God bless us, every one! And God bless the thoughtful writer behind “Ow, My Blog,” who writes a Buddhist analysis of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” Check it out. You’ll find new dimensions of the famous fable.

An excerpt:

“While Dickens’ first two ghosts are vague impressions, the third is an obvious Grim Reaper, and it delivers the most profound Buddhist teaching, that of impermanence. Without speaking a word, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come just puts Scrooge in front of his own death. This, of course, is also the truth of suffering, in that we must all die eventually, but by placing it in the future (and by coupling it with the death of Tiny Tim Cratchet), Dickens shows us that all things must change. This gives Scrooge quite a push, since not only does he realize that life is fleeting, but also that change is possible for him. He has already been shown this story’s version of the Eightfold Path in the scenes of peace and merriment he’s witnessed, and all he has to do is spread his own cheer to others.

‘He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world. Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them; for he was wise enough to know that nothing ever happened on this globe, for good, at which some people did not have their fill of laughter in the outset; and knowing that such as these would be blind anyway, he thought it quite as well that they should wrinkle up their eyes in grins, as have the malady in less attractive forms. His own heart laughed: and that was quite enough for him.’

“Scrooge has been enlightened. He has seen the truth of suffering, the cause of suffering, and the path to the end of suffering, and the change is permanent. He has compassion for his fellow sentient beings and acts on it, he “lived upon the Total Abstinence Principle, ever afterwards”, and he instinctively sees the emptiness not only of his own behavior, but that of others as well.”

P.S. After many years of staying faithful to the 1951 Christmas Carol film starring British marvel Alistair Sim, my kids and I watched the newer version with George C. Scott last year, and it’s not terrible. I still prefer the 1951 rendition of Marley’s ghost; and the lost souls out the window seem remarkably like what I imagine lost souls might be.