A walk through The Vatican, Rome.

We are in Rome. St Peter's, The Vatican.
The familiar holy saints, each with a bird atop.

Here is the entrance to the Vatican Museum

and there is the familiar dome of St Peter's.

The work of art in the Vatican garden is
like the mystery of our world and our existence.
It both reflects and distorts what is around us
and wakens us to see differently.

I wonder how to see
in this place...
 

the grand stairways

and the rich treasures from antiquity.

I am fascinated by the overly bosomed goddess
among the ancient treasures.

She is Diana (Roman) or Artemis (Greek). 'She is the Earth herself,

whose mountains are breasts and her body is a dwelling place for all living creatures.'

I am intrigued with the concept of Goddess/Virgin that we meet everywhere.

I remember back to the Buddhist Monastery in Hongkong where we came across

A Goddess of Mercy.

To me there is an awe inspiring diversity of belief in the world.
Everything I look at is an attempt to explain the in-explicable..

I gaze at the beautiful marble floors

and the painted ceilings,

ornate and gilded.

Everything so rich in symbols

or, like the fabulous tapestries,  telling historical

and biblical stories.

There are fascinating ancient maps of the old world
that remind me we live with a different vision of the universe today.
We no longer fear dropping off the edge of the world,
nor do we believe the sun travels around the earth.

Ah..
The Vatican Museum

leaves me gasping at the splendour
of the architecture and art.

I did not take photographs in the Sistine Chapel.
I was happy the visitors were quiet and thoughtful there
and I was content to sit and gaze in silence at Michelangelo's masterpiece.

I pondered on the meaning of it all
and all I can think is how little we know
and I feel humble when I see our human attempts at explaining the meaning of life
and the universe.

Maybe we get lost in our explanations
until the explanations become more important than
the mystery
they attempt to explain.

Control and power seem ever present in our world...