Easter has come and gone, and I have been thinking about this" holi-"day and its significance. In a Christian belief system Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We know that the celebration is much older than 2010 years and that much older Pagan traditions became fused into the modern churches holiday. The very name Easter comes from the Goddess of Spring, Eostre, Ostara, or Astarte. The christian Easter holiday follows the timing of a Lunar calendar, it takes place on the first Sunday, after the full moon, after the spring Equinox.
All that is celebrated in contemporary Easter traditions actually harken back to traditons older than Christianity. The Moon-hare that was sacred to the Goddess becomes the Easter Bunny. The Persians presented each other with colored eggs, the symbol of rebirth.
The return of the sun brings the promise of new life, new birth and Jesus is said to have come back from the dead, resurrected. This perhaps is one of the cornerstones of Christianity. There is much controvery about this man called Jesus. He is certainly one of the most recognizable and debated figures in history.
In most American Christian churches, who he was and who he is, isn't debated. However there is much history and scholorship that has posed an honest debate of so many of the tenets of Christianity that one might take for granted.
Was Jesus an actual historical figure or an amalgamation of earlier mythologies? What historical evidence exists to support his life. A Jewish historian writing in the late first century AD named Josephus is credited with naming Jesus at least twice in his writing, urging many followers of Christianity to claim this as proof enough of an actual historical account. There is much debate on this of course as there is much debate surrounding every aspect of the Jesus story. Was he really crucified? Did he escape crucifixion, arranging a substitute to cover-up his escape? ? Did he escape to western Europe or India? Was he married, did he have children? Was this all an elaborate hoax to fulfill old testament prophesies regarding the Messiah?
There are as many doubts and questions as there are books trying to prove or disprove some small point of doctine. Will history ever be able to definatively solve any of these questions? Can history ever really validate events often taken only on faith? Many of the faith-filled do not require proof as it were. That is what faith is.
Relevant to my Spiritual journey, I don't think of myself as faithfilled. I am certainly interested and curious, even desiring of proof of certain ideas. However, the vastness of our universe and the limitations of history, science and our current knowledge keeps me never truly satisfied. I wonder if scholorship can bring definative answers to those seeking.
Are spiritualality and religion just human created concepts used to try and find reason in a chaotic universe? Can science and history explain away the Sacred and the mystical? I prefer to think not. I have a need to believe that there is a power greater than me at work in this universe however undefined these concepts are in my mind, I truly believe that something bigger that me, this planet, this universe does exist. It also exists benevolently. It exists even when I am confronted with the truth that I am just one person in the very long history of this Earth. It exists even when I know we are living on a planet that is one of billions of celestial bodies in our galaxy. It exists even when I know that we are but one of a billion galaxies that exist in this universe. How many universes have there been and how many more will come? When I feel most small and insignificant, that is when the Creator, the "primeval uncreated cause of all" (HP Blavatsky) the One , Absolute Wisdom, God touches my soul and tells me, "I am here, and you are loved. " Blessed Be
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