Kali McKee

Jesus in the Carols

I attended a Christmas concert at my old elementary school in Ireland over the Christmas break. I went with my mom and her friend (who had a daughter in the concert) and I heard a lot of Christmas carols. I took a short clip on my ipod of some of the song "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" but they later sung the song "O Come All Ye Faithful" which is the one I chose to research.

This song was originally a Latin hymn that is said to have been written by John Wade, who was English. It is speculated that the hymn was written some time in the 13th century. It was then called "Adeste Fideles." The music to it was composed by a man named John Reading in the early 1700s.  In 1841, a Reverend called Frederick Oakley translated the tune into English and it then became "O Come All Ye Faithful."

This song's lyrics are about the baby Jesus being born to the Virgin Mary and people believing that he is the Son of God ("True God of true God, Light from Light Eternal, Lo, He shuns not the Virgin’s womb; Son of the Father"). The song also references the shepherds leaving their flocks to go see Jesus in Bethlehem("See how the shepherds, summoned to His cradle, Leaving their flocks, draw nigh to gaze"). It also sings of God's commandment to bring the baby incense, gold, and myrrh ("Lo! star led chieftains, Magi, Christ adoring, Offer Him incense, gold, and myrrh") All these things are in the bible, so the song is a very accurate tale of the events documented in the bible.

In this carol Jesus is referenced as being "born the King of angles," the "True God of true God" as well as the "Son of the Father." It is evident that this carol is praising the child and it is written with direct correlation with the bible. He is portrayed as a savior to all, this can be seen in the lines: " Child, for us sinners poor and in the manger, We would embrace Thee, with love and awe;

Who would not love Thee, loving us so dearly?" Lastly, an important line to note is "Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing." this highlights that Jesus brought the people hope and belief that their God is almighty and loves them enough to send his son down to Earth to save the people from their sins.

The Saqqara Bird.

The falcon, though appears, not a toy
It represents our eternal joy.
Do right by the falcon, do right by those who see all
For without them, this planet will fall.


The falcon will protect us from all disasters
Made in the image of the Gods, our masters.
Never to abandon, never to fly away
From our land it will never stray.

A vital part of our daily ritual
We worship the place that will never be habitual.
The sun will not rise nor set,
If not for the falcon, to whom we are forever in debt.

                                                           Gandhi Movie Reflection

            Gandhi has many quotes that he is famous for. The quote of his that stood out to me the most was: “Action expresses priority.” I found this meaningful because I think this was Gandhi’s mindset through out the whole movie. When he starved himself until what he wanted done was done like when he wanted peace between the Hindus and the Muslims, his priority was not to eat or to survive at that moment because his priority was his cause. He was stubborn even in his protests. He was non-violence because that was his cause and his priority was expressing his cause in the way he wanted. When he neglected his wife and his family that also expressed his priorities. He didn’t want to be a family man first; he wanted to be true to the most important thing in his life by dedicating all of his time to fighting for India and spreading his messages to all.

Another one of Gandhi’s quotes that caught my eye was: “ An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.”  This is a very important way of thinking in Gandhi’s eyes and can be seen time and time again by his non-violent ways. When the British finally had had enough of Gandhi’s salt protest and they rode into the village on horses, Gandhi’s mindset is demonstrated. The British began beating the Indians with bats but the Indians didn’t fight back because they knew it would do no good. They knew this because Gandhi had taught them to maintain a non-violent state of mind and that in the long run, they would prevail because if they sunk to the level of the British, nothing would ever be accomplished.

            To be honest, I didn’t enjoy this type of yoga. I found the beginning a little annoying just because the positions that were available to sit in were uncomfortable for me. I wasn’t able to focus on my breathing and my body as much as I was supposed to because I don’t think I was in the right mindset. It felt a little awkward because I wasn’t of the religion and I couldn’t understand the exact meaning behind what we were doing. Some of the positions from the sun salutation were comfortable like the easy child’s position, and the tree pose, but other than that, it felt more like a stretching excise rather than a relaxing and meaningful ritual for me. Having said all of that, my muscles did feel stretched and exercised (in a good way) afterwards and it gave me a little boost of energy. However, I don’t want to write off the salutation as nothing more than stretching—that’s just what it was like for me. I understand that it is part of culture and religion that is basically alien to me. I can see how it could be relaxing and very meaningful to the Hindus because it is a long practiced part of their history. It was a learning experience for me and I’m glad I got to do it.  Yoga was something different and I appreciated the out of classroom learning. It helped me understand a large part of Hinduism as a whole.


                                             Buddhist Meditation Reflection

I thought the class period where we did a Buddhist meditation cycle was nice break from being in a classroom setting all day. I liked getting up and going outside for some fresh air. I think that it was an interesting experience—a nice glimpse into what it means to be a Buddhist. I’m not sure I found meditating helpful because it seems like something that should be done by oneself, not with friends in a classroom. I see it’s worth within a religious context, but for me, it didn’t connect with something deeper in me. I might like to try steps 1-4 by myself sometime just to truly live them like a Buddhist would.
I found the most interesting part to be step 5, the right livelihood. It was interesting to observe human behavior in the children playing soccer. I recognized that—at least commonly in the young—people are competitive and selfish by nature almost like a reflex. When one child stole the ball, the other stole it back. They wanted to have the best for themselves in the moment and I think this mirrors a lot of human society. I can definitely understand why Buddhists want to eradicate this kind of behavior and reach Enlightenment. 

The visit the the temple was also fun. I loved exploring the grounds and getting a further little glimpse of the life of a Buddhist. I learnt that the Buddhists are into symbolism because of the paintings with deeper meanings that were painted on or around the main temples. For example, the one that was discussed by Ms. James about the golden cow. The story mirrored the fundamental idea in Buddhism that nothing is permanent. However I learnt that not all people that claim to be Buddhists practice what they preach. I say this because when some of the class was getting water to drink from a fountain, old lady was being rude and impatient behind her. I thought this contrasted sharply with the over arching ideas that Buddhism stems from, and I learnt to judge people more so on their actions rather than what they claim to be their beliefs. 

                                                                  My Shema

I don't believe in any God. I have alway sided with the scientific answer to the questions of the universe. I think my parents have shaped this a lot because my dad especially always has been very logical and he believes what he sees. In my opinion, there are more scientific explanations for life than there are religious ones and I can't believe in something that I truly feel isn't true. I believe in evolution to explain how humans came to be.

To be honest, I wish i could believe that there is an almighty God that watches over us and keeps us safe, and always has our best interests at heart, but I just don't. I'm jealous of people who an unfaltering faith that there is a heaven waiting for them at the end of their life, because if I believed that, I would never be afraid of anything. I wouldn't be afraid to die. I'd never worry about life being short because if I lived right, I would have an eternity to live. I believe that the Big Bang Theory happened and that is more logical than this idea of Gods in any form. I don't fear any Gods because I don't believe they exist. I wouldn't say I have reached this conclusion because of lack of knowledge about religion because all through school I have learnt about the Christian faith and I have studied the bible, but I never had any connection to it, I saw it as more of a story to explain life, not a factual chain of events.


There is no God. I will live my life not constrained by the chains that a God can inflict. I will not be wild, unruly, or disrespectful of others. Simply I will live life as it comes.