ARE YOU A SHEEP OR A GOAT?

We are fast approaching Christmas but we're still in the season of Advent which ends on Christmas Eve.

The season of Advent, in the Church year, is a four-week period of spiritual preparation for the coming of Jesus. It's a time when Christians also look forward to the Second Coming of Jesus.

Now, I don’t interpret the Bible literally for the most part. For me, the events in the life of Jesus depict and represent various stages in our potential spiritual growth. Thus, doctrines such as the Incarnation, the Resurrection, the Ascension and the Second Coming of Jesus have for me a deeper, more spiritual meaning and importance than a literal reading might otherwise afford. We can be resurrected at any time into newness of life, with our minds and bodies being restored in any number of ways. We can ascend to greater heights of understanding and achievement. As for the Second Coming, it can be right upon us now. It is not a matter of whether Jesus will again appear in the flesh.

In all my years of regularly attending Baptist and Anglican churches I rarely, if ever, heard a sermon on the parable of the sheep and the goats. I think the reason why preachers rarely speak on the topic of that parable is simple--its message doesn't sit at all well with the ‘believe and be saved’ evangelical interpretation of Christianity.

In the parable of the sheep and the goat, in the 25th chapter of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus talks about the Day of Judgment. Now, once again, I do not actually think there will be a literal day of judgment when some people will go to their supposed reward in heaven while others will be sent to hell for everlasting punishment. You can believe that if you wish but that is not how I see it. The Day of Judgment occurs every day, and every minute of each day, when we get the result in our lives and in our world of our thoughts, words and deeds.

According to the parable of the sheep and goats, everyone we meet, everyone we serve, is in the image of Jesus, a personification of the divine. The Anonymous Christ, as he or she is known, comes to us in so many ways, and we fail to recognize that Jesus’ incarnation continues all the time, in us and in other people. In the parable, Jesus talks about the Day of Judgment:

‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

‘Then the King will say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”

‘Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?”

‘The King will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

‘Then he will say to those on his left, “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.”

‘They also will answer, “Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?”

‘He will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.”

‘Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.’

Notice how the separation of sheep and goats is not on the basis of what people believe or don’t believe. No, the separation takes place on the basis of what people do or don’t do with their lives. The sheep are the ones who feed the hungry, give a drink to the thirsty, invite in the stranger, clothe those in need of clothes, look after the sick, and visit those in prison. The goats are the ones who do none of those things.

The message of this parable seems lost on conservative Christians. They are so damn good at judging others on the basis of what they believe or don’t believe yet they fail to realize that the Bible says they will be judged on how well they have looked after their fellow humans---as respects the provision of such things as food, water and clothes, and attending to the needs of the homeless, the sick, and those in prison.

Many Buddhists I know, even many atheists and other secularists, live lives that are so much more nobly and deeply and closely molded after that of Jesus than those fundamentalist and evangelical Christians. I repeat, many people, who would not identify as Christians, are real followers of the way of Jesus. There is a hymn written by Marguerite Pollard which contains this verse:

And there are some who love him well,
yet know not it is he they love;
he tends the holy fire within
and draws them to the heights above.

Of course, many, if not most, of the people who Jesus declares to be ‘sheep’—true followers of the way of Jesus—would not want to be called Christians. They have given up on Christianity. Well, they have given up on Churchianity. I don’t blame them. Far too many of the Christian churches have so grossly distorted the teachings of Jesus, and far too many so-called Christians are so damn unappealing, that the ‘sheep’ want nothing to do with Jesus. That is sad, because Jesus was a revolutionary.

The separation of sheep and goats takes no account of race, religion or ethnicity. It takes no account of what people believe or don’t believe. The separation is solely on the basis of what people do and don’t do with their lives. Deeds, not creeds.

Advent is all about the coming of the kingdom. Jesus envisioned a beloved community of all humanity living in peace with one another. The good news of the Gospel is that you don’t have to be a card-carrying Christian to seek, work for and hasten the coming of that kingdom.

Have a wonderful Christmas, all of you.

Image opposite. Detail of a stained glass window depicting the parable of the sheep and the goats. Church of Saint Mary the Virgin, Gunthorpe, Norfolk, United Kingdom.

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MAY YOU HAVE A VERY MINDFUL CHRISTMAS

Once again, Christmas is almost upon us. (OMG, I hear some of you say.)

