12/25/2023
San Diego, California, USA, December 24, 2023
Rescue your Inner Light This Christmas
A psychological, philosophical, and spiritual vision of Christmas
When I was a boy under eight years old, around Christmas and New Year, I remember an enchanted world where everything seemed miraculous. “It’s December 24th and night is coming. The sun's rays with their red meshes begin to leave their last impressions of a day of preparation, a day of closing the doors to the past and thinking about a new light appearing. The night, like a maiden, slowly begins to take its first steps and little by little the stars, one by one, begin to light up the sky. The moon has not yet appeared, but it will certainly come later to participate in this enchanted night. It is an excitement, a movement, and a music that you can hear in your ears, see in your eyes, feel in your body, in your hurried hands and feet as they prepare to celebrate a wonderful world of music, prayer, dance, and food. The smell of delicious food prepared for later reaches the nostrils and the palate is heightened in an atmosphere of joy and anticipation for the night that unfolds like a maiden in a wonderful way.
Now that I am eight or more years old, I can go to Midnight Mass and see what only older children and adults had the privilege of seeing. It's almost midnight, we walk down the small and narrow street of our enchanted city called Paracatu with unparalleled anticipation. We cross the little square where we ride roller carts, to reach the Catedral where lights, candles, voices, images, prayers, lots of people, and sometimes a fascinating silence await us. The dance of candlelight, church bells, Christmas carols, and the smell of incense move the air.
Being inside the Matrix is like being in another world for that little boy, an enchanted world, especially when the silence is profound, and no words are spoken. Suddenly the organ fills the entire space with its music, Dona Lourdes is wonderful, her fingers hitting the keys, captivating our ears with all their might. The choir completes the movement. As I don't understand intellectual reasoning very well, words don't have much meaning, but their sounds are what I hear most often, much more than what they mean. Suddenly everything falls silent again, the organ music seems to perpetuate the silence until the silence is total. It's something fascinating for this boy, intrigued by everything around him, be it the height of the roof of the Mother Church, the wonderful images that shine brightly, especially of Our Lady, Saint Joseph, and the Baby Jesus, the huge candlesticks with very large candles, the walls of strong and robust adobes, everything forms an orchestra that plays the sound of divine music inside a tiny heart. This is all a prelude to a new birth, a renewal, a new life.”
I think that over time and with the adventures of growing up, with heavy human conditioning, socio-cultural and religious conditioning, traumas, violence, manipulation, and suffering, we are losing that child who everything fascinates, who everything admires, whom everything matters because intellectually she doesn't know much, but she contains a pearl of untouched and virgin wisdom. The loss of that child who is fascinated by the simplest things in life, who sees the world with bright, colorful eyes, who listens to the waters of the stream hitting the rocks without much concern, that child who is still unaware of the harsh version of human poverty, has been one of my searches on this journey through this world. The world is currently experiencing a profound challenge with wars, poverty, and people suffering without the basics needed to have a dignified life. In these circumstances, the loss of this miraculous child happens to all of us, although for some sooner than others.
Why does the baby Jesus fascinate us so much? He represents that wonderful child that we seem to have lost, but that never really left our minds even though it is dulled within the trials and tribulations of the human path. It represents a more delicious life that will bring us something deep and meaningful in life. However, what we want to recover is the essence of that child with today's eyes that, if filled with wisdom, will give that enchanted child a new adult life.
My questions were born from the search for a better life because, in my delicious soccer moments, I saw so many people smile completely happily, although outside that stadium these people's lives certainly had an abundance of suffering. This always made me think that there is a way out of suffering. I then began to study these moments, because my life has always screamed within me a hymn of joy, love, and peace. Now I am completely sure that this hymn, not always heard by me and, most of the time, abandoned by me, is sung eternally inside the mind. This hymn is the hymn of the child we lost, or rather, that we abandoned, and who needs to be rescued. Christmas is a wonderful opportunity for this rescue. This is one of the focuses of my work and my life. As my great teacher, friend, and co-worker Carl Rogers said, life is an eternal movement towards growth, towards being, and the ultimate objective is discovering who we really are.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone.
Antonio M Santos, PhD., MSCP
