The Presence of the Season

[olmate]

With all of the materialistic pressures involved in Christmas today, it is easy to think of it as a period of hectic preparation, a day of celebration and a brief aftermath.

It is easy to forget that it is more than a feast. It is a season. And like all seasons its essence is a cycle of preparation, achievement and then the incorporation of what has been achieved into the larger season of which it is a part - the season of our life.

May the blessing of the Season be with you, whatever your view, on this precious journey.

Olmate

[Midnight]

Your posts are always so poetic, and enjoyable to read olmate.

Happy Holidays to you, and to all of the members of this forum

[veggietovegan]

To make it less poetic, Christmas is hectic.. so much shopping, so much cooking, so much baking, so much spending... Ultimately, you don't even feel like eating what you have cooked ... you are that fed up. Still it is great having all those holidays.

[Midnight]

I've been blessed to not know what that feels like

My family's religious views lie in Islam, so we've never celebrated Christmas, but i've heard stories from all my friends.

Hopefully you get through that alright this season

[Edwin]

Originally Posted by Midnight

I've been blessed to not know what that feels like

My family's religious views lie in Islam, so we've never celebrated Christmas, but i've heard stories from all my friends.

Hopefully you get through that alright this season

Every once in a while you get a pearl from your friends.
I didn't know that your roots ly in Islam.

Have you investigated Sufism ?

[Midnight]

Pearl?

I have heard about it, and I read about it a little bit on Wikipedia. It makes more sense to me than traditional Islam, with all it's superstition, but I prefer not to follow any one religion.

[Edwin]

Originally Posted by Midnight

Pearl?

I have heard about it, and I read about it a little bit on Wikipedia. It makes more sense to me than traditional Islam, with all it's superstition, but I prefer not to follow any one religion.

Well, even tho I understand your point about religion, I do think that we are missing out on some very profound teachings if we choose to ignore religion alltogether.
Every religion has a few people who translated their transcendental experiences into their own religion.
A Christian mystic that is well known for this is Meister Eckhart - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
A very well known poet and mystic from Islam is Rumi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

[Edwin]

Oh and Merry Christmas everybody

[pollyanna]

Having recently gained extra rooms in our home (because my daughter has moved into her own home) I am busy re-organising all the cupboards in the house while looking after a very cuddly puppy and another family pooch for 10days. The puppy is chewing everything it can get it's paws on and leaving muddy prints everywhere

It's going to be sooooo worth it when I've finished though and Christmas will run extremely smooth because of these changes and of course this will carry on into 2011. Everything will have a place and I will no longer have to spend an hour going through storage to get my sewing machine etc. to do 10 minutes worth of sewing and I'm really excited about this.

The Christmas spirit is filling the house, I've decorated the Christmas table already, the logs are on the fire waiting to be lit, gifts are under the tree and the dining room is locked so little eyes cannot see in there until all the family arrive for Christmas dinner

I am so grateful to be able to have this extra dining room which can be set up early as it will allow everyone to relax and enjoy each others company all the more and..... when everyone moves into the lounge I can just shut the door and clean up the next day if I choose to do

I'll have all the vegetables peeled and placed in buckets of water by Christmas eve and placed in a cold room.

As all this preparation is taking place, Christmas carols are playing alternately with Classical Magic and I am having a really busy, happy, amazing time and thoroughly enjoying every moment.

Well, I need to crack on again, just want to wish all of you who celebrate Christmas, a wonderfully peaceful and happy time filled with love and sharing. For those who don't celebrate Christmas, I hope your holidays are full of peace and joy

P.S. Here's a little happy Christmas song I'd like to share with you:-

YouTube - Nat King Cole The Happiest Christmas Tree

and here's one of my very favourites

YouTube - Nat King Cole - O Holy Night

[Midnight]

Originally Posted by Edwin

Well, even tho I understand your point about religion, I do think that we are missing out on some very profound teachings if we choose to ignore religion alltogether.
Every religion has a few people who translated their transcendental experiences into their own religion.
A Christian mystic that is well known for this is Meister Eckhart - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
A very well known poet and mystic from Islam is Rumi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

I don't completely shut out religion, but I don't actively read any of its teachings anymore. When I do come across them though, I can see the truth that lies in them, rather than taking stories of the Bible, or the Quran, literally. Every religion ultimately points to the same thing, I've found and you are right, there are a lot of profound teachings.