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| Psychic & Paranormal Psi skills, psychic energy, dreams, lucid dreaming, astral projection, paranormal phenomena, non-physical entities, extraterrestrials, channeling, mediumship, clairvoyance, clairaudience, clairsentience, claircognizance |
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12-10-2010, 01:55 PM
| #31 (permalink) |
| Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 16
 |  Some Xmas Thoughts...
There are many ways to view this lovely (or not) time of year: -You can be grumpy, because everyone is running around in the corporate-induced shopping frenzy ... because after all, Jesus was generous, so you should buy up all the useless crap you can. -You can join the massive herd previously mentioned... the faster you buy, the faster you can get to the next shop! -You can be one of those 'All in the Spirit' people who love to decorate and play Xmas carols, and love telling you to 'cheer up, it's Xmas!' -You can fester in the resentment of the misrepresentation and perversion of a pagan holiday... but resentment's seldomly helpful, so I'll stay clear. You can also develop a degree of certain emotional detachment from the seaon, and try to get out of it, what is harmoniously good for you and probably all around you. This works especially well for me, even though I'm disgusted at what's become of this time of year. I try to put a positive spin on it and only focus on the aspects that I still find pleasant: -Bit of time off work -Excuse to stay at home and hibernate -Getting together with people I Love -Easily justify any excesses of food and other indulgences  ... and also a joyous celebration of a child conceived by midichlorions... or so the story goes.... (if you're into that kind of thing) In closing... being angry at what the corporations and evil governments have done to the festive season is not conducive to feeling good while being in it. Enjoy the time off and anything fun you happen to do in this period, whatever your beliefs! Last edited by Aegix; 12-10-2010 at 01:57 PM. |
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12-10-2010, 03:02 PM
| #32 (permalink) |
| Family Member Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 5,479
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Gosh, Aegix, what a wonderful post! It pretty much expresses what i intend to do. I'm just a bit bent about the resistance one gets in public when you speak out against the Beast. (American "bent", not the British meaning!) It's amazing how ingrained this dysfunctional behavior is in society.
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12-10-2010, 03:29 PM
| #33 (permalink) |
| Family Member Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 5,479
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In his wonderful book about Native American Indians, "God Is Red", Vine Deloria, Jr. relates a story about being on a radio show, where listeners could call in and ask questions. One caller asked, "How did you all celebrate Christmas before WE came here?" Mr. Deloria recounts that he started laughing so hard, the radio host had to switch to a commercial break. The book is a worth-while read, and it ends with the thought that regional messiahs are just that; they belong in the region or realm of their statement, but in this country, God is Red. |
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12-12-2010, 06:40 PM
| #34 (permalink) |
| Family Member Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 5,479
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Speaking of 'red'...the color red causes us to want to buy, according to psychological studies. It is also the color of the base chakra. "Santa" is an anagram of "Satan". And Santa is the happy face placed on corruption, no different than Ronald McDonald. |
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12-13-2010, 02:37 AM
| #35 (permalink) | |
| Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 555
| Quote:
I agree, while I got lost in the commercialism and indulgent selfishness of this season due to the deterioration of the religious belief system that supported this holiday. My family gives to charity instead of gift giving or secret santa, which I've also encouraged my friends to do if they have an urge to buy me a gift. So, I've cut that aspect out but then I realised I really missed the celebration... to have a reason to celebrate and come together and a chance to remember friends and family that I may not get to see often. Especially since it can be easy to forget in life's hustle and bustle. I also realised where I am from our festivals fall on both Boxing day and New Years day. Then I decided I enjoyed New Years way more than Christmas so recently I started focusing on that. Now this year after many years of no gifts (besides sweets and cookies), I've decided I would like to give the children in my life something. So I have concocted a New Year's tradition I am starting. Every year for New Years' I am going to have a discussion with each child. I will ask them what was their biggest accomplishment since last year. Then I would like to know what they hope to accomplish this coming year, how they hope to do it and what they need to get it done. My gift will then be something that they sould need to support them in whatever their accomplishment is. This I feel is a much better idea than just a simple empty gift. As everyone says this holiday is what you decide to make of it. | |
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12-13-2010, 12:47 PM
| #36 (permalink) |
| Family Member Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 5,479
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What a wonderful idea, missbhaven! While I DO agree with LostMyMap, I will always have some issues about the deep influences of this seasonal observation. I'd still like to start a seasonal observation for three weeks AFTER Christmas, when we really need bright lights and warm hearts...right in the thick of winter. Maybe Winter Potlatch. |
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12-17-2010, 01:00 PM
| #37 (permalink) |
| Family Member Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 5,479
