On 21 Dec
2013 at 5.11pm we celebrate the winter solstice. It is our darkest night, the night when Father
Christmas originally came down the dirty chimney. We could say the story
represents an experience that comes down through the spinal cord, through our
head, heart and body. It comes down from the world of ideas and lands, stumbling in the dark all ruffled and
rumpled, into this present reality.
If we have
been good through the experience, we are given gifts, and if we have not: coal. Coal is the unworked philosopher's stone.
My mates in Catalunya, Spain, have the added twist of the danger of receiving a plastic
representation of, erm, merda.
 |
| The Caganer in Barcelona this year. They also have Cagatios (logs that children bash the shit out of, which is where their presents come from) but often in the ferias (Christmas fairs) you can just buy the plastic excrement for the children's stocking. |
The
experience of being ruffled up happens to all of us. Life has its ups and
downs. The question is - Were we able to keep equanimity during the storms?
While going through a torment in Vipassana I wrote:
Even in its
strength
The lighthouse
Cannot control
the waves.
The
lighthouse doesn’t freak out. It stays there, quietly, calmly, persistently,
accepting the waves, knowing that nothing is forever.
While we have been living life, the question
Santa wants to know is, ‘have we been good?’
Did we freak
out when someone messed us about? Did we collapse in tears because we were
premenstrual? Did we rise into road rage at the knob-head who cut in front of
us?
Or,
Did we listen
and try to understand? Did we…erm…fill in gap…instead of collapsing into
hormonal imbalanced tears? (A sooty hazy point for me…advice would be appreciated)
Were we driving calmly enough to see the crazy driver and gracefully give him
the space he and we needed?
In our
experiences if we did ‘good’ we get gifts. Not presents, but gifts. Instantly. They
are created by Santa’s helpers, good-hearted spirits, dressed like the original
Father Christmas in green, who from their workshops in the trees
represent the help of Nature. There are a myriad of gifts we can receive, such as compassion and understanding of others, the ability to see things from increasingly different angles, strengthened
patience, or even
the gift of feeling good about staying calm and being able to do dude-style
surfing on hormonal waves. The list of life enriching gifts goes on and on…
And if we didn’t
manage, then we tend to feel a bit of a merda, sat moodily in the coal shed of
life.
Through the
dark times when we manage to keep it together, we are able to unwrap, to
uncover, our gifts, dis-covering that we actually always had them in our
nature. By having used the gifts of patience, for example, we realise we have
patience. Lao-Tzu said:
Treat those who are good with
goodness, and also treat those who are not good with goodness. Thus goodness is
attained. Be honest to those who are honest, and be also honest to those who are not
honest. Thus honesty is attained.
With these
gifts recognised, uncovered by ourselves within, the very same gifts enable us to
climb a little higher in the tree of life.
Along with the
fairy lights our sparks shine out fueled by moments of being good to ourselves and
others, the satisfaction of dealing well in a difficult situation, being aware
enough to stay open and loving even when all seems so dark around us, etc.
As we go
around life, with each new experience, down the chimney and up the tree, we are
given the opportunity to learn to use our gifts with ever more loving kindness.
As we strengthen in these roots, we ascend the tree of Life. The sparks of
consciousness connect more and more lighting up our path until it is so bright
we are nothing but a star!
The star at the top of the Christmas tree is our
higher selves connecting to a consciousness that is greater than our individual
selves - which is where Father Christmas, in all his generous nature, flew down
from.
