A Bodhisattva's Christmas Carol - Part 3: Stave Two - Integration, Awareness and Akshobya

Intgration: Counteracting the feeling of being pulled in many directions and getting nowhere!

Hey you! Welcome back, so kind of you to take the time, I really appreciate it. As you may recall, we are currently exploring the intriguing notion that "A Christmas Carol", first published 170 years ago this week, can be seen as a model of personal and spiritual development. By spiritual, we mean of course that which affects the spirit with which we enter into every day, as well as in the sense of a truth which cannot be expressed verbally. That which makes sunsets so gratifying, or the view atop distant elevations so singularly arresting. On the more every-day level, should we wish to become more receptive to it, we can learn to taste that wordless wonder at the capacity to simply wander about and wonder about wondering, if you catch my drift. The inexpressible joy at the good fortune of others, feeling deeply connected to certain people and places, being free of constraints, authentically us, with all our flaws and virtues. Honest and free, open and alive to life, trying to want what we already have, as opposed to always trying to have what we want. But what is the key to spiritual receptivity? Gratitude in the face of our transient and fleeting nature. Appreciating the miracle of life itself. Feeling overawed and humble in the face of the unspeakable majesty and unfathomable mystery of it all. As Albert Einstein famously said: 

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom the emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand wrapped in awe, is as good as dead —his eyes are closed... In that sense, and in that sense alone, I am a deeply spiritual person."  

We can find these subtle undercurrents of awe and rapture in everyday experiences, should we wish to notice it, we just need to become more aware. Awareness is pivotal to integration, and thus revolutionary, as my friend and Buddhist author Vidyamala once said. Those magical moments can happen anywhere; at an art gallery, museum, live music event, cinema or theatre. Equally they can happen on journeys to work, queuing for a drink at a bar or stood at a bus stop. Often I find it happens when staring into a campfire at night. That ethereal moment where time seems to stop, and "you" disappear. There is just the moment, within and without you. You are so much at one with your experience as to be indistinguishable from it... In Buddhist terms, for a short time we transcend ourselves and the subject-object duality, and we expand beyond our own limited boundaries into the infinite... A deep peace wells up, not that "we" are really aware of it. Do you you know the one? Magic stuff! In the language of modern psychology, we temporarily shift from operating on a self- referential, subjective level of consciousness to a higher, more refined objective consciousness. We can grow and evolve ever higher towards higher values, towards the sublime, the ineffable, that which lies outside time and space - the unconditioned, the end of suffering, to use more traditional Buddhist terms again. The Persian poet Rumi captures this sense of wonder and possibility in much of his work, and I adore "The Breeze at Dawn" for that reason:

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.

Don't go back to sleep.

You must ask for what you really want.

Don't go back to sleep.

People are going back and forth across the doorsill,

where the two worlds touch.

The door is round and open.

Don't go back to sleep.

An obvious question at this point: if we choose to stay awake, how do we develop this awareness, this emotional positivity needed to let go of our old habitual patterns of thought and being (or becoming, more accurately)? When we leave a plant in a sunlit room, it will grow in the direction of the light source. In that same way, we may want to consider how we ourselves are positioned in the room of our own life. Do we feel like we have been backed into a corner, and are growing lopsidedly or in an unbalanced way? Do we feel like we are withering in the dark, the curtains having somehow closed over the years without us noticing? Not only that, are we regularly watered? It's it warm enough? Many conditions must be factored in for growth. The timing is essential too. In evolutionary terms, we all want to be on the window sill, don't we. Like the plant, or in Buddhist iconography, the lotus, we all desire the conditions which support our endeavours, allowing us to flourish and bloom. All life does. It's the recognition of this desire of mine in all others that motivates me to write - to pass on the tips and ideas that others much wiser have passed onto me. It's the message that's important, not the messenger.

Chosen by the Buddha because it only blossoms in stagnant swamps, the Lotus is
a metaphor for the often tangled, murky and swampy nature of the human mind and it's delusions.

 Hopefully by now, motivated to blossom lotus-like anew, and alive to the knowledge that the Currents of Time will inexorably sweep us out into the Riptides of Change one way or another, we can start to see the advantages of crafting a rudder and paddles. We have the power to steer our future to a greater extent than we realise. There is an old Japanese Zen quote I'm reminded of: "If you want to drive your cart South, don't set off North."  We can make a decision, right now. It's just a choice. We have a responsibility for our own lives, our own growth, our own happiness. The group can encourage and support us, but the individual must choose to try and fulfil their potential of their own accord - this is course we alone can plot.

If we chose to make the conscious decision to change for the better, if we want to become more of an integrated, less fragmented person, then it makes sense to take stock of where are right now, on this very day, in this present moment. Before we plot our course, we must know from which dock we are to set sail. This is why for Buddhists meditation is such an important part of our practice. We come into a state of calm awareness and raising our level of consciousness,  allow whatever arises to be noticed, observed with compassion and allowed to dissipate like a cloud into the clear-blue, vast, sky-like nature of mind itself. Perhaps we are quite prone to depression, or maybe we get irate very easily. Some days we may be fretting about something, and on others we might notice a grey lethargy in body and mind. Alternatively we might be a touch over-excited about something. Whatever we feel, it's ok, it's just where we're at. 

"In order to develop integrated awareness...We have to retrace our steps - have to undo the harm that we have done, or that has been done to us... If we have once taken that wrong turning...then we have to go back to square one, as it were, and we have to learn, we have to allow ourselves to experience ourselves..." - Sangharakshita

After meditating, or even just closing our eyes for twenty seconds, we can "tune in" to our emotional radio station, and check the forecast. In the same way as being meteorologically forewarned, if we spot a dark mood or a certain feeling of disconnection or alone-ness arising in us, we can later 'nip it in the bud' by calling a friend, family or (should we consider ourselves Buddhist) a Sangha member, someone on the same path of self-awakening as ourselves. Often though, even if we don't go to a Buddhist centre or haven't ever tried meditation, we still have a notion of our rough edges to tame. 

