In times when we struggle to find each other and search for meaning, this timeless wisdom, although written in the early 1960s, is as essential as it was then. Lester’s explanation of the real meaning of Christmas and why the secret to joy lies in the spirit of givingness can help us to be willing to give everything we know to everyone. Not only in the Christmas season: every day!
Gerrit
“Jesus was a man who was born on this earth approximately 2,000 years ago, who, through righteousness, or right-usenes through righteousness, or right-useness, rightly used the world to attain the Christ Consciousness. In so doing, He showed the way to immortality that each and every one of us must take. We must die to death, i.e., eliminate from our consciousness all thoughts of death and hold in its place only eternality and immortality. In order to show us, He allowed Himself to be crucified so that He could prove immortality by resurrecting Himself. He was a way-shower and dedicated and gave His life only to show us the way.
Christ Consciousness is the consciousness that saves us from all this mess that we find ourselves in when we try to be a worldly man. It is the attaining of the Christ Consciousness that saves us from all the horrors and miseries of the world. It is the Christ Consciousness that gives us liberation from all difficulty and leads us into our immortality. If we were to try to be Jesus, we would have all the trials and tribulations that He went through. However, when we become the Christ, by being Christ-like and thereby attaining the Christ Consciousness, we eliminate all and every misery and have nothing but infinite joy.
So, Christhood is a state that was attained by the man Jesus. He attained His Christhood before He was born, and He came back to show us the way by actual example. And if you will keep these two in their meaning as you read the Bible, I believe it will make much more sense. Christmas is known mostly by the spirit of givingness, of good will toward all men. Locked up in that word “givingness” is the key to all happiness. It’s in the spirit of givingness that we have and experience the greatest joy. If you’ll think back, you’ll see that when you were giving, you were most joyous.
“Love” and “giving” are two words that are synonymous. It’s in the spirit of givingness that the secret to joy lies. When we fully have that, we want to give everything that we have to everyone we meet, and we have infinite joy. It’s so important. It’s in the spirit of givingness, it’s not in the givingness of things, unfortunately, because Christmas is a great time of gift-giving. People are giving, giving, giving. But it’s not in the givingness–it’s in the spirit of givingness that the joy lies. The feeling of the spirit of givingness is felt more around Christmastime by more people than any other time of the year. It’s a wonderful thing.
We should make every day Christmas. When we get full realization, we do just that. There isn’t a moment in which we’re not wanting to give everything we know to everyone…”
– Lester Levenson – Happiness Is Free and It’s Easier Than You Think; Session 7
