There are so many cultures around the world. Each celebrates the coming of the light in a different and unique way. The stories have a common theme, a common truth, a common reality. Yet, religion is at the core of every war and every tirade. Scratch the surface of any disagreement and you will find indoctrinated belief battling empathy and compassion.
Imagine being a Christian and then judging others. The two are, technically, mutually exclusive. Just imagine. How can both beliefs coexist in one body? They cannot. An inner war is waged, and the battle is ego.
January 7 is the day of Orthodox Christmas Day. The people in that church have been fasting as the Western world binged. The date is set by the Julian calendar. We didn’t hit the current Gregorian system until the 1500’s. Is there a correct day to celebrate?
Since the astrologers tend to pinpoint the star of Yeshuah’s (dark skinned, Jewish Jesus’s) birth to have occurred in October, the thought is that all churches moved the feast date to attract the Pagan followers who were celebrating Solstice.
Everyone was celebrating the same thing. The hard handed religious powers worked to annihilate other methods of worship. And here we go around the mulberry bush, ego, power in play. We are back to the question of how a person can actually believe the core of all Truth, hidden in the subtext of religion, and then judge and murder others for their way of seeing the exact same Truth from another facet of the spiritual diamond.
As we sit in the United States, playing out a form of political warfare, battling for Truth, everyone judging everyone else, fighting to keep a form of economic god, rich over poor, white over diverse, we should really question where our own egos are acting outside of the light.
Today is another chance to recognize the birth of light within ourselves, the space of Truth, the space of Divine power, another Christmas. I have gratitude for the moments I can touch on that and release my ego structures. I am thankful for the shaky ground of religious freedom (controversially so) allowed to me. I am ever so grateful for the quiet moments of Christ Consciousness that shine out here and there over the darkest of days.
Enlightening and joyous Orthodox Christmas Day!
micheleplumbstowell.org 