We all have a dark side, an angry, vengeful, greedy and lustful part of us that we are deeply ashamed of. We don't even identify with it. How often do we hear "I'm sorry, my anger got the better of me" as if it was a separate entity external and only loosely related to us, the sociopathic "friend" of a housemate that moved in and we are powerless to disarm or evict. Equally, we are all prone to feelings of anxiety, stress, and paralysing doubt. I believe that in every human there are always nobler aspirations too; to be a loving friend, a loyal and considerate partner perhaps? To make others happy, to do some small measure of good in this world. We all have a creative streak, I'm sure, and on some level we all have a romantic or loving streak, no matter how much we might love to deny it. Sometimes I am a jealous person. Sometimes I am a lousy friend. Sometimes I wonder if I couldn't be doing more. Most of the time I want to be doing less. I crave freedom, but also total security, a partner who idolises me but is not clingy. I adore music, but hate the industry. I try not to eat meat, but very occasionally enjoy an illicit McDonalds breakfast muffin. Thus with greasy fingers and whilst making small cooing and gurgling noises of delight I, like everybody else, am often a mass of contradicting and conflicting energies, thoughts and volitions, trapped in a corpse-to-be. It's the small measure of shame every time as I bin the wrapper that gets to me... Sometimes it can feel as if our conscious mind is like a bus, complete with a multitude of bizarre and differing passengers, all shouting destinations and insist on trying to drive there! As they fight for the wheel and jostle for primacy, we lurch across the roads of our lives and around dangerous precipices at breakneck speeds. Wouldn't it be great if there was only a few drivers, if they got on at least amicably, and if they all wanted to go in the same direction? Or better still, just one driver? Silence. Peace. Momentum. Bliss.

Just as a mirror reflects everything in the room, and light will illuminate it's content without bias, we can see how the stillness and soothing imperturbability that Akshobya represents is integral to developing a better understanding of ourselves and that which took us to this point in our lives, should we feel we can do better, or improve in some way.

It is this stillness and equanimity, so vital to the fist stage of integration, that is personified to the nth degree in the silent figure of Akshobya. He is depicted dark blue in colour, like the midnight skies, blue forever representative across cultures of a cooling of the temper and other unhelpful passions/desires. For this reason, with an innate calmness seen as comparable to a vast, placid blue ocean, his wisdom and objectivity of mind is the antidote to the poisons of of hatred or anger. In some depictions, he is associated with the elephant for it's associations of being a by and large docile, gentle and benign creature, but at the same time vastly powerful. Elephants are also creatures of great wisdom and they don't just charge about. They are patient, methodical creatures, and ones who, like Akshobya, are resolute, determined, and steadfast. Hence Akshobya's name translates as "The Inpeturbable", the unshakeable, and his wisdom, his Jinna is that of a mirror-like quality, a key quality of the Enlightened (or more Enlightened) consciousness. This wisdom sees and portrays things as they truly are, with no residual marks left, no subjective reaction. It is the perfect objectivity of the Enlightened mind, which penetrates, sees, and reflects all things presented to it but is not affected and does not try to grasp at these images. He is like a lofty mountain peak, untroubled by clouds that silently roll by. Importantly, his symbol is the vajra, a sacred symbol of the power of true insight, like an unstoppable diamond tunder-bolt. Diamond is the hardest of all stones, and much light Enlightenment itself, can cut through anything, but nothing cuts it. The vajra then is analogous to a weapon, powerful enough to cut and smash through our own delusions about our past of present experiences. His mudra (or hand gesture) is the earth-touching mudra, commonly associated in the Buddhist tradition with the symbolic attack of Mara as the historical Buddha-to-be sat unmovable under The Bodhi Tree. It is the same kind of egoless, unattached stillness and unobscured, untainted perception which forms the basis for integration and illuminates our past and present experiences, for which the Spirit of Christmas Past is an excellent metaphor.

To make sense of these energies and drives in the present moment, we need to better understand how we got here in the first place. Historically, emotionally and spiritually we need to go back. As we have already discussed, that which we were yesterday dictates who we are today. Integration is something which needs to be all-inclusive, taking into account our well entrenched unskillful habits born of years of conditioning. We can't just cherry pick which memories mould us, they just do. We are the sum of all our experiences, thoughts and actions, nothing more or less. Our memories shape who we are, and that which has for so long indiscriminately spun strands of bitterness or resentment can be put to work in our favour, as we shall see later on. But what is integration. As Sangharakshita himself says:

"Integration means bringing things together; it means making them into a whole, and this does not mean holding them together, as it were, by force, by means of some external bond. It means holding them together, bringing them together, making them into a whole by, as it were, subordinating them to, bringing them into harmony with a common principle, or even grouping them, arranging them, around a common centre of interest. In the present context, which is that of personal development, or meditation, the integration is primarily psychological and what is brought together, what is integrated, are the different aspects and functions of the mind itself."

"No fruit without a seed. Desire
Has flowered into a star tonight.
By subtle alchemies my fire
Turns heatless, and shines forth as light."
- opening of the poem "Transformation", by Sangharakshita (1953).

In other words, the process of integration is the process of becoming increasingly aware of and taking full responsibility for our moral and ethical agency, and to better understand the degree to which our conditioning has affected us. What seems to be required therefore is illumination and more panoramic perspective with which to contextualise our past experiences. We need to hold up our differing selves, past and present alike to the light of our compassion. We need to throw some light on our past and our present if we are to make the most of our future. Now, finally, we are ready to meet the Spirit of Christmas Past. A bright light fills Scrooges room. At first glance, we notice that the spirit is unsettling, but utterly benign, as Dickens personifies the function of memory itself. It is described as emanating a blinding flame from its head (be careful, fires can both engender and destroy lives, just like memories), a tender and delicate spirit, with connotations of innocence and purity. Contrastingly, "the arms were very long and muscular; the hands the same, as if its hold were of uncommon strength", a metaphor for the far-reaching grip our past experiences can still exert over us, even after 20, 40 or 60 years! It carries a metal extinguisher-cap, which in his repression of his past, Scrooge has forced the spirit to wear. "What? Would you so soon put out, with worldly hands, the light I give? Is it not enough that you are one of those whose passions made this cap, and force me through whole trains of years to wear it low upon my brow?" the spirit enquires. The inherent danger of an unintegrated past, and in repressing our painful memories is that by shutting up our hearts along with our minds, we are throwing out the baby with the spiritual bathwater.

What really struck me in all of this wasn't so much the obvious need to step back and throw some light on your past experiences, or the dangers of repression/denial, but that in order to start to undo the damage, you need to go back AS YOU ARE TODAY and now. Often, when I cast my mind back to my childhood, I tend to uncomfortably regress into that head-space, like trying to put on a pair of 10-year-old trousers that just don't fit any more. As with the trousers, the end results are usually hilarious to observe but also sometimes painful, and pinch in all the wrong places. There is nothing inherently wrong with digging old trousers out and holding them up to the light. You just don't need to actually put them on to remember where the holes were! 

