Are You Inundated with Consumerism, Commercialism, and the Other "-isms"? Here's How to Remember What Really Matters This Season

Jungian psychologist Marion Woodman reports that many people have dreams about the birth of a divine Child…and when they do, invariably 'the dreamer is astonished by its beauty, and its capacity to talk with the wisdom of an elder– The old life dies; a new life is born. The soul is finding a new world.”

The power of such a dream suggests that perhaps the Christmas story is about much more than trinkets under a tree of tinsel; much more than being a non-stop consumer shopping to keep the economy going. Something that takes us beyond consumerism, commercialism, and other '-isms.”

Something big and deep is afoot when old life dies and a 'new life” and 'new world” emerges. We are invited to pause and re-set our 'true north.”

In a similar vein, Rabbi Arthur Green tells us that Hanukkah is 'all about the light” and about miracles, too. (Miracles understood as that which arouses wonder in us.) This was the case when the Maccabees, 'a little band of guerrilla warriors” overcame a large army that was successor to Alexander the Great's vast imperial army. A ragtag band drove the empire out. (Not unlike David overcoming Goliath.)

Was it the hand of God at work? 'Who knows?” says Green. A second 'miracle” or wonder at Hanukkah was the light that burned for eight days and would not go out. Light lies at the center of the feast day of Hanukkah.

Light in the darkest time of the year in the northern hemisphere figures prominently in the season of Hanukkah and Christmas. In the Christ story, this newborn baby would grow up to be called a 'light of the world” and a 'light to all nations” who told others not to hide their light under bushels and themselves become lights to the world. Jesus paid a price for such teachings, from the time he was born and the political powers sought to kill him by killing all male babies his age, to the end of his life in the cruel torture of crucifixion at the hands of the empire.

Today's science has lots to say about light. Physicist David Bohm tells us that 'matter is frozen light.” Light is so special that religious traditions the world over celebrate it as the presence of the divine. Not just in the Burning Bush but that all bushes and all beings are burning. Since every atom contains light waves because Light is incarnate in all matter. No matter Einstein said he wanted to spend his life studying nothing but light.

Today, in the Hanukkah and Christmas seasons of 2021, we homo sapiens are facing extinction by climate change along with other marvels of planet earth. When an insurrection in the nation's capital on January 6 has left democracy hanging by a thread. When delusory politicians vie to see who can sell the biggest lies. When states compete to see who can eliminate the most voters from voting. When a pandemic spreading everywhere continues to morph. Where is the light, where are the 'marvels,” in such scenarios?

Maybe they are closer than we think, or closer than the media tell us. Maybe they are in the deepest recesses of our psyches and communities where we dream new dreams about justice and truth, beauty and new birth, and how we can put our vast creativity to work for saving Mother Earth, birthing a vision far larger than one nation or race or economic system.

Meister Eckhart says that Christmas is about our giving birth to the Christ, not just Mary. 'What good is it to me if Mary gives birth to the Son of God and I do not--in my time and place and culture?” he asks.

Maybe the urgency of our moment and a larger vision of our role as citizens on this tiny, special, and endangered planet can awaken marvels (miracles) of invention to combat climate change and transform homo sapiens to marvels of love, caring and softening of hearts that can render us new-born.

Maybe light and marvels can return again.