Gratitude & The Via Positiva in the Midst of Dark Times

This past week I was struck by an article for Thanksgiving Day written by Thom Hartmann, whom I consider one of the most courageous and lucid prophetic writers of our time.

I have been referring to him often lately in the DMs and respect his critical consciousness and his practiced way of “interfering” (what Heschel says is the primary work of the prophet) with the multiple terrors of our day.

I wrote about his most recent book, The Last American President: A Broken Man, a Corrupt Party, and a World on the Brink just recently, and heartily endorse it. It covers the two major influences in Donald Trump’s life: Fred Trump, his father, and Roy Cohen, his major mentor
 — the key word being cruelty.  It includes a chapter on the stolen election of 2024 and one on “The Empathy Deficit; Democracy’s Essential Ingredient,” and finally, what we can do about it: “Reform, Resist, and Remember.”

But for this Thanksgiving Season, I thank Hartmann for his article unveiling his inner life, that which keeps him going in his prophetic vocation.

He calls it, “The Radical Power of Gratitude to Rewire Your Brain and Life,” and he begins by giving thanks to his “spiritual mentor, Gottfried Muller,” who taught him the practice of daily gratitude. Thom and his wife Louise recently took a long hike on trails in Portland, where they live, and “stopped a few times to look around at the forest and just notice what an amazing world we live in and then to say ‘thank you’ to all the life around us.”*

Thom’s path is one of practicing the Via Positiva. In nature and toward nature and for nature. And of course, “nature” includes ourselves and one another and human beings. Thank you for our “amazing world”—do we all take time out for that? How amazing this universe is, all two trillion galaxies of it, all the hundreds of billions of stars and planets within each galaxy. all 13.8 billion years of it that have invited our species aboard. “Radical Amazement” is required, as Rabbi Heschel names the Via Positiva.

Do we ever have too much gratefulness, too much gratitude, too much thankfulness? 

All the creation mystics celebrate our powers of gratitude, which, as Hartmann points out, are like “muscles” that need working out. Practice is needed. Every good habit is derived from practicing it—that is what virtue is, a good and healthy habit acquired by practice.

The creation mystics are the champions of gratitude. For example:

Meister Eckhart: “If the only prayer you say in your whole life is ‘Thank You,’ that would suffice.”

Julian of Norwich: “This is the holiest prayer—the loving prayer of thanksgiving.” 

And, ”the first duty of the soul is to reverently marvel.” A “reverent awe is the proper response to the supreme beauty of the divine.” Thanksgiving leads to actions: “Charged with the quality of reverence and loving awe, we turn ourselves with all our might toward the actions to which we are guided.”

Thomas Aquinas defines authentic religion this way: “Religion is supreme thankfulness or gratitude.”  He cautions that “gratitude is paid spontaneously. Thanking is less thankful when it is compelled.” And “gratitude depends chiefly on the heart.”

Hartmann reminds us how today’s science is confirming the power of gratitude—how we are learning that gratitude “doesn’t just make us feel good momentarily: it actually reshapes our brains in ways that enhance our well-being long after the holiday dishes are cleared away.”

Practicing gratitude creates “a positive feedback loop, training your brain to look for more reasons to be grateful.” Expressing gratitude activates the prefrontal cortex, “the brain’s command center for decision-making and emotional regulation.” This increases attention and motivation and combats stress.  Grateful people are more resilient in the face of challenges.

It sounds like Practicing Gratitude might be a wonderful practice in this time of the dark night of self, society, and the Earth. And in this Advent season, when we—all of creation—welcome the story of the rebirth of humanity and all of creation yearning to be free to express its inner beauty and goodness and capacities for peace and joy to all. 

To be continued.

*Thom Hartmann, “The Radical Power of Gratitude to Rewire Your Brain and Life,” Hartmann Report website.

Banner Image: “Giving thanks.” Photo by Laela Sequoia on Unsplash

Queries for Contemplation

Do you practice gratitude on a regular basis? Is your brain always looking for more reasons to be grateful?

Related Readings by Matthew Fox

Meditations with Meister Eckhart: A Centering Book, p. 34.

Passion For Creation: The Earth-Honoring Spirituality of Meister Eckhart, pp. 151-165.

Julian of Norwich: Wisdom in a Time of Pandemic—and Beyond, pp. 101f

The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard Times, pp. 41f.

Sheer Joy: Conversations with Thomas Aquinas on Creation Spirituality, pp. 57-188.

Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality

Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth.

A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice