I have to begin this column by thanking the female who called my home offering information on the village origins of the Poole brothers, mentioned in my column last Friday, though the lady did not leave her name or contact number, her contribution is well appreciated.
Over the years many of us have debated, argued and wrestled with the thought of how much truth lies in the gospel that was written 70 years after the historical event of the existence of Jesus. We, as young men growing up in the 70s, were enveloped by great music, much of it POP with religious overtones and innuendoes and direct engagements to mystical conversations, that echoed across continents, with cries of change and causes rampant across our human world, and also in Guyana. The literature referred to as the Gospel of the New Testament is the more likely foundation of all that is Christianity, and is a lesser pageant, better understood, than the question and the ideas of science and our local communists that denounced the existence of God advocating a scientific interpretation. I was given a book in the seventies from a friend a couple years older than I was named ‘Dialectical and Historical Materialism by Joseph Stalin’ that took me a few years to fully grasp the references of European philosophers and their writings, though the ideas were clear and decisive as to where loyalties should be, similar to religion, but without God.

His elder brother was with the PYO and I later came to the realisation that though religion was abhorred and quietly mocked, with the local communists there was the opportunistic allowance to play games with religious groups encouraging false delegates and beliefs that suited their agendas politically- a feature still in place. But as a teenager was not quite acceptable to my youthful idealism. I put the booklet down upon later reading about Stalin who was far more malevolent than the Biblical Herod.

Nevertheless, the mystery that is God defies all the scientific theories about our origins. ‘Our’ translates to life itself. We dabble, and have proven aspects of physical evolution among life forms but remain stunned and cannot with authority, rather than theories, answer the classic question of which came first the Chicken or the Egg. On the other side, with time, I have learnt that there is strong circumstantial evidence that prayer fused with sincerity delivers results. This is evident across all religious cultures and confirms to the said narrative of Jesus, that informed us that “the Kingdom of Heaven is within us” attributing our link and ability to some inner-outer force we don’t quite understand.

The New Testament and the Narratives of Jesus the ‘Christ’ is a textbook on life. I view the gospels on its usefulness on life skills, and it is profound. Clearly, its origins from numerous similarities are linked to the higher fount of knowledge known to man, that of the Kemetic Mystery systems. The Kemetic Book of the Dead [that deals with judgement after life] says “O blind soul, arm yourself with the torch of the Mysteries and in terrestrial night you will discover your luminous reflection, your heavenly soul. Follow this divine guide, letting him be your Genius, for he holds the key to your past and future lives.”

Was this ancient text a reference guide that the Elamite-Persian Magi Astrologically followed in their search for The Christ child? Whether the narratives of Jesus were written or transcribed by ancient scholars and adulterated by Kings over the centuries, there are significant ideas and deep truths infused in those text for the human that if you take the time to explore with other readings, it will develop a more enlightened churchgoer and believer and save a mass of persons in need of guidance and sincere ministry from exploitation.

The essence of Christmas revolves around supernatural occurrences, as does every religious belief system on earth. Christmas is embellished with and has absorbed many local identities. Our local masquerade finds its root in African [solstice] harvest festivals, where the pageantry of spirits celebrate the earth through which the Gods reward mankind for our diligence. Santa Claus can be traced to Germany as a devil that punished bad children; and so is a derivation of Odin. The romance of the birth in the manger includes the wise men that in the narratives were nowhere there. That the ancient imageries are all incorporated into the space and dictates of The Christ, contributing their vitality leaves little to question about.

The fact is that there are other such stories of great births among other nations. The power of Christmas differs in that it revolves around the crucial element that is failing us, it embraces the celebration of Children. This is the one time of the year that the subconscious message shouts at us to grant them the best day and season of the year. Perhaps we also commemorate the memory of the children slain by Herod. Should we read the symbolic language right, the Masquerade, Santa Claus, toys, special food, chocolates, the symbolic Christmas tree with wrapped gifts to give, nature’s tree of life with its secret tokens, even with the clean blinds from last year all arouse that special feeling of family, fun and the force of good within our collective human being, invoking the perspective that there is hope for redemption and salvation, from overpowering hopelessness and the Herods and like kind of our age and time.