Saturday, December 20, 1997

Truth about Christmas can be hard to find

By Clark Morphew / Knight-Ridder Newspapers

It is the season of Christmas and already we are suffering.

Let us not despair in the face of this great materialistic onslaught of gifts, cookies, colorful decorations and good cheer.

The crux of the trouble is, we are filled with delusions about this holiday and nowhere can we find the bare truth. If we find Jesus lying in a manger, chances are he will be festooned.

You may wonder why a story that happened amid the grit of life has to be dressed up in so much tinsel that it begins to resemble a carnival. Yes, this Christmas business has gotten out of hand. That's why it is even more important for you to deal with your delusions.

For instance, we are deluded into believing that Christmas is magical and that all our troubles will fly away as the midnight bells ring in the dawn of Christmas. When the day rises over the horizon and all the cares of life still plague us, we shrug and wait for the next Christmas.

"Next year will be better," we say. What was it, we wonder, that made us feel the weight of life? Wouldn't it be more consistent, we think, to feel the lightness of being? To virtually wallow in that joy that comes with Christmas, day in and out as the shadows flee and burdens are lifted?

Ah, but that is our delusion. We hope that Christmas will make all things better. That the yule season will be a massive time of healing. And that one of these years it will not fade but will continue to illuminate all we are and all we own.

What makes you happy? Is it that new coat you wear? Or perhaps that magnificent automobile you drive? Those will pass away. All impermanent things will pass away. Our happiness is constantly slipping into oblivion.

Christians and Buddhists agree on this point, that to find our hope in impermanent objects is to live in delusion. They will pass away. Only the permanent will give you peace and joy.

In Buddhism, the promise is enlightenment. In Christianity, it is salvation. Only those promises can be counted on and trusted to give us happiness.

Buddhists say that when we rid ourselves of delusion, we have achieved nirvana and the cessation of suffering. Christians say that when we rid ourselves of that which rusts and fades, then we are on the path to salvation.

Of course, we have known this since the holy books were written. And once in a while, a great martyr, teacher or saint comes along to remind us. But even that memory quickly fades and, in our mind, gives way to the seduction of the worldly, glitzy Christmas.

So I say, bring on the delusions. For this brief time, let us revel in all that fools us. For this wisp of history, let us frolic in blatant materialism and throw our lives open to frivolity and joy. Give us this short, glitzy moment to feast our eyes on light and color -- to tune our ears to the sounds of gladness.

It's not too much to ask. Even martyrs have moments of laughter and hermits occasionally escape into mirth. All this year, we have been faithful servants. Now let us merge with our delusions for these bright days.

And how are we deluded? That peace is possible, that love abounds, that children are safe, that angels hover over our world, ready to intervene?

I believe it. For now, it is all true. Tomorrow may bring a terrible reality. But for this fleeting time, let us give ourselves away to joy.

Let us see it all through the eyes of children -- those wondrous creatures who believe all the lights shine for them, all the gifts wait for their fingers to open and all the Christmas bells are calling for their attention.

Yes, we may be deluded as Christmas approaches. But we can almost guarantee, we're going to have fun.

(Clark Morphew is an ordained clergyman and is religion writer for the Saint Paul Pioneer Press. Write to him at the Saint Paul Pioneer Press, 345 Cedar St., St. Paul MN 55101.)

(c) 1997, Saint Paul Pioneer Press (St. Paul, Minn.).

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