Re-Experiencing My Mandala

I was given the opportunity by the Singapore Ministry of Education to present my study at the 2008 International Conference on Teaching and Learning with Technology (iCTLT) (https://www.ictlt.com) on August 5, 2008. My study is a modification of the previous one I presented in Hong Kong ( last July 7, 2008. ), titled "Modern Tool, Ancient Living: A Web-based Teaching in a Face-to-Face Learning.”

The conference attracted 110 paper presentations, about half of which are from countries such as Australia, China, New Zealand, United Kingdom and the United States. A total of 37 exhibitors and 30 poster presentations from schools and universities showcased how ICT used in the teaching and learning.

Being alone in my four-day stay in South East Asia Hotel had brought me to my mandala-experience. Last February, 2008 Dr. Teresa Gustilo-Villasor asked our class to draw a mandala. I spontaneously did my mandala with no idea of what the interpretations and meanings of shapes and colors were, with no immediate insight where was it leading me. I entitled my mandala, “That I May Be Your Heart Today.”

As I was alone in Singapore and away from my family and school work, I uniquely re-experienced the Self, an encounter with "God within us," a religious experience. Being alone did not mean being lonely in my stay in South East Asia Hotel. My mandala re-experience allowed me too to radiate friendship, sociability, cultural expansion, freedom, creativity and transformation among the overwhelming number of 1,800 participants attending the conference, of which about 200 participants were from over 20 countries outside Singapore.

What was remarkable was the location of the hotel where I stayed for adjacent to it are the Hindu Sri Krishnan Temple and the Chinese Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple. I could not help but be radiated by their sacred presence and found myself in each temple acknowledging God who sustains my life, our life, as an act of reverence to God within me, within us.

The Chinese temple is of significance to the Chinese in Singapore, and is known to bring worshipers good luck after praying to the Kuan Yin Bodhisattva, the Goddess of Mercy. The temple is also involved in charity work, contributing to several health and educational organizations (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwan_Im_Thong_Hood_Cho_Temple).

The same locality became sanctified when it became the site of the present Hindu temple, a significant landmark in building religious harmony in Singapore. The spirit of inter-religious harmony is evident in the unique relationship that the temple has developed with members of different communities (http://www.singaporebiennale.org/2006/venues-srikrishnan.html).

My mandala re-experience has made my conference paper "Modern Tool, Ancient Living: A Web-based Teaching in a Face-to-Face Learning” finds is concrete manifestation in Singapore as today’s Modern Tool and the community of various-faith-traditions within are the actual manifestations of Ancient Living. May my mandala re-experience be my prayer to God that He will grant me the grace of compassion, the gift of courage and the spirit of strength that I may always be His heart for others, today and forever. May Jesus live in our hearts! AMEN!