The Sacred Wheel
vow and blessing
Jim Kenney
I
Sacred Wheel; original art, Jim Kenney
magine a great wheel whose immense and beautifully carved spokes converge in
a tiny glistening hub. In the center of the hub, there is only the brilliant blue of
empty sky. In the Hindu tradition, the wheel is a symbol of human spiritual experience. Each of the spokes is uniquely shaped and decorated and each symbolizes one of
the world’s religious paths. The rim of the wheel represents the most superficial level
of involvement in and understanding of one’s own tradition. It’s the level of greatest diversity. The hub is the center from which each spoke emerges and the point at
which they all come together. It represents the common source and the deepest level
of each and every tradition. It is the point of unity and the source of promise. As the
seeker grows in understanding, he or she moves along one of the spokes, from the
gigantic rim to the unimaginably small hub at the center. At the rim, the distance
which separates the spokes is tremendous and yet, as the spokes converge on the center of the hub, their separation vanishes.
Jim Kenney is Co-Editor of Interreligious Insight. He is the Executive Director of Common Ground and
the Interreligious Engagement Project. Past Global Director of the Parliament of the World’s Religions, he
now serves as Project Coordinator for the International Interreligious Peace Council. He is the author of
Thriving in the Crosscurrent: Clarity and Hope in a Time of Sea Change (Quest Books, 2010).
22 | V11 N2 December 2013
As I stand on the outer end, say,
of the Christian spoke and gaze across
at my Buddhist counterpart, I cannot
begin to understand her beliefs and
practices. From my vantage point, her
faith seems strange, if not bizarre. And
yet, as I begin to move along my own
spoke, slowly at first and then with
more confidence, the distance which
had separated us begins to diminish. As I
venture more deeply into my own tradition, learning something of its symbolic
language and hidden dimensions, I find
that her symbols begin to seem somehow
kindred to my own. Suddenly, it’s clear
that our paths are convergent; they share
a common center. Just as the wagon
wheel needs both its circles, the rim
and the hub, so the symbolic wheel, the
human spiritual heritage requires the
diversity, the color, the pageantry, and
variety of the outer circle as well as the
unity of the inner. But it is convergence,
“inclining to a center,” that makes a
wheel a wheel.
As I venture more deeply
into my own tradition,
learning something of its
symbolic language and
hidden dimensions, I find
that her symbols begin to
seem somehow kindred to
my own.
The great Jewish thinker Martin
Buber, author of the extraordinary book,
I and Thou, once recalled his first experience of what he called “feeling the
other side.” On a farm in the German
countryside, he was absorbed in the
simple task of brushing and currying an
old horse. As her breathing changed in
response to the strokes, Buber suddenly
felt as though he had changed places
with the animal. Although his own arms
continued their rhythmic movement,
he now began to feel the currying as
if he were the recipient. In a sense,
he “became” the horse and shared its
experience. In that moment, the vision
of interfaith encounter which would
shape so much of Buber’s life and work
began to emerge. “Dialogue,” he would
later write, “I call it experiencing the
other side.”
the symbolic wheel, the
human spiritual heritage
requires the diversity, the
color, the pageantry, and
variety of the outer circle as
well as the unity of the inner
The metaphor of the sacred wheel
offers us a way of thinking about the
meeting with other faiths and with
individuals whose religious identity differs so sharply from our own as to make
real dialogue seem all but impossible.
It provides the new imagery which is
so essential when we set out to change
our way of looking at and participating in the world, when we actively seek
to engage and to experience “the other
side.” But the wheel’s evocative shape
and symbolic power is multivalent. It
not only gives expression to the unity
and diversity which enrich the interplay
of the great religions, but also diagrams
the intimate interdependence of the one
Interreligious
Insight | 23
Creative Encounters
Jim Kenney
The Sacred Wheel
and the many which shapes the life of
the individual spiritual seeker.
The circular image of convergence
captures the elusive and yet essential
dynamic of the human search for what
the Eastern faith traditions call “onepointedness”; and yet, at the same time,
it evokes the multiplicity which textures
human history and culture. It is a profoundly ecological image, suggesting the
fine balance and fecundity which only
living systems enjoy. But the wheel is
also the mandala, the ancient schematic
of personal spiritual existence. In this
symbolic sense, the center represents
the point-instant of individual spiritual discovery, the meeting ground of
the human and the divine. The spokes
represent the various modes of one’s
personal existence, inquiry, endeavor,
service, trial, pain, and joy. Finding the
pattern of convergence which operates
in one’s own life story is analogous to
the discovery of the common ground,
which is shared by the world’s religious
traditions, and to the elaboration of
the astonishing interdependence of the
Earth’s – of Gaia’s – systems and spheres.
