WABA is J. Marvin Spiegelman’s mnemonic for the various manifestations of the experience of the divine: Within, Among, Between, and Around. He details how Zen Buddhism, Hinduism, and the Kabbalah exemplify the divine within/ the Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca clearly illustrates the divine among/ the Alchemical model exemplifies the divine between/ and the numinous experiences we find in nature, art, and synchronicity reveal the divine around us.
Using his vast knowledge of symbolism and his desire for an ecumenical approach to religion, Spiegelman unfolds the fascinating images of the world’s major spiritual traditions and how they relate to each other. There are chapters devoted to The Zen Ox-Herding Pictures, the Kundalini Path of Hinduism, and the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. He further explores the rosary and its symbolism of the Christian mysteries, women’s mysteries as illustrated in the Villa of the Mysteries in Pompeii, and the path of the shaman.
