As desert is the ground of moral judgment so gratitude/resentment is the ground of meaningful value.
When something is valuable because it means something to us it achieves that value not because of its function or usefulness but because it evokes in us gratitude/resentment.
Gratitude/resentment carries the past into the present. It socially enables continuity in time. The other virtue that socially enables continuity in time is faithfulness, the impulse we have to keep our committments and fulfill our promises.
As gratitude corresponds to the commercial aspect of social relations so faithfulness corresponds to the political aspect of social relations.
- Faithfulness is an element in miqdash as gratitude is an element in shabbos.
- Faithfulness is the outcome of unarmed truth as gratitude is the outcome of unconditional love.
- Faithfulness refers to the impulse to initiate whereas gratitude refers to the impulse to reciprocate.
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