My son is 7 and has his doubts about Santa. He's kind of been fooling himself for years because he wants to believe.
Not believing in Santa is a rite of passage and not considered a big deal. But Ollie immediately concluded that if there is no Santa there is no soul and that when you die, you're gone.
I don't know what I believe about the soul but I was upset to see my son throw the soul out with Santa. Should we throw Santa under the bus to preserve the soul? Would that be honest? Can I honestly make a case for Santa? Can I honestly make a case for the soul if I deny Santa?
I let it go. We all go back and forth on these issues and as sure as he sounded the day he declare there is no Santa and no soul, he's likely to change his mind as time goes by. But when the issue comes up again, I want to have thought the thing through.
I am unlikely to be alone in this situation. I offer the dialogue below to anyone is a similar bind.
I resolved the soul-Santa dilemma with Plato. That's right: Plato. A platonic dialogue on Santa.
Ollie did say much of what I have him quoted as saying, about Santa and the soul, about the light in the trees... only I didn't have Socrates to help me out at the time.
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