It’s the last fortnight of December, a time to reevaluate the traditions of shared holiday rituals.
Will Australians once again create a kitchen-dwelling El Nino microclimate in their fervent devotion to the Christmas turkey, or go with the smelly, if enjoyable, coolness of a shrimp buffet on ice? Do we pretend that we prefer a handmade noodle necklace to the receipt of an electronic lump of plastic we’ve been lusting after all year? Should we listen to the anti-vax, flat-earther Uncle Awful preach the principles of YouTuberology at the dinner table or shout “Not this year, Satan” and book a package to Bali instead?
After a difficult year, a Christmas miracle seems desperately needed. One thing I’m obsessed with is “There’s a Santa Claus!” The hopeful news is that the popularity of the hard-right’s annual insistence on a “War on Christmas” – which I wrote about last year – is finally waning.
YouGov surveys now show that Christmas may be a political battleground for families, but it is no longer a “forever war”, even for those who are wary of Russian propaganda or Fox News. Are on an information diet. Only 23% of Americans Rest assured that saying “happy holidays” is a hypersonic missile of a great replacement conspiracy to outwit God-fearing, culturally fundamentalist Christians into being more tolerant and respectful and certainly a lot of entertainment at a party. That’s down from 39% just two years ago. , And while 31% are undecided, I’ll take what I can get. It’s been a helluva year.
Why the change? Deliberate optimism suggests that – please, Baby Jesus – concrete reality may ultimately triumph over evidence-free nonsense. Christmas isn’t going anywhere. At this time, there are Christmas trees, reindeer cakes, Santa hats and Christmas merchandise being sold everywhere in our cities, which shows that if there was ever a war on Christmas, Christmas won.
I’m at a somewhat ideological distance from the far right, yet since the health crisis, my last column, and a psychologically circuit-breaking two-week vacation, I’ve been adopting my own holiday rituals this year — and With them, hopefully, landscape of my mind – As the ultimate gift for yourself.
It’s a gift I’m eager to share, even with my enemies.
This Christmas, I’m going analog. I closed my
Turns out, the space that opens up when the intrusions by resentment-merchants, narcissists and the constant horrors of the world are silenced is where thought, introspection and, yes, peace can flourish. Zen philosophy holds that engagement with the sensory world of mechanical action, performance of tasks, and awareness of one’s environment is an opportunity for knowledge of rhythm, flow, and interconnectedness.
So in the spirit of both Zen and the Christmas holidays, I’m dusting off the digital doom chat and seeking out some mystical sensory experiences in an adventurous gambit for some mindfulness. These are the wild things I’m going to try:
reading books: With words printed on reams of sheets of paper you have to flip through, books force you to imagine what the stories they tell look, feel, sound and even smell in your mind. Comes – so it feels like you are in the story. Apparently, the longer you stick with it the more intense the immersion becomes!
Consumer Legacy Media: there really are professional news organization Where qualified people do the work for you to keep track of what’s happening in your community so you can think about it properly – they also fact-check it for you. Some people print on paper – I admit, this may be going a little too far.
Staying with people: If you talk to people in person you can find out what’s going on with them. Indeed, if you visit places together you can even develop real-time insights about them: Timesrestaurant, shopsParks, beaches, parties, venues, even beds. And you don’t have to photograph it – if the experience was worthwhile, you’ll remember it!
going to the movies And live performance: These are incredible group sensory-deprivation entertainment experiences, where the space is transformed so you can only focus on the show. And then you talk about it only after thinking about it!
Walking, gardening, sports, arts and crafts, cleaning: The birds are real! The trees are real! Hey, climate change is real too! And your room stinks! Art looks different when it’s not on a screen! the world is round,
If human enlightenment is still possible, it probably has to do with understanding observable phenomena and tangible evidence.
Being a digital dropout is a radical lifestyle choice; Dear friends, It has been a worrying year. Reality won the imaginary war against Christmas, but 97% of Australians still struggle to understand online disinformationIf there’s one gift we all deserve it’s the choice not to be one of them.
Happy Holidays!