-- Ken Wapnick Historically, Christmas arose as a pagan celebration of revelry that centered on the winter solstice, December 22, the shortest and thus the darkest day of the year. Centuries later, Christians took this holiday for their own (eventually moved to December 25), where it became a symbol of the birth of Jesus, the Christian light of specialness that came into the darkened world (John 1:1-14). Yet as a mere symbol, Christmas can have a different meaning ascribed to it, if we so wish. In A Course in Miracles, it symbolizes the rebirth of Christ in all of us, and therefore is a true and **non-special** light, whose sign is a star that shines in darkness, (T-15.XI.2:1). And so Christmas is also a symbol of the promise of hope, which does not lie outside ourselves in a magical Other, but guides us rather, like a shining star above— unchangeable in an eternal sky (T-30.III.8:4)— to the Heaven within our minds (T-15.XI.2:2). It is the hope that Christ, our true Self, is born in us whenever we choose to make His Thought our own, setting behind us the shabby thoughts we once thought were worth more than the treasures of Heaven.
Posted on: Wed, 24 Dec 2014 22:03:40 +0000
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