A Festive Season Message

Every year around this time I find myself facing a small dilemma. On the one hand, I seem to always find something about the whole Christmas / Festive season that repels me… and something else that I want to embrace.

Last year it was the crass commercialism of Christmas that was getting up my nose, in comparison to the really beautiful underlying idea of sharing and gift-giving.

And this year, as we were winding up to Christmas, it struck me that my struggle each year has been with the trappings of Christmas. The surface stuff. I need to sort this one for myself at the most fundamental level.

I need to decide, once and for all, if I celebrate Christmas. If I do, then what does it mean to me? And if I don’t, do I replace it with something else that I DO celebrate? Or do I “Bah! Humbug!” my way through this time of the year?

So first things first.

I cannot celebrate the birth of my Saviour. Because there is no Saviour for me outside of myself. And since All is One, there is nothing to be saved from! What is true for me, is that I find my path to the divine within myself. This is what it means to believe in the Oneness of all.

As it happens, I ACTUALLY believe this is what the Christ message has always been about. Oneness. The kingdom of God within each of us. Jesus is quoted in the bible as saying things that would strongly support this idea. He told us that he is the son of God. But he also told us that everything he did, we could do too. He told us that we each find the kingdom of God within ourselves. He told us that we are gods. And so on.

If these passages in the Christian bible are the true quotes of an actual historical figure (which I accept may be so, but I am also not attached to this being true) then these were the words of a man preaching Oneness.

If I look at all of this then I believe this man must have been saying, “follow me,” as in, “follow my example,” not, “worship me,” as in, “I am God and you are not”.

But it actually doesn’t matter TO ME what he said, or what his motivations for what he said might have been. I get that this is of crucial importance to others. But not to me. Because, quite simply, I find my path to the divine, my connection to God, my access to Oneness within myself.

So I don’t need anyone to save me.

If someone says to me, “Arn, you cannot trust yourself, you should place your trust in me instead,” then I immediately assume they must be a con-artist. Because that is what con-artists do. They shake your faith in what you know so that you will be open to what they are selling. Because what they are selling is not in your best interests to buy.

I am NOT saying Jesus was a con-artist! Quite the opposite. I am saying I believe he was telling the truth. And the truth he was telling was Oneness. What has been done with his message since then... Well... Let's just say that is what doesn't ring MY truth bell.

And more than that. I am made to find my truth within myself. I am a natural born rebel. Which really just means that I find my own authority within myself. And not only is this how I am, it is also how I like to be. And, though it doesn’t matter to me, I think it is how every one of the many, many Christs who have borne the message of Oneness into this world throughout time have been too.

How else could it be? How else could these beings have stood in the face of all adversity and proclaimed a message of love? It must be that they found their truth and their connection to the divine within themselves! Otherwise they too would have just been followers of the doctrine and dogma of the day. So they too must have been natural born rebels of the unity-conscious variety!

So. Bottom line. I do not follow any other. I do not need saving and do not look to any other to save me. I do not worship or bow down to any other. I do not seek for the holy or the divine outside of the sanctity of my own heart.

And for these reasons I have no use for the Christmas story as promulgated by the Christian church.

I can see, though, that others might. I can see that there are many others who DO believe that they need a saviour and that many of those find their need serviced by their religious faith. All I can say is, three cheers for them. I have no problem with that. It isn’t my path. But I release them to it, if it is their path.

And, as I do so, I can see that there is a way clear for me. I find I am able to let all religion go. Religions is just people doing what people do. Not my problem. And as I let this all go, in its place is a decision for me, once again, to affirm this time of the year as a period of celebrating Oneness.

A period of giving, caring and sharing. A time to gather your family (biological, emotional and/or spiritual) around and to tell them how much you love them. And, in so doing, to share the spirit of Oneness in the gentlest, most non-threatening way. To express Oneness to the people you love by your words and your actions. Through sharing and kindness and generosity. Rather than through preaching at them and attempting to change them.

So that is my choice. From here on out, I choose to have a “Feast of Oneness” each December, culminating in the last week of December. And since you are reading this, I consider you to be a part of the Zingdad family… And I would like to share some of that good lovin’ stuff with you!  :-)

If you already receive my newsletters then I’ll be dropping some Feast of Oneness surprises on you between now and the end of December. If not then you can sign up for free here.

And right now, I have some exciting offers and gifts for you… and for you to share with those you love. These are valid until the end of December 2015 and can be found here.