All the notes and videos I'm posting right now are about presence.
How to find peace in the moment without creating artificial goals or attachments; how to reach a pure joy that doesn't depend on satisfying a manufactured need; how not to stake everything on the future; etc.
And meanwhile...
We ask children to write a letter to Santa Claus to list the new acquisitions they'll make in a month. We create excitement from a completely fabricated anticipation. We turn the present into a waiting period rooted in consumption.
Like so many traditions that have become so natural today, I find it hard not to see our lowest commercial instincts at work. It's become an unquestioned consumption reflex, supporting a growth that destroys everything.
Once upon a time, Christmas was the festival of lights.
In the middle of winter and perpetual night, people hung lights to celebrate the gradual return of the sun.
Then capitalism came along.