Thanksgiving is a time to be grateful and thankful for the things we have in life. When we gathered around the Thanksgiving table, my Dad said a prayer of thanks for the food on the table, for the blessings of family and friends, and for us living our lives in peace, harmony, and a certain amount of comfort. After the enormous feast, we laid down and rested on the sofa; the perfect end to a thankful meal!

I believe that Thanksgiving is the holiday that best exemplifies life on Earth as well. We give thanks for, and (often-overindulgently) partake in nourishment of body and soul. We strive to bring some meaning to our lives and the world in which we live, before we rest peacefully in a spiritual sense. As the author Dante says, “che i’anima col corpo morta fanno” (The Inferno, 10.15,) “Heretics are (those) who make the soul die with the body.” Long live the body and soul, and Happy Thanksgiving.

Heretics and Epicureans