Sunday 7 December 2014

Time to Think.

What is life if, full of care, we have no time to ...  I've no time to finish the quotation now.

After all, there are cards to buy cards to write presents to buy presents to wrap don't forget Aunt Vera this year remember that sour look she gave you last year and then the children ah the children we must do our bit to give Santa a hand he'll need carrots and mince pies - not supermarket ones that's cheating - no you must make the mince pies and the sausage rolls and the stuffing get it all in the freezer and your cake will be made by now and the puddings so you've time to make costumes for little Nellie is a shepherd and Joss is a dog and the tree don't forget the tree and the decorations make some with the kids you know how they love it and a wreath for the front door ...

STOP

Who says we have to do all this?

I'm all for a midwinter festival - with or without any religious overtones. But does it really have to be such a struggle?

Speaking for myself, I want to hibernate at this time of year. I want to snuggle by the fire, watch the flames and let the winter blow itself out. I want to read. Write.

Most of all I want to think.

Some years ago I heard an interview with Germaine Greer in which she was asked her favourite pastime - and she said, 'Thinking.' Wise woman.

Where is the thinking in all the December mayhem? For without it we are simply automata, lurching from one must-do to another. There is no time for anything to touch us. To let the fun and laughter echo as we fall asleep.

If we cannot stop to think, we are purely reactive. We consider neither history nor consequence nor meaning. And we're all the poorer for it. We allow the marketing gurus to lure us into all the razzmatazz, sweeping us away from the glorious temptations of independent thought. From those quiet reflections that remind us of those we love.

It doesn't have to be like this. We can choose what we get swept up in, and what we allow to pass us by. But that means we must make the time to take that decision. And maybe it also means taking time to stand and stare.

9 comments:

  1. As a Messianic Jew, Christmas has a religious significance, both as a Festival of Ligt (Hanuka) but also as a remembrance of the birth of Jesus (Yeshua). Thus I fond meaning in the time of year. I think it is sad that for so many people it has become merely a commercial enterprise loaded with unrealistic expectations. Each year seems to be worse.... not sure what the answer is...''Chritsmas'' has now been hijacked by the retail industry......sad.

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    1. I'm in the corner that has no religious conviction, so should be marketer's dream. But I want time to reflect on the dark and the passing of the year. Not all this endless shopping! It saddens me that the 'success' of Christmas is measured - by the government - in how much people spent, not the time they shared with people they love.

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  2. I am with you both here. I do not belong to a formal religion, but I have my beliefs and above all, I believe in the message that Christmas was originally intended to send to the world. I also think it is sad that the success of the season is measured by financial figures and not by what we can do to share a little love with others around us. I subscribe to the festivities in a very modest way and use it mainly to spend time with my family. A lovely post, Jo. I think few people take the time to stop and stare.

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    1. It's the being swept up without reflections that gets to me. I'm all for razzmatazz, but not at the price of no thinking!

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  3. "Thinking" is a lost art! So it seems is celebrating anything without the accompaniment of shopping, scurrying and hurrying and stress. And spending money. Lots and lots of money.

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    1. Oh money - I do get that it absorbs the lives of the poor, who have to scrabble for enough to buy food. But somehow it has taken centre stage in all our lives - and what a lot we have lost in the process!

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  4. I'm doing my very best not to get sucked into the present-buying mayhem but it's not easy. Next week we light the Chanukah candles and I shall make absolutely sure that for eight days I stop for at least the time it takes for the thin, tiny coloured candles to burn down and I do some thinking. Germaine is right. We all need time for that.

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    1. I think Germaine is right about a lot of things!! Enjoy your candles - they sound wonderful.

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  5. Germaine triggers in me thoughts of admiration and shock in equal measure. That probably attests to her intelligence and personality. I read The Female Eunuch years ago and I found it such a rich experience that it's my "to-reread" list next year.

    I was born in a coutnry that didn't celebrate Christmas but in which Christmas' Eve was still observed. My late nan went out of her way to make sure we had the family around the dinner table on Christmas Eve. No presents, those were left for the 6th January. The government thought that people would forgo their religious beliefs. They were so wrong! Even Fidel himself came down from the Sierra Maestra mountains wearing a necklace with red and white beads symbolising Chango/Santa Barbara. We don't have to do anythng at Christmas if we don't want to. Call me Scrooge (and maybe I am) but I find the whole Christmas excess a tad bit off-putting. To me it's time to spend with the family, being jolly and being satisfited with what you have. Which sometimes it's a heck of alot more than what other people have.

    Great post, I'm with you. I'm taking a month-long break from blogging.

    Greetings from London.

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