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Welcome to this space!
May you have a joyful holiday season.
Some years ago, I started writing "Meetings with an Anonymous Sage," a series of dialogues. The one below is one I wrote for a previous Christmas. And what I imply is so different from what I was taught, preached, and taught for decades.
Furthermore, I was encouraged to send this out after seeing some videos this week that denounced Christmas, for it was, to them, a historical fantasy - interesting how dogmatic atheists can be in bashing what they know little to nothing about. Interesting how people can attack religious dogmatism with antireligious dogmatism. Christmas points us beyond both. There is absolutely nothing dogmatic or antidogmatic about it; nothing atheistic, theistic, agnostic, ...
Christmas is not historical in the sense that it happened in a specific, factual way in time and place, but it is not a fantasy. It is not untrue, either. The Christmas story is mythical, archetypal. It invites us outside what can be contained in time and space. What it points to is more important than what happened long ago. Mary, in the story, being a virgin is more important than her having been a virgin, or not. Do you see?
A literary term speaking to the efficiency and flexibility of story is multivalent. Learning this helped me much in seeing the scripture of my upbringing in a new way. Multivalent means story enfolds many meanings. That is, for one person, it might mean something, for another, something else. For you, it might mean something different from what it once did, or have an added meaning. Story speaks in diverse ways.
Historical writing is inflexible, story is flexible. Historical writing is factual, while story is symbolic. Historical writing says, "This happened?" Story asks, "What happens?" or "What can happen?" Historical writing is prosaic. Story is poetic - even if not in verse. Story evokes imagination, creativity, and exploration. It suggests, it seduces. Story respects your right to arrive at a conclusion through intimacy with the story. A story cannot mean anything, however, for a story sets parameters for potential meanings.
An example. For Meister Eckhart, the 15th-century Christian mystic, the question is: what does it matter if Christ was born way back then but not now in you? For him, we each are to be Mary. I agree. To be Mary, we must be virginic. Now, what does that, which has nothing to do with whether one has or has not had sex, mean?
Myth is timeless and universal. Myth shares what is true, and truth is more than facts. Like... Buddha was spiritually awakened while sitting under a Bodhi tree, even if he never sat under one.
Last, something you would likely never hear spoken in a church... - the Christmas story is not essentially a Christian one at all. Stories like this cannot fit inside something so small, even as Buddha being born from his mother's side is too meaningful to fit inside Buddhism. The Christmas story is your story - or it can be, it is up to you. Identifying as Christian or not, religious or not, if you invite it into your life - or, possibly better said, you invite yourself into the story - it will be your story, for it will be your life. Christmas is meant to be lived, not just read from a holy book or celebrated on a calendar date.
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Scholars debate when Jesus was born; possibly, it wasn't December 25 or in Winter at all. Some say it was in Spring. Some say its based on old myths.
And what's your question?
When do you think Christmas should be celebrated?
It's not a day on a calendar.
Then, do you think it's okay to celebrate Christmas Day?
Do as you wish. But it has no birthday or funeral day.
What do you mean it?
Now, finally... that's a very good question!
Can we take Christmas off the calendar and place it in our hearts? We can still celebrate the day if we choose; yet, as Buddhism teaches, let us not mistake the finger pointing to the Moon as what is most important. See the Moon!
Keep Shining, You Lotus Blossoms!
(C) brian wilcox, 2025
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