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Find these words if you can in the Koran, 'Don't worry whether you have enough food to eat or clothes to wear. For life consists of far more than food and clothes.' They exist in Luke 12:22-31 and reference 'gratitude' for just being. You won't find these words in the Koran, or in any philosophy outside of Zen Buddhism for that matter. The idea of gratefulness in attitude or 'gratitude', is one of the principal elements in living a productive life and it is largely a Christian-built concept. The mental and spiritual therapy involved in possessing a grateful attitude is one of the core foundational beliefs of awareness and one of the mainsprings of Judeo-Christian culture and a good reason why Christian thought is central to a spiritually enhanced life-style.
Gratitude in the post-modern world of course does not exist. The mad ravings of eco-fascists, totalitarians, pagans, modernity-haters, and chattering feminised Marxists are the rants of those who feel nothing but contempt for humans; the modern world; and indeed for life itself. Pagan cults centered on mother-earth worship are ungrateful sociopathological organisations which hate man; adjure abortion and forcible human population reduction; and are designed to wipe out the modern world and with it the worth of individual humans and the clean, prosperous and righteous reality they have created. In short these groups of ignoramuses and fascists hate human life and desire its dismemberment in every sense, and at every level. They have no regard nor gratitude for the ease of living they possess.
Christian gratefulness in attitude is a foreign concept in a world of pop culture stupidity, narcissism, rampant ego-centricity and the 1960s created 'me-only' generation now epitomised by such useless but entirely me focused fora as myspace.com or facebook.com. In the world of 'me' and 'my' Christianity and all Christian ideals are ridiculed as obsolete, primitive and inimical to 'progressive' intelligence. Yet the so-called progressives, which practice warmed up versions of Marxist immorality, totalitarian urges; or paganism, have yet to come up with something as profound and as intelligent as gratitude. For the post-modern world, reality including its physical and mental dimensions, is something to be suffered through. For these deep thinkers the world is nothing more than just a systemic process of oppression, conspiracy, white based racism, or demonic human actions resulting in the harming of poor, old mother earth. Better to cleanse the world of humans, destroy modernity, return us to the pagan cult of Delphi circa 1700 B.C. [or even better to the paleolithic world post-the last ice age]; than to force our children's children's children to live in a white-created modern society of immorality and hate. Or so say the pagans and Marxists. Gratitude? Surely you jest the post-moderns sneer. Gratitude for what exactly – white and Jewish oppression of the others?
A lack of gratitude is one reason why Europe will fall to Islamic intolerance and become not only more irrelevant, but a satellite of the Arab world. The European feels no gratitude at a spiritual-mental level for anything. The average European simply demands. They demand guarantees; jobs; income; moral superiority through anti-Americanism or the green-cult; and they demand a relief from responsibility, morality and indeed thinking. Gratitude for what the average European says? European history as it is now taught is nothing but a mixture of racism, stupidity, ignorance, slave trading, fascism and oppression. Better to embrace Islam than accept Christian ideals or the fact that it was Europe which saved the world and created civilisation. If not Islam then, at least we should support a return to the good old days of pre-modern living and poverty, not to mention pre-Christian era ignorance and illiteracy.
This lack of gratitude and positive attitude rots the West. It pervades American culture. When the Christian says simply, 'God set us free to frolic, to gambol, to celebrate the gift of life. So dance your way down the garden; Scatter rose-petals with every step. With every breath, enjoy the goodness of God.', he is saying that the most powerful reason for the existence of a higher power is nature itself, and the human race. There is no higher, singular, divine white-bearded presence. But there is God in life. You are alive and that is enough at some important level to feel gratitude.
In this view of life God is not an anthropomorphic creature or some remote bearded old white man floating on a cloud. God is everywhere, inside and outside of you. The incredibly and unknowingly complicated actions and interactions of nature; the wonderful design of the human body and mind; the cycles of life and the world; the mere act of blinking, breathing, walking, talking and thinking; are all testaments to a higher power – what it is exactly no one can possibly know so we name it 'God'. It is but a name for something profoundly spiritual and important and of course powerful. But it is a power which celebrates the human; the individual, the natural, the man created technologies of genius, the beauty of the spirit, the hopes of the poorest of our society as well as the achievements of the greatest. Gratitude is the recognition of life's value and of the value of all humans. It also recognises that humans are the best hope for nature, to help it, protect it, and care for it.
A grateful attitude goes a long way in life. Problems become challenges. Challenges become opportunities. Chores become hobbies. Gratitude spins life into a daily expression of joy, wonderment, and hope. It transforms the mental image we have of life. A grateful attitude becomes part of our mental and spiritual character and it puts life in balance and our place in the world in perspective. We become an independent, individualised and important part of our world. We are not alone, not buried in obscurity and we are not irrelevant. We are alive – and that is something to be grateful for indeed.
With gratitude the cult of life and living takes paramountcy. Some higher power and purpose gave us life. The cries of an infant, the songs of a bird, the shake of a friend's hand, the touch of a lover, the joy of achievement, the awe of natural systems, the wonderment of a car's engine, the muddling through a personal tragedy, the ups and downs of life as we age; even the simple utility of clean clothes – living and being aware and thankful is the most important aspect of life.
Thankfulness and a grateful attitude or gratitude, is a defining aspect of a cult of life. Without such a belief life becomes optional, a cult of apathy and even death can take hold; attitudes harden, selfishness and morose obsession with personal egos become the norm; and through all this cultural destruction is assured. It is not by accident that the greatest flowering of mankind's development in all spheres of the mental, physical and technological occurred between 1500 and 1900, generated by people who were thankful, grateful for the freedom, hope and possibility to improve the world. They possessed a grateful attitude.
Gratitude is a key attitude destroyed by the elements of Marxist post modernism; 1960s cynicism and by ridiculous philosophers such as Nietzsche, Sorel and Heidigger. Try finding Luke 22 in the Koran – you won't. Try finding the Golden Rule from the Book of Matthew, itself a concept based on humility and gratitude for what life has to offer and the knowledge that gratitude given, is gratitude to be received. It is one of the most important pieces of advice to be found in Western writing. Gratitude and thankfulness for life itself. Life is the best argument that a higher power, unknowable to the human exists. Whether you call it God, Yahweh, or some other name is not important. Maybe it should just be called what it is – Life.
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