The Christmas season is here and I am wondering how the world out there is experiencing it. Mine was rather uneventful and very laid back, because I am not going into the season with expectations. I believe that this is just a big pull into consummation. The true message has been forgotten. Our kids are past the believe that Santa Claus is real. We do enjoy decorating the Christmas tree, savoring the lights and watching a fire crackling in the fireplace. Isn’t this enough? By the way, wouldn’t it make more sense if people in the southern part of the equator celebrated in June, when it is their winter, to live up the lights on a chilly day? Even so I am far away I feel this year for the people in Sydney, Australia, having to deal with massive fires due to global warming. Of course, celebrating their Christmas in June would not solve the problem, but how dramatically topical is the message that lies within Christmas in times of climate destruction and a renewed nuclear arms race as well as an inhumane gap between the poor and the rich.
I am not going deeply into religion, but Jesus was an itinerant preacher, gifted provocateur and probably the most important person of all time with a far reaching message. None of the written stories, man made churches and built crosses are proof that there is a heaven and a god. He did not speak Greek, the language from which all the Bibles in the world were translated, he spoke Aramaic. That is why every second word of Jesus in our books are incorrectly translated or incomprehensible. The outrageous message of Aramaic Jesus 2000 years ago is simple: “Blessed are the peacemakers”, “Blessed are those who fight for justice”, “Blessed are those who practice tolerance”. When this gifted provocateur announced: “I will do everything new”, the representatives of the old were not exactly delighted. This man had to be eliminated. Can you imagine how difficult he would fare today in the Vatican. He would be the eternal troublemaker he was back then, fighting for change in the world, women rights, female popes, refuge, supporting the LGBTQ community, celebrating diversity and reveal misleading people like Trump…
Judaism at the time was a legal religion with over 600 complicated regulations – similar to today’s canon law: a super-morality that the Jew Jesus rejected. The Nazarene knew only one real religion: a good human heart. Today many Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu, but also atheistic and agnostic fully agree with this religion of Jesus. And so does the Dalai Lama. Jesus is not the founder of a new religion, he is the conqueror of all classic religious boundaries. In the Dalai Lama this means: “Ethics is more important than religion.”
So simple: Life is sacred, on earth we are one humanity under one sun! Why have a huge gap between what we know is right and then not doing it? If we have not changed our outlook it is time to do so and act on life, love, peace, justice and global warming!
Why am I making this a subject on my blog? Not because I am a religious believer, rather as a supporter of an important message. Practicing a simpler life will contribute to a healthier being, more time and care of the environment.
A man’s ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.
– Albert Einstein
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