"What is it you seek?" It asked
"The truth," I replied, "I seek the true nature of things."
"Do you really seek the truth, or do you seek a fable? Let us see how much of the truth you really seek. Four visions will be sent to you. In each you find either a gift or destruction."
Then the personage disappeared as mysteriously as it came.
The first vision appeared as black mist clothed in a black hooded robe, and in its hand it held a scythe.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"I am death, and no man can escape me. All men tremble before me and I make all men equal. I am the gift of life because I enable man to value his existence, and I destroy those who fail to acknowledge me and accept my gift."
Then it disappeared.
The second vision appeared as a cloud with distinct borders. It was dark gray and pregnant with thunderstorms about to burst forth.
"What are you?" I asked this marvel
"I am separateness. I bring man unbearable loneliness and I show him that each man is utterly alone. I am the gift of free will and I enable man to be aware of his existence. I am what makes man sentient. I am what makes man value others as something separate from himself. I enable man to choose his destiny. I am the beginning of compassion, and I destroy those who trespass against that separateness and refuse my gift."
Then the cloud shrivelled into a tiny dot until it could be seen no more and the third vision appeared as a dark black hole. Now I was truly frightened
"What are you that you terrify me so? I asked."
"I am nothingness. I bring chaos and terror. I melt the elements of matter and wash away all illusions until man is groundless and unconnected and I give him nothing to cling to. I enable man to behold true reality and to behold what man truly is, and I show man that life is but a dream. I destroy those who cling to their illusions and refuse my gift."
Then the nothingness folded up into itself and winked out of sight.
The fourth vision appeared, a bleak vast grayness that permeated the room
"And what are you?" I asked.
"I am meaninglessness. I tear man's heart out and I break him down into despair. I take away his purpose and meaning and I chill him with the silent impersonal flow of the universe. I make him wish for death and I destroy those who refuse my gift. Can you accept my gift? Can you understand what it is? I cause man to seek. God's greatest power lies in his nothingness"
The heavy bleak grayness began to ripple, then it dematerialized leaving the room deathly silent and empty.
Reality (watercolor)