No matter how difficult it may be in a world filled with pain and cruelty, a world facing ecological devastation, wars, global malnutrition and starvation, torture, slavery, and political craziness, there are moments when it is important to stop looking at all the problems and just to focus on all the good. The psalmist said that this is what the focus of the weekly Sabbath or Shabbat celebration should be: “It is good to give thanks..” And that’s part of what Thanksgiving could be about. (Our friends in Canada, or those around the world who celebrate a Thanksgiving at other times or as part of their own spiritual or religious tradition, can still use these ideas).

I don’t mean only a moment of sharing “something we all appreciate” as people are chomping down the traditional meal. I mean, in addition, actually consciously shaping the day in such a way that the focus of attention throughout the day is on giving thanks. I’m posting this ten days in advance because it would take cooperation of many people in your family and guests who are alerted in advance if you want to change the mood of your Thanksgiving gathering to one that actually gives some serious time to the spiritual focus of giving thanks.

If you plan now, and then asked the guests or whoever you will be with to join you in making this happen, and told them specifically what you had in mind, you might find that people who normally seem resistant to anything besides the football games or the focus on food would actually respond in a positive way to the introduction of some spiritual time that day. Please feel free to use this post, forward it to everyone you know and especially those who might possibly be spending Thanksgiving with you, which might ease the way for you to announce what particular path you are going to choose on Thanksgiving 2009.

It might start with a group of friends or family taking a walk to visit some part of nature that they really love. And expressing thanks for it.

It might continue with each family member, guest, or friend being asked to bring something (a book, a poem, a video, a movie, a song, a musical instrument to play some music, a record) and to explain to each person at the gathering why this particular thing is something that you really appreciate, and help others see what in it is special for you, and what they might be able to appreciate in it as well.

Dedicate some time Thanksgiving afternoon to each person sharing what they have brought.

Then, you might consider asking each person to share something that they particularly appreciate in another person who is there at the gathering. Or to tell about some other person who has been a special teacher, friend, or care-giver to them during the past year.

I think you will find that when you’ve done these things with serious attention, that you can then turn the conversation to talk about the war in Iraq, which continues even in 2009, and the terrible tragedy that is about to befall so many Afghani and Pakistani citizens who have nothing to do with the Taliban as the US escalates its war and the use of unmanned drones to do selective assassinations of suspected terrorists and that often kill civilians instead, or the ongoing tragedy in the Middle East and the need for a progressive Middle Path which is both pro-Israel and pro-Palestine, and refuses to play the “blame game” of which side is “really bad” and which side is “really good” but instead recognizes that both sides have co-created this mess — and yet not get so deeply caught in the traps of anger and frustration that these topics often generate.

Or talk about the need to reduce our carbon footprint to 350 or below, and what we can do to stop our elected officials from making compromises with the polluters in the name of being “realistic.” Talk about what it would take to re-order global production of goods so that we were not stripping the earth of all its resources, were not pouring more poisons into the air/ground/waterways/oceans, and were not indoctrinating our children into the worldview that we need more things to consume or to possess in order to be valuable or in order to give others things in order to show that we care about them. What kind of an economic and social system would it take to do rational planning of our global environment — and what can we do to move in that direction? A perfect topic for a Thanksgiving meal discussion!

Fully giving thanks makes it easier to see the Spirit of God, the special dignity and goodness, that is in everything and everyone — and that will make it easier for you to be less reactive when someone says something specific that seems out of whack with your own moral sensibilities about the political or cultural worlds.

It is in that state of compassion and recognition of the Spirit of God in everyone that you can then eat dinner in the richest country in the history of the world, while knowing that there are one billion people who are hungry that same day, and yet be assured that it remains possible for us to be able to use the goodness that has been given to us as a source of strength from which we can rededicate our energies to building a world in which no one will be starving to death. You might read and present to people the perspective presented by Peter Singer in his new book The Life You Can Save: Acting to End World Poverty in which he suggests that anyone making less than $105,000 a year pledge at least 1% of their income to an organization seeking to end poverty or hunger, and more for higher incomes (read the book or go to www.TheLifeYouCanSave.com).

You might consider providing a list to people of possible places to donate to end world hunger (e.g. Oxfam), and/or you might urge them to support the Network of Spiritual Progressives’ campaign for a Global Marshall Plan which would be a systemic way to eliminate global poverty. The Global Marshall Plan fully supports the Millenium Goals, but it’s a more ambitious and comprehensive plan to not just alleviate but end poverty in the US and everywhere around the world — and it is based in part on the assumption that partial solutions are not enough and that they are less likely to generate excitement and commitment than a plan that actually would, if implemented, once and for all end poverty, homelessnes, hunger, inadequate education and inadequate health care in every society on the planet. Making a commitment to bring this plan to their locally elected officials to get city, state and federal endorsements of the plan, which will soon be re-introduced into Congress by Hon. Keith Ellison of Minneapolis (the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Congress) and will be co-sponsored by many others (last year that included Barney Frank, John Conyers, Barbara Lee, Jim Moran, Emanuel Cleaver, Raul Grijalva, Donhald Payne, Dennis Kucinich and many more) and more will join if you get your local city council to endorse it and approach your Congressional reps and US Senators.

Finally, you might consider structuring some silent time (twenty minutes before or after dinner, perhaps?) in which each person gets to be by her or himself and where the focus is on encouraging each person to get in touch with the things that s/he really appreciates in her/his life, and to find some way to offer thanks (a song, a prayer, a meditation, for the kids a drawing or an art project of some sort, said or done in silence or aloud, a hymn or tune you want to offer the Universe or God) — some way in which you let out of your mouth or silently your thanks for all the goodness in the world and in your own world. If silence is impossible, you might instead play some beautiful piece of music for ten-twenty minutes and ask people to use the time listening to the music to silently offer their thanks-giving. That might go down more easily for people who are resistant to any group time for silence or inward exploration or meditation or prayer.

Giving thanks is healing to one’s own soul, and it increases the total love, generosity, and God-energy in the world. It’s not just for people who believe in God — for those who are offended by or reactive to any God language, do this whole thing without dealing with theology: just allow yourself to be grateful in any way that feels comfortable to you, but give that more than just a few passing minutes, make it a focus of your gathering or of some part of your day for at least twenty minutes. Try it!

Many blessings for a very rewarding and spiritually real Thanksgiving.

Rabbi Michael Lerner

Editor, Tikkun Magazine www.tikkun.org

Chair, The Network of Spiritual Progressives www.spiritualprogressives.org

If you like this way of thinking, please join The Network of Spiritual Progressives. You don’t have to be religious or believe in God — we are welcoming to “spiritual but not religious” people as well. How do you know if you fit? Well, read our Spiritual Covenant with America, and if it speaks to you, then whether or not you think of yourself normally as “spiritual” you are actually a spiritual progressive. Or another way: see if you feel comfortable with our New Bottom Line: “Corporations, government policies, our educational, legal and health care practices, every institution, law, social policy and even our private behavior should be judged ‘rational’, ‘efficient’, or ‘productive’ not only to the extent that they maximize money and power (The Old Bottom Line) but ALSO to the extent that they maximize love and caring, kindness and generosity, ethical and ecological behavior, and contribute to our capacity to respond with awe, wonder and radical amazement at the grandeur and mystery of the universe and all being.” If this works for you, you are a spiritual progressive. So JOIN US. We need your help.

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