With Super Saiyan spirit, make everyday Christmas

I'm not a Christian. Jesus is said not to have been born on December 25. December 25 is said to be Mithra's birthday. Honestly, I don't care. Because the ideal of Christmas is true and positive.

When I think of the ideal of Christmas, I think of charity, good will, love, gifts, carefully prepared food, bright and colorful lights, and happiness - a lot of good vibes, basically. Christmas ideals bring out the best in people.

Now, the only thing is, this Christmas spirit only seems to last the year-end holiday season. Even before the economic problems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, Christmas appeared to have been losing its luster. At least here in South Korea, it's just another day off from work. Some apartment complexes have Christmas light decorations, and cafés carry seasonal items, but unless you're in the touristy parts of the country, there is nothing special to it. Even the fancy festivities are put on by organizers or retailers as money grabs.

So is there any way to reverse this sad trend?

In The Matrix, kung fu is what matters to me

The Matrix movies present many interesting themes, including red pill vs. blue pill; reality vs. illusion; and free will vs. fate. These are not the only themes present in the movies, and due to the complexity and density in terms of how they are presented in the movies, I tend to be drawn to the franchise's most distinctive theme in a science fiction film: martial art, or as Neo refers to it in The Matrix, "kung fu."

I have taken the symbolic red pill, so I consider myself to sense reality pretty well. While I acknowledge that fate does seem to influence my life, I ultimately make the choices most congruent with the vision and focus I have for my life.

I make my life's directional decisions fast and intuitively because it keeps me from going deep down a rabbit hole that would bog me down just to obtain overly specialized information. Unless absolutely necessary, it is something I avoid.

Instead, I invest most of my time doing things to empower myself or at least get one step closer to fulfilling my life's calling. For the purpose of this post, I shall coin this "practicing my figurative kung fu."

Breaking free from James Cameron’s Avatar spell

I have never been too picky of a movie viewer. While I don’t keep too many movies in my personal collection, I do give each movie I watch a fair chance at winning my heart, through either the transmission of esoteric knowledge or wisdom, or being empowering or inspirational.

When I first watched Avatar in 3D on the big screen, I was, like many at the time, dazzled by the immersive cinematic experience and CGI ahead of its time. The film’s themes of environmentalism and energetic interconnectedness fully registered in my conscious about four years later, in late 2013.

By that time, the combination of my memorable Avatar cinematic experience and a conscious shift that helped me become fully conscious of the film’s spiritual themes had me fully hooked to the film. While I didn’t feel the need to keep rewatching the film, I had elevated Avatar to my movie pantheon.

Then, about one-and-a-half years ago, watching Ridley Scott’s 1492: Conquest of Paradise broke the spell Avatar had cast on my psyche.