (you) and an object (another person). All you need to worry about is the proportionality and sincerity of your display of gratitude.
But what of gratitude for good fortune? For things turning out right, things that could have gone very wrong? Things over which you have no control? Yet still you feel grateful – but to whom or what should you direct that gratitude?
The materialist/atheist would put good fortune down to random chance, an effect, an outcome, over which you lack causal input. And eschewing any notion of a God or a Cosmic Purpose or a Universal Force, or the Oneness, what have you, the materialist would have no one or nothing to whom to express gratitude, even though they might feel it deeply.
The degree of random chance involved in you actually being alive to consciously experience life is mind-blowing. First, we have the anthropic Universe, fine-tuned for matter to exist, and fine-tuned for life to emerge from non-life, and fine-tuned for that life to evolve from the simplest unicellular organisms to you. From our last universal common ancestor to your parents mating, your life is the result of an unbroken chain of reproduction going back over three and half billion years. Trillions of successful replications of genetic evolution, surviving at least eight mass-extinction events that killed 20% or more of all species.
The chances of every one of your ancestors surviving predation, famine, drought, cataclysm, disease and early death over billions of years should be enough cause for giving thanks. But without that Divine Cause to whom should you be thankful to?
I intuit a positive feedback loop. Feel the gratitude for simple things; moments of joy, waking up without anything hurting you, the spring sun on your face as winter ends. You have your our own list of Reasons to be Cheerful; reflect back gratitude for the simple things for which you ask; health, contentment, freedom from pain, freedom from stress, good fortune. The more thankful you are, the greater, I feel, are you powers to ask for more of those simple things, and a happier life.
Of course, some cataclysm could be waiting just around the corner to come down and sweep me away. Our lives balance ever on the edge of chaos. Just being aware of that fact, and avoiding feelings of complacency while engaging in the act of gratitude, helps. {{ You cannot affect that which you do not consider. }} Complacency = not considering how things might be worse – and then, they become worse.
There's no question in my mind – tapping into gratitude really helps in life.
There are questions in my mind regarding my metaphysical worldview, and for these I reserve the last week of Lent (Days 40 to 45, with a summary of the this year's series of Lenten blog posts next Saturday).
Lent 2023, Day 39
Peace of Mind
Lent 2022: Day 39
Animal spirits, animal consciousness
Lent 2021: Day 39
Praise the Sun God
Lent 2020: Day 38
Don't let misfortune catch you unaware!
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