Merry Christmas

There are atheists who won't wish a Merry Christmas on principle, but I'm not one of them. I interpret Christmas in my own manner. The holidays mean different things to different people. To me, Christmas is a time of warmth and fellowship, of inclusiveness and getting back together with distant members of the family. The religious aspect is of less significance than the cultural aspect. I see no reason to dismiss such a long-standing holiday that predates the world's most popular religion. Every year, I have a wreath, a Christmas tree, presents, and I like to hear Christmas music, whether religious or secular. It brings to mind good feelings and good memories.

I don't mind speaking about God and Jesus, though I try to avoid it, because these terms mean different things to different people. To say that not everyone agrees on the definitions would be an understatement. Also, plenty of people are leery of proselytization, as am I, because I have had Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons knock on my door many a time. They like to speak about God and Jesus, but they mean something much different than what I have in mind.

To me, God and Jesus are symbols of something greater. I believe in the greater, which I take to be universal goodness. I remember being taught in Sunday School at a very young age that God is Love, which may be the best explanation I have ever heard. When we feel love for ourselves and for others, then we come closest to God, or so it seems to me. Love, affection, friendship or a simple regard, if it is mutual, results in the greatest benefits and good feelings, whereas other schemes, like animosity, bring negative consequences and negative feelings. In my opinion, the greater the simplicity to religion, the better. All that needs to be said concerning religion is that God is Love. Those three words really say it all. Anything else seems unnecessary.

My current hypothesis regarding God and Creation is also unnecessary, but I like it because it seems right somehow. It is pure speculation. I have an idea that the Universe is One. We perceive one another in terms of individuality, but it is due to the limitations of our senses and our awareness. Everything is connected in a spiritual sense. It is difficult to explain except in mystical terms, because the details are unknown. I call my idea a hypothesis, because it is unproven. I should not say, this is the way things are, but rather, this is my opinion, based upon what I have observed. I think God encompasses all things and is interchangeable with the Universe. I think that the Universe, which encompasses all things, has a certain personality. It is creative. It wants to produce great and good works, and the more elaborate, the better. It is ambitious and plays with its power, which is beyond comprehension. The power is vast. We see little of it, but what we do see is awesome.

I have written about this hypothesis concerning Oneness before on this blog. I used to wonder whether any small part of it was original with me, but somehow I doubted whether it was, because I seem to have heard similar ideas before. A good rule of thumb is that no idea is original. We all borrow ideas from other sources, usually the dead. If we cannot name the source, we think it was generated by our imagination. But I wonder sometimes whether imagination really exists. Maybe all we ever do is imitate and elaborate upon our imitations. A month ago, I was in a thrift store when I encountered an old book about Marcus Aurelius. It turns out that he believed much the same as I do, or at least that was my impression after reading a brief description of his philosophy.

My understanding of contemporary scientific thinking concerning creation is that all things were once combined into a single mass known as a singularity. This mass exploded or expanded into many separate stars. From stardust derived planets and other celestial bodies. On an unknown number of the planets, at least one to our certain knowledge, unicellular life came into being. From unicellular life, sentient beings evolved. From sentient beings evolved reasoning beings, such as humans and certain other animal species such as cats, dogs, dolphin, and monkeys. All of the beautiful and fascinating objects are here for a time, but they will be destroyed later, because they are all just temporary manifestations of the One. And what is the one? Is it a singularity, such as existed before the Big Bang? Or is it more than that?

I think the end and the beginning are not points on a line, but points on a circle, which means that the end of the Universe leads back to a new beginning. How many times has the Universe been destroyed, only to create itself once again? Maybe 1,023 times. Maybe only once. Maybe a billion times. Maybe things were different last time. Or maybe the same things happened in exactly the same fashion.

In terms of the stories that are in the Bible, I would consider myself still to be an atheist, because the miracles appear to be allegories written in only some cases by wise men, but in other cases by men who were not very wise at all. I do believe in a historical Jesus, but believe that he was an ordinary man, an eloquent skeptic of the established order. His arrest and execution were unjust and motivated by petty politics. Many other skeptics have been martyred throughout human history. People in power tend to be jealous of their power and paranoid about perceived threats. Jesus should have been installed as the Roman Emperor. There, he could have done the most good, certainly more good than dead.

If Jesus came back to Earth and ran for President, and if he were the same man as represented by the Gospels, then I would work for his campaign and help raise money. I'd help with the computers. I'd make phone calls. But I doubt Jesus would sink to cold-calling, like telemarketers do. I wonder whether he would be popular. I think he would have many surprising observations to make.

In my younger days, I used to be an outspoken atheist, because I grew up surrounded by outspoken conservatives. I am reminded of Newton's Third Law, in which every action has an equal and opposite reaction. As I've gotten older and moved to different parts of the country, I have encountered Christians of a moderate persuasion. I understand that there are a great many good people who serve under the banner of Christ. They do not permit evil to latch hold of their hearts. To judge the entire faith by the words and actions of a few would be unfair, just as atheists should not be judged by the words and actions of a few.

Merry Christmas to all the Christians, the atheists, the Muslims, the Jews, and everyone else. I can't list every creed, because it would take forever. A better expression might be, "Happy Holidays," because that is non-denominational. But I like the sound of "Merry Christmas," and it is after all that time of the year.

My Christmas wish is this. I hope that the vision of Jesus can be realized, which is that the human race should evolve into a benevolent and cooperative body of people, rather than a fragmented world of competing tribes as it is today. Cooperation will bring the greatest benefit to the greatest number of people. I am not sure whether it will be possible. I don't know whether it will happen or not. But it seems necessary, due to the unique threats to civilization brought about by modern technology.