“Treacherous men, they were. I could feel the darkness swirling around them like smoke. But I knew what I must do, what path I must travel. The sky above me was darkened, and the world around me hung in shadow. It was as if I were in a desert, the most desolate place in this world or the next. All I could do was walk. And friends, it was a long way. The road was hard, and I stumbled often in the darkness. Stones cut my feet, and more than once I knew I was lost, that the way was hopeless, that I would never find the path to what I sought.

“It sounds strange, friends, to say that I felt as if I walked for weeks, as if I spent a small eternity in that darkness, but that is the way of visions. It was a wretched journey, and it seemed as if there was no end to the starless black. But when my legs could carry me no farther, when my back ached and my feet bled and my stomach was bloated from hunger, I came across a cave. It rose like an open throat from the ground, a fire burning inside of it like a ruby tucked deep in the darkness. I stepped into the cave, hoping for food and water, hoping for some way out of this world.

“But what I found, friends, was so much more than all that. Inside that cave, in the darkest pit of the earth, I found a garden. Do not ask me how the garden grew, as there was no sunlight and the rock floor of the cave was dry and hard. Yet grow this garden did, and it was magnificent. Cool blue blossoms and burning reds and regal purples all erupted in swirls around me, bluebells glittered like jewels, an entire cosmos of colors blossoming, blooming, flourishing in the dark heart of the earth, in that forsaken, abandoned place. There was no fire here, friends. No, the light came from the garden itself, glowing so bright with its own brilliance that I had to squint to look at it, as if I were gazing straight into the sun. I knew I was in the presence of something holy.

“Friends, I fell on my face in that cave. I was sobbing with all the pain I felt from my long midnight journey, the gratitude that I had come to witness this garden. The sweet fragrance of the blossoms, the colors brighter and wilder than any sunset. I hoped that every night I would dream of that garden, that I would see it flourish every time I closed my eyes. And then I awoke.”

A pause. I could hear the quiet of the room, like everyone was holding their breath, scared to utter a sound, waiting in anticipation of what would come next.