Tag Archives: Christianity

Creating with Meraki, Wisdom and Joy – Eudaimonic Design

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In this essay three words will be presented the words are Meraki, Wisdom and Joy, I will then discuss how these words can join together to lead to a further research question to explore in my final year project.

MERAKI

The first word I am going to discuss the word Meraki. “According to NPR, Urban Dictionary, and Darling Magazine, the word meraki (pronunciation: merak-kee) is a Greek adjective that describes doing something with soul, creativity, love and passion. The Modern Greeks describe this as putting yourself into whatever you are going” (Miller, K, 2021) The word is not directly translatable into English bur can be described as doing something with the essence of yourself or soul and leaving an impression of yourself in the work. This can apply to anything, such as organising a home, looking after a restaurant but when it applies to the arts and creative endevours such as art, poetry or design it is especially poignant. In the arts we can do things with passion and soul when we create putting our whole selves into the work. When artwork is done with meraki it could be argued the contents or fhe self or soul of the artist and their innermost passions and dreams are reflected in the artwork.

To produce art with meraki is to operate from the place of optimal experience or as M. Csikezentmihalyi, 1990 explains, as flow. “When a person is able to organize his or her consciousness so as to experience flow as often as possible their quality of life is going to improve”

In design work produced with meraki the guiding light of the artwork is the inner self or soul. Which leads us to discuss the nature of the soul. The Bible describes the soul as “The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord.—The spirit of man, breathed into him at first by the Creator (Genesis 2:7), and afterwards quickened and illumined by the Divine Spirit, is the “candle of the Lord,” given to man as an inward light and guide”(Proverbs 20:27) In eastern philosophy the soul is known as “Atma” and it too is full of light consciousness and bliss (Sat Chit Ananda) For the soul there is neither birth nor death at any time. He has not come into being, does not come into being, and will not come into being. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain.” (Bhagavad Gita 2.20)

If one was going to approach the question on what is the self or soul

that is reflected in the artwork from a more scientific perspective, one may look to Psychology. Psychology was originally the study of the soul – as the word Psyche which is in the words etymology comes from “Classical Mythology. a personification of the soul, which in the form of a beautiful girl was loved by Eros” (dictionary.com,2023) which is now in modern times more commonly thought of as the totality of mind self conscious and unconscious and -ology as the study of.

The soul (inner self) and mind has been studied by numerous philosophers and psychologists throughout history but for this essay we will focus on the work of Carl Jung. Carl Jung described the self as the totality of the whole psyche in order to distinguish it from the ego which constitutes only a small part of the psyche – see figure 1

FIGURE 1 – The Self according to Carl Jung (Von Franz, M.L 1976)

The soul or inner centre of the self can also be called the daimon of man. “throughout the ages men have been intuitively aware of such an inner centre. The greeks called it mans inner daimon; in Egypt it was expressed by the concept of the “Ba-soul” and the Romans worshipped it as the “genius” native to each individual” (Von Franz, M. L,1976pp 161) So it can be said that the self that we express when we do things with soul or meraki comes from a spiritual part of ourselves which could be considered to be full of light and wisdom, is older than our physical lives and is comprised of much more than just simply our conscious self or I (ego)

In design work the artists style could be said to come from this part of themselves which is independent of any exterior objects drawn. “The poet and potter M.C. Richards describes the experience of the daimon well when she says, “There lives a creative being inside all of us and we must get out of its way for it will give us no peace unless we do.” (Jungian centre for spiritual sciences, 2023)

Carl Jung fully explored the psyche and his daimon or genius which he felt could be represented by archetypes such as the wise old man in his artwork (see figure 2) and his work in his Red and Black books are invaluable to explore the sort of images which come from the depths of the soul.

FIGURE 2 – The wise old man Archetype as a personification of the Self.