In this story, Dickens shows that to start the ball of Integration rolling, we need to step back, to distance ourselves from the emotional core of past experiences, and observe them fully illuminated for what they are. That is to say, they are just memories, "shadows of the things that have been, they have no consciousness of us". They cannot hurt us now. Before we are ready to engage with our heart and our past, however, we find that we need to ease ourselves in gently, and engaging with our senses, immerse ourselves in our immediate surroundings. So it is with general day-to-day Mindfulness, and with Body Scan meditations, as well as when settling down to meditate generally. As Scrooge is taken back to his childhood, he starts to become aware of all the little things which we tend to at first forget; he becomes 

"conscious of a thousand odours floating in the air, each one connected with a thousand thoughts, and hopes, and joys, and cares long, long, forgotten... the broad fields were so full of merry music, that the crisp air laughed to hear it." 

Through sight, smell, touch, hearing and perception of familiar thoughts arising, Scrooge begins to feel safe and secure, fully present and grounded in his exploration and illumination of his past experiences and actions. Here is where we come to the next pivotal but often overlooked aspect of "A Christmas Carol", the major role conditioning has to play in our perception of events and the way they subsequently play out.

"We may have to leave our roots behind, in a sense, but it is a question of growing beyond them, not severing them abruptly by an act of will. I once wrote a poem entitled ‘The Root Speaks’. Sometimes we have to listen to that Root."
- Sangharakshita on the process on integration and growth.

Dickens manages to paint a memorable picture of Scrooge as a psychologically realistic individual (making the eventual transformation even more astounding) by proffering a sound explanation for his later inhuman and cruel ways. Early on in the story, we learn, with no drama, value judgements or embellishment at all, that Scrooge had a really damaging, dysfunctional childhood, oscillating between lonely terms and Christmases at the school house, and occasional home life with a father who was, by inference, cruel, hard, foul tempered, and possibly violent to his children. He is described as "a solitary child, neglected by his friends" and Scrooge "wept to see his poor forgotten self". 

By developing impartial awareness of our past experiences, through honesty and kindness towards ourselves and others, we will be able to safely reassess to extent to which our conditioning has created conflicting personality traits within us. By opening up to our memories, experiences, by reconnecting to our emotions, we can transcend them all. 

Looking on our past selves with compassion is the key here. Scrooge see's his former self as he truly was, through the eyes of an adult, as an impartial observer, not through his memory of those events, and is deeply moved by it. I genuinely think this is something to ponder, and is an important lesson for us all. Later, we all see a young Ebaneezer fall in love at the Christmas Ball of his old employer, Fezziwig, and again he sees with the eyes of Compassion all the laughter, hope and potential he had to offer the world at that age. He also sees with clarity for the first time the true magic and power of generosity, known as Dana in the Indo-Buddhist tradition. Talking of Fezziwig, Scrooge marvels that: 

"he has the power to render us happy or unhappy; to make our service light or burdensome; a pleasure or a toil. Say that his power lies in words and looks; in things so slight and insignificant that it is impossible to add and count them up: what then? The happiness he gives is quite as great as if it cost a fortune!"

In encountering his old employer, Scrooge remembers the joy of practicing "Dana", or spontaneous generosity.
"Dana consists not so much in the act of giving as in the feeling of wanting to give, of wanting to share what you have with other people. This feeling of wanting to give or share is often the first manifestation of the spiritual life."
- Sangharakshita 

Quite right too! By way of a final detour, and to much protest on Scrooge's part, the spirit of Christmas Past takes us to one last port of call before its time is done; the breakup of Scrooge's relationship with Belle, his first love, and her subsequent marrying to another man. This is heartbreaking for Scrooge, and speaks volumes to me about the idea that we can't just choose to illuminate the parts of our past that we find celebratory, but we need to gaze tenderly upon our defeats and losses too. We must be mindful that we do so with a sense of kindness and warmth, just as Belle looks upon Scrooge and with final, non-judgemental equanimity says: 

"I release you, with a full heart, for the love of him you once were. You may have pain in this. A very, very brief time, and you will dismiss the recollection of it, gladly, as an unprofitable dream, from which it happened well that you awoke. May you be happy in the life you have chosen." 

Here, we see yet more evidence of Scrooges conditioning and Karma starting to bear fruit. By the time he left school, at the dawn of the Age of Reason, he had been tutored into believing solely in the rational of business, in logic. At the point in his life where he separates from Belle, it is clear that this conditioning has resulted in a materialistic, calculating mind, but you sense that he is only trying to do what all of us ever try to do - use our resources to make the best out of what we have in life. What he assumes to be the best way to get ahead in (and subconsciously control) life is through the acquisition of wealth and more importantly to him, Power. Thats why we need to be consciously checking in with ourselves every now and then, asking ourselves "Are my perceptions correct?" He thinks he is doing the right thing for both of them, he's trying to be a good man, a provider. But when his efforts blow up in his face, he misinterprets it as a lesson that in life we have to make a logical choice between love and money. Suddenly misinterpreting them as mutually exclusive, his ego steps in. He is in the right, not her! Since they met he has "grown so much wiser... I was a boy!" (he yells defiantly) and clearly feels that if Love doesn't want to reward him his efforts, then "Humbug" to it all! Money will not let him down, and never again shall the Power to make his own decisions be taken from him. From this point of his life, Scrooge can be seen as switching from what Sangharakshita calls the "love mode" to the "power mode", and it is our job to address this should we notice in ourselves:

"[The love mode] is a self-giving of person to person, even a surrender of person to person – ‘surrender’ here meaning the complete abandonment of any advantage derived from the power mode [an exploitative way of operating and a way of seeing the world]. More and more I see the spiritual life in terms of learning to switch from the power mode to the love mode. If one can do that, everything else will follow..."  

The four stages of man... Note how the expression changes as he gets older.
Our faces tell the story of our lives, of our conditioning just as much as
our eyes are the proverbial "window to the soul".

You really get the sense that in the aftermath of this key juncture in his life, there was only ever going to be one outcome; a complete shutting down of his emotional core, a supercilious resentment towards love born out of his own self-reproaches for ever having being "stupid" enough to fall in love in the first place. Hence his sneering, condescending attitude towards Fred, Bob and any of the other people in his life who embody emotional positivity. Pivotally, it's not just us, the reader, that recognises this chain of events - it's Scrooge himself! This is why illuminated integration is essential to self transformation - life is not about getting it right all the time, but learning how to fail, properly, and with a sense of wanting to better ourselves regardless. Even if we fail appallingly badly, it is never too late to illuminate our past experiences in a more unbiased way and learn from them. By grounding ourselves, observing our past actions from a distance but through the eyes of Compassion, we begin to lift the veil of our own Ignorance and Want from before our eyes. In effect, we start to perceive ourselves and events closer in line with how they truly are, rather than simply reacting to them on the basis of how they make us feel, both then and now. We become more integrated, and less emotional energy is wasted. We feel less drained by life, and things just seem to flow more smoothly as we tend to the green-tipped shoots of emerging positive emotions.

