When doing some research on ancient civilizations and their religious beliefs, I was not surprised to find references to at least 15 different cultures who worshiped a sun god.  I'm sure I could find references to more if I tried.  The point is, why would so many cultures focus on the sun as being divine?  What can the sun teach us about God?

The first thing that impresses me about the sun is its constancy.  It is always there.  It appears every morning without fail.  You can depend upon the fact that it will always rise, and when it sets, you can depend upon the fact that it will always return.  God is constant.  God is faithful.  God is dependable.

Even when the sun seems to be out of our sight, it is not gone.  We just can't see it.  But we can still see evidence of its existence.  The moon still reflects its light.  If I call my friend that lives on the other side of the world, my friend will tell me that she can still see the sun.  It has not disappeared.  It is just busy helping someone else while I am not in need of its service.  While I am resting in the darkness, the sun is helping those who are in the light.  What is it helping with?

The sun provides food for those who live within its boundaries.  It provides warmth so we can stay alive and healthy.  It provides energy that can run machines.  It sustains our very life.  Not only that, but it provides food for the soul as well.  The sun as it rises and sets upon the horizon is quite breathtaking.  It produces beautiful colors and gives a mystical appearance to the landscape.   It causes us to ponder questions we might not have thought of if we were not able to gaze upon its substance.

One such question is the relationship between light and darkness.  Most religious sources have some kind of belief about God or Jesus representing light, and the darkness representing evil.  They say a follower of God or Jesus will never walk in darkness.  But our observations of the life cycle of plants tells us otherwise.  Light is necessary for photosynthesis and chlorophyll synthesis to take place, but darkness triggers other processes such as flowering.  If our goal is to grow a plant that will bloom, there must be periods of darkness.  Chrysanthemums, poinsettias and gardenias don't bloom unless the nights are longer than the days.  Other plants, such as roses, carnations and geraniums bloom regardless of the amount of time spent in the light and darkness.

I supposed it's the same with people.  Each person thrives on differing amounts of light and darkness.  When there is no darkness at all, many people won't reach their potential. Darkness is necessary.  How then can we say it is evil when some of us  can't become all we can be without it?  If darkness is synonymous with evil, and God created darkness as a necessary part of our lives, what does that tell us about evil?  Perhaps it is not so  "evil" after all. I have always maintained that there is no such thing as evil.  Events are not good or bad, they just happen.  If a particular event makes you unhappy, you have made a value judgment about that event, or it wouldn't make you unhappy.  I thought we were supposed to be suspending value judgments about people and events until we had some direct experience with the subject in question, and even then, that we agreed  we could  not apply our own experience to evaluating what is right for someone else to do (see Experience is the Teacher of All Wisdom).  In other words, we can't make a value judgment that a particular event is evil.  If we find ourselves making such a judgment, we should stop right there and change our attitudes.  We have no basis upon which to judge that something is evil.

Even now in your mind you are thinking of exceptions, and trying to apply this rule to see when it isn't possible for this to work.  You say, "What if someone murdered my child, isn't that person evil?  Wasn't the act they committed evil?"  Only if you believe that death is evil or undesirable.  Later on we will talk about ways to experience the reality that death is not the end of our lives.  When you realize that death is only a transition to a new life, and that nothing has been lost, you may stop fearing that it will happen to you or someone you love.

"But I don't want that person I love taken away from me."  Now we are getting to the crux of the matter.  It's not the idea that something bad happened to that person that bothers you.  It's that you will be sad because they are no longer with you.  Now this is something we can deal with.  We can't deal with what other people do, but we can deal with ourselves.  First of all, most people are afraid to feel their own feelings.  What's wrong with feeling sad?  Get it out of your head that some emotions are negative and some are positive.  They are just emotions.  You feel them, but they don't have to be unpleasant.  Even sadness simply reflects a particular mental state, it doesn't have to be a bad thing.

You are sad because a person you love has been taken away from you.  Well, eventually you won't feel sad anymore if you choose not to.  Feel sad for a while, and then realize that death is a part of life, and change must happen.  You can see what is happening to you for the good it can bring.

It may also help when you are able to realize that the person who you are sad about losing isn't really lost.  They are still with you and can still communicate with you.  They may not be visible to the eyes, but they still exist.  They watch you every day.  They try to leave you little clues that they are still there, but you don't notice or acknowledge them.  You can still have a relationship with that person, you needn't pine away for them. We'll discuss this more in another lesson.

Suffice it to say that the line between darkness and light is not so distinct as you thought.  Celebrate them both.  Walk in them both.  Learn to see in them both.  Find the value in each.