Mapping Out the Wisdom Traditions

A Study of Art in the World's Wisdom Traditions

Hi, y’all!

Today marks the first installment of my new series that I’m (wordily) calling, A Study of Art in the World's Wisdom Traditions. You can read more about the background behind this story in my previous essay here.

In the month since announcing this series, I’ve been reading, reading, reading (and ordering way too many books). The beginning of every new creative project is a stage where the writer/artist/creator kind of, sort of knows the general direction they want to go in, but when it comes to details, actually has no idea.

This stage of the creative process is both thrilling (imagine all the possibilities!) and also daunting (oh my goodness, there are too many possibilities!). It takes time to immerse yourself in the new world you want to inhabit and grab the thread you intend to follow. And of course, sometimes you pick up the wrong thread so you have to let go, backtrack, and try another.

But it all has to start somewhere and to create anything, you just have to jump in, even when you have no idea what you’re doing or where you’re going. You just grab a random thread and hope it leads you somewhere interesting!

So anyways, that’s where I’m at right now. I know in general I want to explore ancient religions and mythologies (which I’m calling wisdom traditions) from around the world. Why? I’m not exactly sure. What all will I cover? I’m not exactly sure. What will the format be? I’m not exactly sure! All in due time.

So as an initial thread to grab, I thought it might be helpful to begin mapping out many of the world’s wisdom traditions in a timeline. As I’ve begun reading about the histories of these traditions, I’ve been surprised by how much they overlap. We tend to learn about or think about things individually, but as with history, mythologies and religions are deeply influenced by what came before and what was happening simultaneously at that time in history.

I thought I’d be able to do a quick Google search and find a visual timeline of all these wisdom traditions, but I couldn’t find one! While perhaps initially frustrating, this gap is actually a fantastic sign at the start of a new creative project.

I’m certainly not the first person to walk down this path (Joseph Campbell, David A. Leeming, and Karen Armstrong are a few experts in the fields of comparative religion and comparative mythology) but I want to take my series in a much more visual direction. They approach these topics as professors, whereas I’m coming at them as an artist.

So, I set out to create my own visual timeline of not just religions, but all of what I’m calling Wisdom Traditions. Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam, yes, but also the myths, stories, and folklore from the Aztecs, Celts, Vikings, and Greeks! This timeline includes not only mostly-historical figures like Confucius and Moses but also mythological heroes like Odysseus and King Arthur. I was not initially planning on including so many traditions in this timeline, but the gorgeous artworks from so many (the Aztecs!) demanded I add them in.

Here it is below! Please note, this is my first iteration and I’m certain it will evolve as I keep working. There is also obviously a big gap between Prehistoric and 3000 BCE.

Will I describe and cover every aspect of every tradition listed above? Of course, not. I think my next task is to figure out how I want to structure this series. I know I want to focus on art and “wisdom” but what does that really mean? Hopefully after I make some of these decisions, I’ll also be able to come up with a better (and shorter) name for this series! So I could structure the series by:

• Working chronologically: describing that tradition very briefly and writing and drawing about its core messages/stories, style of art, and specific pieces of art.

• Working by person/prophet/character/hero: writing and drawing about the core message and art from this person’s story. Would this be chronological?

• Working by concept: choosing a core message (like compassion, courage, kindness) and writing/drawing about how different traditions speak on that message through stories and art.

• Working by question: choosing a core mystery that these traditions attempt to address or answer (What is life? Who am I? Who are you? What is this world around us? What is the purpose of living?)

• Other options?

What do you think?

I’m interested to hear what you think about how I might could go about exploring and structuring this series—let me know in the comments below! What would you be most interested in seeing and reading?

And just a reminder: I’m offering 50% off my paid subscriptions through the end of January! Here’s what’s included if you upgrade.

Thanks for reading, and I can’t wait to keep going with this series! I’ll be back next week with a big update on my in-progress picture book, We Are Fungi. The storyboard is finally finished and I’ll be moving on to full-size final sketches!

<3,
Christine