tis the season
We always complain about how the holiday season is arbitrarily hyped up for capitalism, and pushed back just a little further in the calendar.
This year, I'm doing something about it. If society wants sleigh bells a-ringing and people caroling in early November, I'm going to do now what people do on the real holiday. No, I'm not going to create my own Christian Mass in the parking lot or light a tree on the sidewalk, but I will spend the next six weeks being close to my family, at least in spirit, and remembering what it is that brings "Good Will Towards Men."
...and what takes it away.
I will now retract something very key to what I have written in almost all of my previous posts: the concept of a single force that guides us. I am sorry, and relieved, to say that I no longer believe this concept.
Instead, I have found that there are Two Sides to a person: one is pure inspiration, and the other is self-preservation. Year after year, we try very hard to stop listening to the latter and listen only to the the latter on the holidays, giving selflessly no matter what the cost.
I don't think that's what we are supposed to be doing--at least not throughout the year.
I think that ANY agreement between the two--no matter how small--brings us peace, and is always guiding us. But we don't trust our instincts sometimes, or other times, we don't trust the material world around us. Therefore, I think it is our job to trust both. We must filter out all the things on which our Two Sides disagree, and focus solely on the common ground of both.
And, if we have faith that everyone is guided by the harmony of these Two Sides (which goes against a LOT of what I have written in earlier posts), and help others understand it, we may very well have the "Peace on Earth" that we so anxiously await.
Keep this in mind as you buy that gift, trim that tree, light that candle, or sing that song.
This year, I'm doing something about it. If society wants sleigh bells a-ringing and people caroling in early November, I'm going to do now what people do on the real holiday. No, I'm not going to create my own Christian Mass in the parking lot or light a tree on the sidewalk, but I will spend the next six weeks being close to my family, at least in spirit, and remembering what it is that brings "Good Will Towards Men."
...and what takes it away.
I will now retract something very key to what I have written in almost all of my previous posts: the concept of a single force that guides us. I am sorry, and relieved, to say that I no longer believe this concept.
Instead, I have found that there are Two Sides to a person: one is pure inspiration, and the other is self-preservation. Year after year, we try very hard to stop listening to the latter and listen only to the the latter on the holidays, giving selflessly no matter what the cost.
I don't think that's what we are supposed to be doing--at least not throughout the year.
I think that ANY agreement between the two--no matter how small--brings us peace, and is always guiding us. But we don't trust our instincts sometimes, or other times, we don't trust the material world around us. Therefore, I think it is our job to trust both. We must filter out all the things on which our Two Sides disagree, and focus solely on the common ground of both.
And, if we have faith that everyone is guided by the harmony of these Two Sides (which goes against a LOT of what I have written in earlier posts), and help others understand it, we may very well have the "Peace on Earth" that we so anxiously await.
Keep this in mind as you buy that gift, trim that tree, light that candle, or sing that song.