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Tag: Jesus Christ

  • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “Christmas Bells”

    Image: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

    Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “Christmas Bells”

    Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s” Christmas Bells” is a widely anthologized poem that celebrates the winter holiday.   It features a phrase associated famously with the Christmas season in its chant, “Of peace on earth / Good-will to men.”

    Introduction and Text of “Christmas Bells”

    Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “Christmas Bells” is remarkable not only for its tribute to Christmas but also for its commentary regarding the American Civil War, which was in progress at the time the poet composed this poem on Christmas Day 1864.   This poem was published in 1865, and by 1872, it was set to music, becoming a world famous Christmas carol, covered by many singers, including Frank Sinatra.

    The poem plays out in seven cinquains, each with the riming scheme, AABBC.  It repeats the phrase, “peace on earth, good-will to men,” which has become a widely chanted invocation for world peace.

    Christmas Bells

    I heard the bells on Christmas Day
    Their old, familiar carols play,
        And wild and sweet
        The words repeat
    Of peace on earth, good-will to men! 

    And thought how, as the day had come,
    The belfries of all Christendom
        Had rolled along
        The unbroken song
    Of peace on earth, good-will to men! 

    Till ringing, singing on its way,
    The world revolved from night to day,
        A voice, a chime,
        A chant sublime
    Of peace on earth, good-will to men! 

    Then from each black, accursed mouth
    The cannon thundered in the South,
        And with the sound
        The carols drowned
    Of peace on earth, good-will to men! 

    It was as if an earthquake rent
    The hearth-stones of a continent,
        And made forlorn
        The households born
    Of peace on earth, good-will to men! 

    And in despair I bowed my head;
    “There is no peace on earth,” I said;
        “For hate is strong,
        And mocks the song
    Of peace on earth, good-will to men!” 

    Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
    “God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
        The Wrong shall fail,
        The Right prevail,
    With peace on earth, good-will to men.”

    Reading with musical accompaniment:  

    Commentary on “Christmas Bells”

    Since its original publication in 1865, the concluding year of the American Civil War, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s” Christmas Bells” has enjoyed widespread distribution and attention.  

    The poem’s refrain, “Of peace on earth / Good-will to men,” has served as an appeal for a common goal, uplifting the minds and hearts of all people the world over.  And while the poem’s association with the Christmas holiday is obvious, the sentiment for peace and world-wide goodwill remain regnant throughout the year.

    First Cinquain:  Ringing in Christmas

    I heard the bells on Christmas Day
    Their old, familiar carols play,
        And wild and sweet
        The words repeat
    Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

    The speaker reports that upon hearing the church bells pealing and the singing of carols in celebration of Christ’s birth, he is reminded of the purpose of Christmas celebration of peace and harmony among the world’s citizens.  He avers that the words and sentiment are very well-known to him. 

    He also reports that those words hold a special place in his heart.  The speaker’s tribute thus reveals the nature of the season that had become and still remain one of the most important celebrations of the year, especially in Western culture.

    The line—”Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”—becomes the refrain in this poem that may also serve as a hymn. The refrain allows the poem to function as a chant.  It has been invoked many times in many places for that purpose since its composition in 1863.  

    Those important words have also been employed to remind a warring world of the true goal human endeavor, that peace and harmony are ever more desirable than war and chaos.

    Second Cinquain:  A Reminder of Peace 

    And thought how, as the day had come,
    The belfries of all Christendom
        Had rolled along
        The unbroken song
    Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

    Hearing the bells and the caroling also reminds the speaker of the “unbroken song” of Christ’s birth that is celebrated in all places where Christians and others of a spiritual nature acknowledge and love Jesus Christ.  

    Again, the speaker repeats that all important idea, “Of peace on earth, good-will to men!” The chanted line remains an important feature of this poem for its ability to alter even the speaker’s mood as he continues to describe his reaction to hearing the bells.

    For the speaker, the continuation of the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ as the savior of humankind has informed his remembrance, even as life has progressed and often descended into the chaos that all of humankind would prefer to avoid. 

    He is writing during the time of war, and thus he desires to achieve peace, but that desire may be contrasted with outward events that hem him round.  As he writes his tribute, motivated by the words of sacredness from the carols, he is reminded of calmness and the nature of life as he would have it.

    Third Cinquain:  Heavenly Sounds 

    Till ringing, singing on its way,
    The world revolved from night to day,
        A voice, a chime,
        A chant sublime
    Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

    The sounding of the bells and voices singing Christmas carols continues throughout the day as the day turns into night.  The speaker describes the sounds he hears as voices and chimes.  He finds those sounds to be heavenly; they remind him of all things sublime.  And the chant he has fashioned again closes the cinquain.

