I have a relative who sends out a yearly holiday newsletter. The harmless banality of her winter missives is worth noting: her annual letter is basically a collection of "we visited the boys and the grandkids" and so forth (we were blessed to be together, count the blessings, etc.). This year the sender mentioned her Bible Study class. I resisted the temptation to suggest she read Paul Krugman to really help get a handle on where humanity is currently residing.
One day I will write of how Christians have destroyed Christ (actually, I kind of already have) as this is a theme that resonates inside me. It's not a funny idea: it wears me out just thinking about it. Here we are in the Great Mystery of Being and millions of us clutch to outdated, tribally specific texts from the Bronze Age as the alpha and omega of religious thought. As Joseph Campbell was known to say: We are fishing for minnows while standing on a whale.
The beauty of True Believers is the William Goldman-related fact that, in the rest of human life as in Hollywood "no one truly knows anything." But Krugman knows a thing or two, and he has helped me get through some of the most fucked-up political years on this or any other planet. Thank you, Paul. I won't deify him because, as a pantheist, he's already as much god as you or me (perhaps we don't know our essential selves for a good reason...whatever). We seek the deeper oceans while swimming in the sky.
All I know is that I used to love Christmas, and now all it brings to mind is an image of Bill O'Reilly scowling, or Bill Donohue or some other blowhard who is trying to frighten our nation's elderly into some crazy yuletide protests. As a non-christian, I liked the story of the little magical baby who will grow up to be killed and then vanished from behind a rock--yay, you're killed but you're not dead, and now you're flying up to heaven! For the followers of Christ: look around at your fellow believers. Do you really want to spend eternity with them? Really?
I went to a funeral earlier this year where the priest spent a good part of his blathering explaining why the non-catholics could not take communion, and why catholics who hadn't confessed recently couldn't take communion, and why we were going to burn in hell if we didn't take advantage of His Amazing Offer to kiss his ass! I'm embellishing this only slightly, but while I was sitting at this funeral I let out a guffaw loud enough to shame a crab-eating macaque. I don't think I can make it through another religious wedding or funeral or graduation. I have lost my patience. Goodbye to all that.
Happy Holidays!
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--Oscar