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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The Morning Star rising in the heart.

It is as though a new day is dawning. In India there is a daily ritual of greeting the Morning Sun (Surya Namashkar). The Sun is rising over the dream city. This light of the Sun is like the revelation of a new World, a new Heaven and a new Earth.

Jesus is revealed in the depths of our hearts. ^You will do well to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts” (2 Peter.1.19) And so this Wonderful City is in fact the city of the heart, in which Jesus is being revealed to every culture, and to every generation. One Indian theologian has said that the Gospel of Jesus has to be baptized in the Holy River of India, if it is to become meaningful for this culture, and this people. We have to imagine Jesus in the cultural frames of our own past, if He is to enter into our hearts.

Baptism and the Dream City.

Finally, there is the Baptism of Christ. This again is something that happened in the past, but continues to happen today, in the hearts and lives of every believer. Jesus is baptized in the waters of a Holy River. The image of the Holy River is closely associated with our dream of the city. Great cities like the city of Benares in India, are situated on the banks of a holy river (the Ganges). And so Jesus is revealed at the moment when the Holy Spirit descends on Him, and John witnesses that he indeed is the Holy One who is to come and deliver his people.

In this context we may also reflect on the Presence of the Spirit in every religious tradition, and not only in the Christian or Biblical revelation. The Spirit gives light and Wisdom to all people who are searching for the Truth, throughout the history of humanity, and in every culture.