    The simple chanting of an uncomplicated but seemingly unattainable state of earthly tranquility provides the atmosphere in which a mind may rest, if only for a moment.   The necessity of that rest becomes paramount during times of holy day recognition, and the celebration of the birth of Christ offers “Christendom” that opportunity for solemn meditation on the soul.

    The speaker throughout his tribute remains intensely focused on the refrain that is chanted, and the peace and goodwill that he is asserting then become part of a prayer. 
     As he asserts that the words of the carols remind him of sacredness, he yearns to bring about that very situation through concentration on the peace and harmony that such chanting is not only describing but also demanding.

    Fourth Cinquain:  A Moment of Bleak Melancholy

    Then from each black, accursed mouth
    The cannon thundered in the South,
        And with the sound
        The carols drowned
    Of peace on earth, good-will to men! 

    While the speaker is enjoying of the beautiful peeling of the bells and the singing of carols, he enjoyment is suddenly interrupted by a loud, explosive reminder that war is raging.

    Symbolizing the war, cannons are loudly reminding the speaker of the unfortunate events that are being played out, especially in the southern part of his country.  Those likely metaphoric sounds have intruded into the speaker’s consciousness at a time when he is musing on beautiful qualities that should exist, specially at this time of year.  

    The loud cannons that “thunder” become a dark cloud, covering the beauty of the carols that proclaim earthly peace and the lovely fellow feeling that should exist among all citizens.

    This interlude of remembrance of war contrasts greatly with the opening emphasis on beauty, tranquility, along with peace and goodwill.  The stark image of a cannon’s “black, accursed mouth” startles the mind that has heretofore been soothed by the reminders of celebration of spirituality through peace and goodwill.

    Fifth Cinquain:  Peace Broken by War 

    It was as if an earthquake rent
    The hearth-stones of a continent,
        And made forlorn
        The households born
    Of peace on earth, good-will to men! 

    Continuing the contrasting stark interlude of war that has pushed its way into the speaker’s awareness, this stanza then likens the war to a different calamity.  Thus the narrative moves from the cannons of war to the natural phenomenon of an earthquake that breaks up the very ground beneath the feet of the citizens.  

    The households seem to be suddenly stripped of the serenity that should be aglow with the peace and harmony for each family.  This interlude of melancholy and pain, however, still contains the seeds of hope as the cinquain concludes again with the refrain for peace.

    The speaker is aware that too many families have been affected by the war as husbands, wives, sons, daughters, brothers, and sisters have gone off to war to defend what they consider their homeland.  This “earthquake” of war has caused a melancholy atmosphere to fall over the citizenry, but the speaker still continues to chant his prayer of yearning for peace and goodwill.

    Sixth Cinquain:  No Peace—Just Despair and Hatred 

    And in despair I bowed my head;
    “There is no peace on earth,” I said;
        “For hate is strong,
        And mocks the song
    Of peace on earth, good-will to men!” 

    Into the third stanza also comes the painful interlude of melancholy, which continues to serve as a reminder that this poem is being composed during a time of war.  The speaker looks down, bowing his head, feeling desperate for better times. 

    He bemoans the fact that currently peace does not reign over the land.  His country is engaged in a bloody battle for its soul; it is being pulled apart by differences that reflect strong hatred on both sides.  

    Political differences have spoiled the peace that should be spreading over the landscape and into the hearts and minds of the citizenry, instead of the suffering and chaos that war and hatred are bringing.

    Because there is such strong hatred in the world, the song of peace is mocked by the brutality of war, which contrasts so violently with the notion of peace and harmony.  Sadly then, the speaker is experiencing a moment of hopelessness that there is no truth in chanting about peace, love, and goodwill.  

    The contrast between his earlier feeling regarding peace and harmony reflected by his repeated refrain and this painful realization that peace is lacking must have been excruciating for the speaker as he passes through that dark moment brought on by the reality of war raging in his country.

    That the speaker is forced to concede, “There is no peace on earth,” remains a painful reminder of the chaos that hatred brings into the lives all people.  The very hope that peace can be achieved on earth becomes difficult to maintain in the midst of all the pain and suffering caused by the destruction of weapons and brute force against citizens.  

    Seventh Cinquain:  The Return to Faith and Joy 

    Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
    “God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
        The Wrong shall fail,
        The Right prevail,
    With peace on earth, good-will to men.”

    Just as suddenly as the melancholy had momentarily overtaken him,  the speaker’s mind fortunately returns to its faith that all will be well.  The bells’ tone now seems to become even deeper and louder, causing the speaker’s musings to be uplifted.

