Wednesday, January 28, 2009 12:01:08 AM

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"Perfect Actions"

Christmas Presence

Wise Men From The East Came To Worship Him.

 

This day is set aside in the west for enjoying Christmas Presence. For most westerners it is a day that begins with joyful expectation by all people but especially children; few there be for whom this day does not bring happiness, and good cheer.

Before it all fades away I need to record the personally amazing events associated with the dawning of this day.

For me, this day began actually before I woke in a world of dreams. I mention this at the onset because the dreams were all uniquely different, beautiful and mysterious; being the most wonderful Christmas Presence I have received. They were unique in the fact that they all possessed a high level of reality tone by which I mean that they were experienced at a level similar to waking experience including physical sensation; all pain was absent but pleasant sensation was not. They were all beautiful in the sense that they each expressed a good associated with human experience yet existing in total harmony with nature. They were mysterious in several ways the first being that they came to me in the early morning hours here in Alaska which means that the Christmas experience had reached its planetary culmination simply because Alaska is at that position on earth where the International Date Line determines that for any given time or day on earth, Alaska is the last place to experience that time; in other words Christmas began yesterday on Big Diomede Island in Russia and proceeded around the world through Asia, Europe, to the East Coast of the United States and finally ending here in Alaska on the adjacent island of Little Diomede at the time of this writing.

I experienced these exquisite dreams only after the portion of the planetary population that celebrates Christmas had experienced it or were experiencing it. For the population of people of this planet for whom Christmas is not part of their belief system, the fact remains that there are children of these various “ non-Christian ” religions who look with envy and longing of being able to experience the joy of receiving wonderful gifts covered in colorful wrappings; these children like members of the Electoral College (employed during voting by the United States) do carry a greater power to transmit and influence the collective unconscious of humanity. Because there are children in families of Islamic, Jewish, Asian and many other “ non-Christian" cultures and population areas of the planet, the desire to receive enjoyable gifts exists, and in so being does join the greater overall planetary longing hope and joy of receiving presents on this Christmas day. Being of scientific persuasion, I feel the need to develop a rational explanation for the exceedingly marvelous dreams I experienced within the past 12 hours.

There were three dreams each of which sprang from a mysteriously beautiful source and addressed deep desires of my heart. The first dream was exceptionally vivid in which I found myself teaching in a classroom of elementary school children where there was enthusiastic study going on. The children were all excited as they made discoveries and shared them with me and other students. The unique part of this first dream was found in the fact that I seemed to be at the level of the student explorers as in I felt like I was one of the students yet my self image was definitely the classroom teacher to whom children came requesting guidance and assistance in their exploratory efforts. I could see this dream emerging from my deep desires to do what I have been doing for the past 30 years, and that is teaching children. I would be doing this now if it weren ' t for the fact that I'm in the United States where educational institutions for early childhood and other educational efforts find greater pleasure in being away from the school as much as possible taking advantage of every possible holiday to take time off and get away from children; not so in Korea where education is held in high regard and Christmas exists as a day that is imitated from their observations of western customs yet lacks any concept of anticipation of presents on Christmas morning.

This statement about Korean (or Asian) Christmas is backed up by my eleven year experience living in Korean culture. The people of Korea love their children in such a way as to make each day of the year like Christmas day by the fact that Korean children receive the non-perishable gift of family and societal love on an everyday basis; gift giving exists through many of the major and minor holidays throughout the year for which western culture has no basis to understand. For instance, last night as I glimpsed at my most recent application on my iPhone of a talking digital clock complete with an alarm which sounds at about 30,000 Hz auditable only to dogs (for those iPhone enthusiasts who prefer to be woken by the barking of their personal pet dog's reaction to the sound) not normally perceivable to humans. As I happened to glimpse at the clock on the phone it “just happened" to be 11:11 PM which reminded me of one of the many minor holidays for gift giving in Korea which is Pepp-Pepporoh Day based upon the idea that children and adults give gifts of chocolate covered cookie sticks that come in singles or in pack containing dozens for which when laid out look like “ones” lined up and the date of 11/11 (November 11 th) is the day of celebration. So as not to exclude Korea and Asia in this equation about a pleasant dream, this single day came to westerners in the way that most days come to children in Korea and in so doing, the experience of Korean children didn't in the least way diminish the influence of joy experienced by western people on this day

There were other pleasant dreams experienced on this Christmas morning here in Alaska, each which had wonderfully positive characteristics but the three I write about here were the most unique in reality tone, perception, character and origin.

At the end of the first wonderful dream came a few other minor yet still wonderful dreams. I woke after each dream which made them easy to remember. I thought about them then quickly laid back down to sleep in anticipation that the dreams would continue to come.

