What if Christmas Means More than Easter

What if Jesus' birth, not the resurrection, heralded humanity's rebirth at a whole new level?

What if we had passed the first phase of our development and were ready to see that we had emerged from the animal world to become something new by being more fully conscious of each other and ourselves, and all that implies. Jesus saw and acted as if that unique human capacity was available to all of us, equally. What made that emerging consciousness different from animal evolution was that it was not physical; it was perceptual: how we look at our inner selves, the outer world and their relationship.

The miracle was not his birth but the understanding that each human birth is a miracle, a totally innocent, unblemished being coming into life. Starting afresh, each and every person has the possibility to experience, reflect, learn, grow and improve the world as a whole. While all animals also have the same potential to evolve, theirs slowly takes place over eons. The difference is that with our self-awareness we can recognize our possibilities and so can act on them and change much more quickly, even in our very lifetimes. Jesus saw and described and actually stood for the fundamental implications of that understanding.

Human consciousness is bottom-up. Once we understand that, we become responsible for what we do in the world. No one takes our experiences and transforms them into action for us. If Jesus saw someone suffering, he took the initiative. If a wrong is done, he didn't invoke the authorities to set it right it. He acted. For those about to stone a woman to death, he asked them to look into their hearts and realize that they are not perfect. What is this "look inside ourselves" question? If others followed his example, they also would act as he did. His eyes were open and he was aware of the consequences, and of his role, his responsibility, his purpose in life.

This understanding means on its most basic level that human one-on-one interaction is much more important than class, institutions, governments and static rules. Personal knowing inevitably leads to deeper understanding, compassion, sympathy and caring. Love does conquer all. He told that story over and over in his parables and actions. The individual matters, not the structures.

The implications continue to unfurl.

 

Comments

[kellyofsiam]

08:44 PM on 12/21/2010

I am not a christian. I appreciate this article & agree with much of it. Jeff Rosenbury does make a point in that a child is self centered and must be taught to overcome this...that is what Jesus was doing...teaching. So, from a non Christian...merry Christmas and good will to all.

[phnxrth]

03:36 PM on 12/19/2010

I just think it's an excellent article. I don't recall reading this particular viewpoint before. The important message conveyed to me is seeing things as they should be rather than as they are, that communicating with each other as Jesus did should be easily "at hand."

Also, I somehow find it refreshing to consider Jesus' message as really just a first step in man's overall spiritual progress.

Also, while I would champion the cause of self-awareness, part of the message has recently been perverted, not "Judge not lest ye be judged" but "I judge you no better than me, so you have to go along with ...(fill in the blank.)"

[Ytrus]

10:08 AM on 12/19/2010

Halloween is the most interesting western holiday, imo.

[Mary OGarbiadd]

05:32 PM on 12/18/2010

I always liked Christmas more, as did almost everyone I presume. Easter was preceeded with so much guilt etc. It truly was not joyous, even though they tried to make it seem like it should be and then made us guilty for not feeling more joyous. How could you be joyous just a few days after someone has died? I never got it really. And it is as much a miracle for God to be born as to rise from the dead. We were also told not to get too happy around Christmas because He was going to be dying soon. So basically it was year-round Lent. But Christmas does have a great spirit that I just don't see around Easter...mg

[wondering]

01:15 PM on 12/18/2010

Santa, the tree, the gifts, cookies vs. the obviously-trying-too-hard Easter bunny and a little smidgen of chocolate that was always gone by noon ... is there any comparison?
.

[syntax facit saltum]

01:44 AM on 12/20/2010

None of those things are the content of either Feast Day.

[Uncle Bob]

10:23 AM on 12/18/2010

tough call. I think the solstice is more important, but I'm bias. I live pretty far north so it is a very notable thing for me.

The equinox just isn't as noteworthy. Although I do like the fertility goddess.

[countryrds]

10:05 AM on 12/18/2010

What matters is the winter solstice as it is the reason for the season. Everything else is myth.

[relevancematters]

10:04 AM on 12/18/2010

This is an interesting article. I have always felt a little odd that I took a great deal more spiritual energy and enlightenment from Christmas than from Easter, and I felt I must be missing something because I did so, the Church being insistent that Easter is what it's all about. But Easter and its promise of salvation has always seemed very human-centered and selfish in its celebration of getting something for nothing, if you will, while Christmas seems more about promise, and about making room in one's heart for others.

I absolutely agree with the premise here; in my interpretation, at least, it very much complements the article of last week about the Magi, and the subsequent discussions of spiritual and scientific interpretation that followed in the responses.

[Jeff Rosenbury]

09:55 AM on 12/18/2010

We are Gods. But not in the sense Mr. Beebe is presenting. Anyone who's raised children knows they don't start out innocent, waiting to be filled with the evil of God's world.

Babies enter the world needy and self centered. As they grow they are taught to move beyond that. Some parents teach (possibly through their genes) that the world will enforce it's will on them. These children grow to take what they can get away with.

Other parents teach rules to follow that allow people to live together in harmony. These children grow up to be law abiding taxpayers.

Finally there are parents that teach their children love. These children grow to serve their fellow men in Christ's image. They set aside greed and judgement to act with benevolence to those around them. They become God.

This is why Christ's birth will always be overshadowed by His death and resurrection. For it is only when we die to ourselves that we rise with Christ.

[Daleri Rileda]

07:54 AM on 12/18/2010

It is all the same celebration of the same thing. It is all about the provision that God made for us Himself because no one else could.

[Billy Fritts]

11:52 AM on 12/18/2010

I like what you posted Daleri--No there was no one else--Christ had to go to the cross and die--With out the birth of Jesus there would be no sacrafice for our sins--thank you --

[Daleri Rileda]

01:50 PM on 12/18/2010

All that learnig of things that may have seemed trivial has paid off for me. It all comes together as the greatest event in history. It is a real shame that so few people even know about it.

[Enock Zamora]

01:15 AM on 12/18/2010

In 'The Gospel of Philip', he talks about the [cross]ing of the two trees of life, animal and human. Yes, it had nothing to do with an apple. In the 'Escalator of Life', it is no big deal to end a man from living a thousand years to one-hundred and twenty, or to changing one language in to many. In the same breath, it is not a big deal to ban or burn during 'The Council of Laodicea' and change the (60) canons, like the twenty-nineth, to change the Sabbath to Sunday and hide the truth?