Now that the furor over Alanis Morissette appearing naked in the video for 1998’s “Thank U” is positively Pre-Cambrian by now, we can take a more dispassionate view towards its symbolic representations. For example, the sheer fact of a naked woman whose breasts and private areas are carefully concealed by long hair is–especially from an LDS perspective–immediately evocative of Eve in the Garden of Eden. (Certainly none of us who have gone through the Temple Endowment ceremony have seen anything more revealing.)

The fact that the video is largely set in New York paradoxically emphasizes this Eden-esque feel even more; lyrically, the song concerns her own feelings of redemption–or at least release–from the pain and anger that was the overriding theme of her 1995 mega-seller Jagged Little Pill (per Alma 7:12, the purpose of the Atonement is to not only heal us from our sins, but also to “succor [us] in our afflictions”). Hence, to find peace again even amidst the bustling noise and hyper-commercialism even here in New York, the central hub of late-modernity, is truly to recover Eden.

Certainly the Church made similar claims of the Manhattan Temple in 2004; indeed, we are also fond of quoting 1 Kings 19:11-12 to describe how the peace of God has always been present even amidst the most violent tumult: “And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.”

This scripture is in turn endorsed by our own Doctrine and Covenants 85:6, “Yea, thus saith the still small voice, which whispereth through and pierceth all things, and often times it maketh my bones to quake while it maketh manifest”. The music video itself definitely presents us a similar scenario, of Alanis constantly detecting and feeling after the divine even amidst the most ordinary and quotidian of urban settings, “that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us” (Acts 17:27).

As such, even nearly a quarter-century after its release, the “Thank U” video can serve as a reminder for us to do the same, to feel after the Lord, amidst our own times of wars and rumors of wars–but then, when are we ever not in such times? Our own Book of Mormon–purportedly written for our day–portrays nothing less, particularly in what we aptly call the “war chapters” of Alma. Yet those same chapters inform us that, “But behold there never was a happier time among the people of Nephi” (Alma 50:23). It’s because they, too, felt the Spirit amidst the tumult.

“Thank U” debuted just under 3 years before 9/11, which was when even New York City would cease to feel impregnable. But as Christ himself taught at the Last Supper–when he would even take upon him the sins of 9/11, among infinite more–“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33 KJV).

And as the song itself reminds us, the way to best lay a-hold of the divine is through gratitude. “Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” reads 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. And the reason why this is the will of God is because our relationship with our Heavenly Father not transactional–because that’s literally impossible. There is nothing of value we own that does not belong to the Almighty in the first place, nor is there anything of equivalent value we can offer in exchange for the infinite and eternal Atonement of Christ.

Yet even if, by some impossible miracle, we did have something of equal value to offer in exchange for purchasing the Atonement, such a transaction would defeat the entire point of the Atonement in the first place! A transaction, especially a business one, is by nature temporary and impersonal–the relationship ends the moment the contract is fulfilled. Customer and seller need never interact again.

But the purpose of the Atonement is the exact opposite: it is not to end a relationship, but to seal it together. Business contracts ironically alienate and estrange us from each other; the Atonement–pretty much by definition–reconciles us back together. Indeed, we exchange gifts throughout this larger Holiday season (whether for Christmas or Hanukah or Eid or Kwanzaa or Thanksgiving itself) not to fulfill the terms of some pre-arranged business agreement, but to affirm our relationships, and draw us closer together. And as we all know, the only appropriate response to a gift isn’t to write a receipt or notorize a contract or what have you, but to simply express sincere gratitude. Gratitude is what seals together the divine relationship.

Thank you India
Thank you Providence
Thank you disillusionment
Thank you nothingness^[1]The thing King Benjamin wished for you to recognize in yourself, if you are to be saved, recall.
Thank you clarity
Thank you, thank you silence

Happy Thanksgiving.