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Winter Solstice
23/12/20 20:47With COVID still raging across the globe, Brexit finally about to happen and the collected horror that has been the United States, it can be said to be hard to find something to celebrate. When humans do not live up to their promise, it is disappointing on the deepest level. There are hardships wherever you look - understanding that they are caused by or compounded by the actions of humanity makes it especially hard to keep fighting.
In this way, the path that I have chosen comes into its own. Humanistic paganism is not a religion. It does not blame misfortune on a deity or anti-deity, there are no supernatural elements to consider - there is only nature and science, and humanity. Neither of these are controllable. And it is still hard when our own idiocy compounds problems, but that is free will. Even when human stupidity flies in the face of scientific fact. Education is our hope. If children are taught to question and challenge and make up their own minds based on evidence available, then we can progress.
My oldest son was born on the winter solstice - the 20th that year. It is a time of celebration in this household regardless of the wheel of the year. This year has been hard but because we live where we live, we have had minimal impact to our lives. The gratitude I feel for that is huge. The fact that we could sit around a table together and share food and laughter makes us a thousand times more blessed than a huge percentage of the planet. The challenge is to pass that good fortune on and not take it for granted.
In tiny ways, nature reminds us of our place in the web of life. And in big ways. COVID has happened because we are greedy and conceited. The west wants cheap goods, to fulfil that, Asian countries make and export those goods and their populations boom in response to the inflow of money. They expand into areas that were previously the stronghold of wild animals, bringing their own domestic animals up against species and bacteria and infections that they have not experienced before. They mutate a virus so it becomes adapted to human transmission. It is very good at this. People die in the thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions. Whose fault is that? The truth is that the blame rests at many points along the chain and none of us are blameless.
My solution to this stress and worry is acceptance and going back to the most basic truths. The sun rises. The moon reflects. The trees grow. The wind blows. We are affecting that too, but it is stronger than we are and it will reach its equilibrium whether we are resilient to that or not. In the meantime the longest night is over. The sun will rise a little earlier tomorrow. Make choices to ensure that we are here to see it.
In this way, the path that I have chosen comes into its own. Humanistic paganism is not a religion. It does not blame misfortune on a deity or anti-deity, there are no supernatural elements to consider - there is only nature and science, and humanity. Neither of these are controllable. And it is still hard when our own idiocy compounds problems, but that is free will. Even when human stupidity flies in the face of scientific fact. Education is our hope. If children are taught to question and challenge and make up their own minds based on evidence available, then we can progress.
My oldest son was born on the winter solstice - the 20th that year. It is a time of celebration in this household regardless of the wheel of the year. This year has been hard but because we live where we live, we have had minimal impact to our lives. The gratitude I feel for that is huge. The fact that we could sit around a table together and share food and laughter makes us a thousand times more blessed than a huge percentage of the planet. The challenge is to pass that good fortune on and not take it for granted.
In tiny ways, nature reminds us of our place in the web of life. And in big ways. COVID has happened because we are greedy and conceited. The west wants cheap goods, to fulfil that, Asian countries make and export those goods and their populations boom in response to the inflow of money. They expand into areas that were previously the stronghold of wild animals, bringing their own domestic animals up against species and bacteria and infections that they have not experienced before. They mutate a virus so it becomes adapted to human transmission. It is very good at this. People die in the thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions. Whose fault is that? The truth is that the blame rests at many points along the chain and none of us are blameless.
My solution to this stress and worry is acceptance and going back to the most basic truths. The sun rises. The moon reflects. The trees grow. The wind blows. We are affecting that too, but it is stronger than we are and it will reach its equilibrium whether we are resilient to that or not. In the meantime the longest night is over. The sun will rise a little earlier tomorrow. Make choices to ensure that we are here to see it.
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