The Nativity Story is so much more than a supposedly literal (ugh) account of the birth of Jesus -- Jesus, the man who was born of a surrogate mother, and of a Middle Eastern refugee family. (Does the latter sound familiar?) The story of the birth of the Christ child is a myth in the truest and most sublime sense of that word. It speaks of the reality of a spiritual -- that is, non-physical -- event that we all can experience, Christian and non-Christian alike.

What event? Well, it’s this---the birth of the Christ child within our ‘hearts’ (that is, minds). Now, when I use those two words ‘Christ child’ I am not referring to the man known as Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus, as represented in the Gospel accounts in the New Testament, is portrayed as the prototypical human being living fully, powerfully and ... mindfully! He was fully alive from one moment to the next, always focused on what he was doing and on what was happening around him. That, my friends, is what living mindfully is all about.

Oh, yes, there’s one more thing---a very important thing. The Jesus of the Gospels was very much concerned about the needs of the sick, the marginalised, the dispossessed, and the disadvantaged in the society of his day. It seems that he went about doing good, wherever he went. That, my friends, is another sort of mindfulness that is of supreme value, namely, attention to the needs of others, in particular, suffering humanity. 

You know, Jesus never asked people to worship him. Never! He spoke of what has been called the ‘Anonymous Christ’? In Matthew 25:34-40 Jesus made it clear that everyone we meet, everyone we serve, is a personification of the divine. He told us that the kingdom of God was within each of us (cf Lk 17:21). The difference between Jesus, at least as portrayed in the Gospels, and us is simply one of degree and not kind. Like Dr Martin Luther King, Jr [pictured right], Dr Leslie D Weatherhead, Dr Samuel Angus and many other ministers and theologians whom I admire, I dismiss the notion of there having been any inherent divinity in Jesus. His so-called divinity---fully revealed in the grandeur of his humanity---was achieved and not bestowed.

In Biblical terms, Jesus’ incarnation continues all the time, in us and in other people. We read about the Anonymous Christ in the context of the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats:

Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

How many so-called Christians serve the Anonymous Christ? Not the majority, that’s for sure.

Now, the Christ child of which I speak is our ‘real [true] self’ in contradistinction to that illusory ‘false self’—actually, false selves (the hundreds of I’s and me’s in our mind)---which we mistakenly think is us. One’s real self is the same ‘Self’---capitalised to emphasise its paramount importance---in all persons and things. That Self is not a thing of time or circumstance. It is the only presence and power active in the universe and in our lives now. It is the omnipresence of life itself---the very livingness, be-ing-ness, and Self-expression of life---manifesting itself everywhere as ... the eternal now.

Expressed slightly differently, the Christ child is the potentiality that exists within each of us to be the very best person we can be. In the language of mindfulness, the Christ child is the person who has come to sees things-as-they-really-are and who knows how to live mindfully from one moment to the next. The birth of the Christ child refers to the awakening within us of the conscious but choiceless awareness of the indwelling presence within us of life, truth and love. 

In short, the Christ child is born when you or I ... wake up! Each one of us must surrender, let go, and die to self, indeed die to the very idea that there is a separate, independent, permanent self at the core of our being, in order that a new sense of being---metaphorically and symbolically, a new-born baby---may be ‘born’ in our psyche. And remember this -- the Christ child is born in a stable, and not an inn, that is, in abject humility and no-thing-ness.

The bad news? Well, despite what some would have you believe, only you can wake up and be born anew. No one---not Jesus, not Buddha, not Muhammad, not Krishna, nor anyone else for that matter---can wake you up or otherwise effect this new birth of which I write. Way-showers, world teachers and so-called saviours can but point the way.

May we all wake up this Christmas---and may you have the spirit of Christmas which is peace, the gladness of Christmas which is hope, and the heart of Christmas which is love. 

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Once again, Christmas is almost upon us. (Egad, I hear some of you say.) But what are we to make of the story of the birth of the Christ child?

As I’ve tried to say elsewhere, the Nativity Story is so much more than a supposedly literal (ugh) account of the birth of Jesus. The story is a myth in the truest and most sublime sense of that word. It speaks of the reality of a spiritual event that we all can experience, Christian and non-Christian alike.

What event? Well, it’s this---the birth of the Christ child within our ‘hearts’ (that is, minds). You see, we all need to wake up, surrender, and be born anew. The message of the Buddha, in two English words, is this---wake up. The message of the prophet Muhammad, in one English word, is this---surrender. The message of Jesus, in five English words, is this---you must be born anew. The message of Humanism is that we can and must give shape and meaning to our own lives. As I see it, it’s all essentially the same thing. We must change in a very radical way, and the change referred to must go beyond what is ordinarily understood as self-improvement. Yes, each one of us must undergo a Copernican revolution---a deep, inner psychological revolution, transformation, and mutation---in the way we think, act, and live. We must surrender, let go, and die to self, indeed die to the very idea that there is a separate, independent, permanent self at the core of our being, in order that a new sense of being---metaphorically and symbolically, a new-born baby, at least at first---may be born in our psyche.

