What if there had been no special baby born in a cave under the stars?

This is the question pondered by religious histories scholar and author Kathleen Jenks. The more I listen to people, the more I hear them all wishing for the same things. Kathleen's words are so universal in their appeal, people of all religious and political persuasions are moved by them.

Here is my animated version of her wise and thought-provoking words, illuminated with paintings that span centuries; framed with images of the here and now of deep space transmitted by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope; brought to life by the transcendant music of Brian Keane.

As you watch and listen, try to remember Peace. It's out there somewhere... probably hanging out with Truth.

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My first animation of Kathleen Jenks' work can be seen by clicking here: AS AUTUMN RETURNS

Her website, which I've been drawn to for years, can be seen by clicking here: MYTHING*LINKS

When I decided to do the new movie, I first contacted Kathleen to ask for her input. She kindly responded with the following words, which have become the movie:

What if there had been no special baby born in a cave under the stars? What if all we had had to celebrate the past few thousand years were millions and millions of babies born under the stars -- small humans, growing into wise humans, with no special being to mediate between us and the heavens, no special being given the task of uniquely loving, laughing, bleeding, dying, rising? What if there were just us, the lovely earth, the watching stars? What if...?

What if all the love and tenderness for earth and each other had to come from us alone, witnessed only by the stars? What if the gods themselves have decreed that we alone hold responsibility for the wonder and fragile beauty of this planet? Could we not then do a better job of all this? -- with no one to fall back upon but ourselves? I'm not suggesting that there are no deities or Watchers out there, only that perhaps we have too long depended upon rescue from "out there" instead of focusing upon the innate wisdom and compassion long ago seeded within us.

In this season of Light's birth from the all encompassing, holy, pulsing Darkness, perhaps we could remember that what's really being born, hopefully, is our own ability to mature and navigate gracefully through both Darkness and Light, for the dance between these seeming opposites profoundly enriches the deeper wisdom lying too long unclaimed within us...