Giving Thanks

We take a lot of things for granted, maybe more so in Australia than anywhere else – take the sun as an example. I once happened to be in Germany at the start of spring. Coming from Australia, where sunshine is a staple of life, it was amusing to see people in parks basking in the feeble rays streaming down on days that were still quite cold. Then it occurred to me that these poor folk had seen very little of the sun through the dark northern European winter.

The other morning while walking to work I suddenly noticed the beauty of the sun. Over the top of the city’s buildings, past the spires of St Patrick’s Cathedral and the date palms crowded around a small patch of green, the sun was a wonderful, gracefully strong presence. Its warmth kindled something in me and I said, quietly and looking upwards, “Thank you, sun, for shining on me and the world. Thank you for the life you bring. May you shine and shine.”

What is the value of such simple gratefulness? In our highly rationalist culture my giving thanks to the sun has no meaning aside from a temporary good feeling I might get, and any further significance would be considered illogical and woolly-headed. But we think this way only because we take for granted the conditions of our existence – nothing on Earth would live without the sun; there would be no life here. In being thankful we recognise and, crucially, renew the life-giving relationships of which we are part and the grace that those relationships bestow.

We start with the assumption that everything has a life beyond its material existence. The sun, the moon, stars, rocks, water, animals, people etc resonate at subtle and spiritual levels and all are interwoven in the one Spirit. By giving thanks we identify ourselves beyond our own finite existence and into this collective channel of oneness, acknowledging that we are part of a much bigger Life. Recognition entails naming, which is synonymous with truth and carries power. The Gospel of John begins famously with “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Naming brings us into the field of direct and primary relationships.

Renewal is brought about at subtle levels because of the energy that flows between all things. An act of gratefulness directs energy back to the object of thanks, so there is a mutually enhancing flow both ways. We experience this concretely every day as positive feelings when either we thank someone or are thanked for something we have done. A measure of physical, energetic and psychic replenishment takes place. I believe it’s essentially the same when we give thanks to the sun: when we return its constant, loving presence in our world a mutual reinforcement occurs. Being more aware of nature, growing our awareness of the interdependent conditions and relationships of our existence, also creates a platform to act in life-affirming ways. Protecting a forest is then not just about the trees or the animals, but about us and all life.

Thankfulness to nature is important in another way – it stimulates and nurtures our inner child. Being connected to the inner child, and to play more broadly, brings joy and vitality; we experience life a little more lightly and manageably. Much of the time our culture denies and buries the child in us – we are supposed to be occupied with work, serious and productive, busy for the sake of money and consumption. But the child in us wants none of that; it wants to play and experience the world in its own pure way. The inner child is psychologically closer to nature and can guide us back to the sense of wonder and simplicity that is essential for reverence. Jesus said: “Let the children come to me and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.” (Matthew 19:14).

I think that our culture is in the process of casting off the extremes of rationality and is moving again, slowly but steadily, towards recognition and respect for Spirit. In the growing popular feeling for (usually non-religious or non-church based) spirituality we see the sacred starting to return to our world. In truth, it never left but our perception of it simply hibernated for a while. In the 21st century our understanding of the divine and the ways in which we give thanks – by word, ritual and deed – are evolving. Though we can draw from the wisdom traditions of the past, our time in the sun is unique and very much our own. We are in a creative moment in history.