This commenced, with our energies starting to be less frantic and our current differing selves far more amenable and co-operative, we can start to feel a connection and compassion towards our former selves once more, and, by acknowledging and putting aside for a moment the pain and frustration that life affords us all at some point or another, with gratitude we can begin to see through those past negative associations to the actual lesson itself. As The Buddha himself said: 

“A good friend who points out mistakes and imperfections and rebukes evil is to be respected as if he reveals a secret of hidden treasure.”

 Perhaps now is the time to start be that friend to ourselves? We need to make our peace with the multitude of "selves" of which we are all composed, and give them all a sense of common purpose. If we feel we lack a purpose in life, how about honouring the very mechanism which allowed us to be self-aware in the first place; evolution? By doing so, in that way we can be said to become truly human, and a true individual, in the highest possible sense. We can start sharing those positive experience and visions of stillness with others too. It's like looking outside through a rained upon window; whilst we sit too close, all we get are the smears and the droplets obscuring our view. It's only when we move back a little that the image through the glass begins to take shape, and we can get to better know that person stood in the rain on a deeper, calmer, kinder level, whomever and whenever they might be. When we are ready, when with clarity and compassion we can then welcome them back home into the sheltered warmth of our hearts with open arms, and nurture them like the old friend they always were. It is thus to the second stage of Emotional Positivity, embodied by the larger-than-life Spirit of Christmas Present and the golden figure of Ratnasambhava, that we turn to next time. 

  Yours, with stillness, simplicity and contentment,

The Dharma-Farmer xx

May any merit gained in my acting thus be dedicated to the wellbeing of all sentient life.
This article is dedicated to my friend Jane Curran - thank you for your unending love, support and patience.

A Bodhisattva's Christmas Carol - Part 2: Stave One - Dickens the humanitarian, the Psychology of Change and Mandalas explained..

Charles Dickens, circa 1843, aged 31, when "A Christmas Carol" was published.

Ah, you're back, how wonderful! Thank you. Two days ago, we started looking at "A Christmas Carol" through both more contemporary (psychological) as well as more spiritual (Buddhist/humanitarian) lenses, and asking how this charming and wonderful tale can help us grow into kinder, more compassionate and more contented people. We now face a very obvious question, one I hope this second part will serve to answer - why change at all? 
The answer, I feel, lies with our perspective of the world. 

Before we cast off on our intrepid voyage of self-awakening, it's appropriate to make a few contextual observations about the books general tone, and about Charles Dickens' own views on Christmas and society at large. These days, I feel that many people's disillusion with the holiday season seems to stem from it's over-commercialisation. Perhaps some more spiritually inclined amongst us feel frustration at a debasement of that which once was held sacred? A sense of something lost, the child-like innocence of yesteryear, now sadly long gone maybe? Nostalgia just isn't what it used to be, huh?. I'm sure (like myself) some people have experienced negative conditioning in the past, creating painful associations at this time of year. On the other hand, I know many people who adore the festivities, quirks and customs, make exceedingly merry and go back to work with a glow in their hearts, Dickens in the preface refuses to be drawn into the "Christmas debate" directly, and his narrator throughout is neutral and non-judgmental, allowing the reader to infer his real feelings between the lines spoken by his characters, some views explicit, others less so. Although not a point to be examined in too much detail on this occasion, it is well worth noting that Dickens consistently exemplifies and quite literally personifies Right Speech (the Fourth Precept or "Training Principle") throughout the book. This suggests a man writing with phenomenal awareness and out of an immense compassion for the world, even for those for whom the truth may be a little close to the bone. What we might reasonably term his "Bohisattva-esque (altruistic) aspirations are obvious, and for those who consider themselves Buddhists, it's certainly an interesting way of viewing this seminal figure. After a life of hardship, struggle and immense tragedy, he dedicated his writing career to social change and raising awareness of the conditions the everyday person in the streets faced. Of all writers of the period, his deeply humanitarian and considerate nature stood him head and shoulders above his peers. An adolescence born of intense suffering haunted him throughout his life (he only ever told one living soul about the shame and debt prisons of his youth) and with so much sorrow in the world, who was he to create any more?


"I have endeavoured in this Ghostly little book, to raise the Ghost of an Idea, which shall not put my readers out of humour with themselves, with each other, with the season, or with me.  May it haunt their houses pleasantly, and no one wish to lay it.
Their faithful Friend and Servant,
C. D.
December, 1843."


From the off, we sense his subtlest talents as a writer manifesting in the preface, even if we do not notice them on first glance. The first thing I'd like to expand on before we plunge into models of spiritual advancement or ancient Indian mandalas is Charles Dickens as a skilful social commentator. He draws you in so cleverly and hints to the readers that what he is about to tell them is something interesting, something that may well be for their benefit but he also hopes that they don't take any perceived criticism too harshly. The Victorians were far more religious than our modern audience, and to imply that the more materialist readers of the day would be automatically doomed to Hell would have offended many, and possibly ended his career. In the wrong hands, this book could have been a Fire-and-Brimstone abomination, and done serious amounts of harm, or at the very least angered and insulted the reader. However, his warm, conversational, informal but gently insistent style throughout the story mirrors the way in which any sincere appeal to the senses and reason must be conveyed if the listener is to take notice: "To begin with... I tell you..." etc. Commendably, this essentially secular tale is characterised by a distinct LACK of religious proselytising and hence it's amenability and applicability to the modern atheist reader and condition. Seldom does Scrooge himself give mention to either Heaven or Hell, barring notably when replying to his nephew's offer of Christmas dinner together and later, when presented with visions of his own cold, lifeless body under a sheet. 

