re: Is It Possible To Feel Gratitude Without Belief In A Higher Power?

Everything you just said is false and you sound like a bigot.

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Was driving, admiring the beauty of the day, when an overwhelming sense of gratitude came over me.

I'm healthy, have a wonderful wife, completely normal healthy children, have never known hunger or been without a roof over my head. In addition, I live in a country that is inarguably the greatest in the history of...ever. I felt profoundly humble and blessed.

And it made me wonder; do people without a belief in a Higher Power ever feel gratitutde? If so, to what do they attribute their blessings? Where would their gratitude be directed?


Chance?
Kharma?
Their lucky stars?

Appreciate your thoughts!
There's no religion board, so I thought I'd post the question here.

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Personally speaking, it makes it easier to feel enjoy life. Perhaps it's because you feel that there is no one or nothing responsible for it that makes you appreciate it more. Perhaps it's the absence of guilt.
Maybe it's not having something hanging over your head that's threatening to punish you for eternity. I try not to get hung up on whom to direct my appreciation or the why. I just enjoy the great stuff while it's here because sometimes it's not.

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Also - people help you, not god. Sure they will say its god working through people, but God offers nothing direct. Always through a third party distributor. You'd think he would want to cut through the confusion and show up like he did in the old days, but 2019 God is kinda a shut in. Otherwise, God ordained you to have this life full of blessings, yet obviously did not feel like everyone deserved the same amount. So your are either special in God's eyes or you have a shite life and you aren't. That's my Christianity right there

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Who are you carrying all those bricks for anyway? God? Is that it? God? Well, I tell ya, let me give you a little inside information about God. God likes to watch. He’s a prankster. Think about it. He gives man instincts. He gives you this extraordinary gift and then what does He do? I swear, for His own amusement, His own private cosmic gag reel, He sets the rules in opposition. It’s the goof of all time. Look, but don’t touch. Touch, but don’t taste. Taste, don’t swallow. And while you’re jumpin’ from one foot to the next, what is He doin’? He’s laughin’ His sick, frickin’ arse off. He’s a tight-arse. He’s a sadist. He’s an absentee landlord!

--John Milton

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Satan likes to watch. He’s a prankster. Think about it.

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Fixed it for you.

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Losing my faith in a higher being has made it hard to not see everything as meaningless.

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I can definitely see this. This is precisely why I asked the question.

Atheists have to admit when all is said and done, their beliefs lead to the conclusion that we come from nothing, mean nothing and are going nowhere.

That would be so depressing to me.

It all depends on how you the individual perceive life, perceive a higher power, etc... What one considers a good life full of “blessings” another might look at it as complete opposite. We all have a choice on how we perceive life and our attitude towards it.

Is gratitude the right word you’re looking for?

gratitude includes be thankful for all that you are, have and will be. It is nothing but selfishness and pride that would make one think that all happens because of you as an individual.

We enjoy the things we have in life because of others who have invested to make this life better.

For the record I believe that there is a God and that we are to be grateful to Him. I also believe that many people before me and those who are alive now contribute to the great life I have. As hard as I have worked in life I understand my contribution is minuscule in the grand scheme of things- I just want to do my part

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Is gratitude the right word you’re looking for?

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No. They may be looking for a ´blessed´tee shirt and or a ´blessed´sticker for their Tahoe, however.