Now thank we all our God
With heart and hands and voices,
Who wondrous things has done,
In whom his world rejoices1
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Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all
circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.2
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Good and bad men differ radically. Bad men never appreciate kindness
shown them, but wise men appreciate and are grateful. Wise men try to
express their appreciation and gratitude by some return of kindness,
not only to their benefactor, but to everyone else.3
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So, if you want to express gratitude for what you have received,
that’s fine. However . . . who are you thanking? Any higher power
such as God provides infinite unconditional love, unconditional giving
and wisdom and has no need for receiving anything. The need for
offering thanks exists only in your mind . . . .4
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We [atheists] do not give thanks because . . .
our gratitude finds its way back to the giver and magically influences
their life. Nor do we do it to earn merit points in some unseen deity’s
gradebook. Instead, we give thanks for the most basic and humanist
of reasons: because it teaches us to be mindful of the contributions
others have made to ease our lives, and encourages us to show others
that same consideration in turn.5
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Thank God I’m an atheist.6
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I am writing this on the weekend after Thanksgiving, so my inspiration for including the quotations above is obvious. I previously wrote about gratitude in discussing Chapter 34 of the Tao Te Ching. The quotes used here lead to a different approach to considering the concept, however. They emphasize that what gratitude means to a person is directly related to his or her belief in the divine and to the role of the divine in this world.
Accordingly, almost everyone’s sense of gratitude is constantly changing, for as we move through life, our appreciation and understanding of God is necessarily modified and adapted by our experiences.
The human brain is designed to learn from what has occurred in its environment and to extrapolate and project those lessons onto subsequent events. It exists on the physical plane to help the body of which it is a part to survive on that plane.
However, the human mind – which is probably more than the brain – is metaphysical and capable of conceiving things beyond the physical. Such conception is limited by the mechanics of the brain so that our understanding of what we call the divine arises from the same type of extrapolation and projection of what we have experienced in our environment.
As each of us move through our lifetimes, it is only natural that our experiences will create a desire to more fully understand that which is metaphysical. We need to find religion – at least in the sense that the term may derive from the Latin re (again) and ligare (to bind or connect), implying that we wish to reconnect with that which is beyond our physical senses.
I was reminded of that basic human quest by Amy Putkonen, who has an interesting web site called taotechingdaily.com. On November 23, 2014, Amy commented here on what I had written about Chapter 77 of the Tao Te Ching, as follows:
I wish sometimes that I could find a church that I could attend that basically was in agreement with my own beliefs but that allowed me to believe what I want as well and accepted my beliefs because, as a Taoist in Midwest America, this is challenging to find. My distrust of religion has caused me to be wary of going to any churches. Years ago, I did go to Unity Church for several years. I enjoyed it. The community there was wonderful, but that church is about an hour away now and I just can’t see driving two hours a week to go there. I’ve thought of joining a Unitarian church, as they seem to have a more universal appeal, but they often seem to be more political than spiritual to me. Who knows… maybe someday I will find my church. Jury is still out on that one.
Then, on November 19, 2015 – 360 days later – she posted an essay called “Whoa … a Church? Really” in which she said:
Last week, Eric and I ventured out to the Unitarian Universalist Church of Minnetonka, a mere 15 or 20 minute drive from our house. (A very reasonable distance, given where we live.) Eric follows Eastern philosophy and does not consider himself to fit the Christian model either, so this seemed a good option to try. I did not have very high expectations because I had gotten it somewhere in my head that they were less “spiritual” than other churches – that they were more about service in the community. But lately, that slant has appealed to me so I thought that I would at least give them a try.
I was very glad that we did! It was the first time, EVER, that I have gone to a church and felt like it could be my church! Now this was only our first visit, so we must give it time, but it felt like love at first sight.
So, good for her. It may not be the end of her search for religion, but it did remind me of an old Peter, Paul and May song called “Hymn.” “Hymn” was primarily written by Noel Paul Stookey, and included on the 1968 album, Late Again.
There was always a spiritual core to the songs Stookey wrote, and after Peter, Paul and Mary quit performing regularly he was active in the area of Christian music. His best known composition is “The Wedding Song (There Is Love),” which he wrote for Peter Yarrow’s wedding.
In a 2012 interview, Stookey pointed out that his mother was a Roman Catholic and his father an ex-Mormon. He said, “We did an eclectic attendance at church. I had no real spiritual sense until I was 30 years old. I was touched by Christ’s life and that spirit and message, changed my life completely.” The song “Hymn” expresses his personal search, and is representative of what many of us have experienced.