In my own work in interfaith study
and dialogue, I have often reflected on
the image of the sacred wheel. Lately
I have come to realize that its power
as a symbol of religious convergence is
equalled by its power as a personal mandala. Just as the great religions emanate
from and return to a common center, so
too the many streams of my own existence issue from a single wellspring. In
a way, learning to “experience the other
side” in dialogue with other faiths offers
a vital preparation for the real task which
24 | V11 N2 December 2013
confronts every human: the discovery of
the unity in diversity which animates
one’s own life story. The religions of the
world proceed from a shared center and
unfold uniquely in the complex charismatic structures which are their stories
and their gifts to humankind. In the
Finding the pattern of
convergence which operates
in one’s own life story is
analogous to the discovery
of the common ground,
which is shared by the
world’s religious traditions
same fashion, each life resonates in its
own way with the ground of being and
each has the potential to develop simultaneously in many directions. In this
sense, the sacred wheel represents the
richness and variety of a single human
existence. Finding the center from
which the seemingly disparate spokes
of my interests, my endeavors, and my
gifts emerge is the essential task. And it
is a task requiring a continuing development of my ability to feel my own “other
sides,” to recognize and to affirm the
multiplicity of my experience and the
many modes of my potential ministry.
Vow
O
ne of the most common – and
most commonly misunderstood –
of religious motifs is that of the sacred
vow. It is the central moment of the
initiation ceremonies which mark the
passage of the religious novice through
the stages of growth in lore mastery,
Vow; original art; Ekaterina Kenney
discipline, meditative technique, and
compassionate service. The vow is the
affirmation which serves as the hub
of the psycho-spiritual complex which
enfolds and describes the most important moments of the religious life. It
corresponds to the most basic faith
statements with which the traditions
themselves set forth on the path to
diversity. Each vow is unique, as is each
statement of faith. Yet every vow arises
from the shared center of religious and
spiritual reality.
The moment of the vow
marks the birth or the rebirth
(for a true vow is not made
once and for all time, but
constantly reviewed and
renewed) of the individual
as a fully intentional being.
In the religious life, when the initiate stands at the center of the sacred
space of the vow ceremony, s/he is
engaged not with some distant future
time, but with the present moment.
Often regarded as a promise made for
all time, the vow, properly understood
and entered into, is nothing of the sort.
It is rather the deepest expression of centered existence of which the individual is
capable at that moment and at that focal
point of the universe. Just as the utterance of the prophet is not an account of
things to come but a profound reflection
of the present in all its complexity, so
too the vow of the seeker is the convergence of his or her every dimension in
a single moment. Vowing is seeing with
new or renewed eyes. In this sense, the
vow is without content and yet overflowing with potential energy. It is the
discovery of the raw power of faith as
Interreligious
Insight | 25
The Sacred Wheel
a transformed and transforming vision.
The moment of the vow marks the birth
or the rebirth (for a true vow is not made
once and for all time, but constantly
reviewed and renewed) of the individual
as a fully intentional being.
Often regarded as a promise
made for all time, the vow,
properly understood and
entered into, is nothing of
the sort.
One of the most intriguing and
empowering of modern rediscoveries
of ancient insight takes form in the
realization that the majesty and power
of spiritual centering and initiation – of
the sacred vow – is not only to be experienced within the confines of the temple
or the cloister. In fact, the modern
fascination with personal as well as
communal ritual reflects a growing
awareness of the importance of the
creation of sacred space and time
in a centering rite. Much of the
transformation of religion which seems
currently underway has to do with the
reinvigoration of ancient modes of
spiritual initiation and with opening up to a broader community a
dimension of experience and growth too
long sequestered.
All of the elements which shape the
experience of the spiritual vow are centripetal; that is, they are directed toward
a center. The circle of friends, the architecture of the sanctuary, the kindling of
candles, the ringing of the bells, the slow
drift of incense, the swell of the chant,
and the meditative preparation of the
26 | V11 N2 December 2013
candidate – all these combine to give
physical, emotional, psychic, and communal definition to the search for the
center and the realization of the present moment. They articulate the sacred
space and consecrate the sacred time.
I light a candle, gather the silence
about me, and touch the unique heart
of the moment. In that instant of clarity, my center is somehow redefined.
