The Sign of The Artist

(In the dim morning light, he could see the sign of The Artist)

      Ruben was brought up as an atheist. His parents were tired of religion. Frequent weekly attendance to the religious services made them dislike religion and God. So his parents taught him the non-existence of God. The concept of life after death, heaven and hell was just a cock and bull story. The body grew old with age, worn out and that was the end. Death occurred and the body decayed. The power of the supreme was the power of one own-self alive. That was how he was bred as a child.

  So Ruben grew up to be an atheist. And he liked painting and so he made his career as an artist. He studied human beings, nature and the world around him. His paintings reflected an inner hollowness. He realized he was lacking something in life – the purpose of life itself! His own goal seemed mundane. And his mind revolted against him. Excessive creative work made him seek more of himself and know more of creations around him, and their creator.  He was an artist and he could distinguish every other artist works. He looked at art and could tell who the artist was, if he had seen their previous work, or he could tell the mind of the artist by their art if he hadn’t seen their work earlier. Each artist had their own unique style, and two artists work could be easily distinguished.

Ruben in his pursuit for the hidden purpose of his life set out to see the world. He marveled the wonders he was presented with as he travelled around the world. He read many religious text books and questioned people of different faiths and analyzed their views. He would ponder over everything and wonder where he was headed to.

There was a religion which he truly liked that taught the right way of living, but didn’t mention the creator. The Hope (Father figure) was absent.  Ruben thought that someone must be the Creator. Someone who cared for you as He created you, when you knew yourself not! There should be someone to hope for. But then he thought, it must be a man-made feeling – a man-made creation of his last hope, to ease his own sufferings.

Ruben after many experiences in the search of inner peace came upon a group of individuals who had extreme faith in the Creator. And their reason was that the Creator had sent them His own words which had been assembled in a book. They told Ruben to study the book himself and feel the words of the Creator.

        Ruben wanted to feel the Creator’s presence, and the spiritual experience. So he decided to make an arrangement as people did in the past to make himself feel if anything wonderful happened that would make him change his views of atheism and make him a theist. It was night, and he kept his table by the window and lighted a candle and switched off the lights, and thought of reading the words of the Creator.

    He read for some time, and in his heart he thought, “O’ my Creator! If you do truly exist, then show me a sign, as you showed to people in the past. Show me a sign, however small it is, and I will believe, that there truly exists You, a Creator of this Universe.” He waited for some miracle to occur.

But nothing happened.

 “O’ the one who made this Universe, show me a sign, and I will surely believe.”

 He said aloud and waited.

 Nothing happened.

 “This is your chance, O’ Creator. I am not going anywhere. Show me a sign. A bolt of lightning, an earthquake, even a little trembling of the table will do. Anything, that proves Your existence. And I swear I will be an ardent Believer.”

Absolutely nothing happened.

Ruben was frustrated and angry. “I knew You didn’t exist. It was just a figment of human imagination to give hope and justice to their sufferings. If You had existed, then with Your magnificent powers, You could have shown me a little sign. I am done with You.”

So Ruben decided that enough was enough, he should go to sleep. A cool breeze blew turning some of the pages, but the candle burnt bright, with molten wax trickling down. Ruben as he turned to close the book, his eyes fell on a verse in the book –

Behold! In the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the alteration of night and day, and the ships which run upon the sea with that which is of use to men, and the water which He sends down from the sky, thereby reviving the earth after its death, and dispersing all kinds of beasts therein, and (in) the ordinance of the winds, and the clouds obedient between heaven and earth: are signs for people who have sense.

       Ruben looked at the verse aghast, frightened like a man who had indeed experienced the supernatural. He stared at the verse and looked out of the window with a fixed gaze at the horizon where faint light of day-break could be seen, in a dazed state. He continued to stare at the vast nothingness of the infinite, and did not realize that the candle had burnt out. When he came to himself, he realized a big jig-saw puzzle of his life had been solved. All the pieces that had seemed so scattered and unrelated fit so perfectly to make a perfect picture. He was an artist, and he had traveled the world and seen the Creator’s work. The similarity he had seen everywhere! And it dawned on him who 

The True Artist was and the work of One Hand!