Now, most of what I’ve said above is rank heresy to fundamentalist and evangelical Christians. That does not worry me at all. Indeed, I draw great comfort and pleasure from the fact. You see, I am proud to be a heretic. A heretic is one who chooses, and who chooses to think differently and be different. We need more heretics in the world---more people who are prepared to think and live differently. Indeed, I would go so far as to say that only a heretic can change our damaged, troubled and threatened world. And only a heretic, who is prepared to surrender and throw out of the window all their past thinking and conditioning on matters religious and non-religious, can wake up and change the world for the better.

And despite what some would have you believe---the conventional Christians mentioned above---only you can wake up and be born anew. No one---not Jesus, not Buddha, not Muhammad, nor anyone else for that matter---can wake you up or otherwise effect this new birth to which I have referred.

May we all wake up this Christmas. It is said that Christmas is a time of giving and thinking of others. That’s a damn good way of surrendering and giving up our illusory sense of self as well as all our tired, worn-out beliefs and conditioning. Yes, it's a damn good way of---waking up!

Happy Christmas!

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For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given:
and the government shall be upon his shoulder:
and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor,
The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. (Is 9:6)

I have written in an earlier post on my understanding of The Nativity Story. To those who have read anything I’ve written over the years on matters spiritual it will come as no surprise that I construe the Bible, along with other pieces of sacred scripture, as writings on psychology and metaphysics.

Now, consistent with the view taken by many progressive scholars and mystics over the years the story of the birth of the Christ Child is much, much more than an account of the birth of Jesus. The birth of the Christ Child is the coming into conscious and full activity within our souls---that is, in our minds, bodies and lives---of the Spirit of God. This birth, or rebirth, can happen anytime, for Christmas, properly interpreted, isn't just one day of the year. You see, we always have an opportunity to bring forth a rebirthing of our awareness of the Christ Child, irrespective of date or season. Indeed, the Christ Child is continually awaiting manifestation in and through our consciousness. Once again, I am not talking about Jesus---no, it is something more universal, but also more personal, than that ... and him. The birth or rebirth of the Christ Child in you is nothing less than the outworking in you of the prophecy of Isaiah 9:6 the text of which appears at the very top of this post. (By the way, the word 'prophecy,' in a Biblical context, means 'forth-telling,' not 'fore-telling'---in other words, the Bible is speaking forth or telling forth on some topic or principle which is true right now.)

What do I mean by the ‘Spirit of God,' an expression I used in the paragraph above? Well, call it the Spirit of Life if you prefer. (I do.) I am talking about the very livingness (or Self-livingness) of life itself manifesting itself in us as an all-encompassing and all-providing Presence and Power, bringing with it peace, a tranquil stillness, joy, love, and healing at one or more levels. I am talking about the very ‘seat’ of inner power and causation that is the very ground of your be-ing. I am talking about your very ‘I Am-ness,’ the life that is in you and as you---a life that will survive the dissolution of your form, indeed all forms. It is forever a case of the Spirit of Life moving upon Itself, 'imaging' Itself to be this and that---undifferentiated Consciousness, or formeless awareness, forever taking shape and form.

In truth, each one of us, as a unique individualization of the Spirit of Life, lives in the ‘secret place of the Most High’ (Ps 91:1). Sadly, the majority of people spend most if not all of their lives in ignorance of that fact. Be that as it may, the birth of the Christ Child has everything to do with the coming forth in you, as you, of the ideal person---an inner power and potentiality that the Bible mystically refers to as 'Christ in you, the hope of glory' (Col 1:27). (Please don't confuse the latter with Jesus, at least not in any unique or exclusive sense. In that regard, read on.)

The birth of the Christ Child within us is an experience that we all can enjoy, and please don’t confuse it with the so-called ‘new birth’ (that is, being ‘born again,’ or ‘born from above’) spouted by fundamentalist and evangelical Christians who divide people into the ‘saved’ and the ‘unsaved,’ with the latter category including, in the fundamentalist and conservative evangelical view, many, many Christians who are not of an evangelical persuasion as well as most if not all non-Christians. (In that regard, I once asked the superintendent of the Sunday school of the Baptist church I attended as a youth if, in his opinion, he thought Roman Catholics were 'saved' and would go to heaven. His reply? 'It would be very difficult indeed for that to occur.' See what I mean?) If that be the truth, it would be simply appalling. What sort of God do these people purport to worship? Certainly not a God of love.

