Can Agnostics be Grateful?

[_deacon blues]

I might be wrong, but I'm convinced that an attitude of gratitude (forgive my triteness) is very important to being happy and fulfilled in life. So, to my -agnostic or not- friends out there: Can an agnostic person be grateful? What does it look like? or, am I wrong- is gratitude is overrated?

[_Tuna_Surprise]

I'm agnostic and I'm always deeply grateful. I'm not sure in what way you think this isn't possible.

For example, I'm grateful that I have a good job. I'm not grateful to "god" for giving me this job, rather I'm grateful for my parents for prioritizing my education and encouraging me to learn and pursue higher learning. I'm grateful for all of my teachers and schoolmates who taught me so much and who were patient and understanding during the learning years. I'm grateful for my mentors in the professional world who gave freely of their personal time to help me get to where I am today. I'm grateful for my kind and supportive co workers who make going to a job bearable. I could go on....

[Guest]

Beautifully put, Tuna. And I feel a little silly for implying that agnostics aren’t grateful to other people. I apologize. I’m trying to investigate a kind of cosmic gratitude I feel to God, and seeing if agnostics feel anything similar. Do you ever feel fate or chance has afforded you the blessings that existence provides?

[_candygal]

Anyone with family is grateful.

[_Fence Sitter]

Beautifully put, Tuna. And I feel a little silly for implying that agnostics aren’t grateful to other people. I apologize. I’m trying to investigate a kind of cosmic gratitude I feel to God, and seeing if agnostics feel anything similar. Do you ever feel fate or chance has afforded you the blessings that existence provides?

Why limit this to agnostics?

Couldn't your question be extended to anyone you does not believe in the god you have chosen?

Can Buddhist, Hindu or Sikhs feel gratitude?

By the way, the other side of your question would be:

Are you able to blame God when something bad happens to you?

[_The Soap Maker]

By the way, the other side of your question would be:

Are you able to blame God when something bad happens to you?

Nope...You are grateful for the trial god is giving you.

[_Tuna_Surprise]

Do you ever feel fate or chance has afforded you the blessings that existence provides?

Absolutely. Although I'm solidly exmo and sometimes wish I were from anywhere else other than Utah, I am eternally grateful for winning the lottery of life. I was born into a white, middle class family. In a safe neighborhood in the United States. I had access to a free public education system that was more than adequate. I was able to get a graduate-level education at a time when the US gave out very low interest rate loans for people like me whose ancestors never would've been able to do such a thing, even if they had the brains.

I was recently on holiday in a developing country, and it's hard not to be reminded how "blessed" I am. I flew from my cushy first-world home and took a taxi to a five-star hotel where I was pampered by locals who have learned English to serve people like me. My super-Mormon dad would tell me that I'm blessed to be born as me. That I was valiant in the pre-existence, I chose to be born into my family and somehow I deserve this more than the woman cleaning my hotel room. That I deserve to be among the global elite (relatively speaking). To enjoy travel and leisure. To be spared preventable illness and disease. To be able to flee war and conflict.

I'm grateful to have won the lottery of life. But to be honest, I'm not sure why I won the lottery. I suppose I believe that it was just luck. Instead of reflecting the feeling of gratefulness back to God and singing his praises and paying tithing to his corporation here on earth, I reflect my gratefulness to others who are less fortunate. I cannot look down on others who did not win the lottery. They do not deserve a bad lot in life more than I deserve a good one. I try to channel the feeling of gratefulness into caring and compassion to those who are less fortunate.

[_deacon blues]

Thanks for another great post, Tuna. I agree that the LDS view of a premortality gives some the ability to thank themselves for their premortal righteousness and look down on others. Your answers give me much food for thought.

[_Maksutov]

Yes. Every day. I'm grateful for the people in my life, the amazing mysterious universe I live in, the dedication of the people who came before me and built the civilization that I enjoy, the people who serve to protect me and to learn new things and to comfort those in need. I am grateful to my body when it works.

But do I need to dream up Someone Somewhere to offer this gratitude to? No. I convert it into acts of compassion.

[_Meadowchik]

That's a bizarre question. I feel intensely grateful, perhaps more than I ever was as a Mormon or Christian. I won't usually say I feel "blessed," but I do feel extremely fortunate most of the time for an abundance of abundance! Mostly, I am alive, I have seven children and a husband and we are all in good health and feel pretty close and have a good home life. That alone makes me feel like one of the richest of the rich of all time.