CHRISTMAS 2011

Here is a beautiful short piece that really touched me a few days ago. Its message is powerful for all of us.


"Something universal in the human spirit is rising at this time to celebrate the light that defiantly, brightly shines - even now, in what is (in the Northern Hemisphere) the darkest time of the year. While the lights sparkle and rich aromas and melodies rise up, the cold bites and the body yearns to hibernate.

It can be one of the most wonderful, and paradoxically, one of the most difficult times of the whole year. We are made to notice light and fullness, but also darkness and emptiness; we are reminded of our connectedness, but also of our aloneness.

Every person we love (including every person, alive now or not, who we have ever loved) awakens our recognition of the Universal Beloved, that which is the essence of all that is lovable and loving, the One from which we can never be separated.

Giving gifts is a way to remind ourselves of love, to enact our gratitude, to express the spirit of generosity that is our only sanity.

And yet so is being quiet and still, and noticing the stillness that is always already present.

And so, of course, life requires us to choose again. To find our heart's "yes" in both light and darkness. To find a way to walk with love in this still only half-made world, this place where love is yet to fully take its hold.

In the community where I grew up, our neighbours stepped over boundaries by gathering for a Hannukah party one night and singing Christmas carols through the neighbourhood the next. Together, these rituals healed something in us, individually and collectively.

May your heart find a way to practice this holiday season. May you find a way to notice the light in the darkness in every single body, to notice the non-separation that lets you reach across the gaps that face you!"


Sadly, I do not know the author of this wonderful message in order to give acknowledgement to where it is rightly due. But I remain grateful for being enriched by its wisdom.

Bless you all at this special time of year. May your introspections be fulfilling and a preparation for the quest to be MORE in 2012.

With my love


Clive