On Gratitude ... during Ramadan

Indian Muslim Relief and Charities, which is one of the organizations that I have donated to over the years, emailed me--as a donor--their Ramadan greetings.

It then provides this atheist to reflect on life during religious observances like Ramadan. 

To a casual reader, it might seem strange that an atheist uses such religious opportunities to think about life.  But, I have never been one of those militant atheists making a fanatical religion out of atheism.  Furthermore, I am not that different from most atheists in that we reach the conclusion not with ignorance about religions, particularly the religion with which we were raised.  Even through my agnostic teenage years, I was curious about the Hindu faith and its philosophy, which is also why I am so familiar with ideas like dukrijnkarane that I talk and blog about. 

Curiosity then made me find out at least a tiny bit about a few other religions.  Unlike most of the truly religious who are committed to only knowing about their own beliefs, many of us atheists often end up knowing at least a little bit about various religions.  And we are always curious.  Like how I asked a friend a couple of days ago about her Christian denomination not practicing the ritual of baptism.  We read, we ask questions, we try to understand the human condition.

For all the non-believer that I am, I consciously think about my existence, and worry about what it means to be human.  Perhaps I think about it too much that my words and actions piss people off. But, all I try is to stay true to the values and ideas that are important to me without trying to be evangelical about how to live one's life.

For an atheist like me, when bad things come my way, like when I get laid off in a Zoom meeting, I do not need a god to turn to.  I understand that like how good things happen in life, well, bad things happen too.  Life is like the snakes-and-ladders game that we played as kids.  We love it when ladders boost us, but curse the snakes that make lives miserable.  But, that is life and god has nothing to do with all these.  I am acutely aware that the entire cosmos does not exist only to serve me!  The cosmos is. It doesn't have feelings towards me or you or anybody else.

In my framework, whether it is Rama Navami or Ramadan, or whatever, those religious days are designated times in order to help us mortals reflect on our fleeting existence on this "mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam," as Carl Sagan so poetically put it.  These special religious days are intentional pauses to our everyday lives.  A forced interruption that then makes us think, for at least a few minutes, about what we want to do with the little time we have on this planet.

In fact, the disconnect between such need for introspection versus the believers merely reciting the Vishnu Sahasranaamam and the Bhaja Govindam and more was the point of departure for the young me questioning the idea of god and religion and belief.  I was convinced then, and even more convinced I am now, that living a moral life has nothing to do with god and religion.

Religious calendar events like Ramadan are wonderful opportunities to express gratitude for the lives that we lead.  For the good things that have happened.  For the bad experiences that we are now past.

Gratitude is not merely mouthing "thanks."  Not at all.  People often seem to mistake the "thanks" that is often the lubricant in social interactions with gratitude itself.  There is the etiquette of "thanks" and then there is gratitude.  Gratitude is a solid thread in the moral fabric of life itself.

When having dinner with a younger couple from an African country, I asked them about the name of their infant.  In the old traditional, pre-colonial, language, the child's name means gratitude, they said.  I pointed to the book right behind them on the dining room shelf.  Gratitude by Oliver Sacks.

One doesn't need religion, or a religious leader, to remind us about gratitude.  But, if people need such a framework, this atheist has no fight with a religious approach to life.  I will quote, again, the following:

We all begin life dependent on others, and most of us end life dependent on others. If we are lucky, in between we have roughly 60 years or so of unacknowledged dependency. The human condition is such that throughout life, not just at the beginning and end, we are profoundly dependent on other people. ... Gratitude is the truest approach to life. We did not create or fashion ourselves. We did not birth ourselves. Life is about giving, receiving, and repaying. We are receptive beings, dependent on the help of others, on their gifts and their kindness.

Ramadan Mubarak!