Now this is important. You may not even be a Christian. You may not even believe in a traditional God at all. You may not even consider yourself religious in any way. That doesn’t really matter. (At least you have a lot less to unlearn than those who have indoctrinated from an early age to believe this or that religious dogma.) The real ‘good news’ is that the Christ Child can still be born within you. The point is, we are all human beings, and the experience to which I refer is a very human one. It is an experience in which we become more fully human such that we come to embrace and enjoy a newly born awareness of the Presence and Power of life manifesting itself in us and as us.

Here are a few other thoughts of mine on the subject.

First, we read in the Bible that the Angel Gabriel is sent by God to the Virgin Mary to announce the imminent birth of the Christ Child. The Angel Gabriel represents an exalted thought or idea in your consciousness. You see, the birth of the Christ Child generally happens whenever you decide, against all odds, that you want real change in your life and are prepared to go to any length to get it. The birth happens when you face the seemingly impossible and say to yourself, and really believe it, ‘That which is in me is greater than that which is in the world’ (cf 1 Jn 4:4). But first you must come to accept the fact that your mind and body are the bearer of the ‘Divine,’ that is, that all-encompassing and all-providing Presence and Power I referred to above. We need to say ‘yes’ to this Power which is in us, but also not-us. It is a power-not-ourselves, for we are in bondage to self, and that is why we need a power-not-ourselves to overcome our toxic self-centeredness and self-absorption.

The Virgin Mary represents a pure, unadulterated state of consciousness. Bishop C W Leadbeater penned these lovely lines:

For holy Mary’s grace,
her wondrous glowing love,
we thank thee as a pattern set
to lift our thoughts above.

However, in order to be able to 'lift our thoughts above,' so that the Christ Child can be born, or born anew, in us, we must be cleansed and give up all limiting thoughts and emotional attitudes. Are we prepared to be a radiating centre of divine love? I hope so. We also need to centre our mind on the reality of the spiritual and psychological truths to which I have referred. In short, we need to say ‘yes’ to life, truth, and love (the triune God).

Where was the Christ Child born? In a stable, not an inn. You need to make room for the Christ Child in your life. You need to open the ‘door’ of your minds, that the Christ Child may be born in them. In order to do that, there must be humility. As the Bible says, you need to seek first the kingdom of God (cf Mt 6:33). That kingdom is within you (cf Lk 17:21), within every person. It is your ‘higher self.’ It is not a ‘place’ as such, but a state of consciousness in which the ‘Divine’ Power and Presence I referred to above rules, that is, is sovereign and supreme in your life.

The Wise Men---by the way, the Bible does not say there were three of them---searched diligently for the Christ Child. Apparently, they followed a Star in the east for many months, and over deserts, mountains and seas ... until that Star came to rest over a certain little town (Bethlehem) in a certain little country (Judea). The 'meaning' of all that? Here's one 'take' on it---real, deep change in our lives is never easy. We need to 'travel far' and work for it---and it may take some time before we see the results of our hard work and self-sacrifice. In particular, we need to release all old thoughts and worn-out beliefs---indeed, everything that holds us in bondage to our ‘lower self’ (that is, all those tendencies in us that are selfish and self-centered in nature). That is, at least in part, what is meant by 'following a star.' If the Wise Men---scholars who represented the intellectuals of the world of that time---could find the Christ Child then there is hope for those well-educated and intellectual people who, I have always find, have the greatest difficulty grasping these spiritual truths. 

It is significant that the Shepherds---those who, traditionally, are led well-educated but who live and work closer to the ground, the working people of the world---are the first who are ‘chosen’ to know of the birth of the Christ Child. In the Bible, shepherds often became great rulers and prophets. They are the really intelligent ones among us.

The word ‘Jesus’ has more than one meaning. In Hebrew it means ‘Joshua,’ and that word denotes salvation, saviour, one who saves or solves, and solution. The word ‘Jesus’ also means your 'I Am-ness,' that is, your consciousness or awareness of your innate Be-ing-ness. Metaphysically, the word ‘Jesus’ refers to the solution to your problems, either generally or particularly, whatever form or forms that may take. (If, for example, you are sick, 'health' is your saviour or the solution to your ill-health; in other words, health is 'Jesus' for you.) Conservative Christians think the word refers uniquely and exclusively to the man Jesus of Nazareth, but they are wrong on that.

