Lessons of 2024

I've become less misanthropic and cynical this year. I genuinely believe in the goodness of humanity now. There were different synchronicities which catalyzed this shift from a previous dystopian disillusionment that plagued me most of my days.

One of these? Santa came early. It was actually a neighbor who wanted to brighten up the Christmas of a few families because our little town is filled with charitable and generous people who love to be kind to each other. I’ve never lived in a town so full of the Holy Spirit in such a vast swath of the citizenry before. This happens every day here.

My favorite thing about this is that I get to pretend it was Santa to my daughter, who was starting to doubt his existence. This gives a nice ambiguity to it all that keeps the magic alive for a while longer. I’ll tell her the truth and we will then pay it forward some future Christmas season in coming years.

However, it’s not really a lie, in my mind. It’s analogous to the Bohr model of the atom vs. the more mathematically accurate electron cloud model of the atom. The spirit of grace born from gratitude within humanity is Santa Claus, he embodies our consciousness in this way. The spiritual foundation of humanity is built on stories.

I recall reading something that resonates deeply in my heart on this topic:

“Every faith in the world is based on fabrication. That is the definition of faith―acceptance of that which we imagine to be true, that which we cannot prove. Every religion describes God through metaphor, allegory, and exaggeration, from the early Egyptians through modern Sunday school. Metaphors are a way to help our minds process the unprocessible. The problems arise when we begin to believe literally in our own metaphors.

Should we wave a flag and tell the Buddhists that we have proof the Buddha did not come from a lotus blossom? Or that Jesus was not born of a literal virgin birth? Those who truly understand their faiths understand the stories are metaphorical.”
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― Dan Brown, The da Vinci Code

I am no stranger to taking things too literally, being on the autism spectrum and having played the glass bead games of graduate school in biomedical science. Logic and evidential data whose value is not overstated beyond the bounds of objectivity is God in that realm. More recently, I remember the importance of the right brained approach and that creativity is what gives life meaning. I grew up in a culture of magical realism so it has always been looming in the cracks and portals of my mind, but the structure of society encourages us to view such things as foolish and naive. This is an undeniably deep collective wound of lost wisdom.

Upon reflection on balance, I now believe that in this age of Aquarius, it is time for the Sophia-Christos consciousness to awaken collectively and bring back the divine imagination and dissolve the bonds of the patriarchal dark masculine, harmonizing his energies with the divine feminine. So it is, too, I understand each person’s journey will be personal and all energy serves a purpose in life. One of my goals in life is to be one of the architects of new myths that make sense of life in the modern world that heal the rifts in the divine feminine and masculine energies of humanity. That power is within us.

I know that I am not alone in believing that when Jesus said the path was within him, he meant something different from what most people think; he meant it is within me and you. Further, I know that when the world drags you down, it's an invitation to dissolve and coagulate into something more whole, a profound peace beyond the forbidden knowledge that tore through the fabric of the soul, because that's where the light comes in, just like Rumi said-

. 🎶 Just like Rumi saiiid! Be my lil babay…o o o o ohh… take me home tonight I don’t wanna let you go till you see the light 🎶

There’s a Leonard Cohen song lyric saying the same thing, there’s a crack in everything being how the light gets in. Rumi said it is the wound, where the light gets in. It’s clearly a strong idea in the collective consciousness.

In real life, I often randomly break into song. Someone mentioned that in a poem they wrote about me years ago. We become immortalized when we inspire art in others. We get to see ourselves in greater depth of perspective and understand that we are all one.

Encountering a kindred spirit who evokes your deepest demons is a rare, disquieting, and exhilarating experience. As the facade crumbles, the darkest battles are fought within. Bukowski said love was when your hell sees the hell in another. I say, yes, and it only lasts if the angels can sing together as well. Some loves seem to exist beyond this life alone. Oh, but the greatest love story in one’s lifetime is the one with oneself.

The divine imagination makes life richer and more worth living.

Merry Christmas 🎄🎁❤️‍🔥🌹