The Light of the World

Once upon a time, out in the vast immeasurable desert, a travelling merchant found a great and wondrous Light. The white Light was too bright to look upon and dwelt always in the same place above the sand, just out of reach of the merchant. The Light was terrible in its brightness, but without heat. Instead, as the merchant approached, he felt a great peace descend upon him and all his troubles became as grains of sand and blew away with the wind.

The merchant was greatly moved by his vision of the Light and hurried away to the Ruler of this land to tell what he had found. The Ruler had heard tales of the Great Light at his mother’s knee, but no man knew where it could be found. He heaped gold upon the merchant and promised more if he could lead the Ruler to the Light. The merchant was pleased at his good fortune and speedily brought the Ruler to the Great Light. The Ruler saw for himself that the Light was as the merchant had described and was truly the Great Light he had heard of as a boy. As he dropped his eyes and approached the Great Light, the Ruler felt the cares and worries of his rule drop from his shoulders and disappear. The merchant, however, with the rashness born of familiarity, cast his eyes upwards into the brightness of the Great Light and found it unbearable. The merchant could see no more.

The Ruler rewarded the merchant with as much gold as his animals could carry, but could not cure his eyesight. The Ruler thought long and hard as to what should be done. He was a wise and generous Ruler and wanted to share the Light with the world, but was concerned others would be drawn to the light and look upon it. He gathered his craftsmen and architects around him and a Great Lantern was designed to encompass the Great Light. The Lantern would diminish the Light and protect the eyes of mankind from its terrible beauty. To better show the glory of the Great Light, the Lantern would be built within a Great Temple. The Great Lantern would be many sided and the Ruler decided to hold a contest among the artisans of his land. Each region would design and create a pane of the Great Lantern, to be beautiful beyond compare.

The craftmen toiled for a full year to create their panes of glass. Some were iridescent, reflecting all the colours of the rainbow. Others were pictures. Some were intricate patterns of many colours, but all were created in secrecy, lest others should steal their ideas and win the prize for themselves. As a result, each pane was very different from the next, reflecting the habits and preferences of the region from which it came.

The Great Lantern was built with difficulty, for the craftsmen assembling it could not look upon the Light. The workers were happy, however, as their cares melted away when they worked close to the Great Light, never daring to look into it. When the Lantern was complete, each pane illuminated a separate room around the Great Lantern, in the Great Temple built to glorify the Great Light. Above the doorway to each room was inscribed the name of the artist and the region he represented.

People came from far and wide to see the Temple of the Great Light and marvel at it. The crowds were many and people queued for days to visit. Each went to the doorway bearing the name of their region and saw the work done by their own artist.

Thus it was that those returning home bore stories of the Great Light and its wondrous power. Each would describe the Great Light in terms of the pane through which they had safely seen it. Some would say “The Great Light is green, shot through with blue.” Others would say, “The Great Light is golden yellow, shading to orange like a beautiful sunset.”

Still others would say “The Great Light is misty, shining with all the colours of the rainbow.”

And so it went for each region and each room, Each and every one seeing only that aspect of the Light that they wished to see.

The years went by and everyone in each region made it a duty to visit the Great Temple and see the Great Light themselves. They forgot they were looking at the Great Light filtered through the panes of men, and went home filled with glorious tales of the beauty of the Light itself.

Neighbouring regions disagreed about the nature of the Light, as each was seeing it through a different pane. There were fights about the real nature of the Great Light, for each thought they were seeing the true Light. In fact they were seeing its diminished brilliance, elaborated by the hand of man. The peace they had experienced by the Light was forgotten in their anger at having their own viewpoint attacked by neighbouring regions. Wars broke out between regions, each anxious to convince the other that their version of the Great Light was the only true one.

One day, a young orphan came to the Great Temple. His mother and father had come from different regions, but had become caught up in the fighting and died. The orphan was filled with sadness and grief that their dispute about the Great Light should have killed the love they felt for each other and determined to find out the truth for himself.

He first queued for days to see the Light in the room his father knew and was filled with wonder at its great beauty. The peace which filled him as he gazed on the Light, drove out all his sadness. Next the orphan waited until he could get to the room his mother had visited and was astonished to see how different the Great Light appeared. He felt the same peace, but the beautiful colours of this room were nothing like those of the first room. The orphan determined to visit all the rooms and see for himself the entirety of the Great Light. Each room revealed a different aspect of the Light, shining through different textures and colours. Nowhere could the boy truly see the Great Light in all its brilliance directly for himself, but he understood that it was greater than the glimpses he has seen through the Lantern panes.

The orphan boy determined to spread the truth about the Great Light to bring an end to the wars and bloodshed, but each region he visited with his message rejected him, calling him a liar and a heretic, and he fled in fear of his life.

He determined to live out his days by the Great Temple, trying to persuade visitors to look at several different panes as he had done. Very few complied. They did not have time, they only had a few days to queue. They were not interested, they knew what they had come to see. They did not want to upset their friends, who were with them, by visiting the rooms of strangers. Many were the reasons, but they were all blinkered and closed to the truth.

The boy grew to manhood and became known as The Keeper of The Great Light. One day, he came upon another orphan and led him around the many rooms, explaining all he knew about the Great Light. The boy was fascinated and he too grew to become the Keeper of the Light and passed on the title in his turn. Over the years, some have turned to listen and even view the other panes, but few are interested in the truth, being overwhelmed with their own version of reality. Those that are convinced are met with ridicule and threats if they try to spread the truth.

Wars are still being fought, as each region seeks to convert others to its own view of the Great Light. Sadly, all ignore the universal truth which lies unseen, just behind their individual visions.