Now, what about the conjoint expression ‘Jesus Christ’? Well, those words collectively represent the ideal or perfect human being. (Again, conservative Christians think there has only been one such person, namely, Jesus. They overlook the fact that Jesus never---I repeat, never---claimed anything for himself that he did not also claim for you and me and every other person as well.) Please keep this in mind---‘Christ’ refers to the ideal, Jesus the actual, that is, the fulfillment of the ideal. The birth of the Christ Child is the meeting-place of the ideal and the real (or, in Biblical language, of ‘God and man’). 

Expressed slightly differently, the words ‘Jesus Christ’ mean ‘I am illumined,’ or ‘I am awakened.’ (‘Anointed’ is the more Biblical word, but nothing too much turns on it for present purposes.) No wonder Jesus said, ‘What I say to you [his disciples] I say to all: Stay awake’ (Mk 13:37). Also, when the historical Buddha was asked, ‘Who are you?’ he answered, ‘I am awake.’ It is essentially the same idea. Wake up---and stay awake. When the Christ Child is born, or born anew, in you, you are awakened, you are illumined. You are no longer in bondage to your lower or false self, you have ‘died’ to all false beliefs, prejudices and limitations. Your whole consciousness is illumined. You are … free! You are … unlimited! Remember this---the only chains that bind you are the ones you have shackled yourself with. So often in life we fall asleep to the spiritual truth of our be-ing, that there is within each of us that ‘true light, which lighteth every person that cometh into the world’ (Jn 1:9).

Well, my friends, let the real you come forth. Let the Christ Child be born within you---this Child that comes to you not as a child in swaddling clothes nor as some sort of resurrected Jesus. Whatever be your status in life, whatever be your problem, know this---there is always a way out! Follow that Star. Then, when the Christ Child is born, or born anew, in you, make sure your life bears witness to that fact. You see, the birth of the Christ Child is much, much more than just some inner event that is for your own personal benefit alone. No, far from it. The birth of the Christ Child is, and always has been, about giving, giving, and giving. When the Christ Child is born in you, you will want to give various gifts to others---gifts such as the gifts of peace, light, truth, and love.

Christmas---in the sense in which I have described it in this post---began at the moment of the Big Bang, or perahps even before then. It began when the Spirit of Life first gave of Itself ... to Itself, so to speak ... so as to give birth to more life, and then even more life, and so on. Christmas is, however, only complete when it reaches your heart---and mine. So, 'let us go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, that the Lord has told us' (Lk 2:15).

'I truly believe that if we keep telling the Christmas story, singing the Christmas songs, and living the Christmas spirit, we can bring joy and happiness and peace to this world.' -- Rev. Dr Norman Vincent Peale (1898-1993), in My Christmas Treasury (1991).

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This morning I spoke on Sydney's Radio Skid Row 88.9 FM on the pagan roots and origins of Christmas, so I thought I would share with you some of what I said on the radio.

Now, don’t get me wrong---I love Christmas, and I have often written about its spiritual and esoteric (or ‘inner’) meaning. However, this much needs to be made unambiguously clear. The only thing foreign, external and even extraneous to Christmas is---Jesus. Bible-believing Christians keep saying, ‘Put Christ back into Christmas,’ but they fail to realize that, insofar as Christmas is concerned, Jesus---whose historicity hasn't been established beyond all doubt---was and remains an interpolation, that is, something extraneous that was added to, or interjected into, an already existent pagan feast and festival. Indeed, every element and aspect of the Christmas festival predates Christianity.

Apart from the gift-giving associated with the Biblical account of the birth of Jesus, the New Testament makes no mention of Jesus, his disciples or the New Testament Church celebrating Christmas Day. Amazing. It is not until around 354 CE that we get the earliest recorded reference to a December 25 Christmas actually celebrating the birth of Jesus, although it is highly likely that it had been celebrated for at least two or three decades before then.

The roots and origins of Christmas lie in, among other things, various pagan (that is, non-Christian) fertility rites and practices which predate Jesus by many centuries. In 350 CE Pope Julius I proclaimed December 25 as Christmas Day---for a very good reason. You see, it was the day on which the ancient Romans celebrated the winter solstice, being the last day of the Roman festival of Saturnalia (the cult of Saturn [pictured left], the Roman god of agriculture). Now, why did the pope of the day choose that day? Well, at the risk of being very cynical but not a bit dishonest, the reason is fairly simple and obvious---it made it easier for people to convert to Christianity, for they would not lose their feasts.