Unfortunately at about 7:30 AM the ability to continue sleeping was impossible due to the fact that I was hungry; after several attempts to get back to sleep and perchance to dream, I failed and had to begin my Christmas Day with all the feeling and appearance of the Christmases in Korea that I had become accustomed to, a day with no Christmas tree, cards, no colored lights and most notably no Christmas presents under a tree; here in Fairbanks Alaska it was a Korean Christmas as I had experienced in Korea for more than 10 years; just another day like every other day. I got up and fixed a light breakfast of toast and raspberry jam in the silence of the rather warm morning darkness at -7 degrees Fahrenheit. I usually have a time of quiet study each morning, but this time I just had my toast and sat and pondered how I was feeling this Christmas morning. I sat there in the silence realizing how acutely I was feeling the affects of an accident I had on my high speed racing bike back in Korea during 2005 when a college student driving his father's car, decided to make an abrupt stop without a turn signal which ultimately caused an impact breaking my spine; suffice it to say that I am infinitely grateful that I still long distance ski skate the frozen river here in Fairbanks at -10 F.

After finishing my toast, I felt like it would be good to lie back down for a moment; it was still dark and would be for another three hours. I usually never lay down after eating because it doesn't help digestion; however this time was an exception. After a short while lying in the warm dark room I fell asleep again. Soon I was back to the world of dreams with the same vividness and clarity of dreams I had before waking. In the second most vivid dream, I found myself in a school gymnasium with some older students. They were playing with a rather large ball, kicking it back and forth in a playful way. I was an observer near the double doors of the gym. Some of the students were girls who played together or occasionally passed the ball to the boys. It was all in fun and they were having a time of innocent recreation until one boy took out a “medicine ball” three times larger than a beach ball. When he began to throw it to the other boys the game became rough and something the girls stood back to watch as did I. The main theme regarding this second dream was the fact that the boys and girls were about middle school age and yet there was not a single hint of interest in the fact of the gender difference; this is common in Korea where boys and girls avoid each other until college age but definitely not a dream that defines western values. The beauty of the dream was found in the preservation of innocence found through the years of middle and high school as defined by Korean culture as opposed to western culture where society and parents seem preoccupied with hurling children into the world of make-up, sensual fashions and the overall regalia of adult life as if it were a path to some kind of ultimate good when in reality it derails the priceless virtue of moral purity.

My third and last dream took me to the very threshold of moral purity by evauating response to Biblically depected physical beauty as it was meant to be defined by Creation for men and women. I opened a door to a room and there discovered two women dressed in long white dresses, one with black hair and another with blond hair. Their beauty and attractiveness was beyond words. I recognized the woman with blond hair as a friend from many years ago who had a passion for working with special children; the woman with back hair seemed familiar but I couldn't place her within my earthy temporal experience. I simply remember looking at them and being astounded by their beauty, then recognizing the woman with blond hair. They both had kind expressions with welcoming countenances. As I recognized the woman with blond hair I felt my knees go weak and I began to stumble; as I did I looked up and saw the woman I knew as a friend shyly smiling.

I know my web page and I also know that I have never written anything like this before. Yes, there is a beauty and attractiveness that doesn't defy or pervert natural order as seems to be the case in so many places in the world. The beauty I speak of here is written about in the Greatest Book ever written; wherein the depths of beauty and joy that can be experienced in this earthly world only are written about and clearly defined as a gift that comes from the true Christmas Presence.

These three dreams have come to me this Christmas morning in unique form, order and fashion. Of the three dreams, all of them I have experienced in one dimension or another during my earthly sojourn but of the three the last is one that I have been permitted to perceive on the level of a dream but in the physical world it has always been a stumbling block (which is what happend to me in this dream) in my ability to know the source of the Christmas Presence; thus a greater gift has been afforded me in this world by the Christmas Presence and by Grace I will hold to the better gift.

May the Christmas Presence be with you now and see you safely into heaven where beautiful dreams come to life forever.

 


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It Begins In Light

 

 

English Lessons

from the days when

Meaning Was Conveyed Gracefully

 

That ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.--EPH. iii. 17-19

 

 

O love that passeth knowledge, thee I need;
Pour in the heavenly sunshine; fill my heart;
Scatter the cloud, the doubting, and the dread,--
The joy unspeakable to me impart.

H. BONAR.

 

 

 

To examine its evidence is not to try Christianity; to admire its martyrs is not to try Christianity; to compare and estimate its teachers is not to try Christianity; to attend its rites and services with more than Mahometan punctuality is not to try or know Christianity. But for one week, for one day, to have lived in the pure atmosphere of faith and love to God, of tenderness to man; to have beheld earth annihilated, and heaven opened to the prophetic gaze of hope; to have seen evermore revealed behind the complicated troubles of this strange, mysterious life, the unchanged smile of an eternal Friend, and everything that is difficult to reason solved by that reposing trust which is higher and better than reason,--to have known and felt this, I will not say for a _life_, but for a single blessed hour, _that_, indeed, is to have made experiment of Christianity.

WM. ARCHER BUTLER.

 

 

 

© Bill Watterson

This One Has To Be The Best Yet!! Ha


Thank You Bill Watterson; Live Forever and continue to Prosper !!!

My E-mail: al7mi@yahoo.com

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