False Sunrise

Hours before the Sun actually crests the horizon, the sky begins to brighten. I have heard this referred to as a false sunrise. This may be because sunrise is considered an event not a process. The precise moment when the Sun is visible on the horizon can be determined. The moment when the sky starts to get brighter is a it more difficult to discern.

This gets me thinking about how I am invited to think about my life as a series of events, instead of a process. There is a specific moment that determines when I am one year older, even though the year has been progressing for three hundred and sixty five days. The time I get up, the time I post this, the time I eat breakfast, these are the markers I am encouraged to think about when I consider the unfolding of my life. They are the sing posts that can distract me from the path, or the map that distracts me from the territory.

I have also heard a false sunrise described as the illusion created by the atmosphere that makes it appear that the Sun has crested the horizon moments before it actually does. In this way we describe what a moment is not, but miss what it is. This first explosion of light may not be the sunrise, but it is something. It is part of a process.

Today, I will be paying attention to times when I am invited to look at the sunrise, and ignore the change in light.