The Motivation of Christmas

Can you feel it? I can feel it. The excitement and vibrations coming up the line – yes, Christmas is coming and I am so excited. Two months ago I had my best birthday ever, and now I am expecting my
best Christmas ever. I guess living in the present – and all those presents! – is the best way to be.

But putting aside the presents, the family, the shopping, the commercialisation of Christmas, why is Christmas so motivating a concept? It is I think because Christmas, albeit for many obliquely, reminds us of our fundamental mission in life. Which is? Take a deep breath – and understand what I am about to say is not denominational or creedal or in any way attached to one religion – and reflect that the primary objective is ‘to be more Christ-like’ ourselves.

Now clearly, if we are a Buddhist it is to be more Bhudda-like, and so on for all religions – each has their own special heroes and heroines whom we aspire to; but the principle is clear – we are in a
state of becoming, and there is some ideal person who acts as a role model, a beacon, an inspiration who enables us to become the better person that we want to be. After all, who wants to be just as they are? That would be to subscribe to a kind of mental, emotional and spiritual death.

So to return to the motivation of Christmas and becoming more Christ-like – the Western tradition as it were – what would that mean? I think at least four important things.

First, Christ in the accounts we have of him was noticeably not physiologically or psychologically addicted to anything: he could fast, but he could also eat and drink. He commented on the murder in the heart that obsessed so many power brokers and religious types around him. In short, this absence of addiction – physically and psychologically – amounts to freedom. To be like Christ therefore is to be free.

Second, Christ manifested massive amounts of compassion, especially to the underprivileged, the poor, women, children, and the sick. And with this compassion went an empathy – a sense that he knew what their pain or their condition was like. This requires a huge imaginative leap. To be Christ-like then is to be compassionate.

Third, the one group he did not exhibit compassion towards – the Scribes and the Pharisees – were those who wilfully and deliberately denied the truth: the truth of their own witness and of their own consciences. The kind of people who falsify reality on a systematic basis. This, incidentally, is not confined to people at the top of the pecking order – all around us people misrepresent what ‘is’ for their own ends. To be Christ-like, then, is to speak up and against these wilful purveyors of untruth.

Fourth, and finally, and perhaps most wonderfully of all, Christ always lived with miracles and the miraculous around him. Whenever he was present a miracle could and often did occur. People came
to expect him to do miracles, which in itself became somewhat arduous for him. But the truth is: the world is an amazing and highly unlikely place. Wonders surround us that we fail to see, so dull and habitual has our seeing become. Miracles are always possible and we should expect them. People with charisma – now, today - can create miracles at any time – the most important miracle being the
transformation of another person’s life through the presence of another.

The presence of another? Yes, more than anything else, the presence of another in the present heals us, restores us, strengthens us. To be Christ-like then is to live with the expectation of miracles at all times, especially miracles concerning people’s lives.

So, happy motivational Christmas to all readers of this article – and may we all become more Christ-like as we head towards Christmas!

Comments

[Clare Belmont]

Great piece!! Freedom, compassion, truth and being in the present are essential in life! From an inspired Youth Motivational Maps BP :c)

[jamessale]

Excellent Clare - great to be inspired!

[earl]

Great idea back there.

[pure garcinia cambogia extract]

Keep on writing, great job!

[voyance gratuite sans attente]

I don't even know how I ended up here, but I thought this post was good. I don't know who you are but certainly you are going to a famous blogger if you are not already ;) Cheers!