    His heart and mind become filled with the notion that the wrong of the world will be defeated by the right, which will win.  The speaker assures himself that God is in control, and that God never abandons His children.   The sound of the bells continues to peal in the speaker’s consciousness as they deliver his mood from sadness to hope and faith again.

    The speaker then is able to assert with strongest faith, “God is not dead.”  He also asserts with assurance, “nor doth He sleep.”  The speaker’s faith thus returns him to the knowledge that right will overcome wrong because God is still controlling all events.  

    The speaker can thus continue emphasizing the sentiment of his controlling refrain.  He can again with renewed faith place that emphasis on that refrain that had brightened all the preceding stanzas of his discourse.  He can chant again his invocation for peace and goodwill for all his earthly brethren.

    Thus, because of the return of his faith in his deep heart’s core, he can proclaim the repeated truth that God still fills the world’s faithful “With peace on earth, good-will to men.”

  • Brief Sketches of the Five Major World Religions

    Image 1: Symbols for the Five Major World Religions

    Brief Sketches of the Five Major World Religions

    Roughly in order of origin, the five major world religions are Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.  Each major religion has many branches or denominations that focus on certain aspects of the main religion.  This article features a brief overview of each of the five major religions.

    Introduction:  What Is the Purpose of Religion?

    “If God after making the world puts Himself outside it, He is no longer God.  If He separates Himself from the world or wants to separate Himself, He is not God.  The world is not the world when it is separated from God.  God must be in the world and the world in God.”  —D. T. Suzuki

    According to Paramahansa Yogananda [1], the purpose of all religions—as well as the purpose of life itself—is to reunite the individual soul with the Supreme Soul or God.  The differences that seem to split religions from one another result from the use of different metaphors that portray concepts.  

    Also use of different names for the Supreme Deity causes confusion; for example, Allah, Divine Mother, Ultimate Reality, Supreme Intelligence, Emptiness, Absolute, and Over-Soul represent some of the terms used to name the Unnameable or the Ineffable [2].

    A common misunderstanding of Hinduism emerges from the many Hindu names for God or the Supreme Soul.  But instead of actually signifying different “gods,” the names merely signify different aspects of of the one God.  Hinduism is monotheistic, just as Christianity and all other religions are.

    All of the five major world religions—Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—have in common a basic faith, even though each religion describes the nature of their faith differently.  They each have a prophet, or prophets, who interpret God’s ways, and scripture in which the interpretation resides.

    Hinduism

    Hinduism’s scripture is the Bhagavad-Gita, and major prophet is Krishna.  However, Hinduism is probably the world’s oldest religion, [3] and, therefore, it also has other ancient scripture that was not written down for many centuries or perhaps millennia.  These are called the Vedas.

    In more recent history the important scripture that contains the explanation for existence and the guide back to God is the Bhagavad-Gita, whose central narrator is Bhagavan Krishna.

    Buddhism

    Buddhism’s scripture is the Dhammapada, and its major prophet is Siddhartha Gautama or the Buddha [4].  Buddhism began around 500 B.C. in India, when the prince Gautama abandoned his young wife and child and took up the life of an ascetic.  It is said that he positioned himself under a banyan tree and determined to remain there until he had attained enlightenment.  

    Buddhism is very similar to Hinduism in that they both focus on meditation to achieve “enlightenment,” which is called “nirvana” in Buddhism and “samadhi” in Hinduism.  Also both religions describe the nature of God, or the Absolute, pantheistically.

    Judaism

    Judaism’s major prophets are the Old Testament prophets, especially Moses [5]; thus, its scripture is the Old Testament or Torah consisting of the Five Books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. 

    Because Judaism does not recognize the New Testament, it does not recognize the “old” testament as such, but simply as the Torah. The name “Judaism” originates from the fourth son of Jacob, who was the father of the tribe of “Judah.”  The name “Judah” means gratitude in Hebrew. 

    It was the tribe of Judah that resided in Jerusalem during the reign of both David and Solomon.  Later the Judaic kingdom included all of the southern tribes of Israel.

    Thus, the religion of the Jews is called “Judaism.

    Christianity

    Christianity’s major prophet is Jesus Christ, whose major scripture is the Sermon on the Mount [6] which is part of the New Testament.  Like most prophets, Christ appeared at a time of history when there was great turmoil and strife.   Human kind had lost its knowledge of its divinity within the soul,  and the Christ appeared to remind people that “the kingdom of God is with you.”

    Islam

    Islam’s prophet is Muhammad, and its scripture is the Quran (Koran).  In addition to the Quran, the devout Muslim studies the Sunnah, which is an account of the prophet’s life and the activities and traditions he approved.

    The prophet Muhammad was born April 20, 571, to a wealthy family of the tribe of Mecca.  His father had died a few days before his son was born, and his mother died when he was six-years-old.  

