the true meaning of christmas

Date:   12/6/2005 5:04:30 PM ( 19 y ago)

The meaning of Christmas

In a short work, Yule and Noel: the Saga of Christmas, Kuhn explains the true meaning of Christmas.Not having been a person, there was no known date for the birth of the Christ.As for various other gods in the ancient world, it was fitting to place the date on the wheel of the year.Before 345 A.D. the birth of the Christ was celebrated on March 25.This date was the rebirth of Horus the Elder in ancient Egypt.In 345 A.D. Pope Julian II switched Christmas to December 25 to coincide with the followers of Bacchus and Mithra, who celebrated the rebirth of the deity under solar symbolism at the Winter solstice.It was a case of if you can't beat them, join them.

The star in the east can be traced back to the star Sirius, also called Sothis or Septet in Egypt (the name is based on the root of the word "Osiris").Sirius was the Morning Star of the year in Egypt.The three wise men are the three stars in the belt of Orion.(The New Testament does not say how many wise men there were, so the number three must have come from another source.)The orthodox account stretches credulity to breaking point.Stars and planets don't hover over one place, for in relation to the earth they are always moving.It's simply impossible for a star in the east to be a guide for people coming from the east.

A manger is a feed trough for animals.What mother in her right mind would put her new born babe, let alone a new born god, in a feed trough?A literal reading produces this absurdity.When read symbolically the story makes profound sense.The Christ or the god is food for our animal nature.It is the purpose of the Christ to refine and uplift our animal nature.

The green pine tree represents the first or natural man, whose life, like that of the green leafage, is drawn up out of the earth.The colour red stands for the second Adam, the spiritual man, as red is universally a symbol for the fiery essence of divine spirit.Holly, with its green leaves and red berries is an excellent symbol for man's two natures.

The Christmas pine tree is cut down and brought into the house.In other words, the process of domesticating the carnal nature has began.The tree is decorated with tinsel, baubles, lights and a star on top.These glittering decorations symbolize the transformation of the carnal nature by the divine spirit.The bright star atop the tree represents the divine light shining forth from the head of humans.This is akin to the opening of the thousand-petaled lotus in the head from Eastern teachings, which is the moment of divine illumination.

Millions of people around the world obtain a tree at Christmas and decorate it in the symbolic manner.How many know the cosmic message expressed by their tree?The truth is beneath our very noses, if we would only open our eyes and see!

The mistletoe, growing high up on the oak tree, was a potent symbol to the Druids of divine elevation of the soul in man.The tree is rooted in the earth, and it gives sustenance to the mistletoe.Thus the Christ nature is sustained by earthly being.In the ancient wisdom a lower material organism must play host to a higher life energy.Kissing under the mistletoe represents the union of the divine soul and the animal soul.

The candle in the window or above the altar wonderfully symbolizes human evolution.The flame connotes the divine soul, the wick the animal soul, joining it to the tallow which stands for the animal body.The animal nature feeds the divine nature.In this process the lower nature is transmuted into divine light.The lighted candle thus provides a graphic representation of spiritual alchemy.

"The failure of two thousand 'blithe Noels' to bring the Christly spirit to birth in the world is easily accounted for.Taken as an overt historical event occurring to one man, and not understood as the implantation of the 'bare grain' of the future growth of godliness in all hearts, the mighty cathartic and transforming force of the accolade to infant deity went out from all hearts and dissipated itself of the imagined figure of this one alleged personage when it was intended that it should go inward to work its benign efficacy upon all souls."(34)The vast outpouring of adoration is wasted on the symbol.The worship of an image diverts attention away from inner transformation.

"The nub of the great sweeping significance was the cardinal truth that unless the Christ be born, loved, reared and exalted as ruler in the conscious life of every individual mortal, his birth has not been brought to pass. One birth in Bethlehem is not enough to leaven the world. All men must be reborn, and only in this collective birth is the Christos born.If he is not reborn in each heart, he has had his birth nowhere.He can not be born outside of human hearts, minds and consciences.What good could one man's divine love do in a world rankling with the petty selfishness of individuals and the unrelenting animosity of nations? Christos will be born, Messiah will come, when Love reigns in the human breast, and humanity will be born as it gives birth to the King of Love."(35)

Armageddon and the second coming

In the context of the ancient wisdom the battle of Armageddon is the conflict between our animal and divine natures, taking place in the individual.Throughout the ages seekers on the path have reported their dark nights of the soul, their temptations, and other struggles to realize the divine presence.The divine soul has a battle on its hands in order to win victory over the forces of darkness in order to illuminate our life.The pearl of great price is not handed to us on a plate, we have to pay our dues and show that we are worthy to receive it.As William Blake has written:

"What is the price of Experience? do men buy it for a song?
Or wisdom for a dance in the street? No,it is bought with the price
Of all that a man hath, his house, his wife, his children.
Wisdom is sold in the desolate market where none come to buy,
And in the withered field where the farmer ploughs for bread in vain." (Vala or the Four Zoas)

Political Christianity got itself into a terrible muddle when it rejected the ancient wisdom. Instead of accepting the natural cycles of life and the cosmos, it saw time as a straight line. It could not accept natural change, so it proposed a cataclysmic "end of the world". Christ would then appear and the faithful flock would be saved. The misguided are still waiting for a "second coming".

The divine soul is ever coming. It can perpetually renew itself, entering the womb of matter, to be born again and again. We only have to look to nature to see that life continually renews itself: the life cycle of plants, the changing face of nature during the year and so on. Horus, the Egyptian Christ, says: "I am Horus, the Prince of Eternity". Jesus was with the Father before the foundation of the worlds. Horus calls himself "the persistent traveler on the highways of heaven, and "the everlasting one."

Although it has been much distorted, the ancient wisdom is the foundation of Christianity. Christian holy days, such as Christmas and Easter, are based on the movements of heavenly bodies. These observances were taking place thousands of years before Christianity arrived on the scene. These days it is no secret that Christian festivals have a "pagan" origin.

Relevance of the ancient wisdom for today

The ancient wisdom not only explains the modern predicament but provides the answers we need. At no other period in history have humans been so engulfed in their animal nature as they are today. The basic material needs have come to dominate life, and various false "needs" have been created. The mass media stimulates the lower nature, and numbs the brain with time wasting entertainments. Gross materialism has come to dominate society, causing mass alienation and blotting out awareness of higher values. Even mere infants are shamelessly exploited by advertisers and introduced to the consumer ethic by unwitting parents. Greed and selfishness have become the dominating values in society. Various social problems just keep multiplying, but attempted remedies don't get to the root of our problems.

We have lost touch with the divine soul that is within us. All around us is clear evidence of how low we sink when we don't nurture our divine soul. It is the task for each and everyone to bring to life the god and live with divine radiance. The choice before us becomes clearer day by day: do we continue to be dominated by the carnal nature, turning life into a misery? Or do we seize the time and develop our higher nature and live in illuminated godlike glory? No personal saviour will do the task. Humans must roll up their sleeves and get cracking. We must pierce the cloud of darkness that hangs over us and evolve a life of love and peace.Most today don't even know what true life is like. Life is meant to be grand and glorious, full of love and wonder.We must reclaim our divine birthright and get a taste of the glories of true living. -Alvin Boyd Kuhn

offered in Love and Light for All

~LightLizard~

 

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