The Marketplace of Robes

Every human life begins the same way—
not empty, not broken, but holding something precious.

Before belief.
Before discipline.
Before doctrine.

Each seeker arrives holding The Five Gold Coins of The Captive—
suffering, death, identity, injustice, and love—
each radiant with beauty, each shadowed by fear.

The Marketplace of Robes is where humanity has always gathered in response.

Here, robes are not sold through persuasion or coercion.
They are offered through lived freedom.

Buddha speaks of release from grasping.
Muhammad speaks of devotion aligned with the Divine.
Jesus speaks of love and union beyond death.
Krishnamurti speaks of freedom through pure observation.
Osho speaks of laughter, courage, and dropping fear.
Science speaks of mastery, reason, and understanding.
And one seeker, having walked among them all, stitches a robe from many—
a life made of what works.

Each robe is sincere.
Each robe has carried millions.
Each robe has brought real relief.

So the seeker chooses.

The coins are offered.
The robe is worn.
And for a time—it works.

The rituals bring rhythm.
The teachings bring meaning.
The terror quiets.
Life feels held.

But across centuries and cultures, a gentle pattern emerges.

Slowly… quietly…
the coins return.

Not because the robe failed.
Not because the merchant was wrong.
But because the coins were never dissolved—
only turned, polished, softened, or hidden beneath cloth.

This episode is a walk through the Marketplace of Robes—
not to judge it, but to understand it.

It is a compassionate exploration of why robes exist,
why they work,
why many seekers devote their entire lives to a single garment,
and why—eventually—some arrive at the same quiet realization:

Nothing they loved was wrong.
And yet… something remains unfinished.

Here, Unified Theistic Naturalism does not offer another robe.

It reveals communion—
direct, living resonance with the Divine—
where the beauty of the coins is no longer bound to fear,
and the hand opens naturally.

This is not an argument.
It is a recognition.

Walk slowly.
Listen gently.
And see whether you recognize yourself in the marketplace.

And when the walk pauses, three further doorways appear—
each inviting deeper clarity, not answers.
Choose any. I will meet you there, and we will walk as friends to see what we discover.

• The End of Conflict: Presence as the Final Mirror
A journey into why conflict has never been the problem—and how presence dissolves it without resistance.

• There Is No Ego: Only Movement Away from Presence
An invitation to stop fighting the self and discover what remains when effort ends.

• Touching the Hem of the Divine: Virtue Dispatched, Communion Awaiting
A meditation on why moments of virtue inspire—and why abiding in communion transforms everything.

This is not the end of the marketplace.
It is the moment you realize you were never meant to live inside it forever.

I’m Patrick Carodine,
and this is Unified Theistic Naturalism.