During Saturnalia, people exchanged gifts (especially dolls, candles, caged birds and fruit) decorated trees with candles, and decked their halls with garlands of laurel. There was much partying (both private and public), and masquerades took place in the streets. Masters and slaves swapped clothes, which could have been a lot of fun if you were into cross-dressing. (I should also mention that this swapping of roles between masters and slaves also took place among the ancient Babylonians and Persians in a five-day festival called Sacaea.) The wealthy paid the month’s rent for the less-well-to-do. (I can’t see the 'big end of town' doing that today. What a pity!) Executions were cancelled and---listen to this---no wars were declared during the festival. We could all learn something from that. Anyway, for at least 60 or 70 years after the 350 CE papal proclamation of Christmas the pagan festival of Saturnalia continued to be celebrated. Old customs die hard.

There is another pagan contender in the ancient Roman world for the origination of Christmas---the official monotheistic Sun god cult of Sol invictus (‘Invincible [or 'Unconquered'] Sun’) [pictured right] with its distinctive festival of Dies Natalis Solis Invicti ('Birthday of Sol Invictus') which was celebrated on, yes, December 25. This cult, it seems, had its origins in Syria. One would light a candle to encourage the Sun---as well as Mithras (see below)---to reappear next year. In many ways, Christmas owes more to the cult of Sol invictus than it does to the festival of Saturnalia. Even the present pope---Pope Benedict XVI---has stated that Christmas acquired its definitive form in the 4th century CE when it replaced the feast of Sol invictus.

Closely associated with the Sol invictus cult was the cult of Mithras (also known as Mithraism and the Mysteries of Mithra[s]) which, it seems, was founded in the 6th century BCE---well before the supposed advent of Jesus. Mithras [pictured below] was another Eastern solar deity (in the form of, among other things, the equinoctial Sun which revivifies and fertilizes the earth) whose feast day was also celebrated on---guess when---December 25. 

Now, it is written that the mythical god Mithras---in whose honour the religion of Mithraism was founded---went around the countryside, teaching, healing the sick, and casting out devils. This Mithras supposedly had twelve disciples, held a last supper, was killed, was buried in a rock tomb, and then rose from the dead three days later, before finally ascending into heaven. Sound familiar?  Anyway, according to Persian tradition Mithras was said to have been incarnated into the human form of the saviour expected by Zoroaster (also known as Zarathustra). Mithra's ascension to heaven was said to have occurred in 208 BCE, some 64 years after his purportedly miraculous virgin birth in---wait for it---a cave where he was adored by shepherds. Again, does that sound familiar? (Although Mithraism and Christianity stole from each other, never forget this---all of the main features of Mithraism were in place before the birth of Jesus.)

The cult of Sol invictus and that of Mithras were, for all intents and purposes, the same [see opposite]---at least as respects their practice in the Roman Empire. When Mithraism became the chief (and de facto State) religion in the late Roman Empire, Mithras was called Sol invictus.

Let's now jump ahead. In the Middle Ages, in the festival of Yule ([‘wheel’]; a pagan symbol for the Sun), the birth of the pagan Sun God/Mithras was celebrated on the shortest day of the year, the idea being that as the Sun God grew and matured, the days would become longer and warmer. I could go on.

Christianity has always had an annoyingly bad habit of stealing from pagan religions and then running those religions out-of-business---often with much violence and bloodshed---and declaring their practices heretical. (Etymologically, a heretic is 'one who chooses' [to be different]. I am proud to be one.)

At the risk of stating the obvious, you don’t have to be a Christian to enjoy and celebrate Christmas. Indeed, I won't even say that it helps. (Ha!) So, my friends, don’t let those Bible-believing Christians tell you that we must put Christ back into Christmas. Historically---and also for millions and millions of people throughout the world today---Jesus is not the reason for the season, even though the legends surrounding the birth of Jesus (around whom a whole mass of pagan legends have otherwise been collected) constitute a wonderful object lesson of the 'inner' meaning and significance of the festival, namely, the need for each of us to awaken to our innate 'divinity'---that is, the primal power of be-ing itself---and our true potential as human beings.

Christmas---like Easter---is about renewal and revivification. It’s about the livingness and givingness of life itself. Life forever gives of itself to itself---and as itself---so that life can continue and be renewed. Each one of us is a unique individualization of the livingness and self-givingness of life.

May you rejoice in that fact---and celebrate it at this time … and always.

Bless you all.

 

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