Humans & Holidays: Reflections on the Summer Solstice

It’s come to our attention that many people are unfamiliar with spirituality around Earth-based traditions — even strongly opposed to them or feel their communities are not “real” or, in some cases, “evil.”

Let me ask one question: Are you a human on Earth who celebrates holidays? Then, if you’re someone who believes Earth-based traditions are false or satanic, it’s too late to save you from your own idolatrous pagan hypocrisy — because you are already celebrating Earth-based traditions. You may be celebrating them in the name of a specific religion…but if your church calendar coincides with the lunar and solar calendar (which it does, I promise)…well, then…your holidays are based on Earth’s seasonal patterns.

Let’s stop dividing it all up and admit a couple things for the sake of common ground:

We’re all human. First and foremost, we are human. We all have different perspectives and needs surrounding the purpose and significance of life’s journey, but we cannot deny that we are human. Whatever religious traditions we practice, we cannot separate them from a foundation in humanity, and in many cases, when people separate themselves from their sense of humanity, it creates an unhealthy extremism.

We (currently) live on planet Earth. I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future, and obviously, traditions created on other planets or in space stations would be based on extraterrestrial patterns, but here on Earth, nothing is new. It’s all old; there are no new stories. We have our psychological archetypes, our Earthly seasons, and our human instincts, our humanity — and from there, we move through our lives together with ritual behaviors. Sometimes they are called one thing, other times they are called another, but no one has discovered anything that new about human spirituality since our species first looked up and wondered, Why?

We like creating significance. How do we create significance? We mark special occasions. We come together for ritual celebration. All we are doing is turning to each other and saying, “This means something.” Whether it’s the longest day of the year, a commitment, a birth, a death, a relationship, an accomplishment — we reach out and we talk about what it means to us that we’re experiencing these things. All spiritual belief systems are avenues for such acknowledgment. No single person or religion has exclusive possession of meaning-making for all people.

It isn’t all or nothing. A lot of people who practice Earth-based traditions are categorized as “other,” “non-believers” or “nones,” which is narrow-minded (and slightly delusional considering most major religions incorporate Earth-based traditions). Many people who do not believe in the religion of the majority simply believe (or acknowledge and draw upon) a different perspective. Some folks try to be inclusive even if they don’t subscribe to those other perspectives. I certainly don’t cater my life to every perspective (or even agree with them), but I do acknowledge that they all exist to create significance for my fellow humans — and that is called respect. Feeling that certain beliefs are best may be valid for you (and others who identify with that same perspective) but not for everyone. Acknowledging other traditions does not take away from one set of beliefs; they can coexist. If I don’t recognize or cater to your beliefs in my life, it doesn’t mean I don’t recognize your beliefs in your life. There is absolutely a difference between worship and acknowledgment, and one can acknowledge a lot of belief systems and traditions without necessitating a sense of worship.

Humans celebrate at certain times of year because of the significance of Earth’s patterns in our lives.

Earth-based traditions are found in all religions, and often, they can be a common ground for all perspectives because living on Earth is not a belief; it is a human reality. We can’t deny that we all exist together on the longest  day of the year, so we might as well have a barbecue.  We’re all here and we’re all different (and yet we’re all kind of the same). That’s undeniable.

Let’s all agree that we do not need to:

1. Elevate one celebration at the expense of others.
2. Forgo all celebrations because there are so many.
3. Attend all celebrations all the time.

Let’s start having more parties where the attendees are happy that everyone is celebrating in different ways around the world, not parties where we think that our celebration, and those who choose to (or were born to) attend, cornered the market on ritual social activity.

We celebrated the summer solstice yesterday. If you didn’t celebrate the summer solstice, I bet you did something else on Earth that was human and meaningful — like exist — and that’s good enough for us.