Duality Trap: Holy Days

Has anyone noticed the voracious debate over changing "Merry Christmas" greetings to "Happy Holidays"? In the western world, Christmas is a religious holiday and to change that greeting is to somehow give way to the commercialization of Christmas. We forget that many calendars and ethnicities hold this season as sacred. Jews have Hanukkah. African-Americans have Kwaanza. But, regardless, this is still America, a country founded by Protestants and wholly committed to the idea of Christmas as being a devotional and holy day special from all other days on the calendar.

It seems a rather odd thing to argue about considering that many of the customs associated with Christmas have their basis in paganism. The tree and the gifts were incorporations of other pagan customs into the Christian doctrine. So, what are we really arguing about? Could it be the feeling that Christmas is losing some of its sacredness as a holiday? What other sacred holidays do we have left? Easter is about bunnies and chocolate. Only Catholics celebrate Ash Wednesday and Lent. So, where will the magic go if "Merry Christmas" is replaced with "Happy Holidays?"

Within the human being, there seems to be an intrinsic need for magic. In the past, we have relegated that desire to special people, days, or places. We had the priesthood to help regular people meet the Divine in creation. The days were set aside where "magical seasons" held sway over the everyday affairs. And even places, like Jerusalem are held as magical spots where Christ was born. Somewhere deep in the human mass psyche there is an intense longing for magic in our everyday experiences. It reminds us of the Divine. It gives us hope. But, in the past, it has always been a point somewhere separate from ourselves.

So, where will the magic go if we stop putting that part of ourselves out there separate from us? Oh, it will go back to where it always was: within us. The magic was never out there. It was always in here. We are creating a new mass dream where the magic isn't relegated to special holidays or people, it is within every moment of everyone's existence. When we begin to begin to take up the mantle of Creator of our own reality we realize the magic is within us and is available in the Now moment. We don't have to wait for a special day or even a special person to realize our own magic. We can set it into full force Now. No longer is there a need to separate the Divine from the human. The Divine resides within and is available to everyone. The Divine is the magic we long for and in truth we only desire to remember ourselves and our own unique creativeness.