No Obvious Answers

There's a problem with Christmas.

I'm in the mall, killing time while Dorothy Christmas shops. I don't Christmas shop. I do the carrying. Just now I'm at the pharmacy where I buy a present for myself, the last package of Sensor Excel razor blades on the shelf so I don't have to throw away my favorite razor handle. Now I'm heading back to the shops to find Dorothy who is busy buying gifts for other people. 

A lady missing most of her front teeth spies me, comes over and asks if I can help her because it's the end of the month and she's out of groceries. I say, "Of course" and give her a twenty. 

A twenty. For groceries. Our last grocery bill was twenty times twenty! Not sure I gave her enough.

Continuing on my way to the shops, I am visited by three ghosts of beggars past. One of them got nothing from me. Another got a coffee. The third got enough to dunk a muffin in the coffee. 

I know what you're thinking. By Christmas morning I'm going to have an epiphany and write the toothless lady a cheque for dentures. You're wrong. Dorothy writes the cheques. She might even go for dentures. She's Mrs Claus. Not sure of my part in this drama, maybe Ebenezer or Shrek. 

I'm of two minds about giving because there isn't a law. Too much or too little won't put you in jail. However, there is a guideline: don't give away more than you've got. So far, so good.

Some music of the season comes to mind. 

Here's the whole song:

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat
Please put a penny in the old man's hat
If you haven't got a penny, a ha'penny will do
If you haven't got a ha'penny, then God bless you!

You know the song. You also know that in spite of the warm feelings the song evokes, the goose, the penny and the ha'penny are out of fashion. I don't think I have ever dined on goose, haven't found any pennies lately, and I've never seen a ha'penny.

Yet we cherish the antique songs. Even when we have forgotten their origin, we find lasting meaning in them. God bless you, indeed. 

God bless you. Really? Do we seriously imagine that those words, spoken or sung, however fervently, will alter anyone's situation for the better? 

Well, yes and no, but yes.

Yes. Singing a goodwill song among friends is itself a blessing.

And no. The belief that God will bless us doesn't hold up amidst the injustice, hunger, disease, disaster, grief, and missing teeth experienced by many here and around the world in spite of earnest prayers. 

But yes. If our God-thoughts move us to care for each other, we are all blessed.

Sometimes we imagine that believing the unbelievable is what faith demands of us. Abraham, Moses, Jesus and many prophets since have shown us otherwise. They questioned beyond the beliefs of their day to better understand the way things are. As for me, I believe that God is not offended by our questions. 

Even our best understanding is not God.

God remains Mystery.

God as the Mystery-of-What-Is was new understanding attributed to Moses (according to legend). What-we-make-of-it is merely an imperfect representation of What-Is. If what-we-make-of-it distracts us from the Mystery-of-What-Is, that is idolatry, which is forbidden by the first commandment carved in stone (according to legend). 

Ah, commandments. In spite of his transcendent insight into the Mystery of What-Is, Moses did a very human thing; he imagined God as Law-Giver and Judge, roles with which he was familiar (according to legend) as an adopted member of Pharaoh's family. The God-as-Law-Giver-and-Judge metaphor became a new idol, replacing ritual obeisance to a golden calf with submission to authority reinforced by threats of punishment if you disobey. Pharaoh had been using that trick very effectively to manage his slaves. Religion would make the Law profitable by requiring sacrifice as atonement for sin (according to legend). The law is still mis-used even today as a tool of religious extortion. At the time, three thousand years ago or more, it wasn't obvious that there was something wrong with that. Looking to the Mystery beyond the law (as Jesus did centuries later), we see that there was something wrong.

Long after Moses, a baby was born who would mature to see through the abuse of law revealing the law's true principle and purpose, helping willful people live together with mutual benefit. So law is many things; but if we keep questioning we find that God is certainly more than what-we-have-made-of-the-law. 

There is a problem with Christmas.
There is no law for giving.

So what do you give to those who have
too much already
or everything they need
or not enough?

Will a ha'penny do?

No obvious answers here.
Look to the Mystery.

It's Not Easy Being Green

You probably heard of the recent passing of Sophie Kinsella, author of the Shopaholic novels. The central character in many of her stories is a woman addicted to shopping who would like to be frugal to please her husband and family, but just can't manage it. So her life is in constant chaos. 

That's us, all of us. We are so immersed in a culture of consumption and growth that even if we know better, we carry on with what we're doing.

It's not easy doing the right thing. This is about that, addiction to consumption and growth.  Others have said it better than I can. Click the links. Come back when you have time and click some more.

How To Change Your Life: Jessica Böhme, Wild Philosophy, Dec 15, 2025

If We Wait It Will Be Too Late: Liam Gilliver, MSN, Dec 1, 2025

Struggle of Activists in Politics: CBC News, Nov 29, 2025

Why Some People See Collapse Earlier Than Others: Adrian Lambert, A Grand Unified Theory of Doom

How to Think About The Coming Decade of Dramitic Disruption: Michael Haupt, Framer OS

Corporate Climate Responsibility: Just Have A Think. Dec 7, 2025 of Doom.

Home Batteries in Australia: Just Have a Think, Dec 14, 2025

Lost Species Day

Hallowe'en, a celebration of the dead, was over a month ago. Christmas is coming, a celebration of the aspirational best of what it means to be alive. 

Sandwiched between those special days, yesterday, November 30, was Lost Species Day. Why didn't I know that? I also didn't know that the third Friday in May is Endangered Species Day. 

It seems like people, dead or alive, are more important than bugs and birds, whales and walrus, or forests and fungi. Yes, our human-centrism is natural. We don't survive without caring for ourselves. But there are no humans without the more-than-human world to which we belong. Maybe we shouldn't mess it up.

My previous note has been opened 23 times so far. I suspect my friends were curious, noticed that I was obsessing about ecological disaster as usual, and moved on because disaster is depressing and you had more interesting things to do. 

We have a choice. We can do the more challenging things: confront the trouble we are in, as unpleasant as that may be, and join an emerging culture of active hope by living with respect and restraint in a beautiful, broken world. We are more than merely human. We belong to the Earth.

In case you missed it, in my opinion, the following essay is worth the effort:

Homo Sapiens: Inherently Unsustainable: William E Rees, Nov 24, 2025