He Who Takes Away Light
A master summonned his servants. There were three of them, dressed in worn, cotton robes and a ribbon tied around their foreheads. Each ribbon was colour-coded. Olive, lavender and mustard like the colour of reeds by the lake nearby.
When they arrived, they knelt on straw.
"You must answer three questions," the master spoke, "and you will tell me your answers in my office."
They remained silent.
"Who were the three men who visited my garden yesterday and what did they seek?"
The first of the servants entered the master's office and gave his answer. "The potter who sought faithfulness, the blacksmith who sought love, and the last sought illumination and was known as 'he who takes away light'."
After the first, the second did the same, giving the same answer. "The first, was a potter asking for faith, the second, a blacksmith who sought love, the last sought illumination and was known as 'he who takes away light'."
When it was the third servant's turn, he knelt before the master and said, "There was the potter who sought faithfulness, the blacksmith who sought love, and the last sought illumination and was a carpenter."
The master rebuked the third servant and cast him out of his sight, saying "the last was a man known as 'he who takes away light' because he was seeking illumination."
The third servant remembered the man had worked with wood. He thought to himself, if he was not a carpenter, what was he?
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This is a parable that came to me through a dream a few nights ago, which has been slightly edited or artificially clarified but mostly remains intact. At first, I couldn't understand the meaning of the dream, and still can't quite. But I have arrived at an interpretation of it myself. What do you think this means?
A second story from a dream last year will be coming later.