A traditional Tha
nksgiving grace ends with, “For what we are about to receive, may the Lord make us truly thankful.” One of my favorite wisdom books, Science and Health with key to the Scriptures, has a lot to say about giving thanks.
“Are we really grateful for the good already received?” it asks. “Then we shall avail ourselves of the blessings we have, and thus be fitted to receive more.”
All the monotheistic religions tell the story of a tempter inducing the 
first humans to be disobedient. The Torah and Bible show a serpent in this role and the Qur’an presents a jinn named Iblis as the one who first approached Eve and made her aware that there was something she didn’t have. The serpent suggested that Eve wasn’t as good as the gods. Immediately after she took that idea in (bit the apple) her contentment disappeared, her peace of mind fled. The serpent planted the idea with Eve that she was somehow inadequate. “But I’ve got something for you that will fix it,” the serpent promised.
The answer is no, and yes. Words only have the meaning that we invest in them.
Is there anyone who hasn’t slept through a lecture or tuned out the clatter of a radio in the background? Those words don’t matter because we have given them no importance in our life. Other words can be given too much importance—a harsh rebuke, a scornful rejection, an authoritative judgment.
I grew up with the childhood saying,
“You can’t feel guilty. You’re not Catholic,” my friend once said to me in
jest. She often jokes about the deep sense of conscience instilled in her by her devout Catholic upbringing. She is not always comfortable with it.
A perpetual background feeling of guilt is at times associated with people of all religions. Whether it is the myth of Pandora’s box or of Adam and Eve disobeying God, this guilt is residue from the doctrine of original sin.
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