Column of Glory

He is the cosmic pillar of light, often identified with the Milky Way, through which the purified souls of the liberated ascend back to the moon and the sun. He is the "Perfect Man" who stands as the vertical axis of the world, gathering the light-particles from the hearts of the righteous as they are exhaled at the moment of death. Does the sky look back at us, or is the starlight merely the traffic of the holy returning to their home? He is the luminous staircase, the visible proof that the way out of the darkness is paved with the purity of the mind.