Becoming Human

57. Don't Leave Yourself Behind in the New Year - [Rachaf, Synchronization, and the Moments Between Moments]

The Surprising Advantage of New Year's Day: A Synchronizing RitualOver the course of a year, a lot of change happens. From work and relationships to internal growth and mourning loss, the world is constantly changing.How do we deal with change healthily? How do we vulnerably confront the changes of life, its loss, and its possibilities?Synchronization is a process of being in tune with change so that we intentionally adapt to the emerging world around us. Having a ritual on New Year's Day gives a collective means to mark the events of our lives and ritually sync with where we have been, where we are, and where we are going. We also explore the word "rachaf" which is about having moments of profound intimacy where we are interacting with the full presence of life and its changes in a transformative movement that makes us in tune with what will never be the same again.https://ko-fi.com/becominghuman

56. A Different Christmas Story

Re-telling the Story of Christmas:What is a different way to think about Christmas? This episodes is taken from a project at The Farmhouse in rural NW Ohio that goes through:A meditation on how the context of the nativity connects with our world today.A synopsis of Christmas with different angles and emphases.The Story of the KingThe Story of the ShepherdBoth of these are unique tellings of the point of incarnation and the nativity emphasizing how this concept called Christmas can impact how we live as human beings. For a video version of this content:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNVuwjjddsk

55. Should I Tell My Children About St. Nicholas?

Putting St. Nicholas Back in Christmas: How did the modern version of the Christmas season come to be? From Santa Claus and the reindeer at Macy's Thanksgiving Parade to the classic songs, these traditions are not only new, they were created by department stores and other industries. This doesn't make it bad, but we should be honest about it.There are also other versions that might be better. What are other versions of a generous gift giver? Is Saint Nicholas a viable candidate? Ultimately, this episode tries to make a case for having an honest understanding of Christmas traditions and an encouragement to know the history of Saint Nicholas and how his story might be useful in our contemporary culture.

54. Should I Tell My Children About Santa Claus?

Christmas History, Saint Nicholas, and Putting Santa in His Proper PlaceWhat is the Santa Claus thing? How did it come about? How has it changed? And, of course, should we tell our children about this?This episode explores the progression that led to the cultural phenomenon of Santa Claus and asks how we should handle this season with our children based on its history. It's not what you think. This is a deep dive. Ultimately, we see that the Santa Claus concept is quite new within the history of winter festivals and has a lot more depth than we usually discuss.

53. The Danger of Progress & Reactive Romanticism

Two Views of Time, the Problem of Fads, & Constructive ChangeThe final episode in the series exploring the ideas of roots, growth, tradition, progress, conservativism, & liberalism. Extrinsic motivation and ulterior motives are not constructive means of change. The danger of progress occurs when it is purely based on the elusive hope of the future that the unknown possibility will be better than the known; especially if it is explicitly trying to avoid what is known even though the unknown has no data. This leads to a sociological view of time called a diminishing view of time. Instead, we should consider a progressive view of time that uses the patience of the long game and memory that reflects the reality of human perception to use the past to build the future.