The Surprising Advantage of New Year's Day: A Synchronizing Ritual

Over the course of a year, a lot of change happens. From work and relationships to internal growth and mourning loss, the world is constantly changing.

How do we deal with change healthily? How do we vulnerably confront the changes of life, its loss, and its possibilities?

Synchronization is a process of being in tune with change so that we intentionally adapt to the emerging world around us. Having a ritual on New Year's Day gives a collective means to mark the events of our lives and ritually sync with where we have been, where we are, and where we are going.

We also explore the word "rachaf" which is about having moments of profound intimacy where we are interacting with the full presence of life and its changes in a transformative movement that makes us in tune with what will never be the same again.

https://ko-fi.com/becominghuman

Re-telling the Story of Christmas:

What is a different way to think about Christmas? This episodes is taken from a project at The Farmhouse in rural NW Ohio that goes through:

• A meditation on how the context of the nativity connects with our world today.
• A synopsis of Christmas with different angles and emphases.
• The Story of the King
• The Story of the Shepherd

Both of these are unique tellings of the point of incarnation and the nativity emphasizing how this concept called Christmas can impact how we live as human beings.

For a video version of this content:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNVuwjjddsk

Putting St. Nicholas Back in Christmas:

How did the modern version of the Christmas season come to be? From Santa Claus and the reindeer at Macy's Thanksgiving Parade to the classic songs, these traditions are not only new, they were created by department stores and other industries.

This doesn't make it bad, but we should be honest about it.

There are also other versions that might be better. What are other versions of a generous gift giver? Is Saint Nicholas a viable candidate?

Ultimately, this episode tries to make a case for having an honest understanding of Christmas traditions and an encouragement to know the history of Saint Nicholas and how his story might be useful in our contemporary culture.

Christmas History, Saint Nicholas, and Putting Santa in His Proper Place

What is the Santa Claus thing? How did it come about? How has it changed? And, of course, should we tell our children about this?

This episode explores the progression that led to the cultural phenomenon of Santa Claus and asks how we should handle this season with our children based on its history. It's not what you think. This is a deep dive.

Ultimately, we see that the Santa Claus concept is quite new within the history of winter festivals and has a lot more depth than we usually discuss.

Two Views of Time, the Problem of Fads, & Constructive Change

The final episode in the series exploring the ideas of roots, growth, tradition, progress, conservativism, & liberalism.

Extrinsic motivation and ulterior motives are not constructive means of change. The danger of progress occurs when it is purely based on the elusive hope of the future that the unknown possibility will be better than the known; especially if it is explicitly trying to avoid what is known even though the unknown has no data.

This leads to a sociological view of time called a diminishing view of time. Instead, we should consider a progressive view of time that uses the patience of the long game and memory that reflects the reality of human perception to use the past to build the future.

Gardeners, Docents, and the Present-Progressive Tense of Living Tradition

Docents see things as in need of protection and enshrinement. Gardeners see things as in need of guidance and growth.

Which is a metaphor for how not to use tradition and a case for how to nurture progress. Romanticizing the past leads to stalling the present. However, we can still use the past to help grow the world that is yet to be.

Rethinking tradition through the constraints of time and perspective.

Human beings have temporal constraints. We die. Within our finitude, mortality, aging, and the vast population of history, we should have a proper sense of proportion.

Human beings also have mental constraints. We only have our perspective. We only know the world through what it is like to us (qualia).

As a part of society and history, we have to decide how we will use the vastness of the world within our limitations. Taking a cue from "The Fiddler on the Roof," we should see that tradition is alive and the past can help us transcend these limitations.

Use tradition by replicating the process we've inherited not just replicating the content of the past.

Atonality, Theseus' Boat, & a Proper Sense of Historic Proportion

How much does something need to change before it is deemed new? This episode explores the philosophical nature of change and newness.

Short version, new is not random because everything is a continuation of what came before it - from the atomic structure of humans, the nature of compost, and Arnold Schoenberg's compositions of atonality.

This means we should have a proper sense of proportion to the totality of history and recognize our human agency is how the universe will continue.

How to be both a conservative and a liberal

Tradition and progress are a dance: we need to balance both roots and growth together.

First, we need to confront the two main problems that separate these perspectives dealing with sociological superiority. You can project the complexity of incoherency on another because you stake your identity in your perspective or you can have a proper sense of proportion.

Second, we explore the practical considerations of this topic as a whole.

This deals with recognizing the value of each and participating in the common journey to continue the human narrative. Use the past and participate in the active unfolding of the future.

What should be our relationship to tradition and progress?

Is the debate on conservatives and liberals haphazardly assumed in our culture? In this episode, we pull back the curtain on what has become a cultural and political institution through the lens of time and change.

The past is the only known data but is constantly over. The future holds possibility, but it is unknown. Meanwhile, the world is constantly changing.

Tradition and progress is a question of the past versus the future in the midst of an avoidably changing world.

The conservative perspective uses the past to implicate the present, prioritizes known data, and is honest about human limitations, but is not honest about the changing nature of existence. It elevates tradition because the past is useful.

The liberal perspective emphasizes the future because it prioritizes possibility. It is honest about change and is able to adapt to a constantly changing context, but it is working with unknown data.

Can we use what is known while still adapting to context?

Can we harness both data and imagination?

The balance of tradition and progress is about having a proper relationship with both time and change. We need to hold both perspectives together.