My Christmas Wish for Us All: ‘Have Courage for the Truth’

In This Time of Darkness, Stay True to Your Path

Everyone, no matter their faith, or even if they have no faith, experiences this time of year as a time of darkness.  In the Jewish story of Hanukkah, the celebration is called the Festival of the Lights.   The celebration is finding the light in this darkest time of the year.  In the Christian tradition, the celebration is of the birth of Christ, the Light of the World, again coming in the darkest time of the year.  In Anthroposophical medicine, mistletoe, a plant associated with the story of Christmas because of its unusual ability to bear fruit in the depths of winter, is also the story of bringing the light of healing into the disease we call cancer.

Every tradition celebrates this time of darkness by honoring and worshipping the light.   Perhaps this light is the inner light, perhaps it is the hope that the light will soon return and herald the coming spring.  We wish one another joy, peace and happiness during this time to add a bit of light to the lives of our loved ones. 

This time of darkness is also a time of trial for many of us.  I don’t think I can remember a time in my life when things seemed so unsettled, so out of balance in our world.  Because of this, I have a Christmas wish for each of us, and that is for each of us to find the courage to believe in and seek the good in our lives.   We all know what this means, we also know that the “good” might be different for each of us, yet I am convinced that each of us has an inner sense of our path, and that our best chance out of these dark times is for each of us to find the courage to pursue what is right.   Rudolf Steiner asked all the children in the early grades of the Waldorf School to finish their morning verses with the line, “Have courage for the truth.”  Ultimately, nothing else much matters. 

With that, warm holiday greetings from all of us at Dr. Cowan’s Garden, and don’t forget that today is the last day to order your powders to ensure sure they arrive by Christmas.

With gratitude,

Tom and all of us at DCG