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I found it difficult to believe what I heard on the radio, so I waited for the commercial to come on again. I had heard it right. "..all of your favorite war games..." at Toys R Us. It reminds me of walking doen a toy aisle at Wally-Mart a few years back during Christmas season. Rows and rows of military toys, one had a vehicle that had a sticker stating "Our mission is peace", all the while laden with every conceivable weaponry. Sure: let's give our children war toys. Jesus might like that. |
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12-18-2010, 03:45 PM
| #39 (permalink) | |
| Family Member Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 5,479
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FROM ANOTHER FORUM: Quote:
From the few years I've known you, jojo, I know how you feel about this time of year, so please accept my deep respect for you and your views. Christmas has nothing to do with the Christed consciousness. It really has nothing to do with Jesus' birth, since bible verse indicates strongly he was NOT born in December. So far as I can see, this "holiday" is just the continuation of the Knights Templar et al highjacking the universe and Its truth, while simultaneously flaunting their "successful" murder of...not only Jesus, the Messenger, but the Message. I'm not bitter about the season. I find the highjacking unacceptable. | |
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12-18-2010, 04:05 PM
| #40 (permalink) |
| Family Member Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 5,479
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History convincingly shows that Dec. 25 was popularized as the date for Christmas, not because Christ was born on that day but because it was already popular in pagan religious celebrations as the birthday of the sun. But is it possible that Dec. 25 could be the day of Christ's birth? "Lacking any scriptural pointers to Jesus's birthday, early Christian teachers suggested dates all over the calendar. Clement. . . picked November 18. Hippolytus . . . figured Christ must have been born on a Wednesday . . . An anonymous document[,] believed to have been written in North Africa around A.D. 243, placed Jesus's birth on March 28" (Jeffery Sheler, U.S. News & World Report, "In Search of Christmas," Dec. 23, 1996, p. 58). A careful analysis of Scripture, however, clearly indicates that Dec. 25 is an unlikely date for Christ's birth. Here are two primary reasons: First, we know that shepherds were in the fields watching their flocks at the time of Jesus' birth (Luke 2:7-8). Shepherds were not in the fields during December. According to Celebrations: The Complete Book of American Holidays, Luke's account "suggests that Jesus may have been born in summer or early fall. Since December is cold and rainy in Judea, it is likely the shepherds would have sought shelter for their flocks at night" (p. 309). Similarly, The Interpreter's One-Volume Commentary says this passage argues "against the birth [of Christ] occurring on Dec. 25 since the weather would not have permitted" shepherds watching over their flocks in the fields at night. Second, Jesus' parents came to Bethlehem to register in a Roman census (Luke 2:1-4). Such censuses were not taken in winter, when temperatures often dropped below freezing and roads were in poor condition. Taking a census under such conditions would have been self-defeating. Given the difficulties and the desire to bring pagans into Christianity, "the important fact then . . . to get clearly into your head is that the fixing of the date as December 25th was a compromise with paganism" (William Walsh, The Story of Santa Klaus, 1970, p. 62). SOURCE: Biblical Evidence Shows Jesus Christ Wasn't Born on Dec. 25 > The Good News : November/December 2004 |
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12-21-2010, 06:52 AM
| #44 (permalink) | |
| Family Member Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 5,479
| but...it's the MOST HAPPIEST TIME of the year... Quote:
A new U.S. analysis of mortality rates during different times of year found that people are more likely to die during the holidays — notably on Christmas and New Year’s Day — and researchers cannot explain the yearly spike. After analyzing all official United States death certificates over the 25-year period between 1979 and 2004, a trio of sociologists identified an excess of 42,325 natural deaths — that is, above and beyond the normal seasonal winter increase — in the two weeks starting with Christmas. In the article in the journal Social Science & Medicine, researchers David Phillips, Gwendolyn Barker and Kimberly Brewer report that mortality in general rises during the Christmas season. Deaths in a hospital setting increase tremendously on the holidays themselves. More people die in hospital emergency wards, or arrive dead on arrival, on Christmas, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day than on any other days of the year. “It’s not trivial,” said Mr. Phillips, a professor of sociology at the University of California at San Diego. “We looked at all cause categories and, for nearly every one, we found an excess of deaths — particularly for people who are dying rapidly, like dead-on-arrival or dying in the emergency department.” In general, Mr. Phillips said the team’s analysis of some 57.5-million death certificates shows the chance of dying during this holiday period increases “somewhere between 3% and 9%, depending on the demographic group you’re looking at, and somewhere between 1% and 10%, depending on what cause of death you’re looking at.” Less clear are the reasons behind this fatal phenomenon. Read more: Christmas the deadliest day of the year: study | Posted | National Post Last edited by royster; 12-21-2010 at 07:07 AM. | |
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12-21-2010, 01:09 PM
| #45 (permalink) |
| Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Rip off Britain
Posts: 177
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Perhaps there are many reasons for this. Depressed people taking their own lives, accidents caused by too much alcohol, heart attacks brought on by an over indulgence of food and drink and incidents of stress related domestic violence to name just a few causes.
