Thursday, December 25, 2014

We Wish You...

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I went on a road trip with a friend and we took a highway from Reno to Las Vegas, and we stopped to just stretch our legs and got out and heard absolutely nothing.  There were no cars driving by, the silence was literally deafening.  It was an amazing moment for me, I love quiet so much, and living in a big city, it is a rare experience.  Christmas Day is one of those moments for people that do not celebrate it, we are struck how there is no traffic, everyone is happy celebrating with family and friends, there is just peace in the air.

I was reading a few thoughts today that I found very interesting, one was from a Jew and one was from a Muslim about how Christmas feels when you are not Christian and how we can apply it to our lives.

The Jewish perspective:
Marcus J Freed
9 hrs · 
A CHRISTMAS MESSAGE: "MESSIAH COMPLEX"
Today is a cultural curiosity. Billions of people are putting their energy into a sometimes-spiritual event while many Jews are busy eating Chinese food(1) and emphasizing it is “just” a normal day. “Messiah/Moshiach” is a deeply Jewish concept, so why don’t we all use today to focus on elevating our “messiah consciousness” and doing our part to heal humanity?
Isaiah wrote: “And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, And the leopard will liedown with the young goat, And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little boy will lead them (11:6). Here’s a free/freed re-interpretation: tame the animal passions within yourself and allow your inner child, your intuition, to lead the way.
Or put another way, Can you get your warring internal thoughts to be peaceful with one another? Can you remove all conflict from your family relationships and live in peace? If the messianic vision is to “repair the world in the leadership of the Divine”(2), then can you unify your thoughts, words and actions?
Interestingly, it can all start with a meditation. The prophet Jeremiah even wrote that “the breath of our nostrils is the Messiah of God” (Lamentations 4:20). This could mean that if we control our breath then it takes us into a deeper, internal and transformative state. Peace within leads to peace without.
Today, try looking beyond what you see with your eyes. If you see holiday lights, look towards your inner light, and connecting that to a Higher Light. Consider how you can bring more light into your own life and then radiate it outwards.
Love & Light
Marcus
*****
(1)Since moving to the USA I've learned about the American Jewish custom of eating Chinese Food & watching movies on Christmas. I don't know the origin of the tradition...but as Tevye said, every tradition has a reason...
(2) Hebrew: “L’taken Olam B’Malchut Shaddai” - literally “to fix the world in the Kingdom of God”, but my free translation above also works….

The Muslim perspective:

Ehsaan nasheeds

A few observations I made today (Christmas)
Today morning when I was heading towards the cemetery to visit my father, I realised that the roads were awfully quiet I could see the end of the road with no cars in sight, it is normally those very roads that are full of traffic at that particular time.
Anyway that's when I realized it is Christmas morning and I thought to my self, SubahanAllah had been Eid morning I would have seen cars trampling on one another blasting music and causing havoc for every other road user, I would have seen youngsters, boys and girls in hired cars and lemo's going up and down the same road repeatedly to show off their cars.
Whereas on Christmas Day, those celebrating are at least doing it properly, I.e. with their families enjoying their time etc.
When I got to the graveyard quicker than usual (no traffic) I realized that just like how we Muslims pack out the graveyard after Eid Salah by visiting our loved ones, they too visit their lost ones on this morning, although not in as large a number as on Eid morning.
We Muslims could definitely take some lessons in the way they conduct themselves during Christmas, because not a year has gone by that I haven't heard an announcement in the Masjid that young Muslim boys and girls have died in car accidents due to their reckless driving, leaving behind their grieving parents, friends and family.



My son had a holiday play in his school and they finished it with this,
We wish you a Merry Christmas,
We wish you a Happy Chanukah,
We with you a Happy Kwanza,
and a Happy New Year,
Coach Yulia
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