Creating the Universe

The idea for this image came to me while I was busy going to college. It was some years later that I was able to manifest it in the form of a painting. McArther Krishna invited me to participate in her project of gathering images and writings about Heavenly Mother targeted toward boys. So I had the opportunity to finally address this idea.

Going into creating an image like this takes consideration on how to depict deity. My choices were based on historical iconography for the purpose of immediate recognition. The face for the Father is the face of Michelangelo's God Father touching fingers with Adam. The Christ figure was taken from a John Singer Sargent female figure with the head of the iconic Christ, the purpose in this was to demonstrate the balance between the male and female energies, which I believe he had. And maybe not the way we think of them in the new age way, but more in the way the elements and nature are balanced. The Mother, for me, I reference India culture in many ways, for they have maintained a female presence throughout their history, and the way they view womanhood as a honored and goddess gender drives me to utilize imagery from that culture in a generic contemplation. The red eyes symbolize the shedding of blood all women experience to make life possible, and to contemplate the possibility of what Christ meant when he said we needed to be born of Spirit in John 3:5-8, and what would it mean to be born of our Heavenly Mother? What part does she play in our baptism, or re-birth? What type of relationship do we need with her?

In the Nag Hammadi Library, in the book "On the Origins of the World" Pistis Sophia is described as being the Mother and touching the shadow and giving it life, creating the dichotomy between light and dark. So I decided to portray her as dividing the light from the dark. Also in the Nag Hammadi, there are multiple books that testify of the mother being the voice of God, and the part of God that takes action, as God is Thought the Mother speaks the thought which becomes the Word. So placing her in the center with the most action was important to portraying this message. The importance of having Christ pouring the matter into the Universe is significant in the idea that he commands the elements and energies, as he demonstrated during his time on Earth.