Willing the Peace and Being the Joy of the Season

Reading time: 10 minutes + -

Athan came looking for me last Sunday morning to bring me  a cup of coffee.  He found me in the living room washing the floor on my hands and knees.  “Why are you doing that?” he asked.  Anyone who knows me knows that housekeeping is not my usual thing.  In fact anyone who comes to my house without warning is witness to that.

“I just wanted to clean in the corners and behind the tree.” As if that made sense.  It wasn’t a moment before I confided that I was a little bit sad about Christmas.  It was Christmas Eve three years ago that George began his final decent to his death in early February.  Little wonder that my sons weren’t all fired up about the holiday.  Of course, the tears that threatened just eased the flow of the other woes that didn’t quite fit with the tree sparkling with lights in the corner.

Then I just dumped out the whole gunny sack of emotions:  It was five days until  Christmas and I didn’t have the money to shop.  A business venture was turning sour and a friend I trusted had abused that trust.  I had neglected what was most important to me to ‘do’ other things and I was left with the emptiness of time wasted.  My house had been for sale for a year and a half and I have no idea what the spring holds.  I have dreams and wishes – but right then I had a floor to wash.

Christmas has a way of shining a Klieg light on life.  Where’s the promised joy?  Where is the peace?  We can blame commercialism.  We can blame religiosity.  We can blame the market, the kids, our job.  But it isn’t Christmas that is wrong.  It’s that we are looking in the wrong place for its meaning.  It is not in the words of “Oh Come All Ye Faithful”.  It’s not in the lineup for Tiffany’s.  It’s not in a cup of eggnog – rum or no rum.  It is not in a Norman Rockwell painting.  It isn’t even at midnight mass.  Peace and joy start on the inside and work their way out.  Christmas symbols are the map to find those twin twinkling lights within.

The Eastern Star: The light.  Creation.  No argument of your God over my God.  Not my philosophy over your religion.  Just creation.  The beginning that has no end.  Alpha – Omega. Infinity. Eternity.  You.  Me.  That which is within us all.  The spark of life that is your unique being.  Your thumb print.  Your individual contribution to the world.  All that you can be.  Your full potential – unbridled, unsullied, unimpeded – unsung.  All that you already are but have yet to express.   The light of creation is what your body formed around in conception.  Within the egg is the light.  Within the sperm is the light.  It is all there in its perfection and in its fullness – we just spend a lifetime uncovering it and letting it shine.  That is the message for the star that night.  Follow the light of creation – it leads you to your Self.

The Birth: Fritz Perls says that we are not responsible for our first birth – but we are for our second.  Every experience of our lives – “good” or “bad”, “happy” or “sad” is an unveiling of our true essence.  I use quotation marks around these words because if it all experience that unveils our own light and reveals our beauty, talent, resilience, courage, or love to ourselves – how is it bad or sad?  If we resist the birth process, it will be difficult but the divine and sanctified child of creation that you see before you will be yourself shining.

The Christ Child: Jesus is the symbol for our full divine potential as part and within the fulfillment of creation.  He is not to be followed, emulated or worshipped.  He represents what we are to <em>be</em> – actually – and actively.  His birth tells us how we are to live to fulfil our divine potential.  We are called to be all that we can be as individuals intrinsic to of all that might be of the world.   Our own Christed Self.  Christ consciousness is indefinable, ineffable, indescribable.  It is the potential beyond the whole of the universe that is the source of infinite possibility.  It holds everything and nothing.

What does that mean?  It means that anything imaginable by anyone at any time – now, in the past, or in the future can come into being.  Nothing is manifest until thought and action brings it forth into creation.  Everything is possible and available to us.  War or peace.  Feast or famine.  Health or Illness.  We are co creators of the universe whether we do it consciously or not.  When we choose (free will) to live by our own lights – to be all that we might be – we co creator a universe that thrives on harmony, beauty, love, compassion, and peace.

The Stable: It is in simplicity that we find the cradle of our own Self.  Our ‘Self’ doesn’t need stuff to be happy, safe, or well.  Our essence – all that we might be – needs to come forth in silence.  It is the circle of light of people and surroundings that hold the space and reverence for our process of giving birth to all that we can be.  The stable is a state of mind – the place of peace and silence that we create in a mansion or on a bus.  It is not a message of living in humble surroundings, but to create a simple sanctuary without distractions within us.  In our place of quiet, we rest in the arms of creation.

Mary: Trust, trust, trust.  Imagine Mary’s surprise when the angel appeared.  Imagine fully taking in his message and then imagine sharing that message with your mom and dad and boyfriend.  Hmmm. Giving birth to your full potential is rarely welcome news to the family.  It defies custom, convention, the status quo.  Worse than that – you can’t be manipulated, controlled or coerced because nothing that anyone can use to coax you into submission holds a candle to the joy of being exactly who you are.  If you are always yourself – you can never get it wrong.  Where is the judgment of others then?  Where is the power of others over you?

