1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:05,400 Hello everyone, And so we are coming close to Christmas, and I've done 2 00:00:05,440 --> 00:00:08,400 many Christmas videos in the past, and so I thought we'd try to take 3 00:00:08,400 --> 00:00:11,800 a little bit of a different tack and look at one sentence in the Christmas 4 00:00:11,880 --> 00:00:18,320 Story, a sentence that since my childhood I was always confused and wondering about, 5 00:00:18,359 --> 00:00:22,480 and even when I was in university, I remember a professor that I 6 00:00:22,519 --> 00:00:25,559 had of biblical studies saying, you know, this is the kind of statement 7 00:00:25,600 --> 00:00:30,839 in scripture that doesn't really mean anything, that nobody knows what it really refers 8 00:00:30,879 --> 00:00:35,439 to and what it's talking about. And that is the statement of the Angels, 9 00:00:35,479 --> 00:00:39,200 the Song of the Angels, which is glory to God in the Highest 10 00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:43,399 or glory to God in the Highest heaven and on earth, peace to those 11 00:00:43,479 --> 00:00:47,719 on whom his favor rests, or peace to those on which He has goodwill. 12 00:00:48,479 --> 00:00:55,240 And sometimes it's also peace on men of goodwill. And so what exactly 13 00:00:55,280 --> 00:01:11,239 does this sentence mean? This is Jonathan Pegel, Welcome to the symbolic world. 14 00:01:22,120 --> 00:01:26,760 So the context is pretty clear. We have, first of all, 15 00:01:26,359 --> 00:01:33,200 extremes in the very story, which is that we have these shepherds that are 16 00:01:33,480 --> 00:01:36,200 you know, tending to their cheap. We always have to remember that shepherds 17 00:01:36,560 --> 00:01:41,400 in the ancient world were something like the lowest class of people, you know, 18 00:01:41,480 --> 00:01:46,439 peasants. And then and they're also tending their sheep at night, and 19 00:01:46,480 --> 00:01:51,439 so you have two images of two extremes, which is the lowest type of 20 00:01:51,519 --> 00:01:56,920 person. But then at the same time the darkness at night and in the 21 00:01:56,959 --> 00:02:02,120 heavens appears an angel and ultimately a choir of angels or a group of angels 22 00:02:04,359 --> 00:02:07,959 that announced to them that the Messiah is born in Bethlehem, that the prophecy 23 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:12,000 has been revealed. And then they start to sing this or say this, 24 00:02:12,120 --> 00:02:15,280 you know, Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace to 25 00:02:15,319 --> 00:02:21,120 those on whom its favor rests. So you have this contrast in the situation, 26 00:02:21,199 --> 00:02:23,639 which is that the glory of God shines, and so in this case 27 00:02:23,680 --> 00:02:27,159 you have to really understand the glory of God is light. So you have 28 00:02:27,240 --> 00:02:30,400 to think of this contrast in terms of the situation, which is that it's 29 00:02:30,520 --> 00:02:34,599 dark, it's night, and then all of a sudden in the heavens appears 30 00:02:34,639 --> 00:02:38,479 alight. So the contrast between heaven and night, there's a contrast between the 31 00:02:38,560 --> 00:02:40,919 highest and the lowest in the sense of the figures in the story, which 32 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:47,800 is that the angels above and the shepherds below. Now the shepherd, it's 33 00:02:47,800 --> 00:02:53,000 important to understand also that the shepherds in some ways are related to being a 34 00:02:53,080 --> 00:03:00,360 nomad, related to not necessarily having a fixed place and moving around with the 35 00:03:00,439 --> 00:03:02,599 sheep, you know, tending the sheep, moving following the sheep around, 36 00:03:04,120 --> 00:03:08,800 and so there's a kind of you could say organic or chaotic or you know, 37 00:03:09,280 --> 00:03:15,080 a lack of stability down here. But then above then you have the 38 00:03:15,120 --> 00:03:19,360 angels. Now, what's