Y-O-U and THE Star by Mark Hatmaker

 

[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.”