The Christmas spirit is a special thing. What is this “Peace on earth, goodwill to all men”? It’s tangible, that’s certain. I always feel that I receive it from others, never that I impart it to them. Or if I do emanate any of the glow, I feel it has been ignited first from a spark which comes from others.
In one way or another I have written about it here several times at this season and of course I look forward to it, but the feeling may not hit me till Christmas Eve, as it did today, when I went to the shopping centre and felt a special warmth toward my fellow-humans. I’ve pondered about this for many years. Whence comes the Christmas spirit? I don’t like shopping for presents. The other day I had to buy some Christmas cards and it cast a shadow over my whole morning, how to get them just right, and inscribe a message properly and make sure they were posted in the best manner, to give them the best chance to arrive on time. Certainly there was an affection for the addressees, but that wasn’t the same as this sense of “peace, goodwill to all men”.
But then Christmas Eve arrives and I feel this welling up of love for my fellow-humans: not initiated by me, for it seems to come from them first, but somehow I feel instinctively that it doesn’t come from any of us, but some force, maybe Jesus, who knows? But why now, why only now? Why not the whole year round? And I know everyone says this and that makes it all the more mysterious.
It’s an inner glow, closely allied to whatever it is which has inspired me to write entries here over the years, all those flavours of mysterious and mystical feelings. But this glow is different—beats all the other feelings, because it’s the only one that’s apparently shared with everyone in the street, if only for a few hours.
Like winter sunshine it gilds and ennobles everything it touches. It’s not generated by the paraphernalia that goes with Christmas—the reunions, alcohol, carols, lights, exchange of gifts, or even the anticipation.
There is magic and miracle afoot, and the author of St Luke’s Gospel, who may or may not have been Saint Luke, caught it so many centuries ago in these words:
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.
I’m no Christian but these words were repeated again and again, all the years of my childhood and thereafter. It seems to me that the whole thing gets re-enacted, every year, and Luke got it exactly right.
a wayfarer’s notes 
Sometimes there is magic in fakery, of course, indeed there are those who admit that magic can be explained by subjective illusion. For example the glowing flames in my illustration are nothing but a red light-bulb behind red tissue paper, with some red reflective foil at the back. It doesn’t give out heat, but somehow evokes the spirit of fire.
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Magic in fakery ..? Mmm, not sure about that Vincent. This “festive” season – Peace, love and goodwill to all – while originating in the depths of northern hemisphere winter – has, somehow, translated itself to the southern hemisphere also; if only for a few days.
Wishing you and yours the very best of peace, love, happiness; for this, and next, year as well
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oops, i think the word “warmth” should have been included in that somewhere .. heh.
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Well, there is fakery in most magic! Thanks for your wishes, Davo. May your new year in the the upside-down land of Down Under be one of comfort and cheer.
And warmth of every kind.
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“There is magic and miracle afoot, and the author of St Luke’s Gospel, who may or may not have been Saint Luke, caught it so many centuries ago in these words:
“And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men”. (Luke 2:14)”
In my opinion the “fakery” is real, that is to say an actual experiential phenomenon.
The birth of Jesus for me symbolizes the announcement of the presence in this world of a placebo effect known as liberation. Whatever created this world (God, nature, etc)installed within the human psyche the ability to experience a non-contingent embrace of everything. We have the psychological ability to feel good about being; and without the need for a rational reason for why this is so. It is an amazing grace, imo.
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Non-contingent, Raymond? I’d go further and say necessary: that the ability within the psyche to embrace everything is a fundamental part of being, whether human being or any other being. I’d say that conscious or not, rational or not, we are all carved from the same block, cut from the same cloth, linked in a way that goes beyond DNA, elementary particles, or any other signatures of identity used by scientists to link or differentiate substances and entities.
I’d say that the human “failure” most of the time to recognize this close embrace, this unity of everything, is necessary: because (whether contingently or necessarily) we all are part of a food-chain game. Our struggle for survival requires conquering or eating one another, so we are more tuned to fear and separation than to unity. It doesn't change anything though. We operate in switchable modes.
Thus, in the trenches of the first World War, the soldiers on both sides who most days fired at each other in a deadly impasse of death, had a brief truce at Christmas, when they recognized their common humanity. I believe their officers were scared it might last beyond Christmas, undermining the urge to fight, and wrecking the whole enterprise.
But all it needed was someone to start shooting again, for the survival instincts once more to take precedence.
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“We operate in switchable modes.”
Well said, and sometimes in both modes simultaneously.
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Both modes simultaneously? I don't think I do. Do you practise this or does it come naturally?
