Some time ago while in London I visited one of the homes of the author Charles Dickens, he of the small book A Christmas Carol. To me the story is a haunting one (pun intended) as he lays out the human condition and our self-imposed greed, hate, and delusions, the variables that cause our suffering.

It is the story of each of us, with different ghosts, but ghosts just the same. Our past, present, and future are the time in which we spend the day. We each have to learn how to live in the most basic way one that must include relationships.

Zen is the acknowledgement of the moment as it unfolds our life. In the story Scrooge, he is seen as the archetype of greed in every moment, fostering hate and delusion to the extent that he implodes. On the extreme edge he experiences an intervention. From that he sees life in a different light. He awakens to the undergirding of the compassion, loving kindness, and joy of our fellow humans through our common quest to be true beings, in service to others.

Scrooge became his inter-Ebenezer. Notice in the book and movies versions when he is referred to as Ebenezer and not Scrooge. The former imploring him to see the true him and the later that shell he has constructed ( Oh...the ponderous chain you have built year by year...).

Ebenezer is taken from the Old Testament and means "Stone or Rock of Help." That is his trueness a Bodhisattva, a rock of help and service. So here is to all of our transformations from scrooge of selfishness to the wonder of Ebenezer, being a rock of service to all we meet. For he became known as the best jolly man in all of London town and it was said it was because the spirit of Christmas was in his heart and actions not just Christmas Day but every day of the year...

108_/\_'s