That being said, the nightmarish vision in which his old partner Jacob Marley and fellow phantoms are condemned to drag their heavy iron chains for eternity is clearly analogous to a Hell-realm, be it psychological, Judeo-Christian or Buddhist. Interestingly they are not there as a result of some kind of divine retribution, but instead "are of their own making", an observation readily associated with the pivotal Buddhist teachings of conditionality ("dependant origination" or pratitiya samutpada). Essentially, the idea is that all phenomena exist (originate) only on the basis (dependance) of other phenomena. Everything is interconnected through time and space. Thus yesterday shapes today, and who we are or choose to be today defines who we will become tomorrow. Actions DO have consequences, and it's our responsibility to choose wisely. It was the image of the chains being a metaphor for this immutable law that lead me to the idea of "A Christmas Carol" being seen as a unacknowledged Buddhist parable in the first place. 

As a writer generally, Dickens was wisely sensitive to his audience, not condemning the societal elite per se. He himself had come from very humble origins and only a partial education, so was not in the habit of insulting those who had enabled him to climb the social ladder. It was more endemic attitudes of greed, ignorance and hatred that he was keen to expose and here he doesn't pull all the punches. Through various opening conversations with Scrooge, he suggests early on that in the Victorian period most people relate to each other in terms of distinctly segregated social strata, bearing more of a resemblance to the modern Hindu caste system than the Western trends today, "Big Society" etc. Dickens states very clearly his alternative humanitarian vision through Scrooge's irrepressibly positive nephew Fred, and the wretched Marley's lamentations. 

What I find so striking, and rarely mentioned is that although the weights and constant travelling is torturous, the real agony of the spirits, that which makes their existence unbearable, is their incapacity to help others. They are rendered impotent, unable to make amends for past selfishness, unable to do good in this world (as shown by a female spirit unable to help a starving child). They "squandered" the only chance they had to make something meaningful of their lives, and now it is too late. This is existential pain in it's most literal (or perversely ironic) form. Marley's cries of "No rest, no peace. [The] Incessant torture of remorse" reminds us that the karmic result of our hurtful, selfish and generally unskillful actions is constantly forging for us our own mental chains. Most of us already drag these laboriously in the wake of our subconscious minds; iron links of guilt, regrets for failings and mistakes long gone. They were poured from the flaming molten crucible of our own Ignorance and welded by the green-flamed acetylene torch of lust, greed or "Want". Now, in the present, if we are not careful, they weigh us down, imprison us, holding us back from getting out there as a more authentic and unshackled "us": This in turn makes it harder to help (and by extension, meaningfully connect with) others. In this way we can bring a tangible purpose to our lives. This seemingly common desire for all humanity can therefore be seen as one of the few true measure of happiness - our perceived capacity to be of service, to have a use and a purpose in life, and thus enjoy increasingly deeper and more meaningful connections with others. The path of the Buddhist is simply one of breaking those inhibiting chains or fetters, once and for all...

"Oh! Captive, bound, and double-ironed, not to know that any spirit working kindly in its little sphere, whatever it may be, will find its mortal life too short for its vast means of usefulness. Not to know that no space of regret can make amends for one life's opportunity misused! Yet such was I! Oh! such was I! Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!"

These lines, echoing the sublime altruistic vows of the Bodhisattva, work so beautifully in highlighting Dickens' own vision of humanity, especially when coupled with Fred's assertion that "there are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say, Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time…. as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time: the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!" Well said, Sir!

From the very first stave then, Dickens has set the tone of the book, and made clear both 
his own personal beliefs and intentions. It's also interesting to note the musical link between the story being referred to as a "carol" and it's sections as "staves", staves being the lines 
upon which standard musical notation is written. Please note also that a carol is something 
that cannot be a solo performance, it requires teamwork and supporting each other which 
suggests to me that by entitling the story a "Carol", his intention was very much for his book 
to bring people and their families closer together in a similar fashion and with the same 
warm-hearted bonhomie.  

From both modern psychological and Traditional Buddhist perspectives, with the departure of Marley's spirit the story then goes on to describe the roadmap to inner transformation in stages strikingly similar to Sangharakshita's "Five Stages of Spiritual Development". In this model the stages and (I believe) their corresponding staves/Jinas (Archetypal Buddhas) in the story are:

1. Integration - Staves 1 and 2 - Marley's Ghost/The Ghost of Christmas Past - Akshobhya

2. Emotional Positivity - Stave 3 - The Ghost of Christmas Present - Ratnasambhava

 3. Vision & Insight - Stave 4 - The Ghost of Christmas Future - Vairocana

4. Spiritual Rebirth and Transformation - Stave 5 - Christmas Day - Amitabha

5. Spontaneous Compassionate Creativity - The Final Outcome and Future - Amoghasiddhi 

It's worth here providing a few notes on what a mandala is, just to be clear. In the words of Sangharakshita himself:

"Communication between human beings can take place in one of two modes or types; the mode of concepts (thoughts, abstract ideas and so on) and the mode of images. The mode of concepts appeals to the rational intellect and critical intelligence, but the second type, the mode of images, aims rather at the subconscious depths which lie beneath the rational intelligence... The first type is employed by science and philosophy, the second by the arts [visual, musical etc] and imaginative literature. A mandala can most simply be described as a circle of these symbolic forms or images, and these forms, Buddhas and Bodhisattva's, can be described as archetypal images. [In this instance] the central form or symbol represents reality itself, with the other archetypal forms distributed around the four cardinal points. These represent the four principle aspects of that reality itself. There are many different types of mandalas, but the most important is the mandala of the Five Buddhas. The Buddhist mandalas are a symbol of [psychological and spiritual] integration on the highest possible level, which is the level of Supreme Enlightenment."

The Mandala of The Five Jinas/Dhyani Buddhas.
The four central figures represent (clockwise from bottom):
Akshobhya (Unshakable stillness), Ratnasambhava (Generosity), Amitabha (Love) and Amoghasiddhi (Creativity),
which are all aspects of the more Enlightened Mind and it's interaction with reality (Wisdom), represented by Vairocana in the centre. A picture paints a thousand words... 

