Christmas and Human Unity
Metareligious Significance of Christmas
Guest post by Yasuhiko Genku Kimura
The festivity on December 25th is believed to be a Christian festival founded upon the nativity of Jesus Christ. However, the significance of Christmas is far more universal, transcending a particular religious tradition called Christianity.
On the same day, the Babylonians celebrated the birth of Tammuz; the Persians the birth of Mithra; the Phrygians the birth of Attis; the Egyptians the birth of Osiris; and the Greeks the birth of Adonis. Also during this period in December the Romans held their drunken Saturnalia in honor of Bacchus, the god of wine (‘di-vine’).
In fact, the Christian date of Christmas was set to conform to these pagan festivals only in 337 AD when Pope Julian I decreed it. To this day, the Eastern Orthodox Church does not comply with this date as the birthday of Christ. All in all throughout history there have been 136 different dates on which the various Christian sects have celebrated the birth of Christ.
Thus, the festivity on December 25th was originally not Christian but pagan, and more ancient and universal in origin. Therefore, Christmas has a greater meta-religious spiritual significance beyond Christianity and is worthy of celebration by the whole of humanity because it is a celebration of the spiritual identity and unity of humanity.
In the Northern Hemisphere, the 21st day of December marks the winter solstice, the day when the Sun reaches its farthest point south. This is the longest and darkest night of the year. According to ancient cosmology, it is at this time that the Sun’s physical forces upon the Earth are at their minimum, while the Earth’s psychic or astral forces are the most powerful. The maximum of this psychic period is reached about three or four days after December 21st, that is, 24th or 25th, just before the influence of the returning Sun is felt.
At midnight, at the cusp between the 24th and 25th of December, when the Sun is directly under the Earth, and when the zodiacal sign of Virgo, the virgin, appears on the horizon, Jesus, the potential Divine Christ Consciousness, is born of a Virgin, to begin the journey of life on the cross of humanity towards its spiritual destiny—the rebirth (the birth from above) which is the actualization of the potential and the fulfillment of the promise on Easter.
This birth, this beginning of life’s journey, signals the dawning of an immaculate new year and symbolizes light’s eventual triumph over darkness. Thus, at midnight, the Divine Christ Consciousness, immaculately conceived, is born of the womb of a virgin from the darkest of the dark.
When the mundane phenomenal world is at its darkest, the spiritual noumenal world is at its most luminous. The Luminous Numen presides over the world awakening and presages a new world aborning. The Cosmic Light illumines our path towards our divine destiny, towards our “salvation”, towards the freedom and liberation, and felicity and beatitude of our soul.
This is the cosmic meta-religious significance of December 25th, now celebrated as Christmas. This is indeed a “holy night” because this is a solemn, sacred moment in nature, in the cosmic cycle, which we should observe with the same wonder, awe, and reverence with which we behold an eclipse and other wonders of the Universe.
In Christianity, the immaculate conception and virgin birth of Christ (Son) is followed by the rebirth (“resurrection”) of Christ (God) celebrated on Easter, which is also a pre-Christian tradition universally celebrated by different religious traditions with a profound cosmic meta-religious significance.
One of many such examples: the Phrygians (an ancient Indo-European people, initially dwelling in the southern Balkans starting around 8th century BC) celebrated the resurrection of the god, which was hailed by the people as a promise that they too would issue triumphant from the corruption of the grave, i.e., the physical death. This divine resurrection was celebrated on March 25, reckoned as the vernal equinox by the people.
The spiritual significance of Christmas extends to the whole Christmas season and the whole season of winter. The Christmas season is to the year what the Sabbath is to the week, a time for spiritual reflection and regeneration. It is said that the nighttime is the daytime of the soul. The same is also true of the yearly cycle. The wintertime is the summertime of the soul. Winter is the time of spiritual activity, summer the time of physical activity.
John Milton once wrote (in effect) that he did not try to write in summer because his inspirations in winter were so much better. In the wintertime, the cosmic forces are with us for our spiritual illumination, and so the wise use the season for their greater spiritual illuminations and creative inspirations.
Therefore, let us not waste, under the pressure of banal commercialism prevalent in the world, this precious time for spiritual illumination and development, and for a momentous self-reflection and decision, by excessively indulging in our physical pleasures and glutting our physical appetites, or obligatorily giving material gifts to others.
Let our giving be authentically spiritual in nature. Let our giving be genuinely of our love and appreciation. Let the form (“the gift”) that carries our message of love and appreciation be most proper to our message that is beyond any form.
Alone let us each look deeply into his or her soul, so deeply that we reach the innermost where our individual souls become one inter-soul in the inner bosom of the Over-Soul. Let us be illumined by the Light and Love of the Over-Soul. Let us illumine our world with our light and love. Let us together creatively think our shared future into existence in light and love.
This day is the Festival of Light of one whole human race beyond any one religion or creed. Together we celebrate our cosmic human unity, the light and love residing in our heart, and the common destiny that will take us all to the promised land of divine benediction.
A Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year!
Many thanks to Yasuhiko Genku Kimura for submitting this wonderful article! For more information about his philosophical work, please visit his websites:
YT Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@DOGENKU/videos
Website: https://genkuworld.com
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The true nature of the relationship between Jesus Christ (and by potential extension, us) and God is the greatest truth (of many) that has been hidden from us. Christ is unique. There isn't anyone before or since that has reached the teleologic status that Christ achieved during his human lifetime. While we won't become Gods per se, we can certainly become much more Godlike by following the teleologic path he laid out for us. When we arrive at a critical mass of understanding (and put it into practice), that is how humanity will pass through the great filter and achieve the human singularity. Right now, the momentum is going in the other direction. We'll get there eventually, even if it likely won't be in our lifetimes. It will take a few more generations of trailblazers to turn the tide. I guess we all sought this challenge! God bless us and keep us throughout. Love each other. Spread the Word.
(Jesus) Christ is not God, he is the vessel that tapped into his divine potential, the life that shines light as a partion of God, Almighty, that manifested through him as an abstraction. Destiny is the same for everbody in The Universe, 'Kingdom of Heaven' from within, or an Infinite Hell, you decide every 8 minutes how you direct your life. His teach as a beaken of light in darkness!