On a personal note, I want to raise the level of spiritual sensitivity and cosmic consciousness by teaching as many people as I possibly can the experience of drawing the face of Jesus. My method of instruction allows anyone, regardless of previous artistic ability or experience to make a beautiful shaded pencil portrait even on the first try.

Drawing the face of Jesus, making physical contact through the sensitive strokes of a pencil and actually seeing the face take on shape and dimension because of the work of  your hand provides a profoundly personal connection. A sense of rapport! We see the light come into His eyes! We see his slight smile become more and more developed under the strokes of our pencil. His Hair. His beard! All taking shape through our personal efforts. Jesus, coming alive!

And, it is a two way street! The idea of Jesus … the image of Jesus that the Christian community carries around in the back of the mind and the depth of the heart day to day is a  spiritual reflection of something transcendent in our human condition. It is our own cosmic consciousness … the divine dimension of our being …it is a part of each one of us and, yet, … other than us.

We connect through ritual, prayer and praise, yes. We connect through doing good and charitable works, yes. But, when we connect through the tactile dimension of a contemplative touch … something occurs  that is quite wonderful. The hand is an extension of the mind and heart. The pencil becomes an extension of the hand and what happens is a new devotional dynamic. And … it “humanizes” Jesus, the man, Yeshua bar Yosef of Nazareth upon whom the idea of Man and Cosmic Consciousness has been melded as a role model for us all. Regardless of the historicity connected with his actual life, Jesus has become the metaphor for the qualities of humanity that we hold as the best characteristics of ourselves and our potential. Charity, compassion and brotherly love.

From this dynamic, a more spiritually sensitive attitude emerges. An attitude focused on human harmony and global compassion because the spiritual connection, not only with our cosmic consciousness, but also, with the entire network of humanity on this planet becomes a singular, powerful and driving thing.

This is a first step on the road to salvation. Salvation from ourselves through spiritual sensitivity!