Selflessness

Thanks to God for my Redeemer,
Thanks for all Thou dost provide!
Thanks for times now but a memory,
Thanks for Jesus by my side!
Thanks for pleasant, balmy springtime,
Thanks for dark and dreary fall!
Thanks for tears by now forgotten,
Thanks for peace within my soul!

Thanks for prayers that Thou hast answered,
Thanks for what Thou dost deny!
Thanks for storms that I have weathered,
Thanks for all Thou dost supply!
Thanks for pain and thanks for pleasure,
Thanks for comfort in despair!
Thanks for grace that none can measure,
Thanks for love beyond compare!

Thanks for roses by the wayside,
Thanks for thorns their stems contain!
Thanks for home and thanks for fireside,
Thanks for hope, that sweet refrain!
Thanks for joy and thanks for sorrow,
Thanks for heav’nly peace with Thee!
Thanks for hope in the tomorrow,
Thanks thru all eternity!

- Hymn, "Thanks to god for my Redeemer" by August L. Storm and John A. Hultman
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I really think there are a few things that are as selfless as genuinely giving thanks. It is an acknowledgement of one's limit. It is an acknowledgement that one isn't everything in this world. That we aren't some super-hero that can live in the world by ourselves without ever thanking anyone, or anything.

I really like that above hymn. I find it truly selfless. So often what is associated with prayers (and to a greater degree, religion, philosophy, and other belief systems) these days is what we want, what we desire. Yet what the above hymn shows is a gratitude for everything. Yes, everything. Not only the "good" things in life, but the "bad" things too. I really think this constitutes a far more matured, refined worldview than that of the mere homo economicus, who, if I can so caricature: "wants this, wants that, wants everything good for them, and in the best way possible."

Ultimately, what is posited is selflessness. True humbleness, a truer appreciation, an understanding, of everything, through giving up oneself and one's selfish desires.

Even though giving thanks for what are undoubtedly "good" things, is in today's society, quite a commendable act (given the self-centredness of so many people) I believe one becomes further selfless by thanking everything, including those things, that, at first sight, seem "bad" to us.

Like:
Thanks for times now but a memory,
Thanks for dark and dreary fall!
Thanks for tears by now forgotten,
Thanks for what Thou dost deny!
Thanks for storms that I have weathered,
Thanks for pain and thanks for pleasure,
Thanks for thorns their stems contain!
Thanks for joy and thanks for sorrow,

I really love it. So selfless !
Far more mature mindset than that of so many people in this world...
No longer wee babies that cry when denied their wee treat!

I don't want to over-explain about this, I think it takes away from the fuller appreciation one receives by simply reflecting upon it, without necessary having to verbalise it into the confines of language.

But, just as an idea, why should we be thankful for those seemingly negative things?
There are, many, many reasons, some which I believe are very deep and that which, I, of course, cannot understand fully. But just to mention some:
- Those things teach us the value of the "good" things.
- They constitute, often, the more important aspects of one's experience; Ultimately, these experiences makes one wiser, and more mature. For example, I would gladly take the advice of someone who has experienced failure (and how it came about) as well as success, rather than someone who has simply experienced success (more or less) throughout their life.
- It acknowledges that what we perceive as good may in fact be but selfish opinions of ourselves, based upon one's prejudice. Again, an acknowledgement of one's limitations.
- What may be "bad" for us may be for "good" for others. (Again, a giving up of our own self-interest)
- What may seem "bad" for us immediately may result in a "greater good" over a long term - what we don't understand immediately may be revealed later.
- Really, just a simple act of selflessness. Ultimately, I believe it is a healthy optimism - optimism that does not deny, to blind ourselves that there are bad things in our life, that we fully acknowledge that they exist... yet by thanking those very things... I really do believe this constitutes a truer, a more powerful optimism...
- Many, many other reasons.

Please, let us forget ourselves, our desires, for once...