 Any conceptual formulation of the Dharma (and to my mind, that would be all of them) is by it's nature not to be understood by the letter, but by the spirit, or so I believe. This model and mandala are psychological, they are metaphorical, and symbolic, and are to be understood as way of illustrating a facet or pattern of conditionality or "reality" as we so endearingly term it. The mandala is thus to be visualised, as it were, in three dimensions, a sphere, an orb, not a circle. In terms of the "Five Stages" model, please do not think for a moment that I am suggesting that one needs to be a fully integrated individual before we can turn our minds to a more positive outlook on life. It would be foolish to assume that either need be followed in a liner fashion per se or that one would have to enter a mandala from a certain direction. Although the tradition in many countries is to enter from the East, some schools will switch certain figures around the compass points. The fact is that when we talk in metaphors and concepts, we don't want to fall into the trap of over-literal interpretation, or cynically dismiss outright. The Dharma is often described as a finger pointing at the moon, and not to be mistaken for the moon itself, just as the Buddha described the Dharma as a raft to be used to traverse the swollen and thunderous rivers of Life itself - when we finaly land on the other shore, safe and well, we don't then subsequently carry on dragging the raft over land, do we? We should try to see the Dharma, modern psychology and such models of progress as a means to an end, as it were. A purely rational, intellectual understanding is not enough, we need to work these things through us, on increasingly deeper levels. WE are the secret ingredient that makes the whole thing work. Psychologically and spiritually speaking, Buddhism advocates (indeed is founded on the principle) that human potential is limitless. Just a little bit of positive change every day soon adds up, and acts of kindness benefit all...


"Think lightly not of goodness,
‘It will not come back to me’,
for by the falling of water drops
a jar is filled.
The wise with goodness fill themselves,
 as they soak it up little by little." - The Buddha


In the mandala, each archetypal Buddha (note: not the historical Shakyamuni Buddha) represents or emphasises a particular aspect of the Enlightened mind. Communication can be either rational, conceptual and intellectual, based on ideas and theories, or it can be through images, such as the visual arts or music. The level of symbolic communication is a higher level, able to convey the most sublime, wordless expressions of our shared humanity, and the phase "a picture paints a thousand words" bares testimony to this. With regards to working with either conceptual or symbolic formulations of the Dharma, it is often be best to simply work with your experience on a day by day, moment by moment basis, whatever that might be. You may wake up with a feeling of stillness, positive or negative, and you will either find it feels right to go with the Akshobhyan equanimity, or you may turn your thoughts to Amoghasiddhi in a conscious effort to rouse some energy and get "psyched up" for a day of fearless positivity for the benefit of all. These are merely the gardening tools of the mind; what you plant and how you tend it is entirely your responsibility. Remember that please, and remind me as often as possible. 

But why change at all? In order to motivate us to change our ways, we need to see clearly that there is a need for self improvement and development in the first place. In many instances, moments of true insight hove into view with most clarity when brought around by periods of prolonged dissatisfaction or suffering, or often having a real shock, something profound that shakes us up to our core. If we don't open ourselves up to and absorb these experiences deeply we are in danger of loosing momentum and motivation to achieve sincere and lasting change for the better. Granted, a lot of people develop a curiosity in the Dharma and Buddhism when life is peachy and all is rosy in the garden, but in my experience, "shraddha" or "faith/confidence" in the teachings of the Buddha rarely as tangible and true as when we have to face up to some hard truths about life and ourselves. More often than not, we suffer as a result of knowing we have to change, but feeling overwhelmed at the idea. This however is just our perception of the discrepancy between our ideals and our actual capabilities and we are rarely as bad as we often think ourselves. We needn't be scared. It's a very positive thing to have dreams and goals in the first place, vital in fact. In terms of the spiritual life or a life of deeper meaning, one can't have such aspirations without a sense of the profound, the absolute, and the wordless sublime. Sunsets, music, poetry, a smile, even football and street litter on a rainy day - all can have a sort of unspeakably beauty to them if you are receptive to it. Higher ideals are therefore vital, the desire to want to lead by example an honourable one but equally, until such a time whereby you yourself actually become an Enlightened being, it's worth remembering that (should you think of yourself in such terms) you are a practicing Buddhist not a Buddha! We may not get it right every time, but we can always get better at falling short and dusting ourselves off. Aim for the moon - if you miss, you will still be a star! 

We often forget: just as we don't need enough rubber to cover the surface of the earth to make it safe for walking, just the soles of our own shoes, we don't need (and more importantly) can't demand or expect change in others without first changing ourselves.

True transformation starts with a profound shift in perspective, and trauma is often a force for change. Evolution at any stage or time is hardly characterised by smooth metamorphosis and seamless transitions. Instead, looking back over the 4.3 billion years of life evolving on this planet, progress often lurches forward with jagged and often violent explosions into previously unexplored biological, scientific, intellectual or spiritual territory. Scrooge is not a man of transitions, gentle or otherwise. He is clearly a man of fact, and of reason, but interestingly he can't deal with or face up to the fact of change itself. To counter this, he likes to control things, people, situations, perhaps born out of his disappointing, lonely childhood and the loss of his true love, Belle, in his early twenties. This manifests itself in his world of logic, and arid rationalism, desiccated and devoid of warmth, as he controls the lives of his tenants. He is so resistant to change, even the weather at the start of the story can't affect him! The image of him being "as solitary as an oyster" is a great simile, one of a double prison; one environmental/circumstantial, and one built of our own bidding. He is surrounded by people of good cheer, such as Fred and Bob Cratchit, and yet is utterly detached from that sense of warmth and positive interconnectivity that they seem to radiate. When we first meet him, he is generally speaking impermeable to external influence, but in spite of all this, Scrooge's horrific vision of the tortured souls' fate, and of a chance to avoid the same for himself is enough to set the wheels of radical transformation in motion.

The first step on the Buddha's famous "Eightfold Path" (to inner transformation and eventual Enlightenment) is often translated as "Right Vision." Ironically though, so often the flashes of insight, the blinding lights on the road to Damascus that we so desperately need for change to be lasting are born out of life's least favourable scenarios: Loss of possessions, partners, jobs, friends and family. You've got to go there to come back, as the old saying puts it. 

Fear is one of the primary motivating factor for change, and our resistance to change is echoed in Scrooge's desperate cry of "I won't believe it!" at the weird goings on that fateful eve. In spite of what his senses are telling him, he still denies that which is blindingly obvious, just like all of us at first. He sees and deals with poverty on a daily basis, but he is deaf to the cries of the world. Up to this point in his life, he has been totally exploitative in his relationships with others. We are told that he cares so little for people that he genuinely isn't bothered whether he is called Scrooge or Marley, seeing others merely in terms of what he can get out of them, in exploitative terms. He is dismissive of family, charity and of human life itself, and regularly manipulates others and abuses his position of authority, a contrast to his later begging for help from the various spirits. Humility and shame can definitely be therefor seen as doorways to growth for all of us. If we are to change completely, it has to be from the core of our inside out. Just as "the spectres voice disturbed the very marrow of his bones", it has to strike us deeply. Such it was with old Ebaneezer Scrooge. 