Carl Jung is not the only pioneer to explore the inner self or soul in their art and design work. Modern artists and designers such as Catalina Estrada, Alena Hennesey and Laura Hollick use the soul for inspiration in their work choosing images in their designs which has come from the free expression of the soul so the artwork is done with Meraki. Catalina Estrada runs a design course on an online platform called Domestika called “Patterns with Soul” and in this course she explains how she gets her images using the expressive imagery from children’s poetry. These children have expressed their inner spiritual self or soul in their poetry which is done with meraki and this is used to design Catalina Estradas designs which she also does with meraki . (figure 3)

Figure 3 – An example of Caralina Estrada’s soulful designs

WISDOM

The second word we will be exploring is Wisdom. The Oxford English Dictionary, 2012 defines wisdom as “the quality of having experience, knowledge and good judgement 2 the body of knowledge and experience that develops within a society or period”. In design wisdom is different to knowledge or information, its not just having the right information or knowledge to complete our design work but having the right application and wise insight on how to apply the knowledge effectively to the greater benefit of the designer, the world and those we design for,

Design itself can be thought of as “the wise regulation of dynamic elements such as flow, integration, awareness, and value.(J. Woods, 2023) So wisdom is essential to design but there raises “the question as to whether wisdom can ever be transferred, therefore whether it can viably be represented as ‘data’ or ‘information” (J.Woods, 2023) Wisdom comes from experience but if we want to be wise before we become old we can start by emulating the wise, finding someone with good judgement and discernment in their design work and becoming inspired by their work.

To design with wisdom, not simply knowledge would be to design for the highest good of all and is linked with virtue. “In looking for a North Star to guide practice, I’d like to offer the old Greek term eudaemonia . In its original and ancient context, it was an ethical and political notion to refer to the highest human good and often linked with the ideas of virtue and practical wisdom” (Dalladay-Simpson, J, 2022. pp 42) So to be wise in design would be to be ethical and to benefit humanity in some way.

For guidance, we can also look at the wisdom traditions around the world where known wise leaders have written down their insights and good judgements for the benefit of mankind and incorporate their wisdoms into our designs. Indigenous wisdom includes insights from observing and working with nature over many generations. Being curious about our world and seeing through different cultural lenses, wisdom can be gleaned for artistic inspiration. Some wisdom traditions to learn from include such gems as the japanese asthetic of wabi sabi of finding beauty in imperfection, which allows us to embrace our imperfections and the imperfections of the world and find the beauty in it. Of if we were experimenting with light and shadow and need to come to terms with the shadows in our world we can find much in the wisdom traditions in praise of light but we may too wish to explore some of the worlds wisdom around shadows which can be found in books like “In Praise of Shadows by Junichiro Tanizaki. Artworks designed and made with cultural wisdom are often more innovative and can help illuminate the minds of the viewers to different perspectives to their own, helping to enhance the wisdom, insight and better judgement of humanity leading to more prosperous lives for all.

It may not just be people we can choose to emulate for wise design but nature also. Nature has many wise designs in it having gone through billions of years of evolution- where errors in design and bad judgements have been discarded by natural selection. By looking at the designs in nature we can better see what works for our own designs, this is the wisdom of bio-mimicry. There are many examples of successful design from bio-mimicry such as the design of Velcro which “was invented by George de Mestral in 1941 and was inspired by the burrs he found on himself and on his dog. Being an engineer and entrepreneur, Mr. de Mestral examined the burr under a microscope and realized the small hooks of the burr and loops of the fur/fabric allowed the burr to adhere exceedingly well. This sparked his idea to mimic the structure as a potential fastener” (Micro Photonics, 2020)

This principle of learning from the wisdom of nature can be used to apply to modern design of the world especially sustainable design. Natures wisdom being used in sustainable design can be seen in the Cardboard to Cavier Project by Graham Wiles where it was observed in nature that one organisms waste products are another organisms fuel or food found in complex ecosystems. This was applied to a fish restaurants cardboard waste which was recycled to be used as horse bedding, which was in turn collected and used as compost for worms and then these worms were in turn fed to sturgeon which produce cavier for the fish restaurant. This leads to zero waste and a sustainable and prosperous future through the wise design of our waste systems via bio mimicry. (cited by Pawlyn, M, 2011)

Wisdom then comes from curiosity, keen observation and insight, mimicking the wise or with experience, coupled with an ability think critically about knowledge, to then design with courage, to make something new and innovative that benefits the world. It comes from being in right relationship with ourselves and the natural world around us. Knowledge and information can only take us so far where how to best apply it comes from within as a creative leap from knowledge to practical wisdom

