Do you believe in Santa?
So you are an adult now. An adult who knows Santa Claus is just a made up story for the kids, so that they can be excited about Christmas and to make them behave.
But are you sure that Santa doesn’t exist? What makes you think that Santa is a fictitious figure? According to a survey conducted on newly turned adolescents, when they were asked the aforementioned question, most of them had one answer:-:
Santa Clause: The Christmas Figure Source
It is not possible for anyone to go around the world in a flying sleigh, get inside their homes through their chimney, and put the gifts in their homes in just one night.
Well, that makes for an interesting observation. Most of the people stop believing in Santaas children, not because of his identity, but because of the story of his deeds and the course of action he takes.
Letters to Santa Source
Yes, as adults, our reasoning power becomes profound and more substantial. But do you realize that the reasoning power and the theories, no matter how farfetched they are, are still manifestations of the human brain, just like Santa Clause, Peter Pan or Harry Potter are manifestations of the human brain.
We need an anchor, a proof to believe in the theories. If we get proof that extinguishes our doubts, we are ready to believe in anything, no matter how ridiculous it might appear to be.
St. Nicholas, historical Greek bishop of Myra Source
The reason for this lies in how our brains are programmed. We have made a flowchart in our mind, where unconsciously, we judge stories as fictitious or real, by this sequence:
Listening/reading/watching a story/theory -> gathering substantial proofs from sources (sometimes without questioning the legitimacy of the sources themselves) -> ticking the points that match-> becoming a believer or ditching the theory altogether.
St. Nicholas for November Source
Therein lies the problem. I, for instance, do not believe in the concept of God, as most people believe in. Because I have questioned, tried to find substantial evidences, tried to match the points, but I didn’t get a profound basis, hence I am inclined towards not believing in God. Yet, I have opened a window, wherein I can absorb facts and theories through which I can go ahead, probe and gather more facts for either of the theories.
But in spite of the stories, I still believe that Santa exists or had existed. Perhaps, not in a way you know it, but nevertheless, there was a person, by the name of St. Nicholas, who was known to be the historical Greek bishop of Myra, (now Demre) in Lycia, a province of the Byzantine Empire, now in Turkey.
He was known to give gifts to children on this day. Since then, the base fact, which was just this, has been twisted and added on to, by the people for their own convenience.
Santa: A concept, or a person?Source
But it doesn’t end there. Santa Clause is a concept, but not a fictitious one. It is a working concept. There is a Santa’s workshop in the North Pole, There is a figure known as Santa Claus, who stays in the North Pole, quite literally and sends gifts to children, all around the world. Don’t believe me?
Check out http://www.santaclaushouse.com/ and http://www.northpole.com/
Nothing can be proven wrong or fictitious, until we make sure, that the opposite is proven correct. Hence don’t stop believing in something just because it sounds improbable, but make sure to reach to the base of it.
