The Shack

Chapter 15 relates the mystical vision that Mack experiences after receiving Sarayu’s touch. Sarayu is still there beside him, and as he opens his eyes he sees the beauty of all creation, with individual creatures appearing aflame with light and color. He sees children and adults all around him, suffused with unspeakably beautiful lights. As Sarayu explains, “Here, we are able to see each other truly, and part of seeing means that individual personality and emotion is visible in color and light” (212). These colors express each person’s individuality, but when two people are sharing emotions in relationship, they also create a whole new dance of color and light between them. Mack notices, however, one adult in the distance who seems unable to control the light of his emotions; it flashes in erratic and overwhelmed bursts. Sarayu reveals that this is Mack’s father, and immediately “a wave of emotions, a mixture of anger and longings” breaks over Mack (215). He runs to his father and embraces him, finding that his father is full of brokenhearted love and sorrow for what happened between them. Together, they are able to reconcile through their mutual experience of God’s love. After this experience,