Could it be that the attitude of gratitude so popular these days is a recipe for compliance and supporting the status quo?
The attitude of gratitude directs us to focus on what we have and what is going well. It says we should feel grateful for what we have and what's going well. It promises us that when we focus on what's right with our life and feel gratitude for it, we'll be better human beings and much happier too. It even has scientific evidence to support its claims.
Question: Is this not a sugar-coated form of, "Shut up, stop complaining, and be grateful for what you have"?
Think about it. If our roof is leaking, do we ignore it and look at all the roof that is not leaking and feel grateful that so much of our roof is just fine? No. We attend to the leak. We might feel irritated and even cuss about that leak. We then do something to fix it. Afterwards, we might feel grateful that the leak is fixed.
If we break our leg, do we ignore it and look at all of our other unbroken bones and give thanks for them? No. We do something about the broken bone. We feel grateful when the cast comes off and we're healthy again.
If we're in an abusive relationship at home or work do we ignore the abuse, attend to everything that's going well and feel grateful? Too often we do.
We would do well to save our gratitude for later, after we have changed our situation and moved on with a better life.
Too often the attitude of gratitude teaching directs us to ignore our problems and injustices, count our blessings, and give thanks for everything that isn't a problem. When we do so, it promises that we'll feel much better.
Guess what? It often works. We do often feel much better when we ignore what's harmful, attend to what's going well, count our blessings, and feel grateful. It's a mental narcotic.
This approach to living is fine if we want to be mentally and emotionally anesthetized to genuine problems and injustices that we face in life so that we can endure them rather than rise up and make a better life for ourselves.
Personally, I'm going for actually living a better life rather than anesthetizing myself, complying, and maintaining the status quo.