important to understand in terms of the angels is to 39 00:03:19,520 --> 00:03:24,080 understand the relationship between the angels and the stars. This is something that we've 40 00:03:24,120 --> 00:03:29,280 talked about on this channel several times, which is that for the ancients, 41 00:03:29,319 --> 00:03:35,960 there was really no difference between the principalities, the angels that were assigned by 42 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:38,719 God to manifest the patterns of reality, and the stars in the heavens, 43 00:03:38,759 --> 00:03:43,280 of these points of light that are up above us and that are kind of 44 00:03:43,280 --> 00:03:47,080 a clock that manifests the patterns of reality. And so it's important to see 45 00:03:47,080 --> 00:03:51,400 that because if we don't see that, then it'll be difficult to understand that 46 00:03:51,560 --> 00:03:54,479 there's a relationship between this story of the angels appearing to the shepherds and the 47 00:03:54,520 --> 00:03:59,960 story of the wise men from Afar, the wise men from the strange wise 48 00:04:00,240 --> 00:04:04,759 men also seeing the star in the heavens and following the star to the Messiah, 49 00:04:04,919 --> 00:04:10,240 or following the voice or the song of the angels to find the Messiah. 50 00:04:10,280 --> 00:04:15,199 These two are completely analogous and help one can help you understand the other, 51 00:04:15,480 --> 00:04:20,040 which is that what the shepherds are encountering is something that the ancients could 52 00:04:20,040 --> 00:04:25,199 call the music of the spheres, right the music of the cosmos, the 53 00:04:26,120 --> 00:04:30,759 deep deep, meaning the deep patterns of the cosmos. This is also important 54 00:04:30,759 --> 00:04:33,519 to understand that when the ancients talk about music, what they really mean is 55 00:04:33,560 --> 00:04:38,600 the pattern like quality of reality, and when they would study music in the 56 00:04:38,600 --> 00:04:41,720 ancient world, it wasn't just the way that we think of music as some 57 00:04:41,759 --> 00:04:46,839 of the kind of entertaining sounds that we listen to, but rather the notion 58 00:04:46,959 --> 00:04:51,120 that reality has a musicality, that there is a repetition and a pattern, 59 00:04:51,360 --> 00:04:55,879 and that this is something that we have to enter into. And what they're 60 00:04:55,959 --> 00:04:59,199 encountering is, of course the movement of the stars and the heavens. They're 61 00:04:59,240 --> 00:05:03,079 encountering the pattern of reality. They're, you know, both the shepherds and 62 00:05:03,160 --> 00:05:08,120 the wise men. The wise men are a little different, but they're not 63 00:05:08,160 --> 00:05:11,800 that different. So instead of being the lowest in terms of the shepherd, 64 00:05:12,360 --> 00:05:15,600 they're the strangers. They're the ones that don't necessarily belong in Israel. And 65 00:05:15,639 --> 00:05:23,519 so there's something like the light above, the star above is calling to the 66 00:05:23,639 --> 00:05:27,399 like you could say, the stars that are far away, or the glowing 67 00:05:27,519 --> 00:05:30,839 embers, the glowing sparks that are not from Israel that are there out in 68 00:05:30,920 --> 00:05:34,399 the world, the places where the glory of God is hidden. You know, 69 00:05:34,439 --> 00:05:40,680 the wise men who are able to discern the signs from very far away 70 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:45,120 come in to find the Israel. And so it's similar to the shepherds that 71 00:05:45,199 --> 00:05:47,759 are far away in the sense that there are these nomadic people that are wandering 72 00:05:47,839 --> 00:05:51,040 the land. They don't have a fixed place. They're the lowest of society, 73 00:05:51,279 --> 00:05:58,040 and so they notice they hear the angels. So understanding this structure is 74 00:05:58,079 --> 00:06:02,920 important in understanding what exactly that this sentence means, which is what is the 75 00:06:03,040 --> 00:06:12,240 relationship between saying that glory goes to God in the highest heaven and then on 76 00:06:12,279 --> 00:06:16,839 earth, that we find peace on whom God's favor rests, for whom God 77 00:06:16,920 --> 00:06:21,800 has goodwill. And so this is really just an image of This is an 78 00:06:21,839 --> 00:06:27,120 image of reality. This is a cosmic image like almost all of the cosmic 79 00:06:27,120 --> 00:06:31,160 images that I've shown you before, which is that it's a little image of 80 00:06:31,199 --> 00:06:36,360 how reality actually works in its extreme. But the way in which it happens 81 00:06:36,399 --> 00:06:42,439 in the extreme is also the way it works at smaller levels in our existence. 82 00:06:43,879 --> 00:06:46,560 So let's separate the statement into the two parts. One is, of 83 00:06:46,600 --> 00:06:54,560 course, giving glory or attending, giving up the proper attention, the proper 84 00:06:54,600 --> 00:06:59,879 praise to that which is the highest, celebrating the highest, in the best, 85 00:07:00,199 --> 00:07:02,879 in the proper way, which recognizes what it is. Okay, that's 86 00:07:02,920 --> 00:07:09,639 the first part. And then that brings you could say, causes peace on 87 00:07:09,720 --> 00:07:14,480 earth. So why does that cause peace on earth? So the way to 88 00:07:14,560 --> 00:07:17,839 understand it is that it's apply it to smaller things so that you can understand 89 00:07:17,839 --> 00:07:24,560 how it works. And so let's use a let's use a basketball team again. 90 00:07:24,600 --> 00:07:27,279 I like using sport analogies. They're the easiest and they're the easiest to 91 00:07:27,360 --> 00:07:33,959 understand, which you could say it's something like proper attention to the highest aspect 92 00:07:34,079 --> 00:07:43,800 of the team brings about peace among the players. And let's say not only 93 00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:47,279 peace among the players, but peace among those on which this highest aspect of 94 00:07:47,319 --> 00:07:54,120 the team finds favor, has goodwill towards. So the idea is that if 95 00:07:54,120 --> 00:07:59,759 we understand what it is that we're doing, and we aim towards that highest 96 00:07:59,720 --> 00:08:03,240 aspect of what we're doing, we give the proper attention, the proper celebration 97 00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:07,079 to what it is that binds us together in the first place. To say, 98 00:08:07,079 --> 00:08:11,000 in terms of a basketball team, that is, we're playing basketball to 99 00:08:11,040 --> 00:08:13,160 win. In this way, you know, we have a team name, 100 00:08:13,240 --> 00:08:18,439 a team identity, We have a way to recognize that we are together, 101 00:08:18,519 --> 00:08:20,000 that we're not part of the other team, that we're part of this team. 102 00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:24,000 We have all these things that kind of bind us. And if we 103 00:08:24,040 --> 00:08:30,879 can, if we all are able to celebrate and participate and raise up the 104 00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:35,960 unity of our team together, then what that will do is it will bring 105 00:08:35,039 --> 00:08:39,720 peace among the players. Right, the players will stop thinking of their idiosyncratic 106 00:08:39,799 --> 00:08:45,279 desires, They'll stop thinking about the other things that could they could contend with 107 00:08:45,759 --> 00:08:50,159 that they because they're all their focuses on the purpose and the reason and the 108 00:08:50,240 --> 00:08:54,320 highest part. Then they will work together towards that purpose. They will have 109 00:08:54,399 --> 00:09:01,200 peace among themselves. They won't be fighting, because fighting is basically different people 110 00:09:01,240 --> 00:09:05,519 with different purses, different purposes, that are in conflict with each other. 