Thank you for whatever It is. It doesn’t matter what makes atoms hold together. It’s not important what reality created or sustains us. I am grateful for whatever the confluence of circumstances it is which makes it possible to exist. Some believe It is a being named God or Allah or Adonai. Maybe they are all correct. Maybe they aren’t. I have no ability to confirm or deny it. I personally believe in God by many names, but I can’t impose that belief upon anyone else. It may be that spending our time fussing over a definition of “God” is the exact opposite of what we are made to be doing. Or perhaps we were not 'made' at all. Does that thought change anything?
However, gratitude remains essential. It connects us with the fullness of experience. It creates a tendency for even more things about which we can be grateful to gravitate towards us. We become a vacuum of abundance. Religion shows us a way to make gratitude, a.k.a. praise, a part of our daily habit. It is correct to do so. We need it. But we don’t always need religion to help us practice it. We need not marry the midwife.
So I say thank you for whatever It is. I am grateful for It. Whatever reality It may be, whether chance or choice, which allowed—or at the very least did not prevent—the existence of life, thank you.
I’m sure it can be argued that nothing created or prevented life, it just happened. Why not be thankful for that? Be thankful that life happened. Don’t worry about what made it happen. Say thank you to Reality for existing. Be glad to be alive. Be glad for gravity. Be happy that most people have a tendency to want to collaborate, to get along, to be good neighbors. Most people are good. Be glad for that. Don’t spend your energy on maintaining anger over those who aren’t. Focus on gratitude for those who show us the way.
The teachings of world scripture work with or without a belief in a deity. Practice them. Practice forgiveness. Don’t resist the world, bathe it with love. Teach people to be creative. Teach critical thinking without being critical. Empower those around you. Be generous with your time and talents.
The fact is, if a spiritual life practice is truly worth its salt it shouldn’t need a deity to be valid. Forgiveness is a good idea either way. Doing no harm will only make life better. Being hospitable, neighborly, and encouraging is a part of our social code. It’s the ethical standard we teach our children even when we can’t live up to it ourselves.
Religion can be a beautiful thing. A belief in God, no matter how you name It, can be a fulfilling and meaningful way to express our gratitude at the wonder of existence. But one must not feel compelled. It may very well be that a belief in our connection with something larger than ourselves will be the natural result of the practice of the teachings over time. Perhaps we are putting the cart before the horse to insist that we must first believe to experience it.
If there is a God, It would be more patient with us than we are with each other. It would know how we come by our own enlightenment best. It would gladly step aside our adoration of It in favor of our adoration of one another. It would allow no statues, no idols, because we would then waste our focus on a piece of stone rather than our neighbor. It would let us use the free will we have been given to discover our own light for ourselves, in our own time.
The Ultimate Reality—whatever It is—does not require our belief in order to exist. Whatever is really true will be true whether we believe in it or not. Spend your time being good to one another. The rest will work itself out on its own.
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