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Every Day Is A Holy Day - Remember?
It is no secret, especially to the thousands of you who visit our website, that the word "holiday" is derived from "Holy Day." What you may not know is that the word "holy" comes from the Holly tree, the most sacred of the trees worshiped by the Druids for its roots go the deepest into the Earth - they need lots of water and they're willing to dig deep for it! But I digress, as I often do.
This blog is about the holidays. Looking at what our "holy days" have become I fear that they are yet another casualty in the destruction wreaked by personal computers, the Internet, video games, social networking, and lessor machines like phones and faxes and the other "labor saving" devices of what Amy and I call "The Now Age," this time in history when everything seems to have to happen NOW!
I often wonder if the spiritual teaching advising us to "live in the now" has not only been embraced but taken to an absurd and destructive level. Every day has a sameness now, an eternal "now-ness" to it that didn't exist before each day started and ended with the checking of our email (not male, not female - email, a new sex?)
At the heart of our wired-in culture is the dissolving of not only time, but of our identity, too. We live in the now alright, so much so that we begin to have trouble remembering the past - a kind of electronically induced mild Alzheimer's condition - because there is so much to do, so much that has to be taken care of NOW or there'll be trouble. And it is harder than ever to earn a living now that the benign Ponzi scheme we call our Economy has seemingly ground to a halt because the media reported that things were not just bad, but that no one knew what was going on! That's the end of the line for a system that runs on confidence and optimism and the agreement that I'll pay for your life's work if you'll pay for mine. Suddenly, our economic social contract was broken - so odd for the dawning of the age of online social networking - and the new fashion was suddenly one previously not heard of: not shopping!
NOWadays, we stay in the now, not for spiritual reasons, but because we're afraid to NOT stay in the now! If we don't stay in the now we might miss something right there in front of us on that web page. We might miss news that affects us profoundly in these precarious economic times or we might miss something about a subject we're interested in or even something new and fashionable and gossipy. How can we have a conversation without being up on the latest news? News, now there's a weird word (for another blog!)
The problem is that the spiritual teaching that wants to remind us to live in the "now" is about our living life as a human being in the now, not living as the human interface between a machine and the world it can't get to (yet) - there's a difference! ;-) It is important that we remember the bible's admonition, "The Sabbath was made for Man, not Man for the Sabbath."
Holy days are milestones in our year, true, but their purpose is not just to give us a respite from work we'd rather not do. It is to remind us to re-member, to put together again the "members" of our mind, all the aspects of our personality and our hopes and dreams and to refocus them through the lens of our spiritual approach to the world - to help others, especially those we love, to help themselves and others. This is why Amy and I love Christmas and Hannukah and all holy days that are about love and service and remembering that there's more to reality than meets the eye.
The secret known by all "holy" people down through time is that every day, every moment, every place, every being is holy, sacred and deserving of being treated well and acknowledged for what or who they are. Every day is a holy day and, yes, every day is a holiday or can be if you remember to appreciate it and all those you care about.
Holiday gifts? My favorite gift is to hear Amy's voice in the morning, to smell her hair and nourish my soul with her laugh. I could go on but you get the picture! You don't have to be imaginative to know that life is short and often sorrowful and what would those who've loved and lost give to smell their beloved's hair again? I'm not being morbid, I'm remembering, I'm being real, I'm remembering what is holy and sacred or valuable, if you'd prefer to keep any hint of religion out of this equation.
The economic times, they are a'changing, true, and people are suffering the consequences of their actions and inaction, the quality of their decision making, and the unforeseen consequences of the actions and inaction and the decisions of people with power to affect them. Logic can only take you so far when you are living your life and trying to do what is best for you and yours. That is why we have invented so many divination systems - they work! Not only do they work, they are practically the only thing that works when you are trying to make decisions that are good for you and can best protect you from the greedy villains who pass themselves off as some of our government officials and businessmen and bankers and mortgage brokers and financial brokers like Bernie Madoff (who's hurt more Jews than Hamas). What a bunch of soul-less monsters. I hate what they've done and I hope they get their Karma swiftly and justly so they can get on with their spiritual development. I just pray that we don't suffer further from them getting their Karma - the law of Unintended Consequences! Yikes!
So rather than simply wish for you the best of the holiday season, Amy and I and little Zane, our shaman cat, wish for you to remember that every day is a holy day and every day can feel like a holiday if you spread whatever love and appreciation for others that you can spread in whatever way you can. And don't feel bad if you forget, just "get back on the horse" and keep spreading the good word - kindness. After all, that is what the holidays are all about!
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