 So now, reminded of our shared humanity and common duty to our fellow man, and with the hideous clanking of our own chains still ringing in our ears, what is the first thing we need to do? We need to get a grip! We need to mentally and spiritually "pull ourselves together", which is where the phrase comes from. We need to integrate ourselves emotionally and psychologically, weaving the differing and contradictory threads that we have spun over all the years into a single length of rope strong enough to carry the varying strains of life, preferably with no danger of snapping. We may keen to use our present experiences to try and evolve into better people in the future, more calm, more kind, more patient etc, but we can't limit this integration to our present experiences alone. That  would restrict us to merely polishing the visible one-eighth of the iceberg. We really are the sum of our experiences, and it's these experiences that we now look towards with a sense of quite literally, pulling our (differing and sometimes conflicting) selves together, but also with a definite sense of perspective and purpose, of kindness and warmth. We need to sharply and without value-judgements illuminate our previous experiences before we can hope to fully understand our present state. We didn't choose to grow up, it was something we were subjected to, and we could have no more controlled our earliest conditioning than we could the colour of our skin, again, an important fact to remember when judging ourselves and others. In my experience it feels like it all happened in a blur, a million years ago, to someone else. In the most profound sense, it did. Hence in Stave Two and part Three of our exploration we move to Scrooge's second meeting; with the Ghost of Christmas Past, and it is to this etherial spirit we turn our gaze to next time as we explore Stave Two: The Ghost of Christmas Past, Integration and Akshobhya. See you in two days!

Yours, in Metta and with a sincere desire to change, 
The Dharma-Farmer xx

As with anything I've ever written, may any merit gained in my acting thus be used for the alleviation of the suffering of all beings, wherever you are, whatever time of year, personal beliefs or states of mind, if any. 

May we all be well, live in peace, and be free from suffering. Sadhu! Sadhu! Sadhu!

A Bodhisattva's Christmas Carol - Part 1: Introduction (Why bother?)

Everyone's a cynic... Intention... Intention... Intention!

For the last few years I have gotten into a bit of a pickle over the festive season. In my late teens and 20s, lamentations over the separation of my parents (Christmas was never quite the same after that) seemed painfully at odds with my natural childlike-wonder at all the fairy lights and delicious-smelling stalls that draw me in a salivating trance around the city centre by my flaring nostrils. I've always loved the spirit of Christmas, but hated the hypocrisy and materialism. Rejoiced in the notion of goodwill to all mankind, but why for a limited time only? 48 hours seems to be the custom in the UK before we slump back into our habitual self-absorbtion and cynicism. Like most people, there are aspects to the tradition I adore (seeing my family again) and other prospects which drain the very life from my eyes (spending time with them). On average, most UK households will have their first row of Christmas Day by 11:15am, and just five minutes of online research revealed other arresting statistics including:

• The YouGov Spending intentions survey for 2013 found that people are planning to spend on average £822 celebrating Christmas. The individual spending figures Are: £599 on presents, £180 on food and drink and £43 on cards, decorations and Christmas trees.
•  18 million people say they are worried about how they will afford Christmas this year.
• The total spend on Christmas by UK households in 2013 is expected to £22.3 billion.
• In 2011 we spent £594 million on unwanted Christmas gifts as at least 1 in 10 of the gifts the average person received was not really what they wanted.
  People were very quick to get rid of their unwanted gifts with 1.5 million new items for sale were listed on eBay Boxing Day 2011.
• A survey commissioned by The Children's Society in 2010 found that only 10% of adults think that it's religious meaning is the most important thing about Christmas. Only 4% of 25-34 year olds thought the religious aspect was important whilst 20% of those over 60's years feel that it is the key aspect of Christmas. 67% of all adults said spending time with family was the most important thing about Christmas.
• 51% agreed with the statement "The birth of Jesus is irrelevant to my Christmas" whilst 46% disagreed with the statement.
• When asked to agree or disagree with the statement "Christmas should be called Christmas even though we are no longer a Christian country" 77% agreed.                                                  Sources: Retail Week Poll Christmas Spending 2013, October 2013 

The absurdly talented Tom Lehrer sharing his inimitable views on Christmas in 1959 - hilarious!

This year marks my third Christmas as a practicing Buddhist at my local centre, but I have long quietly despaired as (increasingly, over the years) the figure of jolly old Father Christmas is reduced (in my eyes) to the poster-boy par excellence for Attachment, Greed and Suffering, and on an International scale. I try to see past that, but everywhere I go, those ruddy cheeks beam down at me from on high, and with a knowing, serpentine gleam in his eyes he whispers to the world around him his well thought-out subliminal lie; that we can buy affection and happiness.... Perhaps make up for our inter-relational failing of the past 12 months with a bottle of Yves St Laurent and a box of Thorntons? Our partners, friends and children will love us again, albeit for one day, if we just bend over and allow him to… why, reach into our back pockets, of course! 

We ALL know who this is...

I recently caught myself thinking these rather cynical thoughts and with a shock realised that I am in danger of entering into a state of mind not entirely dissimilar to old Ebaneezer Scrooge. Having read the story and seen many of the films as a child, I suddenly recalled how it compassionately charted the ups and downs of life taking their toll on what once was an excitable and joyful young man. Now, withered by years of emotional withdrawal resulting in a total disassociation from others (and from how his actions affect them), his heart has hardened to fireless flint as, over the years, he replaced the love of those around him with "a new idol…a golden one". I was curious as to the arising of my own "humbug". Did it come from a perception of something lacking, something missing, or was it just my annual and tragically predictable anti-consumerist misgivings? Hence I decided last year to revisit this classic novella. The following is the result of my reflections and own interpretations in the time since then, the culmination of 12 months work. I decided to see if there was something more than met the eye, hiding in plain sight for 170 years since publication, which may be of use looking at again with fresh eyes. These reflections and thoughts I intend to publish over the coming days, six in total, one every two days, taking us up to Christmas Eve itself. It breaks it up a bit and by doing it this way we might perhaps learn a little something about ourselves. It may give rise to a reflection or two. I hope it gives pause to think a little bit, and in the process of writing this, may I end up a more grateful and contented person for it. May it be of use to others, and failing that, may it be at least of interest. I really hope so! This time of year can take so much out of us, so what have we got to loose? I ask you then to join me as we try and find method in the madness of the most divisive of Western Christian holidays.

