From The contemplative Life
Chapter 12
P.195
The Spiritual Christmas
In the account of the advent of the Christ in the Gospel according to St. Luke, the Christ was born in a manger because “there was no room for them in the inn.” There was no room in the inn, and so the Christ was born in the stable of the inn. Esoterically, the meaning of this is that the human consciousness, which is the place of enjoyment, comfort, and revelry, never has room for the Christ. When there is a sufficiency of supply, health, and the comforts of home life, rarely is there room in that consciousness for the Christ, and because of this human complacency, usually it is only when sickness, sin, or poverty is experienced that consciousness is ready to receive the revelation of the Christ.
More often than not, it is the sick, the sinning, and the poor who are the seekers. Probably in the beginning they seek relief only from their evil, discordant, or unhappy conditions but sooner or later they awaken to the fact that there is a deeper meaning to the activity of the Christ than merely the healing of the sick or even the raising of the dead. It is then that consciousness is opened to receive the spiritual Impulse.
Within the consciousness of every person in the world, and in the consciousness of all those who have been here and of all those who have not yet come to this plane of existence, there is this spiritual Spark, that which is called the Christ, a Spark which is kindled only as man seeks for It and learns to turn within to find it.