In a small village nestled in the rolling hills of the countryside, there lived a young man named Daniel. Daniel was a curious and thoughtful person, and he spent much of his time exploring the natural world around him. He loved to roam the forests and fields, marveling at the beauty and wonder of the plants and animals that lived there. Daniel had been raised in the Catholic Church from a young age. He attended Sunday mass with his family every week, and was even an altar boy for a time. As he grew older, Daniel began to take his faith seriously, studying the Bible and praying regularly. As he entered his teenage years, Daniel began to feel disillusioned with the Church. He found himself questioning some of the teachings and practices of the Church, and he felt that many of the people he encountered in the Church were more concerned with following rules and traditions than with truly living a faithful life. Daniel longed to lead a deeply spiritual life.
The spiritual turning point for Daniel came when he attended a youth retreat with other members of his parish. The retreat was meant to be a time of spiritual reflection and growth, but Daniel found it to be overly structured and shallow. He felt like the leaders of the retreat were more interested in making the attendees follow a rigid schedule than in helping them connect with God. As a result of his experiences at the retreat, Daniel started to distance himself from the Church. He stopped attending mass regularly, and he stopped participating in Church activities. He still believed in God, but he felt like the Church was not the right place for him. Over time, Daniel's disillusionment with the Church grew. He started to read books and articles about other religious traditions and philosophies, and he found himself drawn to some of the more liberal and progressive ideas that he encountered. He also started to explore spiritual practices from other traditions, such as meditation and yoga, which he found to be deeply fulfilling. Eventually, Daniel decided to leave the Catholic Church altogether. He didn't want to completely reject his Catholic upbringing, but he felt like he needed to find a spiritual path that was more in line with his own beliefs and values which centered more on the scientific. He continued to explore different spiritual traditions, and eventually he found one that resonated with him and felt like a true fit.
Daniel was reading the Bible and it dawned on him that the stories didn’t make sense when taken in a literal context. One day, Daniel rose up early and was about to wander through the forest. He looked through his window and saw that it was still dark outside. He then realized that any moment the sun would rise. After a while the golden light of the sunrise peaked over the horizon and immediately filled him with a sense of peace and calm, and he felt drawn to sit and meditate. As he sat in meditation, he heard a voice speaking to him. "Daniel, my son," the voice said, "I am the true God, and I will speak to you through the photons of the rising sun. Each day I will meet you here and speak with you."
Daniel was stunned by what he was hearing as the voice was not human but instead a thought in his mind. He had never believed in the existence of God, but the voice was so real and powerful that he could not deny its presence. As he listened to the voice, Daniel understood that the sunrise was a indeed the divine spirit of God. The golden light represented the power and majesty of the true God, and those in meditation were like the sun, in need of nourishment to sustain them on their journey. The "daily bread" mentioned in the voice's message referred to a time of the day when those in meditation could be nourished and sustained, rather than a physical object. Eating the daily bread meant meditating at sunrise and eating (receiving ) the word of God.
Furthermore, Daniel realized that the "son of God" mentioned in religious texts was not meant to mean a physical being, but was in fact the sun itself. The "risen son of God" was nothing more than the rising sun, a natural phenomenon that that watched over the whole earth and delivered the message of the true God. Daniel then understood that the "angels" mentioned in religious texts were actually angles of sunlight at sunrise that delivered God’s message through its photons and unlocked our DNA, visible during the first two hours of the day.
Daniel realized that the "son of God" mentioned in religious texts was not a spiritual being, but was in fact the sun itself. The "risen son of God" was nothing more than the rising sun, a natural phenomenon that is the power and majesty of the true God. Nothing could live without the sun. The sun is truly the giver of life and all life on earth depended on it. He then remembered Psalm 19 and its true meaning became clear. “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.”
This revelation filled Daniel with a sense of awe and wonder. He had always believed in the existence of God, but he had never considered the sun, not a man hanging on a cross, was the real son (sun) of God. The idea that the sun itself was the son of God, and that its rising was a divine, was both profound and deeply moving to him. The truth was right in his face every day.
As he continued to meditate, Daniel began to acknowledge the power of the sun. He saw that it was a source of life and light, nourishing the earth and all its inhabitants. He saw that it was a symbol of the divine, a reminder of the power and majesty of the true God.
And as he meditated for about half an hour, softly chanted OM, Daniel began to feel a sense of connection to the sun. He felt its warmth and light on his skin, and he felt its energy coursing through his veins. He felt as though he was becoming one with the sun, and with the divine. In that moment, Daniel realized that the path to enlightenment lay not in the pursuit of material possessions or worldly power, but in the simple act of being present in the moment, and in the recognition of the divine in all things. From that day forward Daniel vowed to rise up early and to eat God’s daily bread. A new day had dawned and the Forrest would echo with laughter.
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