|
A Little House in Winter
Christmas is not
a day on
any calendar
Shunryu Suzuki, in Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, speaks of our need not to have a gaining idea. Christmas challenges our habitual need to get something, to accomplish something, and to prove something to someone, anyone. Mary, Mother of Jesus, models for us a "Yes" that allows something to happen through us, something we ourselves could never do on our own. She has no gaining idea. What allows her "Yes" ... call it grace, or what you will - something happens.
* * *
In the Annunciation to Mary, in the Christian Scriptures, Mary replies to the angel Gabriel. Gabriel has just brought her the news of Christ's coming conception within her. How could she have ever dreamed of this as a possibility? But, now, it is an actuality. How will she respond?
Let it happen to me as you have said.
*Gospel of Luke 1.38, NLV
* * *
A disciple visited the Sage. He said, "I'm confused by your teachings about the naturalness of spiritual life. I thought spirituality is about the supernatural. How can I live this natural life that is spiritual life?"
The Sage lifted a potted plant. He asked, "Is it natural or unnatural for this plant to flourish?"
"Natural," replied the disciple.
"What," asked the Sage, "is the one thing this plant does to manifest life naturally?"
"Grow," replied the disciple.
"No," said the Sage. "Receive."
* * *
Marianne Williamson, in A Return to Love -
Our effort to consciously control the unfolding of good does not produce good so much as it brings forth a slightly less tainted brand of human willfulness.
* * *
In the Christmas Story - an archetypal one - Mary's response invites us to reflect on the wisdom of passivity. She says, "Let it happen to me...." She welcomes to be acted upon, something to be done to her - in and through her. This something and its fruition, she can take no credit for.
The subtle process of openness, receptivity, and surrender to the Wisdom of Life already working is the Mary Way. Mary did not have to discover Spirit wanted her to congest and birth Christ. Mary found herself already in a plan in motion - she did not choose, she was chosen. The Divine Will came to her, she did not find it. It came to her, for she was prepared for it. This is likewise with us, if we wish to walk the Way.
The Way is a continuation of "Yes" to our being acted upon. Then, that-of-Christ comes through us. We keep saying, "Let it happen to me."
And as with Mary, no one can speak "Yes" for you. Your "Yes" is the cosmic "Yes" individualized and localized through you. In you, all Nature - seen and unseen - speaks forth the creative word "Yes." In this, you become Christ, and Christ becomes you giving birth to Christ.
This is the sagacity of every authentic spiritual path, and every such way is a natural way. All Nature gives, for it first receives.
* * *
Without "Yes," Christmas is a celebration of something that happened long ago. With "Yes," Christ is born anew, and Christmas happens now. And, hence, most truly Christmas is not a Christian or Church holiday, nor is it only about a man born long ago. And Mary is not only Mary, for when you speak her "Yes," she is you.
* * *
*(C) Brian K. Wilcox, 2020
*Brian's book, An Ache for Union: Poems on Oneness with God through Love, can be ordered through major online booksellers or the publisher AuthorHouse. The book is a collection of poems based on mystical traditions, especially Christian and Sufi, with extensive notes on the teachings and imagery in the poetry.
*To contact Brian, write to LotusoftheHeart@gmx.com .
|
