Christmas for Everyone
From Tetrakatus Productions - The Art of Jacob Walker
A few years back, I was fairly upset with the traditional Christian view of the world, and specifically its use of Christmas to promote ideologies that are against my ethics. As a result of this, I co-invented the holiday Krismas as the separate celebration of Kris Kringle.
Since that time, I have come to peace a little bit more with "Christ" and "Jesus". Although how I view these two terms is still at odds with most traditional Christians. Yet now I feel I can genuinely celebrate Christmas again, along with Krismas, using my new understanding. And I now have this page to share this with anyone else who might appreciate the concept, including Christians, Followers of other Religions, Agnostics and Atheists. And hence I titled this page "Christmas for Everyone"
Contents |
My View and Definition of the Bible, Jesus, and Christ
I truly can not explain how I can accept Christmas now, without explaining my views on Jesus, the Bible and Christ. I plan on writing a whole separate article on this topic soon, but here is a quick synopsis of what premises are used for this page.
The Bible
I see the bible as being an ancient book written by people, and then copied (and mis-copied) over an extensive length of time. The bible represents a collage of understanding of the world from the authors, transcriptionists and translators. It clearly often contradicts itself, states information that is not true, and contains some items that are highly unethical. All of this can be easily be seen at the Skeptic's Annotated Bible. And anyone who says that they follow the whole bible is actually lying (probably unwittingly) because of the reasons I just stated.
But the Bible, especially the New Testament, contains a lot of wisdom also. And I gladly accept wisdom from whatever source it may come from. So I pick and choose what I believe from the Bible, but unlike most people who do this without knowing that they are truly picking and choosing, I do it fully cognizant of this fact. Most of the parts that I think are good, are on the Skeptic's Annotated Bible "Good Stuff" page.
Jesus
I do not know who the historical Jesus was, or if there even was a historical Jesus. At this point I don't think it really is important. The Bible, and other texts, refer to Jesus, and what he supposedly said and did. When I refer to Jesus, I am referring to Jesus as represented in the Bible (or more accurately "Bibles" since there are many versions), and other early Christian texts.
As I have mentioned, I think that the New Testament contains many pieces of wisdom, especially when it comes to many of the things Jesus says. So I follow Jesus, as I follow other people I respect, such as Buddha, Martin Luther King, and Gandhi. To me, celebrating Christmas is now a lot like Celebrating Martin Luther King day. I don't celebrate the belief of him as a savior, but I celebrate the belief in a human who brought a message of love and peace to humankind, just like Martin Luther King, Buddha, Gandhi and many others have. This message is what is important. Loving your neighbors is what is important, doing on to others as you would want them to do to you is important. And I use Jesus as a symbol for these beliefs.
Christ
Just as "Buddha" was not the name of Siddhārtha Gautama, nor "Mahatma" not the name of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, nor the "Dalai Lama" the name of Tenzin Gyatso, "Christ" was not the name of Jesus. It is a title, which means "the anointed".
I view the "Christ" as the higher nature of human beings, and is nearly synonymous to me as the "Buddha Nature". Although, I don't think it is just one thing, or something where someone has a distinct part of them that is "Christ"; it seems clear the more I study neurology, psychology, and philosophy that we are far more complex than that simplistic mental model.
So to me "Christ-mas" is now the celebration of higher order consciousness.
I believe that many Christians are still at a lower level of thinking by blindly believing what they have been told what the Bible means. But at the same time, the way most Christians celebrate Christmas does bring them into a higher place of consciousness than many of their other beliefs about the Bible. I also recognize that I am not at the highest state of consciousness, nor do I know if I can get there, or exactly what that might even be. But I recognize, that my consciousness has grown far enough to know that I don't know and be able to be at peace with this fact, while at the same time be interested in the continual exploration and learning of this world that comes from every breath every moment.
Celebrating Christmas
If the views that I have about the Bible, Jesus, and Christ, resonate with you, you may wish to celebrate Christmas as I do now. I celebrate Krismas co-existing with Christmas, and Crispness, and many of the other holidays that exist around the winter solstice. I pick and choose what I want from them, and I am changing the traditional Christmas hymns to fit my vision of the Christ and of what I like about Jesus.
So I can now keep the Christ in Christmas. (And Jesus is Ok to have in there too!)
Christmas Carols
Since most Christmas Carols are traditional, and many do not have a known author, and most are in the Public Domain, I feel free to change them to fit within my mental models of this world.
God Rest Ye Merry Gentleones
- God rest ye merry gentleones,
- Let nothing you dismay,
- Remember Christ within us
- Renewed on Chrismas Day,
- To bless us all with love's great power
- When we may feel astray:
- O tidings of comfort and joy,
- comfort and joy,
- O tidings of comfort and joy.
Silent Night
- Silent Night, Wondrous Night,
- All is Calm, All is Bright
- Round Yon' Woman, Mother and Child
- Lovely Infant, so Tender and Mild
- Sleep in Beautiful Peace,
- Sleep in Beautiful Peace
