Excerpts from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
And yet it happened that Scrooge, having his key in the lock of the door, saw in the knocker, without its undergoing any intermediate process of change– not a knocker, but Marley’s face.
Marley’s face! It was not impenetrable shadow, as the other objects in the yard were, but had a dismal light about it. It was not angry or ferocious, but looked at Scrooge as Marley used to look: with ghostly spectacles turned up on its ghostly forehead. The hair was curiously stirred, as if by breath or hot air: and, though the eyes were wide open, they were perfectly motionless.
As Scrooge looked fixedly at this phenomenon, it was a knocker again.
Spiritus Mundi. Spirit of the world!
Marley’s spirit, for Scrooge, is about to announce his old partner’s imminent visits from three more spirits this Christmas eve. My intention here is not to recount all the wonderful details that Mr. Dickens is about to expose with his masterful pen. My intention is to introduce my faith in spirits and generally the avatars (divine teachers ) they can be for us (me).
If you have had the joy of reading A Christmas Carol or watched any of the movies about Scrooge’s fateful spiritual visits, (George C. Scott’s portrayal is my personal favorite), you have experienced Scrooge’s personal growth with each spiritual visit.
Scrooge does not just have a second coming, but a third coming and a fourth coming. An aside here, time plays no real role. After a few minutes of Marley’s ghost in Scrooge’s bedroom, shall we say getting acquainted, Marley speaks; “You will be haunted ,” resumed the Ghost, “by three Spirits.”
” Is that the chance and hope you mentioned, Jacob?” he demanded, in a faltering voice.
“It is.”
“I-I think I’d rather not,” said Scrooge.
“Without their visits,” said the Ghost, “you cannot hope to shun the path I tread. Expect the first to-morrow, when the bell tolls One.”
“Couldn’t I take ’em all at once, and have it over, Jacob?” hinted Scrooge
“Expect the second on the next night at the same hour. The third, upon the next night when the last stroke of Twelve has ceased to vibrate.”
As we know when Scrooge is finished with his spiritual journey of three more visits he is surprised to see that daylight brings Christmas morning, not three nights as Marley suggested. My point? I believe Dickens’s touches upon a universal fact. I believe Time, as we know it, is man made only. Eternity has no clock as it is always Now. Strange to say? Maybe.
If you have the chance, find author Mitch Albom’s novel, the time keeper, it is a great read. The main character in his novel invented time to measure “moments”. He encounters his spiritual guide, God, who is not happy. The time inventor becomes the time keeper. God puts him in the position to live thousands and thousands of years. Alone, except there is a pool that emits all the voices of people praying their needs and fears about not having enough time. Mr Albom’s novel explores how we can lose our cherished moments, our awareness of Now because we are so obsessed with time to come, time that is past, or even time that appears lost.
Excerpt from the time keeper: The main character Dor meeting his God for the first time. “You began something in your days on Earth. Something that will change all who come after you.” Dor shook his head. ” I am a small and shunned person”.
God goes on about Dor’s use of sun sticks, water bowls, stones and tablets he used to measure the days and nights. He remembers that one of his sun sticks was taken from him by another person.
God points out to Dor, “there are many more now. Once started, this desire does not end. It will grow beyond anything you have imagined. Soon man will count all his days, and then smaller segments of the day, and then smaller still-until the counting consumes him, and the wonder of the world he has been given is lost.”
I believe I live that problem every unit of time you can imagine. I need to learn to trust that my Now needs no clock! I am learning that I have the power of creation. I will be able to take the next step of my personal evolution when I take full responsibility for what I create.
In earlier posts I have alluded to the power of attraction. Positive energy attracts positive energy. Negative attracts Negative. Like attracts like. I read Yeats’s “Second Coming” and see his wonderful imagery as negative. I prefer to see the second coming as shown to me in the book Bridges of Consciousness on page 63; “Through the change in the consciousness level of man the relationship that man has with himself and with Earth will undergo change. This change will facilitate the creation of a true “Heaven on Earth” for man. This will be the true “second coming” for man on Earth. When we develop a love for ourselves we will love the Earth.”
Thank you for reading and of course have a Merry Christmas!
Mark
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