The Rationalist’s Guide to Gratitude

Studies have time and again showed that Gratitude is a very powerful instigator of happiness and satisfaction. Individuals who have a sense of Gratitude for whatever the cause may be, consistently rank higher in the happiness index.

Historically, humans displayed Gratitude with a prayer to God. This has been one thing that has been consistent across all the religions in the world. It is not a coincidence. It is, to instil in humans the Gratitude of existence. However, as the psychologist, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi points out in his seminal work Flow. Modern understanding of Science is very incompatible with certain religious sentiments, thereby causing a conflict of belief, and overarchingly an inner conflict leading to internal chaos.

As a rationalist of the 21st Century, where can we find Gratitude? Can we find Gratitude by rational thinking? Let us have a look at it.

I think there three ways in which we as humans see the world, or let us say 3 hierarchies of importance.

The first one being Universal. This is the relationship we have with the Universe.

The second one being at the Species level. This is the relationship we have with other species on the planet.

The third one is an individual. This is what we personally have with our fellow humans.

My argument is that we can rationally think about Gratitude in all these scenarios.

1. The Universal Scale

• The universe is quite large. With the recent estimates that we know, there are 2 trillion galaxies in the universe, with every galaxy having an average of 200 billion stars.
• By this logic, just the milky way, our own galaxy has a minimum of 10 million planets like that of Earth.
• Multiply that by the universe and we really should see life, should we not?
• However we don't, and this is the origin of the famous Fermi Paradox.
• It states, we are either alone in the universe, or after a certain level all species go extinct.
• That puts us in a very special place. If we are indeed unique in the observable universe, we have a lot to be thankful about.
• And if we aren’t, then we have a big battle ahead of us, BUT we are still here, and we still have our fate in our hands. I do think that is a cause for inspiration.

2. The Species Level

• 99.9% of species on the Earth go extinct.
• Also, according to evolutionary theory, ALL life on earth has a common universal ancestor.
• The implication of this statement is quite profound. It means that, since the origin of life about 4 billion years ago, each of your ancestors survived under the face of great adversity for you to be reading this.
• I think we can be thankful to the million, billions of our ancestors for the sacrifices they have made for us to have the luxuries we do today.
• There is one more thing we can take inspiration from. We are the only species that knows it can go extinct. No other animal has that.
• This enables us to take steps to make sure we can survive and thrive.
• I think we need to be thankful, as evolution doesn't really have an end goal.
• Therefore we have these brains by pure chance. I mean, imagine if an asteroid would not have killed the dinosaurs, we probably wouldn't be here. And what's the probability of an asteroid hitting the earth and causing a mass extinction? Quite Low.
• So we have quite a few things to be thankful for.

3. Individual Level

• We do live in great times.
• Today we have the sort of opportunities that simply did not exist as little as 100 years ago.
• As an India, 100 years ago my country did not even exist. I had no opportunities.
• 100 years ago, 1 in 3 babies even in the developed world died during birth.
• 100 years ago racism was rampant.
• 100 years ago the world was not a place as connected as it is today.
• 100 years ago there were no computers, no Moores law which opened up opportunities for people to start companies in a garage.
• We live in a time where you can do things that were incomprehensible 100 years ago.
• I mean check even the growth in the global population at this time. We live at the inflexion point if civilization.
• From here, either we find our place among the stars or turns into the dust beneath our feet.
• There's a lot to be thankful for.

I think even as a rationalist, you can look at the beautiful world around you, and have gratitude.