    His grandfather, who was caring for the boy, then died when Muhammad turned nine, at which time he was cared for by an uncle.  The world in which the young boy lived was a chaotic one, sometimes described a “barbaric.”  It is said that Muhammad was a gentle boy, sensitive and compassionate in his dealings with others.

    At the age of twenty-five he entered the caravan business owned by a wealthy widow, Khadija; their relationship grew from deep respect to admiration and love, and they married.  Their union proved successful.  Fifteen years later the man Muhammad transformed into the Prophet, but such a transformation did not happen overnight.  According to Huston Smith [7], 

    There was a huge, barren rock on the outskirts of Mecca known as Mount Hira, torn by cleft and ravine, erupting unshadowed and flowerless from the desert sands.  In this rock was a cave which Muhammad, in need of deep solitude, began to frequent.  Peering into the mysteries of good and evil, unable to accept the crudeness, superstition, and fratricide that were accepted as normal, “this great fiery heart, seething, simmering like a great furnace of thoughts,” was reaching out for God.

    Religious Distortion

    All of the great religions have suffered distortion at the hands ignorant interpreters.  In the name of Christianity large scale devastation was visited upon the world during in the Middle Ages during the Crusades [8], then later in the Spanish Inquisition [9] , and even in the colonial America during the Salem Witch Trials [10].  

    Hindu zealots have misappropriated and turned the Caste system into an oppressive ordering of society [11] that was not part of Hindu scripture.  Many adherents to Buddhism in the West are attracted to that religion based on the misunderstanding that Buddhism is an atheistic religion.  

    Again, the misunderstanding results from failure to grasp the basic metaphors used to make sensible the Ineffable.  And, of course, the extremist Islamists who distort the meaning of jihad [12] demonstrate the horror that can be fostered from erroneous understanding of the metaphor of scripture.

    Much fantasy has grown out of the facts of religions, and much mayhem and destruction has been and continues to be carried out in the name of religion.  But all of the great religions teach compassion and love, and even though certain misguided zealots try to conquer others immorally in so-called holy wars, they do not represent the vast majority of the devout who understand and practice their religions as they are meant to be practiced.

    Sources


    [1]  Paramahansa Yogananda. The Science of Religion. Self-Realization Fellowship. 1953. Print.
    [2] Linda Sue Grimes.  “Names for the Ineffable God.”  Linda’s Literary Home.  October 7, 2025.

    [3] Joshua J. Mark.  “Hinduism.”  World History Encyclopedia.  June 8, 2020.

    [4]  Barbara O’Brien.  “Basic Beliefs and Tenets of Buddhism.”  Learn Religions.  April 26, 2019.

    [5]  Curators.  “Judaism: Basic Beliefs.” United Religions Initiative.  Accessed November 25, 2023.

    [6]  Sonya Downing.  “What Is the Sermon on the Mount?”  Christianity.com.  January 06, 2022.

    [7]  Huston Smith  The Religions of Man. Harper & Row. 1958. Print.    

    [8] Editors.  “Crusades.”  Britannica. October 24, 2023.

    [9]  Editors. “Spanish Inquisition.” History.  March 27, 2023.

    [10]  Jess Blumberg.  “A Brief History of the Salem Witch Trials.”  Smithsonian Magazine.  October 24, 2022.

    [11]  Albee Ning.  “The Caste System in India.”  Asia Highlights.  Aug. 23, 2023.

    [12]  Shmuel Bar.  “The Religious Sources of Islamic Terrorism.”  Hoover Institution.  June 1, 2004.

    An Afterthought: Tangible Evidence of God’s Love

    According the renowned spiritual leader, Paramahansa Yogananda, when an individual develops an intense yearning for God, then God sends that individual tangible evidence of His love:  “When you have convinced the Lord of your desire for Him, He will send someone — your guru — to teach you how to know Him.”

    Also Yogananda has explained that when evil seems to be overcoming good in the world,

    God sends a prophet (guru or spiritual leader) to help people turn back toward God.  Muhammad, being a gentle, compassionate soul, developed his latent soul qualities and by intense meditation in the cave at Mount Mira touched God’s heart and God spoke to him, not only to satisfy the individual soul of Muhammad, but God also used Muhammad to inform those crude, superstitious, fratricidal brothers of a better way of life.

    Unfortunately, just as Hindu zealots have misappropriated and turned the Caste system into an oppressive ordering of society, many Islamists have turned the teachings of Muhammad into the opposite of the prophet’s instructions for peace, and instead of leading to a “better way of life,” many ignorant followers of that faith have returned to “crude, superstitious, fratricidal” behavior.