PATTERNS AND MEANING

Patterns are not simply decorative, though they do appeal to our sense of order. There is a symmetry underlying every pattern.

Writing emerged out of patterns. The discursive flowing quality of pattern making has been related to the way the mind flows from one thought to the next, and language is also a flow of sounds.

PATTERNS of THOUGHT

We think through images. That is the importance of the imagination for human consciousness. Even words are dependent on embedded images which we call metaphors. These metaphors draw on profound symbols that are archetypal, and can be seen to underly all cultures, and all languages.

SEEING A STORY

Traditionally stories are part of a "Darshana", that is a way of seeing. Learning how to read goes along with learning how to see, or visualize. Story telling is an imaginative process, which involves all the creative skills of an individual. This is seen in the work of children, where the act of story telling is integral with a whole process of seeing and understanding the world in which we live.

GROWING A STORY

In the Sita School story telling has been an important part of learning. Stories are not only written: they are also visualized. Image and word come together.

SEED of the COSMOS

The image of Christ in the Tree of Life, which is also the Tree of the Cross, gives us a new insight into the relation of the Cross to the whole Cosmos, and a Creation Theology that affirms the fundamental connection between the Spirit and the creation of a new Heaven and a new Earth.

Mandala as Narrating a story.

The visual structure of the Mandala helps in narrating a story or parable. Like a frame it constitutes a series of images that describe a movement in time, which itself is understood as cyclical. The cycle of the year, with its various festivals, tells the story of Creation. The journey of the hero in quest of the mystery of life, follows a pattern that reflects the cycle of the seasons. The image of the Tree is fundamental to this journey, that begins with the seed, growing into a plant with many branches, and finally coming to the blossom which again forms a seed. The tree lies hidden in the seed, and the seed contains the promise of the tree.

Presenting the Cross in relation to the Mandala.

Published PPP on the Mandala and the Cross.

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No. 3

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No. 5