111 00:09:05,360 --> 00:09:09,440 It will bring them to have piece together, but then it would it's it's 112 00:09:09,799 --> 00:09:16,320 the piece is applied only to that on which the identity of the team has 113 00:09:16,559 --> 00:09:22,639 good favor. That is, only the things that fit within that identity, 114 00:09:22,720 --> 00:09:26,399 only the things that have you know, that that receive the grace of that 115 00:09:26,519 --> 00:09:31,159 identity. You know, because if you are part of the team and you're 116 00:09:31,200 --> 00:09:37,000 not in favor with what the team's purpose is, like maybe let's say you're 117 00:09:37,039 --> 00:09:39,159 doing something else, maybe while you're on the team, while you're thinking about 118 00:09:39,360 --> 00:09:45,480 is some other interests, your girlfriend or whatever, then there won't be peace 119 00:09:46,080 --> 00:09:50,879 among for that person, because it won't be in favor of the in the 120 00:09:50,919 --> 00:09:56,080 favor of the identity of the team. There's actually another reading of this verse 121 00:09:56,919 --> 00:10:01,879 in different versions of the text, which is you could also read it in 122 00:10:01,960 --> 00:10:07,080 certain versions as peace on those who have goodwill, that is, peace on 123 00:10:07,159 --> 00:10:11,399 the men of goodwill, and that also works. It's similar to the other 124 00:10:11,440 --> 00:10:16,879 one, which is that for those that have the right intentions that those that 125 00:10:16,279 --> 00:10:22,279 you know are acting properly within their attention to the highest goal, then they 126 00:10:22,320 --> 00:10:26,440 it will bring peace to them in their in their endeavor. So you can 127 00:10:26,480 --> 00:10:33,080 apply this now at any single thing that you that finds unity in uh, 128 00:10:33,120 --> 00:10:37,840 that finds unity in multiplicity. It could even be in yourself, you know, 129 00:10:37,879 --> 00:10:46,200 which is that if you yourself are distracted by different things and you don't, 130 00:10:46,440 --> 00:10:50,519 you know, focus your attention on the highest purpose that you have at 131 00:10:50,519 --> 00:10:54,120 the moment, then what will happen is you won't have peace within you. 132 00:10:54,120 --> 00:10:58,120 You'll have conflict within you, you'll have discord within you, and you and 133 00:10:58,519 --> 00:11:03,399 you know it won't work. But if you're able to align your different aspects 134 00:11:03,440 --> 00:11:09,759 of your being into one common attention which is raised up above all the others, 135 00:11:11,159 --> 00:11:16,919 then you will have goodwill among those things that are working towards that attention. 136 00:11:16,039 --> 00:11:20,120 You'll have peace. I mean, you'll have peace amongst those things that 137 00:11:20,120 --> 00:11:24,240 are working towards that attention. And so now what's going on here in this 138 00:11:24,320 --> 00:11:28,720 story is something like a cosmic version of that. It's like the extreme version, 139 00:11:30,279 --> 00:11:35,720 the most encompassing version of that, which is if we praise, if 140 00:11:35,720 --> 00:11:39,039 we celebrate. If we attribute glory, if we raise up the name the 141 00:11:39,879 --> 00:11:43,440 source of all things, if we raise up God in the highest heaven, 142 00:11:43,960 --> 00:11:50,039 that's the God we raise up, then there will be peace on earth. 143 00:11:50,679 --> 00:11:54,480 And so it's like it's showing you the structure in the sense that this is 144 00:11:54,519 --> 00:11:58,120 what's going on. For example, in anything that you do, it's showing 145 00:11:58,120 --> 00:12:01,240 you the structure first of all, of what Genesis one is about, which 146 00:12:01,279 --> 00:12:07,759 is also about that which is also about. Let's say God is up in 147 00:12:07,840 --> 00:12:13,120 the heaven. God attributes unities, attributes ways in which things bind together, 148 00:12:13,720 --> 00:12:18,799 and those things, if they are well aligned and they remain in communion with 149 00:12:18,879 --> 00:12:22,000 God is a good way to say it, then they will be at peace 150 