Eight of Wheat

The grain shedding itself — aliis inserviendo consumor, in serving others I am consumed. This is the candle’s logic, the teacher’s bargain, the parent’s knowledge.

Paradin understood that some purposes require self-expenditure. The wheat that clings to its husk feeds no one. Only in releasing does it become bread.

Eight approaches completion. Here the suit of sustenance confronts its deepest truth: nourishment is not possession but passage.