Philosophizing about being a human this holiday season

General Discussion
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Alone at home tonight and musing on the state of society this holiday season along with the increasingly belligerent embrace of contrived anger and victimhood, along with some outrageous displays of belligerent willful ignorance, (that we even see on display from some of our commenters over here at CFI.).

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I wonder what ever happened to the simple joys of living our short lives? Appreciating and reveling in the beauty of being alive and experiencing the highlights of our individual reasonably well lived lives - within whatever family, society, community we’ve settled into?

The simple acts of our days, where we touch others, because they matter to us and we matter to them. Laughing at our foibles, acknowledging our mutual humanity, which includes a wide spectrum of feelings, always changing as we experience our day to days. I’m lucky I’ve been part of this greater community since 1979, so I have the joy of the seasons of our lives, running into memories of my 20, 30, 40, 50, 60s - watching fancy free friends go on to love, family, kids, grandkids, and being amazed at how old our friends look, then getting home to the bathroom mirror. It’s a hoot. Hell, I’m one of them. … and the knowing jazz that goes on between us alumni from this or that period, as we pass a nod and wink, like sailing ships upon the sea.

Joy in mutual memories of long gone days and such.

Appreciating what we have, along with our failings, along with our successes, empathizing with the pain and circumstance of others. There but for the grace of providence go I, and all that.
A feeling of mutual humanity, like if I can help make you feel a little better or help relieve some pain, it makes me feel good to make you feel good. (Incidentally, for you young one’s, that’s the secret to being a good lover/partner too, a tad more concern about your partner’s needs and pleasures, than your own, pays big dividends. Win win, so why not put some one else’s priorities over your own now and then? But I digress.)

Oh but then this thread is all about a digression from the rest of it. :wink:

This is about the moments of our lives, and why they matter.

How about you?

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Hear, hear! Wiser words are seldom spoken.

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I give this some thought. When I read the “mutual humanity” line, love-making came to mind. Interesting that the basic reproductive act, which started with eukaryotic life, continues to influence our thoughts and how we experience the complex system we are a part of now.

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Ever read ShĹŤgun (1975 novel by James Clavell)
I remember a line in that book that mentioned
a certain Japanese word for love-making and translated it as: “THE FLOWERY COMBAT”

It’s perfect, if ya know what I mean. If one don’t, there’s no explaining it.

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Bless “natural selection” for evolving the physical ecstasy that accompanies the emotional empathy when making love.

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I am hesitating about this side of the " good old days " and wonders how objective we are about them.

Me too, i feel that something was lost with the years. On the other side, i feel more peaceful, more relaxed, more prone to anger than in the past.

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That’s curious. Something is lost with the years, your youth for instance, different life chapters come and go, memories of young kids, now grown up and new generations popping up, and that sort of stuff. Had nothing do with dreaming about some nostalgic yesterday that never was.

Then again from a global health perspective, you bet it was better yesteryear, as more and more of our long neglected sins are coming home to roost and so forth. :wink:

I was able to happily hitchhike across the country, meet people, get short jobs, move on, have some great fun times - couldn’t do that today. Country is way to angry and nasty these days.

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A religious guy introduced me to this idea, but I think it’s correct. Modern definitions of religion isolate the rituals, beliefs and practices. This guy’s claim was that is a way to control it, regulate it. An historical marker of this was when Britain took over India, making it more of a company than a sovereign nation or colony. They wanted the religious leaders out of the picture.

I’m not sure about that history, but if we look back at early tribes, there was just daily life, you interacted with everyone based on the common beliefs, everyone did the rituals, leaders were chosen according to the traditions. There were no lines of separation. If you didn’t like it, you had to form your own group.

I don’t want to go backwards, but the shared sense of belonging is something I would like. I think we are making progress toward defining the rules and boundaries that promote peace and health, while allowing for the expressions of self that are better left unbounded.

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That’s why I’m big on the Earth Centrism and a deeper appreciation of our own evolution here upon this Earth.

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What immediately came to mind …

Let me noodle on this a little more and I may have a more adult response :wink:

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With the cold, and things to do, I haven’t gone for as many walks as usual in the last couple of weeks. Today, we walked to the neighbors to exchange presents. We each have a few acres, so as we came down their drive, the sun filtered through the pines with a little snow on the end of the branches, glittering. I commented that it was like a postcard.

Not too long ago, a person would have had to take a walk like that just to go to the bathroom or do their daily chores. I imagine it was a pain at times but good days tend to outweigh the bad. I can see beauty in a city street, but it’s a lot easier in a clean crisp country setting. When we lived in family units, that could add another dimension, maybe not for everyone, but if grandpa was willing to help out around the house, I’m sure that was a reminder of how you got where you were and give you some hope for the little ones.

