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CHRISTMAS (CHALLENGE #5)
Christmas is all about tradition, but not really. I think Christmas as a concept may be traditional in itself but what Christmas means to people can be very different depending on the individual and will inevitably evolve as time goes by. There are elements that remain constant; the exchange of gifts, the religious aspect, the decorations and of course the increased awareness of the bond between family and friends. In my experience all of these change with time and even though on the surface these elements remain in one form or another, often the meaning of them alters to take account of the circumstances and the journey we’ve taken along life’s road. Now that I’m a Golden Boy (don’t get too excited I just meant I’m in my fifties) my take on Christmas presents has changed considerably. Mainly…
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SEEKER: COMMUNITY R.I.P.
I’m a self-confessed life-long lone wolf; always have been and always will be. Being one of those people who are quite comfortable in their own company has many advantages – not least of which is the lack of a need for an ever increasing cadre of ‘friends’ and therefore not feeling lonely as often as others might. That’s not the same as reclusive and introverted, I can and do interact well when in company, but if I’m to be brutally honest company is not something I seek out too often and when I do I’m ridiculously selective who I want to spend my time with. I explain this attachment to solitude by citing the fact that I work in a people intensive situation where my job requires me to talk to people all day long and when I’m…
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SEEKER: RELIGION vs. PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY
“In a world beset by fundamentalists of both believing and secular varieties, it must be possible to balance a rejection of religious faith with a selective reverence for religious rituals and concepts.” Alain de Botton All of my adult life I have been what I would call a “Seeker”. By that I mean I have always felt there is a need for some sense of ‘spirituality’ in order to prevent chaos in the mind, body and spirit – not to mention society as a whole – and I have been searching for the elements of that spirituality for well over thirty years. I was raised a Roman Catholic, growing up in Ireland one had more than a 90% chance of the coin falling on that side, and was a reasonably good practitioner for most of my first two…
