Santa as Spiritual Teacher

In this episode I explore how the figure of Santa Claus can teach us about the illusory nature of the self and point us to nondual reality. It was inspired by an article by Paul Jordaans, entitled “The Santa-Clausness of Life.” Here are the links to his site and two articles:

Recently I had an email exchange with some folks in the Netherlands – Paul and Debbie - who have been listening to my YouTube channel and reached out to me. I credit the idea for this episode to Paul Jordaans. I will give a link to his original article, entitled “The Santa-Clausness of Life,” in the description of this episode. It got me thinking in all sorts of fun ways about how the figure of Santa Claus can be a teaching tool for understanding ourselves and reality.

Santa is a ubiquitous figure at Christmastime. He is perhaps even more present in our culture at Christmas than Jesus, who is supposed to be the reason for the season. On our drive back to NH from PA on the weekend after Thanksgiving, my wife and I were listening to a radio station that boasted of playing Christmas music 24/7 from the day after Thanksgiving to Christmas Day. I noticed that many more of those songs mention Santa than Jesus. School Christmas programs will not utter the name Jesus for fear of stepping over the line separating church and state, but Santa is mentioned a lot. The same with decorations in stores and even Christmas cards.

Society seems to think Santa is safe, whereas Jesus is controversial. Well, it turns out that Santa is a very subversive character also. And I am not talking about the historical figure – the fourth century Christian bishop named Saint Nicholas – who is the basis for the Santa myth. I am talking about the myth of Santa.

When my children were young they believed that Santa was real. My grandchildren still do - except for the oldest. They believe that Santa is real because they have been led to believe that by adults. It is a fun fiction. It is a parental conspiracy. There is a lot of talk these days about conspiracy theories. Santa Claus is a conspiracy theory, but a harmless one that every adult is part of. We smile and wink to each other as we talk about Santa, bring the kids to get their photo taken with Santa, and put out milk and cookies for Santa.

It is harmless because we all outgrow it. We get to a certain age when we wake up to the fact that Santa isn’t real. It is a rite of passage. We become part of the adult population that knows the truth behind the fiction of Santa.

A parallel phenomenon is happening when it comes to spiritual truth. But in this case the vast majority of people do not wake up. I am talking about the myth of the self. From a very early age we are told by the adults in our lives that the self is real. We are taught that we are separate little selves. We are conditioned to believe that the self is real. That these separate personalities are real entities. Our parents give us individual names to perpetuate the illusion that we are different from others. We are taught that there is a chasm between us and the world. That we come into the world at birth and leave the world at death. If we are raised in the Christian Church we are also taught that there is a chasm between us and God as well.

A child is not born thinking they are separate. Just the opposite. A child is one with all. That is why Jesus said that we have to become like little children to enter – reenter - the Kingdom of God. To get back to the Garden. Most of us can remember back to those halcyon days when we could still smell the scent of the Garden of Eden. When we still experienced our oneness with nature and our union with God, with all things and all people. But when we lost it. Christianity calls it the fall. We fell from nonduality into duality.

To again use the language of Genesis, parents lure their children to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil – the tree of duality – because that is all they know. We all reprise the role of the serpent in the garden, as well as the role of Adam and Eve. We eat of the tree of knowledge and offer its fruit to others – to our children. And we do not even know that we are doing this because by this time we are immersed in the fiction.

To get back to the figure of Santa, the self is like Santa. Some of us actually get to the age and gain the weight so that we actually look like Santa! But that is not what I am talking about. I mean that our ego is like Santa. The separate persona is as fictitious as Santa. The idea that we are actually separate physical and psychological entities is a myth, just as certainly as Santa is a myth. There is no obese red-clad fellow directing an eleven workshop at the North Pole. And there is no homunculus called me or I directing our lives. The concept of the psyche, the ego, or the self is a myth as certainly as Santa is a myth.

The difference is that adults no longer believe in Santa but they still believe in the self. They have not woken up. This would simply be a harmless but silly delusion, like believing the world is flat or that the moon landing was a hoax, if it were not for the fact that this fiction of the self is the cause of suffering in this world.

People suffer needlessly because they have not woken up from the dream of the separate self. This delusion is the cause of war and evil and injustice. The only reason we engage in war is because we think “they” are different from “us.” The only reason people harm and oppress others is because they think that “they” are not “me” and therefore we need to protect ourselves “us” from “them.”

The cause of all psychological suffering is found in cutting ourselves off from others and from the world. In so doing, we are cutting off a part of ourselves. In cutting ourselves off from God and the universe we are cutting ourselves off from ourselves. We tear ourselves apart. We tear ourselves in pieces and make war with ourselves. This psychological disunity is the source of all the suffering in the world.

The solution to suffering is to wake up to reality, which is unity. The cure for suffering caused by duality is waking up to nonduality. This should be as natural as growing up and realizing that the childish belief in Santa Claus is not real. Waking up from the illusion of the self should be as natural as that. But it isn’t. The vast majority of people never wake up.

Imagine for a moment a world where all the adult still believed in Santa Claus. In such a world it would very difficult for people to NOT believe in Santa Claus. A person would be considered mentally ill if they did not believe in Santa.

That is actually the case with the idea of the self. The persona is not real. The ego or self is not real. To wake up to this truth completely changes the way we see and relate to the world. That is what spiritual awakening is. That is enlightenment. That is liberation. To use Jesus’ terms that is what it means to be born anew, born of the spirit, born from above. It is what it means to see the Kingdom of God and to enter the Kingdom of God. It is salvation and eternal life – to use Christian terms.

Historically this realization used to be rare. People who knew this were called seers or saints or saviors. They founded religions. It was as rare as finding a three-year old today in America who does not believe in Santa. But things are changing. People contact me all the time through my podcasts and videos and books who have woken up. Some are in spiritual traditions and some are not. They all have seen that the self is no more real than Santa Claus. Using the analogy of Santa can help unmask the myth of self. In that way the figure of Santa can be said to be a spiritual teacher.

The Tao of Christ

Santa as Spiritual Teacher

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