Birth of the Immortal Spirit

A question and sudden flash of insight came to me in the midst of all the Christmas rush. What is Christmas really about? As a child Christmas was not just about tradition and celebration. My fondest memories of Christmas center on the cozy family time of Christmas day, when we would stay in our pajamas until mid-afternoon or later, we ate a wonderful assortment of foods that didn’t have to be cooked, we indulged in chocolate and cookies, we played games, read books, gathered by the fire and spent a wonderful day to ourselves, maybe going for a walk in the afternoon. I loved the calm quiet of a city at rest and the feeling of serenity that comes when everyone in the country is still.

I was recently asked if, as a Taoist, I still celebrated Christmas.

The answer is yes, but not as the birth of Christ, but rather as a celebration of the birth of the immortal or divine spirit within each of us. Taoists believe that the purpose of life, beyond happiness, is to return to heaven. In order to go to heaven, we must conceive the pearl of immortality, or the foetus of the immortal within us, by uniting Kan and Li, fire and water, within. This union is the flash of the divine spirit taking root within us. My teacher speaks of cultivating essential nature and eternal life until the spirit falls in love with the body. In the moment of that union, the seed of the immortal is born within us.

That this celebration falls at the heart of winter, when the earth is at the most yin stage of its cycle, is perfectly in alignment with the natural turn of the seasons, for at the winter solstice, the return of yang energy begins and the yang energy is symbolic of immortality. As the earth passes through its darkest period, the seed of the coming summer is formed and the warmth and glow that are to come are foretold.

This does not negate the celebration of Christ’s birth, but rather shifts it from the celebration of Christ’s physical birth, to a celebration of the birth of Christ’s divinity. And, the potential birth of each of our divinity. I invite you to add this meaning to the winter celebration.