00:12:22,279 --> 00:12:28,000 and they will not be in discord. So it's hinting all the way back 151 00:12:28,320 --> 00:12:31,799 to Genesis one and talking about what is the relationship, what is the proper 152 00:12:31,840 --> 00:12:39,279 relationship between heaven and earth? And you can imagine that what happens in Genesis 153 00:12:39,320 --> 00:12:45,799 is that man, you know, takes things for himself instead of rendering up 154 00:12:45,840 --> 00:12:48,440 to God. He tries to take the fruit for himself. He tries to 155 00:12:48,480 --> 00:12:54,919 attribute the qualities of God to himself. And therefore what happens is discord. 156 00:12:54,960 --> 00:13:00,559 What happens is things break down and they lose the favor of God because they 157 00:13:01,039 --> 00:13:07,159 are not glorifying Him to the highest, They're glorifying themselves to the highest. 158 00:13:07,480 --> 00:13:11,440 You know, that can help you understand how this is really this little verse 159 00:13:11,759 --> 00:13:16,840 is really a cosmic image. It's the same thing that happens, you know, 160 00:13:16,879 --> 00:13:22,639 when Moses goes up the mountain at Sinai and gathers the people's attention up 161 00:13:22,759 --> 00:13:26,320 towards a covenant with the Highest. And then when they do that which they 162 00:13:26,360 --> 00:13:31,480 do, what happens is they receive the law, and they receive the cohesion 163 00:13:31,759 --> 00:13:37,440 of the tribes. You know, they actually become in some ways a nation 164 00:13:37,840 --> 00:13:43,399 when they all accept a covenant with that which is highest in that case also 165 00:13:45,039 --> 00:13:48,399 also with the God of their ancestors, which is that they make an analogy 166 00:13:48,480 --> 00:13:54,120 between that which binds them together in terms of their lineage and that which binds 167 00:13:54,120 --> 00:13:58,679 them together more metaphysically, that is the God of Heaven. And so this 168 00:13:58,799 --> 00:14:03,240 was just a little video to help you kind of see how deep some of 169 00:14:03,279 --> 00:14:07,000 these verses are and how something which we just sing every Christmas when we sing, 170 00:14:07,320 --> 00:14:13,480 you know, Gloria in x Chelsea's deo and you know this verse that, 171 00:14:13,559 --> 00:14:16,200 like I told you, my professor in university said that they it was 172 00:14:16,279 --> 00:14:20,759 just kind of a kind of like a theological statement with not much sustenance, 173 00:14:20,799 --> 00:14:24,480 like it was just something that people say, glory to God, you know, 174 00:14:24,559 --> 00:14:30,039 and peace on earth. But it actually is a powerful cosmic image and 175 00:14:30,759 --> 00:14:33,879 helps us understand how complexity works, how attention works, and how it all 176 00:14:33,919 --> 00:14:39,759 comes together into the cosmos and into little microcosms that we participate in. So 177 00:14:39,960 --> 00:14:43,360 I hope this was useful. I want to wish everybody in merry Christmas. 178 00:14:43,720 --> 00:14:48,039 Christ is born. I'm probably saying that a little bit in advance for you, 179 00:14:48,080 --> 00:14:50,080 but since I won't see you on Christmas Day, I'm giving myself the 180 00:14:50,200 --> 00:14:54,080 right to say it. And I'll see all of you, you know, 181 00:14:54,240 --> 00:14:56,879 in the in the new year. My next video will probably be about that, 182 00:14:58,080 --> 00:15:01,679 about symbolism of the new year. So thanks everybody for your support, 183 00:15:01,879 --> 00:15:05,320 for your attention, and I'll talk to you very soon. Bye bye. 184 00:15:05,399 --> 00:15:09,320 If you enjoy these videos and podcasts, please go to the Symbolic World dot 185 00:15:09,360 --> 00:15:13,200 com website and see how you can support what we're doing. There are multiple 186 00:15:13,200 --> 00:15:16,360 subscriber tiers with perks. There are apparel and books to purchase, so go 187 00:15:16,399 --> 00:15:20,399 to the Symbolic World dot com and thank you for your support.