There Once Was a Man

There once was a man who, like his brothers and sisters, obeyed and worshiped, attended and submitted, believed and confessed as a part of Christianity and the Church, and all seemed to be well. But as he grew older, his darkness and suffering increased to the point where he realized that he urgently needed to discover the unifying Reality concealed behind all images, all philosophies, all religions, all theologies, all spiritualities, all institutions and organizations. He had to find the Hidden behind all things. He had to discover the Mystery behind the manifestations. He had to not only discover but understand for himself. Although he still found himself a part of Christianity and the Church, he began to see that it was partial and not whole. Although it was his home, he knew, deep down, that it was just a fragment of the greater whole. There seemed to be something profound, an Ultimate Source, a Ground of Being, that was beyond and before all this. This journey began so many years ago. But in a flash of an instant he realized that he had passed all the all the churches, all the denominations, all the religions, all the theologies, all the philosophies, and all the various gods and non-gods. He finally found himself in a joyful and peaceful place where all religions are quieted, where all attachments are consummated, where all worship ceases, where all desire ends, where prayer becomes silent, where the separate soul is purified by death, where true freedom emerges, where life in love is the air that is breathed, and where all is One. (Inspired in a small part by a poem of Krishnamurti). The painting is one I did years ago, watercolor, 20"x30" (50cm x 76cm), called "Tide Pools", on the southern shore of Prince Edward Island, Canada. SOLD.