What Makes A "Good" Christmas?

Ben Stein Says It's Not What is Under Your Tree But What's In Your Heart

Some of the best Christmases I have had have been in places where people know very little about Western Christmas. I have experienced the time without the hustle and bustle of getting everything just right in a commercial way. I have had very good "Season of Joy" without being reminded from every media source that the reason of the Holiday is spending.

We tend to forget that there is a Spirit that we celebrate. That Spirit is best expressed in people around the world in the ways of their native culture. In the US, our celebratory theme is a direct lift from Pagan practices of Roman and Teutonic antiquity. Now, some may consider that a slap in the face of conventionality, but to me it serves to remind us that humans have been seeking and celebrating the coming of the Infinite for a long time.

I read a particularly biased blast at Kwanza this past week. I had to respond in a pointed comment that the Entity which is the object of the season was first honored and celebrated in Asia and Africa before it was relayed to Anglos and Teutons. The most ancient traditions relate that the first visitors to the events were Wisemen, Kings of Knowledge from the East and that one of their number was a black African.

I also viewed a presentation called Nativity: The Art and Spirit of the Crèche. That theme is reproducible across a wide swath of cultural expression. It can be very anatomically correct or it can be very impressionistic. It is an expression of diversity and simplicity in a world of seeming empire and rigid dominion for-your-own-good. It is the very antithesis of the dominion of the Temple, of the City of Rome, and the terror of the conventional thought.

The season as expressed by the Crèche is the lesson. It is not parochial or sectarian. It is ancient and universal. It is a lesson of acceptance and perseverance in the face of seeming dominion (enrolling in the census) , persecution (killing of newborns) and lack (being born in a place where animals are quartered).

I have been accused of being too grumpy and not a good participant in the season. I find that my joy is within and needs no promiscuous displays of convention to fuel that joy.

Go! Be joyful!

I AM

Lantern Bearer

Please, be attentive, be intelligent, be reasonable, be responsible.

You have no business to believe me.

I ask you to believe nothing that you cannot verify for yourself. . .

If you have not a critical mind, your visit here is useless.

G.I. Gurdjieff