Each month at the Chaplaincy Institute, a particular world religion is our focus of study in the Interfaith Ordination program. In 2008, I began a project of exploring each of the religions being studied through an artistic process anchored in that religion's essential symbols. This is in the sacred tradition of illuminations: artistic elements or pictures that appear in books alongside the text.
I have delighted in this process: spending time in prayer, researching the particular religion's symbology, and talking with people of that particular faith to search for the essential elements to convey artistically. The following are the results of my artistic exploration so far.
The Golden Chai (Judaism)
By Rev. Gina Rose Halpern, D.Min.
Created for the April 2008 Judaism Module
"Every particle of our universe, every being, is a shell that contains sparks of holiness. Our task is to release each spark from the shell and raise it up, ultimately to return it to its original state. In each moment, we have the capacity to Raise Holy Sparks." (Rabbi David Cooper)
Rumi, the Dervish, and the Winged Heart (Sufism)
By Rev. Gina Rose Halpern, D.Min.
Created for the May 2008 Sufism Module
“What are ‘I’ and ‘You’?
Just lattices
In the niches of a lamp
Through which the One Light radiates.”
(Sa’d al-din Mahmud Shabistari) (1250 – 1320)
A Basket of Blessings (Interfaith)
By Rev. Gina Rose Halpern, D.Min.
Created for the June 2008 Interfaith Module
"To know the sweetness
of the Infinite within us:
that is the cause, the reason,
the purpose of our being."
(Nicholas of Cusa)
The Church and the Comforter (Christianity)
By Rev. Gina Rose Halpern, D.Min.
Created for the July 2008 Protestant Christianity Module
"The day of my spiritual awakening was the day I saw—and knew I saw—all things in God and God in all things." (Mechtild of Magdeburg)
The Lotus and the Breath (Buddhism)
By Rev. Gina Rose Halpern, D.Min.
Created for the August 2008 Buddhism Module
"Without beginning or ending, your original wisdom has been shining forever, like the sun." (Padmasambhava)
Shabbat and Family (Judaism)
By Rev. Gina Rose Halpern, D.Min.
Created for the September 2008 Judaism Module
"Behold, we are the source and the source is us. We are so intimately united with It, we cannot by any means be separated from It, for we are It." (Abraham Abulafia, 13th century)
