Adam Blatner

I’m singing again, for the 16th or so year, in our community chorus, getting ready to perform our Christmas Holiday conference. It’s pretty Christian, but also some Hanukkah melodies sometimes, and some secular melodies about the contemporary Holiday season, “kids jingle-bell-ing” and that sort of thing. I really like this, even though I’m more an interspiritual sub-mystic or other unclassifiable enjoyer of the general idea of relating favorably to the “More-ness,” whatever name is given to it.

The mind can imagine meanings and for me the meaning of the Christmas Tree is that it’s an arrow pointing at the Star, which in turn is a symbol for the “Promise.” Now folks tend to imagine what that promise is in terms of their own culture, tradition, history. For me, the star, as manifested in the stories of spiritual leadership or enlightenment from many cultures, is what they were all talking about, “God,” “Allah,” “Adonai,” “Krishna,” “Great Spirit,” and others. I also have many names: The Everything. (Challenge: Aw, man, it’s way more than everything. Response: Have you ever even begun to try to imagine what everything includes? It is beyond comprehension. You cannot limit its definition!)

I call it “The More,” or “the More-ness,” “Beyond the Beyond,” “All-Inclusive,” and so forth, poetic ways of stretching my mind towards whatever is well beyond the power of my mind and any human mind to begin to begin to conceive of. (This is called an “apophatic” position.) But for me it’s also the future that we’re building towards, and I am excited to be celebrating this unfolding, and helping in my tiny way if only by advocating some trends or tools that may help it become; by joining with others in play and celebration and good will; by supporting friends and family and letting them support me; by loving my dear wife Allee and keeping this tiniest of tiny units alive to serve; and so forth.

It’s a privilege to be alive and to be part of this unfolding. That’s my myth. I’m a bit more thrilled and captivated by mythic images and poetry of where we’re going (positive images, let me say), than dwelling on the glories of the past. There’s a generous element of savoring the present moment, I will confess, but an equal degree, I’m thankful to say—very thankful—I can envision positive trends that may magnify in the future. That’s nice.

So what has struck me as the contemplation for Christmas is that the tree is a marvelous structure, but it is designed (in my latest thinking) as an arrow to point to the star, which in turn points to what the star points to, represents, symbolizes.