The wise C.S. Lewis once said: “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”
Although many of us don’t spent too much thought into it, our sun is the physical source of energy, graciously giving us life and light, without respite, always returning to us the next day to banish darkness of all kinds from our existence.
Its no wonder that so many of the early and even latter civilizations inhabiting our cozy blue planet have put the sun at the center of their spiritual beliefs, personifying it, giving it names such as Amun, Helios, Utu, Tonatiuh or Aditya among many others, taking them into their primitive homes in the form of statues or amulets and even sacrificing both beasts’ and human life to ensure that the Sun will not forsake them. Although some or most of these civilizations didn’t have a complete understanding of the mechanism by which the sun’s photons feed us and keep us warm, many placed it high or highest among their gods. And probably understandably so, as you don’t need to be a quantum physicist to feel the warm glowing caress of the sun on your skin, especially on a colder day! Not long ago someone sparked a debate at the place where I work, with regards to the idea and firm belief of some that individuals could sustain themselves on sunlight and water alone, and funny enough, although I would have never expected it at a kind of place I work, a most profane environment, we actually had a couple of firm believers among us that such a feat could be achieved.
Although I for one remain firmly skeptical of accepting such a notion, it did stir some thoughts about the philosophical, or rather metaphysical influences the sun can have on us, as well as made me realize that after moving from many years spent near the tropics, where the sun was pretty much a constant, daily visitor, to a place where the sun can often shy away for weeks at a time, that indeed our sun that I took for granted and sometimes almost loathed for its blistering, unrelenting heat that it beamed down copiously on us, can& does have a considerable influence on my mood, my levels of energy, and probably even my overall well-being, down to physical health issues through the lack of it (we all need our vitamin D to function properly, right?)
Its a pity that our modern Western civilization that many of our lifestyles are more or less modeled on does not put more emphasis on using the sun as a healer, daily inspiration, of teaching young people to bask in the awesomeness of as many sunrises and sunsets as they can enjoy during their lifetime. I had realized during this thought process that it had been months at a time when I myself have completely ignored to take notice and welcome our warm companion in the morning, of enjoying that sudden daily miracle that presents itself most mornings even at this latitude and I made a self-confirmed pinky (swear) promise that I will do my best to correct that. I also noticed, and I’m sure I’m not the only one, that even though with my insomnia issues I have my sleep perturbed quite often, usually followed by a struggle to fall back to slumber to the point where it’s getting bright, at which point I give up and start walking about, inevitably enjoying the sight of our brilliant acquaintance, somehow the lack of sleep is compensated by a rather large dose of energy, for a while at least and that feeling that on that day I can accomplish more than usual! Of course later on I start feeling the lack of sleep, but thank God for gifting us the aromatic coffee bean and tea leaf to help with that.
How do you feel about the role of the Sun in your life and when was the last time you savored a proper date with the sunrise?
UtterlyCuddly 