Celebrating Winter Solstice with a Guest Post from MSI Press Author Arthur Yavelberg

 

winter solstice at Old Mission San Juan Bautista

Thanks to Arthur Yavelberg, author of A Theology for the Rest of Us, for this post:

Religion has a bad rap these days for all kinds of reasons--many of which are more than fair. Unfortunately, what often gets lost in these issues is the basic nature of true faith and spirituality--hope.   After all, the alternative is bleak--an uncaring, arbitrary universe in which everything has arisen by accident and will eventually dissolve just as randomly.  As the Psalmist writes, our lives are as so many blades of grass and, once we are gone, our footsteps will disappear and it will be as if we never were.

Compare that with the fundamental message of the spirit: there is not only design in our universe, but a divine purpose that, while perhaps mysterious, exists nevertheless.  Our lives may be limited, but we can sense the infinite--both in terms of time and the love and compassion that are the essence of what it means to be human. From this perspective, evil is borne of the delusion of separation.  People hurt others because they believe there is something to be gained.  Natural events are seen as disasters.  In truth, if we are all One, we have no more reason to hurt one another as we do to  pick our own own pockets.  So, too, the forces of nature can be painful, but they are really the birth pains of new beginnings. Briefly put, the origin of Creation may have been the chaos of the first chapter of Genesis, but chaos is not the ultimate destiny of Creation.

The Winter Solstice is the darkest time of the year.  During this season it is easy to succumb to depression and despair...to believe that the oppressive gloom will never end.  Therefore, it is no coincidence that so many religious traditions have their "festivals of light" precisely when it seems that all is lost.  The Jewish Chanukah celebrates religious freedom despite pervasive political authoritarianism.  Similarly, the Christian Christmas insists that there is not only a divine dimension, but that that divine cares so much about people that It is willing to endure the worst suffering the universe can manifest for the benefit of mankind.

The spiritual recognizes the dark. It understands the fear and hopelessness that can enter the heart of human beings on so many levels.  Nevertheless, the spiritual also insists that hope will ultimately be vindicated no matter the apparent power of evil.  Furthermore, it does not take much to engender that hope.  Whether it is the single cruse of oil in Chanukah or a newborn baby in a forlorn manger at Christmas, the fact remains: all the darkness in the entire universe cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.

For more posts by and about Arthur and his book, click HERE.

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