Page 27 - Introducing The Gratitudes

needs of Western culture.Yet most people think surprisingly lit- 27
tle about gratitude, unless they are in the middle of experiencing it intensely, or until they feel seriously hurt by other people’s fail- ure to be grateful when they should be.We often express dismay at an apparent drop in the “standards” of gratitude in society as a whole 518 (people have always tended to complain that grati- tude seems to be 538 dying out). But it continues to be a common virtue; otherwise, our society would show far worse signs of dis- integration than it does. Ingratitude is excoriated today, as it al- ways has been. And gratitude remains an omnipresent knitter- up of the fabric of modern life.We are rarely grateful enough for it.”
■ In the Living Words of Others
In our journey into the deep and mysterious waters of virtues and values, we’ve come across 100’s of people, past and present, who have been there before us, some in much flimsier craft, and oth- ers who have almost literally camped out there, comfortable in the warm embrace of righteousness.
We believe it to be helpful to focus on some unique individuals who lives and works show the complexity of living one’s princi- ples. Throughout this volume we present in boxes some of the most interesting, and in some cases controversial, people of the last 200 years in North American and Europe whose values were most revealed in their creative works,
INTRODUCING
THE GRATITUDES
Field Guides to Learning and Living Everyday Values
mostly in writing. Be forwarned, some of these people have wandered into dark territory. Nevertheless, we have things to learn from them, if only what to avoid or shun.
“To have lived long does not necessarily imply the gathering of much wisdom and experience. A man who has pedaled twenty-five thousand miles on a stationary bicycle has not circled the globe, he
We also intend, in the pages that fol-
low, to revisit many the topics we’ve only
touched on in this first fling with what
we think is practical ideas. We will dis-
cover, cover, and recover them in detail,
in order to arrive at a clear understanding of, and appreciation for, the possible and present value that prospects and prospers in values.
And with all that having been established at least for now, we can set off on our shared rite of passage, our shared journey of discov- ery, our shared pursuit of wonder. Brace for impact.
has only garnered weariness.”
– Paul Eldridge