a work take on the christmas story

WINTER SOLSTICE
THE CHRISTMAS STORY
In the darkest nighttime, in the
coldest and most cheerless time
of the year, at the season of the
winter solstice—the Christ child
can be born. It has to be that way
—light in the darkness. The Sun
dies and the Sun is reborn. It is
the same sun that dies and is
reborn, but from time
immemorial this has represented
a mystery. The child that is
reborn, the Christ child, is
something new, something
promised and long awaited, a
messenger from another realm
for whom the highest part of us
waits. And waits in the darkness
for the coming light.
Every part of the Christmas story
has to do with man. Any man:
you, me. It is an account of real
man as he could be—the God-
Man, the Hu-Man—but it is also
the story of man as he is.
Very few, like the Cherubinic
Wanderer of the Middle Ages
recognise that “I must myself
become Mary and give birth to
Christ.” But all of us owe a debt
for the gift of our lives, a “tax”
that will one day have to be paid.
Sometimes we remember that.
In the way we at present live,
each of us is the Inn, where there
is no room for the Christ child to
be born. The Inn his too full, too
busy, there is too much coming
and going, getting and spending.
It has its own life and knows no
other.
And so the Holy Family who
have come to pay their tax can
find no place for the child to be
born except in the manger, the
place where the animals eat.
Bethlehem also means, “the
house of eating.”
Who are the holy family? The as
yet unborn Christ child, and
Mary, his mother. Mary is called
the Virgin and the meaning of
virgin is unused. Mary is also the
name for the sea: the living water
in which higher forms can exist.
Mary represents the unused
energies in us. These are the
higher energies we disregard and
waste during the course of our
lives. Joseph is not actually a part
of the Holy Family. He is that
part of us that is able to recognise
and care for them, value, guard
and keep them. This he does in
the story.
There are only two animals
present at the birth of the Christ
child, the ox and the ass. They
are alike in that they spend their
lives in patient, unremitting toil
for others. They have nothing of
their own.
In that dark night all the world
was oblivious and asleep, save
for some shepherds in a higher
place—“the hillside,” where they
watched their sheep by night.
Because they were awake they
could be present to a mystery
beyond their understanding—
they heard the angels rejoicing at
the birth of Man.
Something of the magic and
mystery of this story has rung
down through the ages and we
can hear it still. Children are not
strangers to this starry night, this
night of lights and music
emerging from the darkness.
Even now there is still that child
in us which is not buried totally
under the grossness, the
sentimentality, and the lies with
which we at Christmas fill our
“Inn.”
The three wise men followed a
star—the inner light reflected
from above—and travelled from
the East, where the sun rises.
They brought gifts for the divine
child. Gold incorruptible for the
King; frankincense, which when
burns ascends in fragrance, for
the God; but for the man, Jesus, a
bitter herb. For any who would
really be like Jesus must taste
that bitterness.
But the wise men could not
remain and they were obliged to
return to their source “by another
way.” They needed to avoid
Herod, the Tetrarch who wished,
and will always wish, to destroy
that which threatens the status
quo. He is also part of us.
The story is told, the year is
ended. Tomorrow the ordinary
light of day will be a fraction
more, the dark a fraction less.
But for a moment the vault of
heaven opened and the wonder
and the glory could be sensed.
Now we are asleep again. Herod
is safe. The cock crows, the dog
barks, the donkey brays. The
noisy, busy life of the Inn begins
all over again.

Reality of Being by Jeanne de Salzmann | Fourth Way | Gurdjieff | Gurdjieff Books

Reality of Being by Jeanne de Salzmann | Fourth Way | Gurdjieff | Gurdjieff Books

DEDICATION

everything here is dedicated to the One Source of all Life, all Love, all Intelligence, and to all my brethren whose lives are dedicated to the possibility of being able to 'sense' this Source, which i sense is the Reality of all realities.

to this One Source, all i can offer is my love my gratitude and my worship.
it is only though Grace that i can sense this reality as a certainty

man has been putting a word on this One Source since he first appeared on this planet,i suppose.

my heart swells with love for it and joy in the sensing of it.

i also sense that sensing it as a reality is the beginning of the only Freedom.



WHO, BY ACTIVITY CAN CLEAR THE MUDDY WATER?

the Tao that can be named is not the eternal Tao.




Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
26


Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
27


Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
28


And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
29


And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30


Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?


Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.



i suppose, on reflection that saint Jesus did not say throw away your common sense either.


i never ever 'believed in God. i'm not sure 'belief' is useful

i would tentatively venture that belief is to faith what happiness is to joy.

belief seems to me to be a species of 'opinion'.
i mind that saint Paul describes faith as 'evidence' of the 'unseen, perhaps 'certainty' of the 'unseen'. if i have evidence, i don't need belief.i have that evidence thanks be to the One. He is 'self' evident.


there is always the wind in the trees, and the next moment.

and the space between.

it is always reconsidered, and the change explained.

there is always this, and this,

and the space between.
'

what to call this?

here is a little tale that i pass on to you, we could call it " cosmic catch ":


on an island that any fool can find, there is a tree that any fool can find.

if anyone goes to the tree and walks exactly 10yards exactly to the west and digs down, he will find a fortune in gold and jewels.

this fortune is there for the taking, on one important condition:

while digging he must not think about, or picture or in any way have an association about, a white monkey

if, while digging, he does so think about a white monkey, the entire fortune will disappear and be lost forever at that instant

Searching for the bull; Zen story

Searching for the bull; Zen story

On Attention and Understanding of "Beelzebub's Tales"

On Attention and Understanding of "Beelzebub's Tales": "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

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