Being out in the sun is good for your health and may protect you against a range of diseases. That's the insight offered by a spate of new studies (www.odemagazine.com/doc/46/are_you_getting_enough_sun). But is that really so surprising? A much greater shock to me was the idea, circulating for the past 15 years or so, that the sun could threaten your health. I regularly see people in abundantly sunny California hiding from the solar rays as if sunshine were the messenger of death. Of course sunburn is not a good thing, but it doesn't make sense to me to hide from the source of our very existence. It is a simple as that: no sun, no Earth, no life.

I have a friend, Joel, who--in his own special way--worships the sun. He has a telescope on a rooftop deck with a range of special filters that enable him to look directly at the sun. It's an amazing experience to see the burning fireball sending flares into the universe. These flares, Joel mentions, are often several times bigger than the diameter of the Earth. Looking through the telescope with Joel--whom we've nicknamed "Lord of the Sun"--makes me realize and appreciate the importance of this ultimate source of our lives.   Read more...