JOY

The last word to explore is Joy. Joy is defined as “an emotion of great pleasure or happiness” (Oxford English Dictionary, 2012) This emotion is especially important in design as this is a feeling that would be wonderful to evoke when a design is viewed and would be especially important for commercial success as a designer. Design which made people feel happier, healthier and therefore more productive would undoubtedly sell well and lead to greater harmony in society. So the question is how can joy be evoked in viewers and what kind of elements would a design need to include to bring about feelings of happiness and joy? This question was asked by Ingred Fetell Lee who is a design consultant and one of the leading speaker and writer about the power of joy. In her book Joyful she documented what she called the aesthetics of joy which include the following:

“Energy – Vibrant colour and light

Abundance- lushness, multiplicity and variety

Freedom – nature, wildness, and open space

Harmony – balance, symmetry and flow

Play – circles; spheres and bubbly forms

Surprise – contrast and whimsy

Transcendence – elevation and lightness

Magic – invisible forces and illusions

Celebration- synchrony, sparkle and bursting shapes

Renewal – blossomin, expansion and curves”

(Fetell Lee, I, 2018)

Joy is important not just in our pursuit of happiness in pleasure but because it relates to wisdom and virtue, more as eudaimonia In ancient Greek, the word for the highest degree of human happiness is eudaimonia,(Gilbert E, 2016) This is the joy not related to hedonism where joy is found simply in consuming things but in wise living and practical tasks such as making our environment clean and decluttered. Marie Kondo, the organisation expert talks of the sparkling joy of decluttering, where her KonMarie Method describes decluttering everything in the environment and only keeping minimal items which are meaningful and bring you greater joy creating a happy home environment.

Joy can be described as an inner state which is mirrored in the world around us, either the joy in the environment sparks a change within us or the joy within us is mirrored in the world in joyful design. “External conditions mirror internal conditions, so straightening your room settles internal disorder” affirms authors Charlene Belitz and Meg Lundstrom in, The Power of Flow: Practical Ways to Transform Your Life with Meaningful Coincidence.” (Cited in Fahkry 2018)

Inrid Fetell Lee in her book Joyful, 2018, pp 13 – 14 describes how Joyful design in the environment can inspire greater or wiser actions in people. She mentions the instance of a town which to all accounts was dead and grey and rife with crime but when the mayor started to paint the buildings joyful bright colours an inner change was brought to the towns inhabitants and they felt safer and paid their taxes and people started to care for the town better since the inclusion of joyful design. Joyful design helps people live happier, healthier lives and can make drab depressing or cluttered environments more inclusive to health. If all doctors surgeries and hospitals and educational establishments were designed with joy in mind, then real benefits may be harnessed for the people who used these environments on a regular basis.

To link the three words Meraki, Wisdom and Happiness we can see both wisdom and happiness are a state of the soul or true self and a way of being called Eudaemonia. “It “is a key concept in ancient Greek ethical and political philosophy…eudaimonic well-being insights from the Greek wisdom tradition equates well-being with living a virtuous life; that is, a life lived in accordance with four cardinal virtues – wisdom, justice, moderation, and courage.”(Dhiman, S 2021) ) The etymology of this word being Eu meaning good and daimon or genius. To have meraki wise joyful design is to have an eudaemonic design and this can come from within, while being influenced by and being in right attitude with our environment and world. It stems from a state of flow and having a curiosity about our inner lives and the natural world, learning practical wisdom and virtue from them which leads to joy and benefits the world. To this end, for a final project question I would like to further research,”How can we create Eudaimonic design as ethical designers for a better world?

REFERENCES

IMAGES

Figure 1 – Psyche according to Jung – Jung, C.G. and Franz, M.-L.von (1976) Man and his symbols. New York, NY: Doubleday & Co. pp 161

Figure 2 Wise old Man Archetype as symbol of self Jung, C.G. and Franz, M.-L.von (1976) Man and his symbols. New York, NY: Doubleday & Co. pp 198

Figure 3 Catalina Estradas designs (2023) Colorfull illustrations of Catalina Estrada. Available at: http://coralicon.blogspot.com/2009/11/mimo-tego-ze-ze-o-ilustracjach-tej.html (Accessed: April 26, 2023).

