A Christmas Reflection- Merry Christmas Everybody

From the brown wilted pages of an old book I read and even older story that went something like this

“You can work miracles”, said one of his companions to the holy-man; “Can you bring me an apple from heaven?” The holy-man  raised his hand and, within the instant, held in it an apple which he offered to his companion. Biting into the fruit, the man observed with horror that there was a worm in it. “That”, said holy-man, “is because, in passing from the eternal realm into the world of time it has taken on something of the latter’s corruptibility”.

This story has probably been uttered in ever tea-house from Morocco to Western China and it reminds me of Christmas.  We are surrounded with images of a some paternal archetype in a fat red and white suit, who ushers into existence for a day gives gifts  and then disappears from the cacophony of the day-to-day realm of human activities back into a silent somnolent abyss.

What the two stories have in common is this sudden manifestation that is clothed in patterns acceptable for digestion by the mind. Santa is clearly a paternal figure, that dispenses protection and benevolence and at one point in his convoluted history used to dispense beatings to naughty children. Santa , is an archetype of recognition – what I mean the character can see beyond the superficial appearance and  through his generosity catalyse a change.

This need for recognition is a deep seated one and takes many forms. The Holy-man miracle is the story is a subtle recognition of many things two of which are that:

1. There are things which lie beyond the realm of what’s known. There is a reality that is deeper than just appearances which while it seems  to be separate from what we would consider our normal comfortable range of perception isn’t.
2. The production of something from nothing, ex-nihilio is an act of generosity. From the nothing of non-existence to the tangibility of existence

That pretty deep stuff if you think about it that to be alive is a gift, and extension of this kind of bounty. What I find funny though if you follow this idea it seems that subconsciously we on some level believe this which maybe is why we are surrounded with this  kind of archetypes even in out post industrial modern age.

I am not religious in any sense of the word. I think if I walked into a Church I would burst into flames, I don’t care for heaven or hell. I care for the now. This is a weird time, i love this time of the year, but always the shittiest thing have happened: break-ups, hospitalization, sickness, death, depressive episodes etc. Despite all of that it’s still a gift though to be alive, to be able to walk around, to not be doped up on oxycodon.

That what holiday are to me anyways just a reminder that I am still here in the now  and despite all my complaining grateful.

What about you ?