Have you ever been surprised to look down and see the sun shining at your feet?

That happened to me recently walking barefoot on the beach in California.

How mysterious, that luminous orb floating on the wet sand. Not what we expect; it reverses our expectation. It seems to open the ground into another space that we didn’t know was there; a magical light.

Why do we always look up for what we think is great? Is it because the sun shines down on us from the sky that we tend to project our source of inspiration as coming from above us?

Whether it’s a spiritual source (in “heaven”), an authority figure we place on a pedestal, or a role model whose example seems unattainable, we are always reaching upward for the good, for our goal, for our blessing. Noble and admirable though our ideals may be, we set ourselves up for continually feeling “less than” by insisting on looking to a source of inspiration beyond our grasp.

We look for the sacred, the divine, way beyond ourselves where we can never reach it, so we think it can never be part of us. We separate heaven and earth and keep ourselves walled off from what we love and long for.

If it’s that wonderful, it couldn’t possibly be me!

What if the sun were shining at our feet? Would we even see it there? Whether that glow comes from a true source or a reflected light, the luminosity is right at hand, or at foot – and within our reach. Look down at your feet and behold! Soon you may perceive the radiance in every leaf, twig, and grain of sand. Perhaps even in yourself!