Thankfully, Christmas Eve is on a Friday evening, a holy day for Muslims, and so the Christmas holiday will be essentially a nice long weekend, although marred by travel disruptions due to the virus. I was grateful for the various parties that had to be cancelled due to the virus, as it allows us to truly ponder the purpose of life and spirituality. Thankfully our family got to be together last weekend as a pre-Christmas celebration for the kids! As with Ramadan and other religious holidays, Christmas reminds us of the beauty of humanity, and honors prophets who came to remind us of that beauty and wonder.
Our Sufi teacher also celebrated Prophet Jesus by remembering him and his teachings at the Friday khutbah (teaching). In the Quran, Mary (Maryam) is considered the most righteous and honorable woman who ever lived, and is one of the few women mentioned by name. The miraculous birth of Jesus is also mentioned, and likened to that of Prophet Adam, who also was born miraculously. Jesus (Peace be upon him) is mentioned 25 times in the Quran, and more than 100 times by other names and roles, e.g. Messiah. He shared so many of the teachings about showing patience, swallowing your anger, being humble, being compassionate and tending to the poor, which had come before and after Jesus as with the other prophets. Jesus was a blessing for humanity, and it can be so again if we truly understand and practice his teachings. So let us hope that along with celebrating our material Christmas with toys and parties, we revive these beautiful spiritual teachings and reflect on them.
Coincidentally, I have been reading a book that I discovered in the library called “The Awakened Brain” by Lisa Miller, a phsychoanalyst and founder of the first graduate program at an Ivy League School (Columbia University) of Spirit, Mind, Body Institute. Her main point is that spirituality helps us be more resilient human beings. No kidding, I said to myself! It seems we have come full circle. We now need a Columbia University professor to tell us what the ancients knew instinctively, and practiced fully, that the human mind benefits from spirituality. I was even more amused to find out that she is training the US Military to inculcate spirituality to soldiers, as there is so much alienation, violence, suicide in their ranks. What an interesting way to bring back spirituality: you first take religion out of the public sphere, then you suffer, then you decide to bring it back as an education program! For me, it seems much more natural to allow the spirituality we are born with to thrive and be supported from our earliest years as children. We eliminated it in the name of secularism and materialism. And clearly we are suffering. Let us all remind ourselves of the purpose of spirituality which is not just rituals and dogma, but a true honoring of all living beings and our Planet. Things would be so wonderful if we could do that!
Have a wonderful Christmas with your family, and may 2022 brings us joy, peace and justice for all.
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