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I wonder if this post-Darwinian embrace of eat-or-be-eaten is truly necessary, or if instead it represents a handy excuse for the abiding ethic of our era.
I suspect that we endorse it as “innate” because it suits us. Certainly many cultures have existed that practiced a mutual support. To point out that they were killed off by other humans doesn't make 'eat or be eaten' necessary – only shows that it's the surviving ethos in a mixed system.
I can imagine a world in which we will need to overcome that preference in order to survive as a species.
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I like your comment, Hayden. It makes me think, or rather shocks me into a couple of realizations about how I took certain things for granted, whilst you are operating from a different set of axioms.
1) What we each meant by “necessary”.
I took it in the first place that the possibility of realizing the unity of all creation is inbuilt, but also necessary: not just “installed [by the Creator] within the human psyche” as you might install electricity and drainage on a site prior to building houses. By necessary I meant that if we really dwell in this sense of unity, we realize it could not be any other way, even if it is not generally acknowledged by humanity as a cultural reality.
When I mentioned the necessity of eat-or-be-eaten: “Our struggle for survival requires conquering or eating one another” I was referring to another kind of necessity: to defend oneself if attacked. At the moment of being attacked, I don’t conduct a review of ethics, or ask myself if there isn’t a better way for humans to get along: precisely because I am under attack.
2) What we each meant be “we” and “our”.
When I said “Our struggle for survival requires conquering or eating one another”, I meant it literally because I saw “our” as embracing the entire animal kingdom including ourselves. You cannot tell a carnivorous animal to overcome its preference.
You say “I can imagine a world in which we will need to overcome that preference in order to survive as a species”. This sounds like John Lennon’s song “Imagine”. Yes, we can imagine a world in which there are no guns and bombs, and people don’t need to lock their doors against burglars. But to speak on behalf of one’s own species, and say that we can “overcome a preference” implies a sense of idealism, and belief in perfectibility, that I realize, with a little shock, that I no longer possess. In this time of my life (it hasn’t always been so) I care less for the “shoulds” and more for a connectedness to what is, that is the changeless necessity of Being.
I don’t think you are wrong – just see another divergence between us.
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“so we are more tuned to fear and separation than to unity.”
Regarding simultaneity of modes:
Yes, I have experienced that double-mode. Shooting at soldiers from an opposing army in 1968 I did not forget that they possessed exactly the same humanity as myself. I sensed a unity with them, even as I was trying to kill them, and they trying to kill me.
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.. and as diminishing physical resources begin to impinge on even the most basic “brain” systems, “shoot to kill” may well become valid.
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ixAll magic is fakery (except Santa Claus) but all that is not magic is an even surer fakery 🙂
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I don't see how we inescapably subjective beings can say what is magic and what is not. On the other hand, I think we can see the difference between magic that works well for us, and magic that does not.
For example, in my case, the modesty of Queneau works better than the certainty of Sartre.
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when my 18 & 20 year olds were little, I noticed that if I just move the “n” then Santa becomes Satan, who comes from “the fire place,” all dressed in red, knowing if you've been bad, fulfilling your desires, able to avoid being seen, etc. Our “innocents” eventually find out we will deceive them for fun (& control of their behavior.)
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christmas is the only time we are to be permistted to feel that good will toward men.
the enviro types sort of cheat by making their ideology about “saving” animals and places…but we really know it`s about a sense of internal well-being, that for some means riding around in dinghies messing with commerce, and for others, it means overspending, eating etc.
i had some wonderful moments this holiday with my wife and children, once we got past the presents. we laughed and joked and just spent time together and got along casually with nothing but the rise and fall of conversation, music and food.
but we do that all year, whether we are permitted or not.
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oh and magic in fakery?…absolutely.
i`m a hypnotherapist after all.
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“And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men”. (Luke 2:14)
I’m no Christian but these words were repeated again and again, all the years of my childhood and thereafter. It seems to me that the whole thing gets reenacted, every year, and Luke got it exactly right.
Bit of a subject change. My favorite biblical quote is this: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
I have no religious faith, save that of an atheist or agnostic, but if one is going to say something kind about the phenomenon, that's a good one.
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I read this again last night, as it was in printed out in my stack. Your blog is the blog of a writer. There are good blogs, but you could speak of anything and it would entertain, not necessarily because of the topic, thought it may be intriguing; not because of the deep thoughts, though your thoughts are often profound; but because of how you express yourself.
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John, I never thanked you for those words, which keep on giving encouragement, as now, 2½ years later, when I was beginning to lose some confidence, for certain complicated reasons, and in relation to a difficult writing project incorporating such pieces as this. Bless you for it!
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