The vow is wordless and yet the silence
seems replete with new meaning. It is
not an experience of quantity – no list of
promises or resolutions is forthcoming –
but of quality. In the repeated encounter
with the quality and depth of the present
moment, intentionality is renewed and
deepened, and the concentric dimension
of my many “lives,” rhythms, and ways
of walking becomes just a bit easier to
discern. The vow is the briefest taste of
possibility...a reminder that humanness
is not a terminal condition.
Blessing; original art, Ekaterina Kenney
Jim Kenney
Blessing
I
n many spiritual traditions, the first
act of the one who has experienced
the vow is to turn and to bless the assembled community and the world at large.
The centripetal process now becomes
centrifugal – directed outward – as
the unique center somehow reaches out to
the limitless circumference. The initiate
has gathered her/his world into the
momentary vow-space and now
s/he gives birth to a new configuration
of the age-old wheel. Now the spokes
are the vectors of her unique compassionate address to the universe of being
and becoming, the radiant extensions of
her silent center. From the moment of
the vow proceeds the developing reality
of ministry, of presence to the universe,
of blessing.
I light a candle, gather
the silence about me, and
touch the unique heart of
the moment.
In the Mahâyâna Buddhist tradition, the twin concepts of vowing and
blessing come together in the figures of
the bodhisattvas, the “enlightenmentbeings,” the saintly ones who have postponed their own entrance into nirvana
in order to minister to all sentient beings
– to bless the world. The vow-moment
is the true beginning of the bodhisattva career, but the continual activity of
blessing is its fulfillment. Buddhist lore
and iconography is filled with a stunning variety of accounts of the lives, the
vowing and blessing, of the great bod-
hisattvas. But lest the believer come to
regard these spiritual athletes as impossibly holy or remote figures, the tradition constantly reaffirms that each and
every one of us is a bodhisattva, called by
humanness to a lifelong renewal of vows
and extension of blessings.
From the moment of the vow
proceeds the developing
reality of ministry, of
presence to the universe,
of blessing.
When we consider the sacred wheel
as personal mandala, it is clear that the
hub is the center from which the vow
emerges. The spokes of course symbolize
the unique modes of blessing, ministry,
or service of which each individual is
capable. And it’s at this point that a
sensitivity to dialogue, to the discovery
of unity in diversity, can mean so much
to the spiritual adventurer. Coming to
terms with one’s own multiplicity can
be as daunting as setting out in search
of the center. All too often, I seem to be
at odds with myself. Am I religious or
worldly? A contemplative or an activist? Self-concerned or other-directed?
Acquisitive or ascetic?
The modes of my existence can
seem every bit as disparate and even
contradictory as the stories of the great
faiths. And yet, just as the great mythic cycle of human religion would be
diminished by the elimination of even a
single song, so my own story is enriched
by every chapter.
Vowing is a mode of meditation,
prayer, or self-discovery. Blessing is a
Interreligious
Insight | 27
The
sacred
meditation of a
wheel, the vow,
different sort. It
and the ways of
demands a radical
blessing are not
reappraisal of each
exclusive to the
and every one of
monastery or the
my ways of walkhermitage. They
ing through the
represent ways of
world. The point
thinking and ways
is not so much to
of living which are
abandon those that
immediate, accesseem somehow less
sible, and vital to
“spiritual,” but
everyone who is
rather to discover
delighted by the
the charism or gift
discovery of conwhich
informs
vergence and eager
each way or mode
Becoming Fully Human; original art, Lonnie Hanzon
to respond to the
or spoke. If an
challenge of spiritual existence. Finding
activity is challenging or rewarding, it
the still point, experiencing the transcontains within it the possibility of
forming vow, discovering and living the
blessing, of engaging the world and
multiple modes of blessing...it’s what
its inhabitants in a healing way that is
becoming fully human is all about.
uniquely my own.
every religious tradition is
superior to every other by
virtue of something it simply
does best
Frithjof Schuon, one of the most
remarkable figures in the study of religion and spirituality, argues that all
the great spiritual traditions share in a
common center. He also maintains that
every religious tradition is superior to
every other by virtue of something it
simply does best. The same could be said
of the seemingly divergent threads of an
individual life. Each traces to and from
the center and each in its own way can
give the finest and fullest expression to
the power which resides in the silence of
that center.
28 | V11 N2 December 2013
Finding the still point, experiencing the transforming
vow,
discovering
and
living the multiple modes
of
blessing...it’s
what
becoming fully human is
all about.
As we contemplate the complex –
and often disturbing – interplay of the
world’s religions religions, we could do
worse than to reflect on the multiple
modes of vowing and blessing offered by
the great traditions. And while we’re at it,
we might well spend a moment or two
in silent appreciation of the common
mystery, the hub of the sacred wheel.