Sunrise, Sunset & Karma

We have heard the words sunrise and sunset all through our lives. The weather forecasters talk about it on television. The words, sunrise, and sunset are printed in the weather section of the newspaper. The Bible talks about sunrise and sunset in Psalm 11:31 “From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the Lord is to be praised.”

I don’t blame you for believing all that, because it is based on apparently solid evidence and experience. We get up in the morning and look east, and we see with our own eyes the sun rising, and in the evening, especially at the beach, we can see the red sun slowly setting into the ocean.

Despite all that visual evidence and experience, sunrise and sunset are not scientific realities.

The sun does not rise or set. That is a fact. There is nothing wrong in talking about its rising and setting poetically and prayerfully, but at the end of the day, pardon the pun, we must admit that sunrise and sunset are optical illusions.

This awareness has alerted me to always seek the truth behind myth, the events behind the legends, the context behind the text, the reality beneath the appearance, the message in the mess, and beliefs behind behaviors.

We see it as rising and setting, not because the sun moves, but because the Earth moves. We don’t feel that movement because the Earth is so huge. Just because we don’t feel something, doesn’t mean it is not happening. It takes 24 hours for the Earth to turn around on its axis once, which we call a day. It has been happening for billions of years.

Every day, the Earth keeps turning. What goes around comes around. It never fails. If it fails to come around, we won’t be here to talk about it.

So, what goes around, comes around. You can count on it. In science, it is called the law of cause and effect.

For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. It is called “Newton’s 3rd Law of Motion.”

So, the message from science, and the Earth is that we should take responsibility for our actions, because actions have consequences. If you do A and B, then C and D are going to happen.

That is the real meaning of the often misused word Karma. It does not mean punishment from an external deity.

As Sol Luckman elucidates:

Contrary to popular misconception, karma has nothing to do with punishment and reward. It exists as part of our holographic universe’s binary operating system only to teach us responsibility for our creations–and all things we experience are our creation.

The notion that I reap what I sow, helps me to be careful about the choices I make and the behaviors I engage in. It helps me to live more as a creator of my life rather than a victim of circumstances. It helps me redefine my relationship to God and my role in the world.

(from Cosmic Kindergarten: Earthly Lessons for a Heavenly Life)