Amos

An argument can be made that Christmas in Catholicism is not the celebration of the birthdate of Christ as a historical event but rather that it points at the birth of Christ in us, us Catholics, who are to find the culmination of the daily masses in the Christ-mas. (As a side issue here, this would equate well with the daily rounds of samsara culminating in the final round of samsara; the [daily] forms culminating in the Final Form, or the creation of [daily] ousia's leading to the Parousia).

Notice that the Christ-mas is not a happy July 1 event but that it is a midnight-midwinter event as if doom and gloom is the prevailing spirit that surrounds this darkest point in life. The suggestion here is that out of this depth of darkness the Christ-child is born to make the ultimate Christ-mas a midnight, mid-winter, mid-life event in the life of that "certain man" to which the number 666 is given. The first 6 speaks of our melancholy (conscious), the second 6 of the persistence of this melancholy to make it involutional (subconscious), and the third 6 speak of the intensity of this melancholy wherefore the light of common day did not return and hence the two days of Christmas are as if they are one long night (it really is Mary's night and this is about where the sun [son] stopped in the bible; the son here is Adam to make it "beyond human" understanding).

In Catholicism the birth of Christ is preceded by a four week period of Advent, which is a period of alienation, abandonment, dissolution, melancholy and probably about all the things that are just opposite to partying, loving, gift giving and showing each other that we care for each other. Contrary to partying Advent really is the time when we get ready to abandon all of our worldly treasures in exchange for the pearl of great worth that we see with increasing clarity beneath the thick layer of our human accomplishments (Dean Jocelin saw a round hole at the bottom which nevertheless was the top and in Gen. 2:13 it is the Tigris that flows east of Asshur).).

The reality here is that our accomplishments are our helpers (called shepherds in the bible and ousia's above), and it is because we are beyond theology that these shepherds will be out that night (or it would not be a non-rational event) and they must be called to become our apostles or there would be no change (metanoia) after the crisis moment. Our ability to call these apostles into action will determine if we end-up in a comedy or a tragedy (MacBeth was an apostle 'short').

Advent is really the time when we spin our own cocoon and in our own way get ready for metamorphosis, which is about when we feel suturated by the world and want no more of its temporal richess. There are three purple candles in our Advent wreath that symbolize our thirst for understanding that emerges from our darkness of desolation (the Rich man and Lazarus). Among these four candles we see a white candle and our recognition of this candle as our very own baptism candle will alert the Magi to saddle their camels and await the good news if it is forthcoming. If we do, this small candle light will become the star they follow right into our conscious mind where Epiphany takes place.

The above suggests that during Advent we live in a world of our own and Christ-mas will follow as a natural sequence of events that really is the culmination of the daily masses that we paid homage to. To this Golding tells us that it is "as easy as eating and drinking."

With Advent tied to Christmas it really is a 'hands off' evangelical event wherein we are called to evaluate our destiny as a dying slave to temporal values. So here it is not a celebration at all but an unspoken call to victory from the bottom of parody (Frye's parody).

The evidence for total abandonment is the return to our mental state of birth and there give an account of ourself. In the bible this is called the journey to Bethlehem which is a non-rational journey with Mary in charge of the 'donkey' and the dissolutioned human identity following the 'donkey' upon which Mary (our seat of wisdom) was enthroned to indicate that she had taken charge of our life.

No room at the inn just means that there was a complete void of rational influences (lest there be one demon left to fill the house that was not swept clean) and the ox and the mule in the stable represent the passified human will ("first Adam" and "first Eve") that at one time ruled in the conscious mind and the evidence that they were neutered is that the shepherds were out that night. Interesting here is that the Magi "entered" upon seeing the absence of Joseph (which is inferred with "they saw Mary and her Child"), and to the absence of Joseph the presence of the ox and the mule testified for the past 10 days. It means that new life had come with New Year and that Epiphany was sure to follow.

The above suggest that Christmas is not about the birthdate of Jesus Christ at all (Christ was born and they called him Jesus but did in effect not become Jesus Christ until after resurrection and Christmas is a long way from Easter). Christmas is about the the crisis moment wherein we celebrate the final mass in Catholicism with the end to religious obligation on the other side.

According to this philosophy two things can be concluded: there is no Christmas without Advent and there is no Christmas without daily masses. It also suggests that there was no specific historical Jesus or Advent is redundant and Easter would have never been known in Christendom. Since Easter is known to us there was not one but there were many historical Christs.