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Yule:

The light is at its lowest, and the night is at its zenith. However, it is also a very bright day, because it is from the winter solstice that the days stop shortening, it is at this time that the solar star is finally reborn.

During the night of the solstice, it is customary to keep a large fire lit until the morning, it should not go out because it symbolizes the return of the sun in the darkness of winter. So, one should not sleep at night to ensure that it does not go out, and to greet the sun of the new solar year when it rises.

It is common to practice sacrifices, to celebrate and to give gifts.

This feast is traditionally celebrated when the sun enters Capricorn, around December 21st.

The name of Yule comes from the Anglo-Saxon “Yula” which means wheel. This wheel of the year began the day after Samhain, in introspection, in the depths of the earth honoring those who have returned there.

The wheel is the symbol of the year among pagans who see time as an endless circle and not as something linear. The wheel of the year continues and emerges in Yule by the birth of the God Light, son of the Goddess and her consort, who died in Samhain. It is the victory of the God of Light over the God of Darkness, of King Oak (Life) over King Holly (Death).

The Goddess gives birth to a son, the God, who corresponds to the life that will develop within the seemingly dead Mother Earth nature at this time of the year. We celebrate the birth of the Sun God, who will promote growth and development of life.

We must not believe that this is a degraded copy of the birth of Christ. Rather, the reverse is what inspired this winter celebration. Indeed, the date close to December 25 (date of the solstice in the Julian calendar) was celebrated long before the leaders of Christianity chose it to mark the birth of Christ. In Yule, the pagans realize that even if the earth is still asleep under the snow, it will soon be reborn and bud again.

It is therefore an energy of rebirth and renewal that manifests itself and the tradition of making resolutions for the coming year takes root in this energy.

The difference between pagan and christian thinking is that the first see life as a circle when the second see life as a travel with a beginning and one end.

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BAAAM, nice one.

Comes down to perspective, don’t it.

I’m reminded why I once thought of those guys as gods, or at least demi-gods, or perhaps quasi-gods.
:wink:

Then we figure out it’s actually a spiral. :slight_smile:

Then again, “endless circle” - add time, creates spirals.

Yeah, reminds me of my curious ambivalence and why it’s possible to mourn every new pregnancy I hear about, yet glory in the presence of every new infant and child.
It get’s complicated, and numbers do matter.

It’s easy to be humane with each other when we have elbow room and are reminded, every so often, that we need each other - It get’s more challenging as people get packed and stacked into buildings like so many sardines on canary row, than onto the shelves.

It’s easy for me to feel easy and complete out here on all this open land scape I’ve been blessed to live on for over a decade, with it’s breathing space. In the city there’s none of that openness to creation. , Everywhere you look, keep out, or pay, all the bodies and eyes and judgements constantly being made, on all sides. In the 70s most all of my interaction were from civil to pleasant, with a lot more good times than hassles. Now we’re all busy maintaining barriers, no more easy falling into conversation, or any of that.

Plus, now so many people out there are just pissed off and looking for any excuse to blow up. I used to love traveling, and all the curious reasons for those various trips, so it’s a bit weird/sad not looking forward to another trip across the country, but so it is. Excuse me I’m rambling, it’s human, specially when you get up at 2 am wide awake. Which is okay, prepping for tomorrow’s super early departure and a day flying, then spending a month in South Carolina, The good lord willing. :wink: , abandoning my cabin and Maddy dog. Still life’s a trip, and there’s my lil B looking forward to seeing me, and his lil bro to catch up with, so there ya go. Gonna love that. Like they say, no matter where you go, there you are.

Okay, guess it’s time to get back to bed, lots to do tomorrow.

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Yep, spiraling down the drain.

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Oh lordie, talking about kids.

Some day, she’s going to hate her mom for that, …

… then a few more seasons will pass and she’ll love her mom for doing it.

:+1:

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Christians got this one right.

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Yes, and tax-free status, and freedom of worship . Compare this to several other “religious” countries, where apostasy is punishable by death.

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Life is a circle, as well as linear, so how did Xians get it right? IMHO, the Native Americans got it right because they see it as both.

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Freedom of religion was not implemented by the Christian churches, but against them !!!

And i am not sure that, if they had free reins, we will keep the freedom for long !!!

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Floyd vid: It does reference the obsession of excessive.

of which we can also find plenty, this time of year: