HAPPY YEAR 2000! There. I won't get into whether or not it is the beginning of a new millennium. And frankly, the question is moot, according to Dave Milligan's e-mail to me:
HAPPY YEAR 2000! There. I won't get into whether or not it is the beginning of a new millennium. And frankly, the question is moot, according to Dave Milligan's e-mail to me:
"If Millenium Madness should get on your nerves, here are a couple of trivial tidbits.
1) Some historians - armed with astronomical data - believe that Christ was born around 7 B.C. and
2) The calendar we presently use (though it may have been modified over time) is the creation of Julius Caesar and officially began on January 1, 45 B.C.In 46 B.C. the Roman calendar was a mess, and Caesar used the first New Moon after the winter solstice as the "marking point" of the new improved calendar. My father - once a history buff himself - told me yesterday that the Christian Church didn't even officially designate the year we call 1 A.D. until about the 3rd century A.D.. Confusing?
Of course, those in the Hebraic line of faith say it's a different year entirely. Harry had it in his December Westlake story. Interesting how the Christianized cultural icon of dates has now influenced the world to such a degree that even China, which has a much older calendar and an entirely different new year date, celebrated this one.
Considering that time is merely the marking of the movement of objects in space, why do we get all ga-ga over these "epochal" dates? Why this great necessity to count time?
I choose to not wear a watch. Why should I? I have the time on my work phone, on my computer screen, on the clock at the other end of the office, on the radio in my room, on the microwave, on the stove, on my car radio. And if I'm ever somewhere and I absolutely need to know the time, someone always has a watch nearby. We are time-crazy.
One of the most freeing things that you can do for yourself is to go outdoors for a long time (see, we can't get away from referring to it) and not have any timekeeper available. There are several ways in which you might react: (1) You won't stay out very long because you're afraid that you will miss something else that is on your schedule. (2) You'll stay out a long, long time because it feels so good to not be a slave to time. (3) You'll gradually get used to the feel of time passing and judge it fairly accurately.
My favorite time of all is when the turning of the earth is most noticable: just before sunrise and moonrise and just at sunset and moonset…clear experiences of our spinning.
Enough about time. I want to share my experience of celebrating the winter solstice which I sent to several friends the day following:
You would have loved where I was last night. I went to Starhouse's full moon/winter solstice ceremony with three friends/co-workers. It was lightly snowing when we arrived and waited for the 'hosts' to finish readying the space. First there were musicians playing vibes on wooden 'phones, then story-telling, St. Nicholas and his jester/trickster sidekick, honoring the very tall and lovely spruce tree in the center of the Starhouse with a collective deep breath and an aaahhhhhh. A deer munching grass through the snow on the other side of the window. A collective retreat into darkness. A handsome (according to one of my friends) young cantor singing in Aramaic an exquisitely beautiful line of music. All candles and oil lamps out and being in silence with between 100 and 150 people in this 12-sided room full of windows letting in the moonlight bouncing from the thin layer of snow that fell during the day. Coming out of darkness with the lighting of the tree -- little candles that lasted just long enough to finish the ceremony. Singing and dancing dances of universal peace. Touching the partner you meet on the heart and singing essentially 'I love you' to strangers. Three part harmony in singing "alleluia" to the opening part of Pachelbel's Canon in D. Leaving to the tune of Silent Night. Laughter. A beautiful walk up the hill to the car with the moon behind a thin layer of cloud but with so much light on the snow, the path was perfectly clear under the trees. It was incredibly beautiful in many ways
My wish for you in this new year is that you step yourself outside of time, find a place to honor beauty, and bring it all inside of you. Feel that throat-clenching incredible power of absolute love and remember,
Compassion and love are not mere luxuries. As the source both of inner and external peace, they are fundamental to the continued survival of our species. On the one hand, they constitute non-violence in action. On the other, they are the source of all spiritual qualities: of forgiveness, tolerance, and all the virtues. Moreover they are the very thing that gives meaning to our activities and makes them constructive. There is nothing amazing about being highly educated; there is nothing amazing about being rich. Only when the individual has a warm heart do these attributes become worthwhile. Ethics for the New Millennium, His Holiness The Dalai Lama, 1999, Riverhead Books
Truly, Cherie Staples Editor