The author of Wired Magazine's November cover story (Gary Wolf: "The New Atheism") proposes an atheist prayer:
That our reason will subjugate our superstition, that our intelligence will check our illusions, that we will be able to hold at bay the evil temptation of faith.
It seems to me that (except for the word "evil"), this formulation could also serve as a starting point for an agnostic prayer, and I'm trying to think how to work it into a special prayer for Thanksgiving, day after tomorrow. Actually, I'm thinking it shouldn't be too hard for me, since I'm everyday grateful for what I have and for my prospects, whether I am grateful to something called "God" or not. That is, the non-existence of God (should God not exist) doesn't make gratitude irrelevant. In fact, I have long recognized that being grateful is effectively a condition (and not the only condition) of living a fully satisfying life. Or so I would argue.There's gratitude (and its expression) toward other people, of course. On Thanksgiving, let's not forget to be grateful for and say "thanks" to those responsible for "what we are about to receive" (so to speak).
But over and above that, there's the possibility of feeling grateful (and being aware you're grateful) for existing...rather than not existing. Such gratitude, even if we can't identify to whom to address "thanks," is not only possible, but, for me at least, necessary. Maybe it's equivalent to a spirit of not taking things for granted, of being mindful that we have them and enjoy them...and we might not have them. Indeed, we won't always have them.
Such mindfulness, I think, is necessary in order to fully realize one's present moment.
I'm grateful for the comfort that believing instills in me. I don't think I could make it through my life without my faith.
ReplyDeleteHope you have a happy holiday, Mori.
Thank you, Southern, and may you too have a happy holiday. I do have this faith: faith in the possibility of continuing to make it through life even without believing anything dogmatically. In fact, I sense that I have thereby already become more open to life. At any rate, I seem to be experiencing the world anew, or somehow more fully than I did before. And for this unexpected outcome I am grateful, whether it be a "blessing" or something that I might have predicted scientifically if I had had enough information.
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