Mary had the courage of her own convictions to the point where she engaged the trust and support of Joseph and others around her.  In her complete trust and grace she must have been radiant with love and joyful expectation.  Her enthusiasm would have been exhilarating to all around her.  She accepted the divine offer and followed her path. When it was her time she laid down and let the birth occur.  The perfection was in surrender to a power and a potential unknown to her until it was birthed through her.  Social convention and criteria of time and place and circumstance is meaningless to what is pure and true.  Once we surrender to our own revelation of Self we have nooooo idea where this might lead us.  We must only allow the process to proceed with complete trust.

Joseph: Holding the space.  Protecting the process.  Supporting the birth.  Joseph was second hand to the thrill of the moment.  He had to accept some pretty harsh realities and stand in the face of convention and culture.  He cared for, protected and nurtured the one he loved and trusted in her process – even though it must have stretched his own sense of the credible and the socially permissable.   When Mary had to make the journey to Bethlehem, he found her a donkey and walked by her side.  When it was time to give birth he found her shelter.  He husbanded her process of giving birth.  He didn’t try to carry her.  He didn’t tell her how to do it.  He didn’t suggest a better way.  He was willing to be on call – to hand hold, to gently guide.  He was just present.

The only way to the center of your Self is diving down and following your own inner guidance.  No one can do it for you.  It isn’t in a book.  There is no short cut.  And there <em>are</em> difficult patches.  The people we need in our lives at this time are those who are there to support – who see us for who we are – not as they would have us be.  Those who love us and bring us soup.  Those who just hold the space and walk by our side.

Herod: He’s The Man.  The bank, the government, the corporation, the boss, the institution, the mother, the husband, the media.  He’s the one who writes the laws and holds the power over life and death.  Do what he says – or else!  He commands so the world does his bidding.  He tells people how to live and if they don’t live that way they are wrong.  They are bad and must be punished or brought into submission.  He lives in continual fear of losing command.  From the bully in the kindergarten to the king of the land – fear is the source of anger, aggression, greed, cruelty, judgement and just plain nastiness.  If you are held in the reigns of someone else’s expectation of what is correct behaviour then you are a prisoner and a slave – even if you wear the clothes of a nobleman.    You will be infected by the same fear and live by the same laws that snuff out the light.

However, the light you snuff out is your own.  The Man hates an independent thinker.  The Man hates someone who is free.  The Man hates that which he cannot coerce.  He will seek to kill the spirit.  The Man will use a sword or he will use more insidious weapons – like doubt and uncertainty.  He will instill the fear of danger and then rush to ‘protect’ you.  He will offer you all the beautiful things that make you worthwhile and then hold you in the grip of debt.  He will tell you that freedom is having anything you want no matter what it does to others.  The Man will tell you there is never enough and if you want your share you have to do as he says.  The Man will tell you that to be healthy you have to take a pill.  If the pill does you harm he will give you another.  The Man will tell you that the water is clean enough – and if you want he will sell you water in a plastic bottle.  The Man will tell you he has dominion over everything including who gets fed and who can pollute the earth.

The Man has no power over you – once you give birth to your true Self.  You can work in his shop.  You can take his pay cheque.  But you will not take his command.  You will not take his punishment.  He has no dominion over you.  Your spirit is forever free.  You can go forward in the world – because that is where we live – but you will not longer be ‘of it’.  You don’t have to fight The Man.  You don’t have to be David to his Goliath.  When he taxes your soul – don’t pay.  When he taxes your truth – don’t pay.  When he taxes your freedom – don’t pay.  His kingdom will succumb to its own entropy.  He cannot draw a sword on the Light.

The Wise Men: Be still and wisdom will come to you.  Truth has many voices, colours, cultures, practises, and ages.  Knowledge comes in books, experience, and stories – science and religion, the arcane and the pragmatic.  Wisdom however cannot be pursued, studied, or coaxed.  Wisdom comes in silence and certainty.  When we give birth to our Self and trust the process, we become a magnet for wisdom.  In the sanctuary of silence, wisdom will find you.   It is invited but rarely expected.  Wisdom respects a pure heart, right intention, willing spirit, trusting soul.  Wisdom does not come cloaked in worldly trappings or credentials.  It is not a source of power or superiority.  It comes on feet of certainty and bows to an open mind.

The Wise men followed the signs and portents of their studies and were guided by the light of the eastern star.  What they found and delighted in was innocence and promise of pure potential.  Be still.  Rest in the stable.  Trust that you are child of divine creation and wisdom will seek you out.

The Gifts: Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh.  Stuff of the earth.  Precious commodities of  earthly life.  Gold is significant of wealth and abundance.  Not shekels – but gold.  Gold is not only of value for its exchange but for its beauty, luster, properties.  Money is not evil or dirty or ungodly.  It cannot be wasted or lost.  It is always in exchange for <em>something</em> of value.  Living a spiritually authentic life does not mean living outside of a material world.  Exchange is the machine of the world we live in presently.  What we place value on is entirely subjective and conscious.  How will our wealth – great or modest – drive our culture, foster change?  What is our time worth?  Do our clothes merely cover us or adorn us?  Does clean water and pure food cost more?  Will we pay for real art?  Is something of beauty valuable – just because it is beautiful?  Gold serves us in many ways and conscious exchange creates a higher value.  How will we value the gold in our lives?

