Shades of Gratitude: Exploring Varieties of Transcendent Beliefs and Experience

The study of gratitude has expanded beyond interpersonal gratitude and considers how people respond to gifts that are not caused by human agency. Given the discord between the prominent understanding of gratitude requiring the appropriate recognition of a gift to a giver and the increasing divergenc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inReligions (Basel, Switzerland ) Vol. 13; no. 11; p. 1091
Main Authors King, Pamela Ebsytne, Baer, Rebecca Ann, Noe, Sean A, Trudeau, Stephanie, Mangan, Susan A, Constable, Shannon Rose
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Basel MDPI AG 01.11.2022
Subjects
beliefs
cosmic gratitude
Emotions
Gratitude
Human agency
Metaphysics
Narratives
Ontology
Phenomenology
Plot (Narrative)
Power
Psychological aspects
Psychological research
Religion
Religious aspects
Spirituality
Transcendence
Transcendence (Philosophy)
transcendent gratitude
virtue
United States
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Summary:The study of gratitude has expanded beyond interpersonal gratitude and considers how people respond to gifts that are not caused by human agency. Given the discord between the prominent understanding of gratitude requiring the appropriate recognition of a gift to a giver and the increasing divergence of transcendent belief systems that do not acknowledge a transcendent or cosmic giver, we explored how people with different worldviews viewed and experienced gratitude. Transcendence does not hinge on metaphysical beliefs, but it can be experienced phenomenologically and subjectively. We conducted a case-study narrative analysis (N = 6) that represents participants from three different categories of belief systems: theistic, non-theistic but spiritual, and other. Our findings demonstrate how people link their transcendent narrative identity to their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors pertaining to gratitude. Although the theistic participants thanked God for gifts, others who experienced transcendence without a clear referent or source described responding to gratitude by sharing goodness forward. These narratives suggest that the recognition and appreciation of a gift stemming from beyond human cause may be enough to generate transcendent emotions and values that prompt beyond-the-self behaviors.
ISSN:2077-1444
2077-1444
DOI:10.3390/rel13111091