Perhaps you’ve been observing, as I have, the battle that is currently ensuing between atheists and Christians over the veracity of the Christmas story. An atheist group has posted billboards over the Lincoln Tunnel in New Jersey which ask the question “You know it’s a myth, right?” against a backdrop of the Three Kings visiting the Baby Jesus. Christians have retaliated with their own marketing campaign with the headline of “You know it’s real, right?”
While being neither atheist nor Christian, I have no real attachment to either argument. Or put more colloquially, I have no dog in this hunt. However, I would like to posit my own position, which is that both sides are missing the point.
First, let’s look at the atheist side of the argument. “You know it’s a myth.” They say this as if a myth is a bad thing. That if the story of Christmas were, in fact, a myth, this renders the whole story meaningless. But any student of myth knows otherwise. Anyone familiar with the works of Joseph Campbell understands that myths are powerful tools that humans have used for millennia to connect to the Divinity within themselves. As Campbell himself states, “It would not be too much to say that the myth is the secret opening through which the inexhaustible energies of the cosmos pour into human cultural manifestations.” Campbell further asserts that the most important function of the myth is to foster the unfolding of the individual in integrity with himself, his culture, the universe and finally with the cosmic unity and creative mystery which is “both beyond and within himself and all things.” Compare Campbell’s assertion with the words of Jesus himself, In Luke 17:20, 21: Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed, nor will they say, 'Look, here it is!' or 'There!' for behold, the kingdom of God is within you."
Both Jesus and Campbell understood that the Kingdom of Heaven, Cosmic Divinity or Creative Force – or whatever you want to call it – lies within us. But society and day-to-day living demand that we ignore the mystery of life. Our fascinations with the minutiae of life – whether it be Sarah Palin’s tweets or keeping tabs on who has the most marbles in the playground of life – has limited our awareness of our inner selves and left us in a coma of forgetfulness. And that’s where the role of myth comes in. Myths provide a bridge between one’s local consciousness and the Divinity that lies in each of us. So, if the Christmas story is a myth, it is a powerful one that invites us to be reborn everyday into the Grand Mystery of life.
Likewise, Christians miss the point when insisting that the Christmas story actually happened. Whether there really was a baby born in a manger of a virgin mother is completely beside the point. Jesus is not the end of the story, but the beginning. As Jesus said in John 14. 11-12: Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me … whoever believes will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these. [emphasis mine].
Jesus knew that he was in “the Father” (Kingdom of Heaven, Cosmic Divinity, etc.) and that the Father was in him. And that this was true for every being on earth! Jesus provided a bridge between our earth-bound consciousness and our Higher Selves. Was he really born in a manger when there was no room in the inn? Or is it all a myth? Here’s the truth: It just doesn’t matter.
People of all faiths – and no faith at all – should be able to unite through their Divine Connectedness that human beings have recognized since the beginning of time. All paths lead to the Divine. It matters not how we get there.
My invitation to all of you is to use the story of Christmas to recognize who you really are – a divine and perfect expression of the universe. Merry Christmas!