Dec 16, 2021
This encore presentation of a show first released in December
2019 continues a conversation between Phil
McLemore, a yogi in the lineage of Paramahansa Yogananda
and also a Latter-day Saint, and LDF host Dan Wotherspoon. This
time, its focus is on Christmas and its various symbols and the
opportunities the season provides for better understanding Jesus
and, more widely, Christ, the divine consciousness of God in every
part of creation. Phil and Dan first discuss the importance of
understanding things related to our divine development through myth
and symbology rather than worrying if this or that story or account
of something miraculous really happened historically. It’s an
important shift to make, allowing us to read scripture, situations,
others, and all of life with new and fresh eyes, for in each is
much that we can draw on for strength and insight for our
journeys.
Mary, the mother of Jesus, and the divine feminine more widely,
then take front stage as Phil pulls wonderful wisdom from every
aspect of what she represents as a virgin, as pregnant with Christ
consciousness, as giving birth, and much more. The turn next to
what the inn and innkeeper represent. What about the cave/stable?
How can we look at the shepherds and the wise men/magi (and their
gifts) more expansively? Elizabeth and Mary, each carrying in her
womb a powerful, God-conscious child can also be seen as much more
than simply cousins communing together during their pregnancies.
And more!
Yogi Phil then takes us into greater depth, sharing some of the
teachings and practices of Yogananda in relation to Christmas, and
he then offers us a powerful meditative practice that will help
take us deep in the meaning of this holy season and the patterns
and archetypes playing themselves out in its stories and symbols,
and even more importantly, within each of us as we journey toward
divine consciousness and communion. Will we allow ourselves to be
open to its many gifts?