[From the introduction to
The Suakhet’u Program: Opening the Sensorium, scheduled for release this
Fall to Black Box Subscribers.]
Pop Quiz
Question One-When
is the last time you deliberately viewed a sunrise?
Question Two-When
is the last time you deliberately viewed a sunset?
Question Three:
When is the last time you viewed a sunrise and a sunset on the same day?
Of course, this is
self-scored. Few get more than 2 correct answers. If we ask a fourth questions…
“Were you on vacation
when you viewed of both?” usually garners an affirmative response, which begs
a fifth question…
“If a vacation, presumably
a retreat to renew, recharge and reinvigorate the self leads one to deliberately
view such an event, are we not displaying behavioral evidence that we recognize
the importance of being a part of this daily life-giving display?”
We will now side-step the
exhaustive science and lore that points to the integral importance of the Sun
as THE life-giver on this Goldilocks planet.
I wager if one is consuming
a print/video tutorial on pragmatic sensory awareness tinged with a bit of
esoterica one already has a good grasp on the importance of the closest star.
You may ask, “Why the
sunrise and sunset queries, Mark, can’t we just get to the brass tacks and meat
of The Suakhet’u Program?”
Good question, and trust
me, the meat and potatoes is around the corner, but hang with me another few,
to many Indigenous cultures [and non-indigenous as well] these daily solar
events seem to reflect a specific universal clock for reflective basking.
The Suakhet’u Program
is a synthesized amalgamation of many indigenous practices that can be whittled
down to a 12–15-minute non-vacational daily re-charging, rejuvenating commitment
to being awake in the day [and evening that follows.]
Program Timing
Although the Suakhet’u
Practice can be committed to at any time of the day, it seems particularly
fruitful [in self and small group testing and experiment] in the early morning hours
and/or the evening hours.
Times that roughly correspond
to sunrise and sunset.
The timing is not a hard
and fast rule. Woke up late and feel like you missed it, so you’ll skip it
today?
Nah, go ahead and drag yourself
out and do it no matter the time.
This discussion is merely
to point to the almost universal timing among cultures for sunrise and/or
sunset.
If we adhere to the
survivorship rule, whether we can make logical sense of the “why” of the
timing, the sheer force that the timing is so enduring and widespread is “good
enough” evidence for hewing to the timing for maximum effect.
[For more on the possible value of the survivorship rule.]
From Plains tribes to Western
Woodland tribes, to Coastal tribes. To Arctic tribes—the timing persists.
We see it in religions
and creeds beyond indigenous cultures stretching back eons.
Two minor examples—the Surya
Namaskar [Sun Salutation/ Sun Greeting of many Yogic disciplines] to the sun
revering of the ancient Egyptian adherents of the god Hapi [sometimes Babi.]
To Go Further Back
Using “Well, these other
cultures do it, too” as “evidence” is a bit too slim for many empirically hardened
minds. Some see even more utility when the universal is truly universal.
I get that inclination.
Let us use the aforementioned
Hapi as guide to more sun-revering inclusion.
Hapi is depicted as a man
with the head of a baboon, a hamadryas baboon to be specific.
Hapi is associated with
the underworld, transitions between light and dark [sunrise and sunsets,
anyone?]
Hamadryas baboons were
often kept as pets in ancient Egyptian culture, there are entire burial grounds
of mummified treasured baboon companions.
The baboon was often depicted
in Egyptian art in supplicating poses to sunrises and sunsets.
These “sun poses” were so
common that some early archaeologists and anthropologists surmised that these “pets”
were trained to clasp hands in prayer or to face the sun in repose as their
masters desired.
These archaeologists and anthropologists
were trapped in a bit of domain specificity, in that, if they had merely consulted
an ethologist, a specialist in baboons, or merely used their own eyes they would
see for themselves that hamadryas baboons to this day seem to engage in a bit
of “paying homage” to the sun without the “benefit” of human training.
So, if the humans did not
“teach” the baboons to revere the sun, did the baboons educate the humans?
Not hardly.
Humans likely saw the similarity
in behavior and felt a kinship of awe for what they themselves awed and merely incorporated
this commonalty into culture.
One Has No Need of Baboons
The above example was not
to single out baboons and Egyptians as singular sun-adepts. One need only look
at every single life form on the planet to see like reverence.
From the sun following
heads of the daisy [a contraction of “day’s eye” for its “solar reverence”] to
the timing of jellyfish drifts, to the right-angle positioning of a butterfly atop
the previously mentioned daisy.
The sun is a life giver.
In anthropocentric terms
it seems to inspire awe and reverence.
In biological terms it catalyzes
many a valuable biochemical process. [See Rene Dubos, Man Adapting for an
overview of the complex processes.]
If baboons, daisies, a Comanche
warrior from 200 hundred years ago, and our vacation selves can recognize the
value of the Sunrises and Sunsets of our lives, perhaps there is more power to
be garnered here than a few brief exposures a paltry two or three times per
year.
Next…Kaa’t’i, or “The
Sitting.”
[To be released this Fall
to Black Box Program Subscribers.]
More on The Suakhet’u Program.
More on The Black Box Program.
“A Warrior considers
all…then values what persists as true.”
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