The Satisfaction in Solstice
There’s something to be said for walking the narrow path.
Dana and I recently had the opportunity to make a significant check on my extensive bucket list. https://wp.me/P2bjEC-7
During a 10-day adventure to Ecuador we made a day-trip to the world equator monument in Quito. It was a long-realized dream to stand with one foot in the northern hemisphere and the other in the southern hemisphere. Pretty cool, it was, actually.
A few minutes after noon when the sun was directly overhead, our guide pointed out an interesting phenomenon. At the middle of the earth with the sun straight above, there was no shadow. There was no angle in which the darkness could be cast.
We’d truly found middle ground.
The simple experiment with the shadow was just one of the ways in which early explorers discovered the equator’s location.
In 1735 at the Academy of Science in Paris, there was a raging debate over Sir Isaac Newton’s theory that the earth was actually a sphere with slightly flattened poles as opposed to others who thought it simply round.
When a team of French scientists joined with the early Ecuadorians near Quito they used the simple shadow test to determine its location.
The directness of the sun’s light gave them a certain undeniable point of view. A new perspective.
Today, new phenomena are discovered at the middle of the earth every day.
An egg can be perfectly balanced on the head of a nail.
A vortex, (that circular motion you see in a tornado or hurricane, or the downward spiral of water through a drain) is not possible. A drain precisely located on the equator pours water straight down. No spin. Just a few feet north our south of the imaginary line, the vortex quickly forms.
And if you close your eyes to darkness and attempt to walk a straight line at latitude zero, it’s quite impossible to keep your balance. There’s something about the absence of light and polar magnetics that causes many to stumble, even fall down, when they attempt it.
“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” ~ Matthew 7:13-14
There’s a narrow path, a fine line between the dark and the light.
The commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Church of Illumination founded in 1908 proposes the study of a sacred path. Living a life of personal responsibility, individuals are guided by the Biblical teachings of divine law.
Once shown the path, individuals living the life based upon these principles unfold their divine potential.
Representing an entirely new, yet ancient religious concept, the Church of Illumination embraces a spiritual interpretation of the Bible and other divine texts. There is no structured dogma that is accepted on pure faith and no formal creed.
The Church of Illumination has one primary aim: to teach individuals on how to harmonize their lives with divine law and exemplify personal responsibility. In this manner they will benefit both spiritually and materially, leading them to the fulfillment of their divine potential. With such guidance, individuals are empowered to make use of all of their talents to the benefit of themselves and humanity.
Some solstice definitions espouse the idea of a motionless sun. That is a sun that moves straight east to west without angular direction to the south or north depending on your hemisphere and the position of the earth’s axis.
So throughout the varied religious teachings and tenets we have the notion of moving forward, straight ahead without veering one way or another.
Fix your eyes upon Jesus, the hymnal reads.
“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.” ~ Psalm 32:8
In the days before global positioning satellite devices were available I’d get lost many times traveling through the city of Memphis. On most occasions it would be toward the end of the day. Home was west, I always remembered, and I never feared for long knowing the light would soon reflect from the planet Venus at sunset and I could follow that star until I was into familiar territory. Every time, it led the way home.
Life’s distractions will present themselves, and you’ll be tempted to veer off course, take the more traveled path or the shortcut. To either side the road dark’s destination may be found. But the solstice light is straight ahead. You can keep your eye on the light and rejoice along the journey.
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