I am a star which goes with thee and shines out of the depths. Mithraic saying, ca 600 BC ___________________________________________________________   (26) Divine Spark In early February 2006, three months after my heart attack, I was scheduled to fly to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota for extensive testing, and I was very concerned about what these tests would show. I didn’t know if I would need heart bypass surgery; I didn’t know if I was slipping into congestive heart failure; I didn’t know if I would ever return home. After completing this drawing at the end of January, I feared that it might be my last. I looked at what I had drawn, thinking, My light is fading. Much later, as I tried to understand the symbolism of the drawing, I came across this quotation about the Mithraic star shining out of the depths. The Web then told me that the Mithraic view preceded Christianity, that Mithras was said to have been born on December 25, and that the Vatican was built on a Mithraic site. Instead of a “fading light,” I had drawn an ancient image of the Spirit, a Divine Spark within each of us.   March 11, 2007