As I write, I have Frankincense on my palm and a chunk of myrrh dissolving on my tongue.  Used for scent, healing, embalming, purifying, and for ceremony each is an ancient essence that in times past was valued above gold.    And truly, isn’t our health and that of those we love more  valuable than thing gold might buy?  The earth is abundant and replete with an infinite variety of plants and minerals which can serve and enhance our earth bound life in millions of ways.  What can we ask for that is not given from the earth?  These essences are gifts of the earth offered in abundance to meet all our needs.  It is to value and revere what nature offers in accepting, respecting and using what is at hand.  The elements of nature are potent and pure and in alignment with our bodies.  As we become more spiritually aware we become more bodily aware.  We are naturally drawn to that which is  in harmonic resonance with our wellbeing.  All that we can be is healthy, vital and energized.

The Shepherds: The shepherds left the sheep in the field and came in simple adoration of the birth of a soul into the light.  The flock is the flock – a unit of unquestioned and unconscious direction.  Shepherds, those most aware of the mindless neediness of the flock, will look at the birth of a free spirit with delight and joyful celebration.  Each time one of us chooses to give birth to all that we might be we light the way for the next individual.  We become a flock of a different sort.  Each of us living in our own unique way but mindful of our place within the whole of creation.  Our movement is conscious and directed toward a lighter way of being; of community based on respect, love, harmony, equality and creativity.  Our likeness to one another is in our lightness – not in our sameness.  We <em>are</em> shepherds keeping watch over ourselves – our intentions, our clarity, our integrity.

The Angelic Host: I don’t know about you but I have hit black ice, kept vigil at a hospital, found perfect love and the best parking space.  Angels invented the slogan – ‘great or small we do it all!’  I’ve never seen an angel, but neither have I seen the wind to know its presence.  I believe that we live in parallel universes and that if you don’t believe in angels, they do not exist.  Angels  are manifest out of the realm of infinite possibility and can only administer to us if we know they are there.

Remember Tinkerbell?  Her light began to wain because children no longer believed.  Whenever anyone asks my opinion of this, I suggest they test it for themselves.  Ask your angels for something as proof.  Don’t stipulate  what it has to be – let them surprise you and I will guarantee that you will have an answer in such a peculiar way there will be no doubt that it is a direct response.    The role of angels in any sacred text is to serve God by serving us.  But first we have to ask – free will, remember.  No wonder they are thrilled and send up heavenly proclamations and joyful song when they get called to do what they do best – see the birth of a soul choosing the light.    It’s interesting that angels are the one component that the major rivalling religions agree on – and they even have the same names!

Bethlehem: Ram Dass said, “If you think you are enlightened go spend a week with your parents.”  There are more suicides and heart attacks at this time of year.  More stress, more tears, more depression.  Why?  Home for the holidays might appear welcoming in a Norman Rockwell painting, but it is usually the place you will find the origin of the voice in the back of your head.  You might have passed the reigns of the voice from your mother or dad, (in my case Aunt Myrtle) to your ego, peer group, wife or boss, but the message will be the same.  “You’re not good enough.”  Replace good with mature, rich, smart, beautiful, obedient, disciplined, organized, tidy, spiritual, grounded – whatever.

If you don’t go home you never have to face that stuff.  You can lead a sublime life all on your own in your own galaxy.  So why is going to Bethlehem part of the story?  Because ‘home’ is the gauge of your authenticity. It’s easy to be a saint when there is no temptation.  It’s easy to rise above the rabble crowd in peaceful pursuits if no one is pressing your buttons.  In fact, it is discovering you still have buttons to be pressed that illustrates you are a ways from being completely yourself.  If you are exactly who you are and striving to reveal all you might be then no one can push you off your feet.  You might be buffeted from a shot by your dad about the length of your hair (long or short – depending on era) but you won’t need to strike back.  The arrows won’t find a target.  There is no target.  There is no hook.  You are who you are – and you can never get that wrong.

Home is often where The Man lives and holds sway.  He might be a relative, the religion, the culture or the social status.  As we pursue the path of our essential Self and all that we can be, The Man – or that which would control our behaviour, kill our spirit, or harness our freedom – comes closer and closer.  It is easy to point at the power ‘over there’;  much harder to see it for what it is when it is in the familiar eyes of your mother, or the whisper of shame in your own heart when you return to childhood territory.  We are not responsible for our first birth, but going home reminds us our second birth is our own.  And the Christmas Story, if we see it as I believe it is intended,  is the parable for the ultimate conception.

If I know all this why was I crying over my floor rag?  Because sometimes I forget to remember that I am a work in progress.   I listen to the hype and wonder how my spirit can be merry and bright when I can’t buy what I want to.  I get sucked into the hypnotic message – if only I had this I could be that.  I think about the one who betrayed my trust and forget he is my teacher. For a moment I chose to look at George’s death as a loss rather than a right of loving passage.

It’s all part of revealing my Self to myself.  It is a reminder to go back to the stable and be still.  I am a work in progress and I am at peace with that.

I wish you blessings in abundance and peace beyond understanding.  You are the joy to the world.