A while back I upbraided a blogger by the name of John Shore. I don't know him. Other than what I read. There is much he has written that frustrates me. His blog is linked to and published as part of a website that speaks to pastors I care about. That's the rub. He writes to an evangelical audience who accepts and embraces him. That wouldn't always be me or the Pastors with which I am associated.
But like the blind squirrel that finds an acorn, he has written some pretty insightful stuff addressed to Atheists. I dropped him a note and gave him an attaboy. He deserved it for this good effort. I apologized for my anger towards him. I was over the top. I don't back off on the concern I have had over what he says sometimes. There is deep disagreement and he sometimes writes from a self erected pedestal. But, I wanted him to know that it's OK to disagree in unity. He said thanks. He's a pretty good writer and as an example this is a good article.
What he says is worth reading.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Atheists: To Whom (If Anyone) Are You Ultimately Grateful?
A while ago I posted An Honest Question: Atheists, How Do You Process Your Guilt?. The question I asked in that piece has been on my mind, because I've lately had occasion to feel truly overwhelming happiness as a result of some stuff happening in my personal life.
We often reference and feel the succor that God offers us in times of grief and pain, but I can honestly say that I'm as grateful for my belief in God when I'm experiencing extreme joy as when crippled by pain. And I mean really grateful, because if I didn't have a God to whom I could send up my gratitude that is so far beyond my ability to comprehend or grasp, I'm not sure I'd know what to do with the intensity of that emotion. It feels like I would just explode.
You know how that is. Your children form a tableau in which it's evident they're at perfect peace with the world. Or you're watching your spouse as he or she sleeps, and have that moment where it moves through you what a wonderful choice you made, what a superb man or woman you're spending your life with. Or you work really hard at something for a very long time, and it produces tangible results beyond anything you ever dared imagine it might.
All those sorts of moments, you know, where you feel that sheer, crazy, almost immobilizing joy.
And right then, when I feel that feeling, I am sooooo glad that I believe in God. Otherwise, I just can't imagine what I would do with that emotion---which, for me, so quickly turns into gratitude.
So atheists/agnostics! Tell me what you do with your extreme joy and happiness. Does joy of that turn for you into gratitude? I am truly and seriously wondering. I'm not trying to trap you, or any of that nonsense. I genuinely want to know. I'm Considerably Dense, but I'm not so slow that I think that only people who believe in God ever feel so joyful and grateful that crying is basically the only response to it.
And I know that when I feel grateful in that way, everything in me seems to naturally and spontaneously . . . pour skyward.
Anyway, if you see what I'm asking: When you feel the kind of joy and happiness that I'm here (so lamely) trying to articulate, what do you do with it? Does it fly upwards for you, too? Or does it stay inside you, and sort of ... I don't know ... bounce around in there, making your insides ring and light up like a pinball machine? Does joy of that sort become gratitude for you---and, if so, what do you do with it?
C'mon. We Christians are always telling you how you can experience Extreme Joy with God. Share with us, if you would, how you experience it without God.
2 comments:
one does not have to have a god to feel gratitude. one does not need to have a god to feel wonder. self and other people are the source of relationships, and the gratitude there is a gratitude that must be examined and then acted upon. you might simply thank god in a moment of joy with family or friend and that may be easy but it is a cop out. without a god, we atheists go to the real sources of the joy. we look to the people we are wtih who give us the joy and other people who have stuck with us and the parents who raised us and the spouse who supports us and other friends not present who challange us to do better and support us when we need it and the various teachers and mentors who helped us along the way, maybe even a professional who provided a service or just an acquaintance that made a difference to us. when i feel gratitude, i look right then and there for what people are around me that deserve a thanks, big and sloppy or reserved and subtle. and i thank them. overtly with the words or with a hug or a pat on the back or an expression of appreciation that is an affirmation of some positive trait they posess or some behavior they do that makes things good. often for me, those moments of gratitude cause me to make a mental note to later dash off an email or make a phone call or drop a note in the mail or maybe even make a visit. sometimes those expressions of gratitude lead to new depth to the relationship. sometimes that moment of gratitude reminds me of someone i have lost touch with and causes me to take the step to reach out to them and plan a get together, lunch, a daytrip somewhere together. sometimes, in one of those moments of gratitude,and these are the most challenging ones, the person that comes to mind is someone whith whom i an estranged over some disagreement, major or minor, and the gratitude overcomes that and if i think they need it, i reach out with an apology, but if not, i just reach out with a phone call or a request to have lunch and the relationship reblooms without us ever having to mull over the past ill. in those cases, the gratitude leads to forgiveness by me and a direct or understood request for forgiveness from the other person.
thus, your kind of gratitude leads to (pointlessly) thanking a god while mine leads to the further building of the relationships that bring the blessings to me.
in terms of the wonder of nature, since i can no longer drop superficial thanks on god, i have studied the processes of nature and the concepts of geological time that require work to even begin to understand and i have studied genetics and dna and the process and the numbers of 'bits' of data involved that are almost too magnificent for the human mind to wrap itself around, and i continue to read and study in those areas. I read and study in areas of brain science to understand where and how the mind works. so in a moment of awe and wonder, i ponder what i know about the things that is awing me and i ponder what more i need to learn and make some mental notes about questions i still have that i want to look into. i turn those moments into moments of personal challenge. and i turn some of that gratitude to giving back to nature to make sure it is there for others and for future others. i try to volunteer at natural areas and on natural areas teaching and restoration efforts as often as i can, so i use those moments of gratitude to examine if i have been giving of my time to such efforts and i renew my commitment to myself to do that. sometimes those moments lead to making a call to sign up for something or looking up on website to find the next work day or calling an organization to remind them that i am still available for tour guiding or workshop presenting or work days.
so, i give you back the question. do you really think merely thanking god in those moments of joy with people or with nature is adequate? or do you think perhaps you should do a little less thanking to god and a little more thanking to people and giving back to people and nature? gratitude used to be fluff work. now it often leads to real work to build relationships and the natural world in whatever small ways i am able.
"But like the blind squirrel that finds an acorn..."
How did you come to be so astoundingly arrogant?
Oh---you're screening comments. What a surprise.
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