Divine love and giving as unconditional, and God accepting gratitude even from atheists!
This week's portion speaks of gratitude to God, specifically the "Thanksgiving offering" (korban todah).
Note: Traditionally this notion is connected to: Psalms 100 מִזְמוֹר לְתוֹדָה " A Psalm of thanksgiving"
& 107 א הֹדוּ לַה' כִּי-טוֹב: כִּי לְעוֹלָם חַסְדּוֹ. 'O give thanks unto the LORD, for He is good, for His mercy endureth for ever.'
https://torah.org/learning/tefilah-korbantodah/ , https://etzion.org.il/.../para.../tzav-thanksgiving-offering
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In this conneciton I offer two ideas or speculations which are 'personal', and I am sure others disagree with...
A) Divine love and giving as unconditional: On various occasions I struggled with being willing to accept help or kindness 'from above' lest it obligate me to something in return as 'payback'. Every fiber of my being rebels against that type of "manipulation" by a human with power over me, and I tried to understand how it would be different in respect to God, until I began to understand and accept that what is given by God is sourced in infinite love, and therefore at most just wants to be appreciated, or acknowledged, or to see that the result is gratitude, without any other "payment". [I don't expect that necessarily everyone agrees with this.]
B) "Undirected gratitude': Even further, I believe that the gratitude doesn't have to be directed to the correct giver, eg if someone believes that another human is the source, then God is satisfied with the fact that one who was helped by God is grateful, especially if gratitude was expressed, even if it is erroneously-directed. [I don't expect that necessarily everyone agrees with this.]
And even more, I began to feel that it is enough just to have undirected gratitude, in other words for someone who had something good happen to them simply feel gratitude without feeling that there is some entity human or divine to be grateful for it - a concept I perhaps invented and that some people refuse to see as having any meaning, but I think I have felt that sometimes. [I know that many others feel it is meaningless and disagree with my idea.]
I have also come to realize that indeed the feeling of gratitude is itself a blessing!
And as infinite love, God accepts even this type of undirected gratitude!
Of course as a human, if I help someone deeply and they give thanks to someone else, think that it was the other person who helped, I would probably feel very let down, perhaps resentful or a sort of hollowness, as opposed to the joy that one feels when someone one helps is truly grateful. But God is infinite love.
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More about 'atheistic gratitude': What ‘logical’ meaning can be given to the feeling of 'gratitude for being alive' when there is no referent for it, for example: if there was a purely-mechanistic universe (ie if there is no God or other power, no designer of the universe etc): perhaps one can ‘value’ being healthy, and be ‘appreciative’ of it, one can even feel that it is not one’s ‘right’ to be healthy (without getting into how to define 'right' since I am referring to a feeling not a logical philosophical argument), so that the person does not feel ‘entitlement’, and feels that being alive, and/or good health should not 'be taken for granted'. However what would it mean to be grateful for this? And similarly, can an atheist be ‘grateful’ for being healthy, and even moreso, for being alive?
Generally, for a person - we'll call then z - the logical underpinning of their feeling of ‘gratitude’is:
Something to be grateful for, I’ll call it x, such as life, health etc
The existence of a being Y - I’ll call it the external referent - who has the power to give x to anyone;
The belief (or knowledge) on z's part that they received x due to Y, and that Y actually had the intent of granting x to z;
z can feel gratitude even if they know that Y will not know of it.
But if some of these are missing, it might be that the possibility of 'gratitude' is impossible.
The next level: Of course it can be a psychological fact that even if there really isn't any such being Y, nevertheless human minds can contain the feeling of gratitude to the Y they erroneously think exists. In other words the absence of the 'external referent', ie the non-existence of the being I called Y, doesn't make it impossible for there to be a feeling of "gratitude to Y" in the brain of z who believes Y exists (ie conversely the fact that some feels gratitude to God certainly is not a proof that God exists).
And maybe even more, if z doesn't believe that a being Y exists, it is physically possible for them to feel gratitude. Not to Y since they know Y doesn't exist. Just gratitude, without it being 'directed at' any entity.
However now let's address not psychology but rather something else, more in the direction of ‘logic’.
It is the same with “moral responsibility”. Religious people feel there can be a deeper or
‘Absolute’ or ‘logical’ or ‘consistent’ meaning to it if there is an external referent, for example
God. However there are people who say they believe in a mechanistic universe who feel there is
true moral responsibility. However I see this as just a statement of human psychology not ‘logic’.
Indeed when philosophers define - even for a mechanistic universe - a type of “moral
responsibility” which religious people speak of, many of us feel that they are missing the point or
fudging the issue.
Those who claim there can be meaningful “moral responsibility” “good and evil” “purpose” and
“meaning” in the absence of a realm beyond the natural, may perhaps also claim that there is
meaning to ‘gratitude’ without an external referent.
And maybe I can allow them this.
And maybe God is satisfied with that.
And maybe I can 'demand' of myself to feel at least undirected and therefore unobligating gratitude for whatever good befalls me.
In any case, I hope that some of this might help those who are hesitant about feeling or expressing gratitude. Just do it!
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And of course there's always the next level: developing a connection to - and even a relationship with - God, the Creator. It is rather difficult to imagine having a relationship with an entity one does not know exists. And creating a relationship with God if its own reward. Perhaps starting with a feeling of undirected gratitude, then maybe recpgnizing a source, and then being blessed by that Source with a connection... and eventually realizing that the resulting relationship is far more valuable than that which one was grateful for in the beginning!
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May we always be sure to give gratitude to humans who helped us in some way (and we can recall that they are of course in the image of God, so it all comes from above), and may we be blessed with so much good from God that our gratitude overflows naturally!