Max Reid
An ancient Jewish legend tells of the wooden flute that Moses played while he shepherded his Uncle Jethro’s sheep on the hillsides of Midian. After his death, the people of Israel came to venerate anything that could be associated with Moses’ life – including his flute. Yet it was but a simple and humble wooden flute. Clearly, in its existing form, it was not worthy of the veneration now accorded it. So the flute was sent off to the finest artisans and craftsmen in Israel. It was overlaid with gold and silver, and inlaid with mother-of-pearl and many jewels. It was now, indeed, a flute worthy of the people’s veneration. Unfortunately, however, it could no longer sound a note.
For many of us, Christmas has become much the same. Overlaid with a mix of secular, pagan and other religious rites and traditions, it is hard to hear what may be its message to us today. Yet it remains the one day of the year when more people attend Church than any other – as if the corporate singing of a carol or three will somehow expunge the pain and grief, anger and frustration that have marked out many of the other 364 days.
Many years ago, in effectively another life, I was a parish minister, faced yet again with the task of making the Christmas story somehow meaningful: allowing the flute, despite its multiple layers of accretion, to somehow sound its song.
The idea of retreating from the world in search of health is alive and well today. People imagine that holidays from everyday routine will renew their health and vigor, and specialised retreats, involving meditation and yoga, offer a more introspective way of achieving health. As 
In the corner of my office, I have a sculpture on loan from artist Mike O’Kane. It confronts me every day with a wonderful juxtaposition of the themes of my work in neuroscience: how the brain works, and the personal experience of conditions that strike to the sense of self and the equilibrium of mood and emotion. An extremely prevalent example is anxiety disorder. Many of us have either personally experienced this, or know of someone who has.
