What did Jesus mean when he said our love must be like the sun’s? What does it mean to say the sun shines on the just and the unjust? And why do so many of the world’s great religions tie their symbols of enlightenment with the rising sun or the vernal equinox?
Perhaps loving like the sun means radiating from the generative principle that has given us life. Perhaps it means that our ephemeral pulse is but an echo of a deeper song written into the fabric of being itself.
Perhaps loving like the sun means that our peace of mind need not go into eclipse when surrounded by violence and shadows. The sun is always shining even when occluded by storms. In the same way we can work for a better world without fretting about the foolish of others. What pathetic kind of wisdom would it be that shut downs when others are foolish?
Perhaps loving like the sun means working for universal human and animal rights whether we find those other beings worthy or not. The sun does not make plants grow by coercion. It imply shines. If plants do not open themselves to the common life it is they that wither.
Loving like the sun is in no way limited to religion. The Atheist Albert Camus expressed this insight as well as anyone:
“In the midst of hate, I found there was, within me, an invincible love. In the midst of tears, I found there was, within me, an invincible smile. In the midst of chaos, I found there was, within me, an invincible calm. I realized, through it all, that… In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back.”
Perhaps loving like the sun means when we live radiantly from the creative core of our being, and from the core of being itself, we shine on through the worst of storms.