enLIGHTENMENT of Christmas

This is the beginning of the season of En-LIGHT-enment. Jesus was one in a series of people, often prophets and teachers, who have embodied enlightenment. We talk of the Star of Bethlehem leading the Wise men; we string lights on our trees and in/on our homes. I have a tradition, as many do, of driving around town looking at Christmas lights. Many people, especially in the Southwest, participate in the Hispanic tradition of luminarias ( or faralitos in northern New Mexico) by placing a candle in a sand-filled bag-- on Christmas Eve, if not before-- to light the way for the Christ-child. The Christ comes from the Sanskrit word Krsta from which comes Krishna who was described as the source of Light and someone wanting to illuminate both the inner and outer world. Krishna was considered to be compassionate, generous, forgiving, self-controlled, and honest, all traits Jesus shared.

Enlightenment has been defined in many ways, but most include the idea that an enlightened person has expanded their awareness beyond ego to identify with a living Universe in which everything is connected to everything else and nothing is "other."

Enlightened people are generally happy, peaceful, grateful, kind, compassionate, emotionally stable, patient, humble, open-minded and for whom the interconnectedness of all things is not just a concept but as experience. I do not believe that enlightenment happens like a lightning bolt, even if some great insight is gained suddenly. The above are traits we grow into, mindfully. So the Christmas season is a time of choosing to be ever more compassionate, patient, humble and open-minded. It is a time of letting go of an ego-based worldview and expanding it to include other people-- even people who are different from us-- to, as the words to Joy to the World say, "rocks, hills and plains" and far beyond to every part of creation.

I invite you to join me this Christmas season in mindfully cultivating enLIGHTenment and being an ever brighter Light in the world.