The Santa God

A reader was offended with my following statement:

“This simplistic view works well as a teaching mechanism for the spiritual infants of the world who see God as an amplified Santa Claus, but there comes a time that the seeker realizes that the Santa Claus God is an illusion and wants a more logical reason behind the true disciplines and gifts of the Father/Mother/It God.”

Even though I gave this in answer to one of your questions I did not mean to direct it at you, but I was trying to teach the general principle as it applies to all. I was not assuming that you saw God as an amplified Santa Claus.

It is interesting though to apply the law of correspondences to the idea of Santa Claus. Children are taught the illusionary belief that there is a real physical Santa Claus who brings gifts to all the “good” children of the world, but if you are “bad” then Santa Claus will have nothing for you. You may stand out among your friends as a bad kid because you received few or no gifts.

You go through several cycles of dealing with this illusion until you individualize enough to wake up and smell the coffee. You begin asking questions. “Dad, there are millions of kids in the world. How does Santa Claus visit them all?”

Dad gives an answer, but you are not satisfied with it.

“Mom, how does Santa Claus get into our house through such a small chimney?”

Mom gives an answer that shuts you up for a time, but still you wonder.

“Dad, why does my friend Jimmy get a lot better stuff than me when he got caught stealing from the grocery store and cheating in school? I’ve been a good kid and I get cheap stuff.”

Dad gives an answer but now you’re really getting uneasy. You’re not satisfied with it.

“Mom, we saw three Santa Clauses today while shopping. Which one is the real one?”

“They’re just helpers of the real Santa,” says Mom.

“Well, I want to see the real one.”

“He’s up at the North Pole making toys.”

“How does he make millions of toys?”

“He has lots of elves that help him.”

“But the last Santa I talked to said he was the real one.”

“Maybe you just got lucky then,” smiled Mom.

You then look back at mom smiling and wonder. Are you being told the truth here or is there some type of scam going on? You decide to find out the truth once and for all. On Christmas Eve you sneak out of bed and hide in a closet with the door cracked open so you can see the Christmas tree and the chimney. You are going to catch Santa when he shows up and ask him some questions and get some straight answers.

You wait and wait and nothing seems to happen, but then finally you see some movement, but it is not Santa coming through a chimney. Instead it is Mom and Dad with presents in hand placing them under the tree.

You sit back and slap yourself on the side of the head. “I should have known,” you think. “It all makes sense now. Mom and Dad are Santa Clause!

Why didn’t I realize the truth after all the signs I saw? Why wasn’t I able to put it all together?”

The interesting thing is that even though you discovered that you were in an illusion, you also found that the gifts of Christmas were not illusion. The gifts were real, but they materialized through a different process than you previously believed. You have now discovered a cause and effect that makes sense and this knowledge is actually more satisfying to your growing consciousness.

Now what is the correspondence here? As young souls, Santa Claus corresponds to God and we ask similar questions about Him. To our Reverend, Father, Pastor, Mom, Dad, or friends we ask:

“If God is all powerful and loving then why does He allow so much suffering?”

“How is God aware of me and billions of others all at the same time?”

“How does God find time to pay attention to me and billions of others at the same time?”

“Why do I only see God’s helpers? I want to see the real God.”

“Why do I have so many problems when I am a good guy and Jim lives in luxury when he is an SOB?”

“Why do I have to go to church when it is so boring and I don’t learn anything?”

“How can God be everywhere all at the same time, yet be sitting on a throne in heaven?”

Finally, after a period of questioning you withdraw to your closet and open the door to your inner world and you see that the reality of the God you have been told about is no more real than Santa Claus. There is a source of all your gifts, but it is not as you supposed. In many ways it is better than you supposed because it is real.
Posted 1999-6-5 23:43:00

Next: Interesting Facts on Christmas

Copyright 1999 by J.J. Dewey, All Rights Reserved