Sunflower Clue to the Soul

Sunflower Legend and Lore

I saw this sunflower way off in the distance as I drove a dirt, back road in Maine. Who could drive by?  It looked over me about 10 feet high--the monstrous face smiled down at me. And I thought about the legend of the sunflower and how the Greeks gave it the name.  They thought that this magnificent flower was the gift of the gods.  In fact, it was said to turn its face toward the sun god at all times.  I caught that idea in a poem by Kathrine Lane:

I see you there in glory shining bright,
Following the sun and its path of light.
Standing tall above all others in the field,
You grow, conquer, and do not yield.

Now it is entirely different to say that it follows light.  We know that about plants, of course, because it is source of their lives. 

But what about us?  Do we instinctively turn to face what we really need?  Oh, I am not talking about the full range of basic needs and instinctual activities--sure, in that sense we "face" in that direction.  I am after something deeper.  Food for the soul...  What was it in me that led me to that flower itself?  So that as I was driving, I was drawn to it--almost like the myth of sunflowers tracking the sun, I tracked the sunflower and pulled over on the road.

Albert Camus is reputed to have said that "the soul must be fed or it will feed on itself."  Or, we may substitute junk food--the quick fix of comfort food and pleasure.  See you at the mall... If not Camus, listen to the Psalm 63:1:

You, God, are my God,
    earnestly I seek you;
I thirst for you,
    my whole being longs for you,
in a dry and parched land
    where there is no water.

Personal story?  I did an internship on Nantucket Island. I thought I had landed the dream job in heaven.  It was hell.  What I thought I needed was not even close.  Very little in that world unto itself fed me!  It was this psalm 63 that gave me a whole new life.  It told me where to look.  Hunger is one thing if you dont' know what want. Remember Tigger bouncing around--"Tiggers eat everything but..." and nothing would satisfy him.  However, if we know to look for the gifts of God to feed us, that is another matter.  Even more so if we become self-aware enough to know that we need that in people and not just the wonderful natural world of an island.  I think Vincent van Gogh had the right idea when he said:  “I am seeking. I am striving. I am in it with all my heart.” That's when the soul is fed!