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12-21-2010, 01:32 PM
| #46 (permalink) |
| Family Member Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 5,479
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Arcturus, this is what one would suspect, but the article says these are natural deaths. I'm sure the alcohol-related deaths are much higher, too. It was interesting to note that cases of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome increased, but those are directly related to alcohol consumption by their care-givers. I copied the chart below from the article, but it is difficult to read...you might want to see the article itself. Last edited by royster; 12-21-2010 at 01:35 PM. |
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12-22-2010, 12:57 AM
| #49 (permalink) |
| Senior Member Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 775
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It's amazing what the human Will can do. So maybe people who are very sick, or old, or on their last legs physically will themselves to "hang on for Christmas" because it means so much to them, and having all the family with them, etc....and so when it arrives, they let go of the Willing thing and then death takes them?
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12-25-2010, 09:53 PM
| #50 (permalink) |
| Family Member Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 5,479
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Three ghosts visit me constantly, Angela.  I can't say what the phenomina is about, I only know this time of years has many untapped properties about it, and the conventional "Christmas" successfully keeps most people away from it. This isn't lost on ME, and from another forum, it isn't lost on others: "I don't like to rain on anyone's parade, but I purposely try not to get caught up in the Christmas furor since I found out that it's really a pagan holiday and has nothing to do with the actual birth of Christ.... the lying Christian founders just wanted to change the focus to their own propaganda, and destroy everything "other." I would fully support a non-denominational "World Peace" day or something that honors ALL religions, or even natural events such as the Solstices or Equinoxes... but never again "celebrate" a holiday created by a religion that lies about them. Easter is the same way. We should find a way to have that joyous, giving, "feel good" spirit all year round, not just during the consumption driven holidays. Having said that: Peace on Earth and Good Will to ALL!" |
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12-26-2010, 01:16 AM
| #51 (permalink) |
| Family Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Home
Posts: 2,578
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Consumerism runs rampant all year, but during Christmas it goes into overdrive and it is often for other people. I couldn't care less if I got something for Christmas or not, because I don't really need anything right now. I got some nice gifts, yeah, but I truly did not need them and could have easily bought them myself. Christmas is more for children than anything else, and we've turned it into a consumerist madness. I'm sure most people got their presents at Walmart. We are funding the evil giant by buying, buying, buying. We are funding all these gigantic corporations that just want to suck every penny they can out of us in interest of their own personal gain. It's fine to support companies you believe in, but buying from some of the most evil companies in the world is only going to make them stronger and more powerful. You're better off with less anyway, as materialism is the root of all suffering |
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12-26-2010, 02:21 AM
| #52 (permalink) |
| Family Member Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 5,479
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Thank you, Andrew; you've said it elloquently. I do disagree with "children's holiday"; Christmas is the worst thing we could do to a child. Instead of ushering them into a continuation of spiritual being, we've dumbed them down to play the role we demand of them. If force doesn't accomplish this, then buying their attention will. Lying to them. Blackmailing them. Give them false hopes. Make them clean up their own mess, except we GAVE them that mess, never taking spiritual responsibility. No, there is no true holy day for the children, not in this atmosphere of competition to enslave humanity. Get 'em young, they're hooked for life. The energies available to all at this specific time of year is not enjoyed by most, because the distraction of Christmas makes you believe something better is in the offering. Yet year after year, we never get that bait. After a while, we just accept that we've been duped, and let go of all dignity. Some of us still whisper the little spark song. We're teaching it to our kids; better late than never. Last edited by royster; 12-26-2010 at 02:24 AM. |
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12-26-2010, 10:45 PM
| #53 (permalink) |
| Family Member Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,639
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I personally see any opportunity for fun, frivolity and play as an opportunity that I'll always call 'good.' Although I am not a Christian, I see X-mas as a celebration of life itself....the gifts are merely one of the many frills that help to delineate the season as a time of celebration. I see everything as being 'of' spirit.....malls and material goods included. It is only our reactions and perceptions regarding these things that sometimes takes us further away (but never separated completely) from spirit. Every judgment we make regarding anything that we encounter within our reality is our own 'stuff.' If you see a world that is corrupt, greedy and materialistic....you best delve within. If we find ourselves pre-occupied with negativity in our outer world, we can rest assured that it is merely our filter and choice of focus that needs adjusting. |
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12-26-2010, 10:52 PM
| #54 (permalink) | |
| Banned Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 22,520
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12-26-2010, 10:55 PM
| #55 (permalink) |
| Family Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: United Kingdom :)
Posts: 1,735
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I always viewed christmas and new years as a long end of year party. I try not to worry or stress myself "with making christmas perfect" and concentrate on having fun and trying to spread that fun and joy. Give it whatever meaning you want. |
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12-26-2010, 10:57 PM
| #56 (permalink) | |
| Banned Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 22,520
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