But how and why did all this Yuletide enquiry start? Well, for the last five years or so I have gotten into the habit of trying to watch as many different plays, films and cartoon adaptations of "A.C.C" as possible in the two week run up to The Big Day itself. At last count there are over 57 film versions available, so this is by no means a small task! I started a small tradition of inviting a friend or two over, drinking one in over mulled wine and nibbles, knowing it line for line pretty much. There was always something magical about it when I was a kid, the perfect Redemption Song. It had it all: A Super Villain, Ghosts, and the miracle of Christmas transforming a cantankerous waste of DNA into a model human being "as good as his word, and more!" I was (and still am) enthralled every time. Even the Bill Murray interpretation, "Scrooged", a film seemingly written with the convenience of the chronically confused as it's main consideration and probable target demographic, has it's own special place in my heart. Notwithstanding, I was always privately a little confused myself by this seasonal obsession, and last year felt it right to try and start to understand it better. What is it about this story that keeps us coming back after all these years? This year, being as it is the 170th anniversary of it's first pressing, seems an appropriate year as any to finish answering this question.

The very 1st edition... 

 Looking back, it seems very likely that, as children, this story was the first to which we were exposed which explicitly deals with the magic and mechanics of inner transformation and redemption. It also talks candidly about the social, ethical and ideological impact we have on others for better or worse, as well as suggesting that suffering, if viewed and handled correctly, can precipitate the arising of Insight, Wisdom and Compassion. There are well-documented cases in history of leopards changing their spots as a direct result of having their Karmic buffet spread out before them, plain to see. The first Emperor to unite India, King Ashoka, whose famous edits, columns and assorted stupas still bear testimony to this phenomenon. In the 3rd Century B.C.E, he spent years mercilessly slaughtering all in his path to the top, including brothers and uncles, before effectively having a complete mental breakdown. Consumed by guilt for the 100,000's of deaths on his hands, he discovered the peace of Buddhism and completely turned his life around, setting up the world's first social welfare state, the worlds first animal sanctuaries (and had their rights to live unharmed wherever possible LEGISLATED), and established one of the worlds first gender-equal societies. Is it any wonder then that my Dickensian fascination surfaced around the same time that I started deepening my interest in growth and Buddhism? Therefore I hope you enjoy that which I have prepared for you, (a little longer than normal) as it deals with the most all-important principle in Buddhism, Self-Transcendence, and reminds us that we too can change for the better. There's hope for all of us, in other words, if there is hope for people like Ebeneezer Scrooge.

Ashoka's transformation from psychotic sadist to the worlds 1st Buddhist Emperor, dedicated to ethics, love and the path of peace was so unexpected and unprecedented that it is still made into films and books today, 2,300 years later. Not all of them great, needless to say. He built over 84,000 monuments to the Buddha all over India, all of them jaw dropping and many still standing unchanged today. His political, humanitarian and social influence, and even more obviously his four-lions crest is still visible on the Indian coinage and the corresponding Ashokan Wheel of the Dharma, beneath the feet of each Lion, takes it's rightful place in the centre of the national flag. 

For me, inner transformation of the individual for the benefit of other beings, culminating drop by drop in wider social change, is the sublime ideal of the spiritual path. Whilst I try to work with my own sense of spiritual individualism, my motivations often tend to err more naturally towards the altruistic aspirations of what Mahayanan (second phase) Buddhism terms the "Boddhisatvas" (beings who aim to liberate all others from the bonds of suffering before final liberation themselves). In many ways, this classic Western story could be considered comparable and analogous to many of the Eastern parables, teachings and suttas in the Buddhist tradition. Often, a protagonist with a very dubious background is confronted by some shocking home truths before realising this sublime ideal and their true limitless potential, and strive on unrelentingly for the sake of all beings to ultimate Awakening or Enlightenment. In fact there are many themes in "A Christmas Carol" that can be view upon through Buddhistic, psychological and humanitarian lenses, as we shall see. During this series, I aim to plot the five "Staves" of the story over the five stages of Sangharakshita's model of spiritual development, and seek shared symbolism, metaphors and ideology. Can we hear the Buddha speaking to us through such an unlikely medium? If so, what does this point towards and how could this be relevant to each and every one of us in our own personal quest for inner peace and contentment? Even occasional happiness and joy, should we be so lucky! 

The Five Jinas or Archetypal Buddhas, from left to right:
Ratnasambhava (Equality)
Akshobhya (Stillness)
Vairocana (Insight)
Amitabha (Love)
Amoghasiddhi (Energy)

Not only that, in writing and reflecting on this task I noticed certain correlations between the characteristics of each of the five stages and the Mandala of the Five "Jinas" ("Essential Energies/Aspects of the Enlightened Mind"). Composing as it does Five Archetypal Buddhas of the Vajriyana (predominantly Tibetan) Tradition, I offer this reflection as a means to deepening my understanding of the Mandala, The Five Stages and of course, the Dickens classic itself. We could even arrange them into three levels based upon their refinement as vehicles for expressing Ultimate Truth. On the most accessible and least refined level, the story expresses spiritual and existential Truth through prose, through simile and metaphor. With the Five Stages we see the same process of change expressed in a more refined manner, with it not only using metaphor (the "Path") but also simultaneously expressing Truth in abstract and conceptual form. Finally, in the case of the Mandala however, the use of metaphors, simile and even language itself is discarded. Here we see social, spiritual and existential Truth expressed in terms of archetypal symbolism, the meaning behind various images pointing us towards a silent and wordless Truth so refined as to be inexpressible in verbal or written language itself. Thus we could safely say that on one level, "A Christmas Carol" is not just a classic of English literature or a great children's story, but can be seen to be an expression of Ultimate Truth and read as an authentically applicable and eminently practical self-help handbook designed to bring about life-changing inner-transformation, spiritual peace and fulfilment, a concern as relevant today as it was in 1843, if not more so now than ever before. If ever there was an age which could do with a bit more inner-communion and soul-searching, a few more drops of festive and warm-hearted cheer, the eternal "Now" of digital 21st century life and Cyber-Samsara would be it... We may not be able to do it overnight like old Ebeneezer (I can never seem to find an apparition when I need one) but if we are looking for a deeper truth in life, a sense of purpose, belonging and direction then look no further. But lets not get ahead of ourselves. Let us start at the beginning... Are you sitting comfortably children? Then sign up for the mailing list, because I know how busy we all are this time of year and I would hate for you to miss the next "verse" of this fascinating tale. Be brave! I hope you join us, it looks like it might be a bit of a mental ride. On a very literal level, I hope it is. So join me and our new "Famous Five" as this year we explore "A Bodhisattva's Christmas Carol"....

 Yours, with festive excitement and Metta,

The Dharma-Farmer xx