Biomimicry – the burr and the invention of Velcro (2021) Micro Photonics. Available at: https://www.microphotonics.com/biomimicry-burr-invention-velcro/ (Accessed: April 26, 2023).

Cross, N (2006) Designerly Ways of Knowing London.Springer-Verlag Limited Available at: 1 (springer.com) (Accessed: April 26,2023)

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2008) Flow The psychology of optimal experience. New York, NY: Harper Perennial Modern Classics.

Dhiman, S. (2021) “Being good and being happy: Eudaimonic well-being insights from socrates, Plato, and Aristotle,” The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being, pp. 3–32. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30025-8_1.

Dictionary definition & meaning (no date) Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com. Available at: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/dictionary (Accessed: April 26, 2023).

Fahkry, T. (2020) Why life is a mirror reflecting your inner world, Medium. Mission.org. Available at: https://medium.com/the-mission/why-life-is-a-mirror-reflecting-your-inner-world-a7ad344be6c0 (Accessed: April 26, 2023).

Gilbert, E. (2016) Big magic- Creative Living Beyond Fear. London, London: Bloomsbury

Hennesey, A. (2023) Art becomes you – Soul Painting, alena hennessy. Available at: https://www.alenahennessy.com/ (Accessed: April 26, 2023).

Hollick,L at TEDxHamilton (2014) You are the art YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSJDvLxi2Rc (Accessed: April 26, 2023)

Jungian Center for the Spiritual Sciences (2015) In the grip of the daimon. Available at: https://jungiancenter.org/in-the-grip-of-the-daimon/ (Accessed: April 26, 2023).

Jung, C.G. and Franz, M.-L.von (1976) Man and his symbols. New York, NY: Doubleday & Co.

Jung, C.G. (1977) The archetypes and the collective unconscious: Transl. by r.f.c.hull. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Lee, I.F. (2021) Joyful: The surprising power of ordinary things to create extraordinary happiness. New York, NY: Little, Brown Spark.

Lee, I.F. (2018) Where joy hides and how to find it, Ingrid Fetell Lee: Where joy hides and how to find it | TED Talk. Available at: https://www.ted.com/talks/ingrid_fetell_lee_where_joy_hides_and_how_to_find_it (Accessed: April 26, 2023).

Pawlyn,M (2011) Using nature’s genius in architecture (2011) YouTube. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QZp6smeSQA (Accessed: April 26, 2023).

Proverbs 20:27 – The spirit of Man (no date) Bible Hub (Holy Bible). Available at: https://biblehub.com/proverbs/20-27.htm (Accessed: April 26, 2023).

Mukundananda, S. (no date) Bhagavad Gita, the song of god, Bhagavad Gita, The Song of God – Swami Mukundananda. Jagadguru Kripaluji Yog, USA. Available at: https://www.holy-bhagavad-gita.org/ (Accessed: April 26, 2023).

Simpson, J.A. (2012) The oxford english dictionary. Oxford, Englans: Oxford University Press.

Stein, M. and Arzt, T. (2020) Jung’s Red Book for Our Time Searching for soul under postmodern conditions. Asheville: Chiron Publications.

Tanizaki, J. (1977) In praise of shadows. New Haven, CT: Leete’s Island.

Uribe, C.E. (2023) Online course – illustration for patterns with soul , Domestika. Available at: https://www.domestika.org/en/courses/1266-illustration-for-patterns-with-soul (Accessed: April 26, 2023).

What does meraki mean? (2021) The Word Counter. Available at: https://thewordcounter.com/meaning-of-meraki/#:~:text=What%20does%20the%20word%20meraki,into%20whatever%20you%20are%20going. (Accessed: April 26, 2023).

Wood,J(2002) Metadesigning Designing in the Anthropocene,Taylor & Francis Group, . ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/trinity/detail.action?docID=6955538. Accessed 23/04/23:23

Woods, J. (no date) The wisdom of nature = the nature of wisdom; – ub.edu. Available at: http://www.ub.edu/5ead/PDF/8/Wood.pdf (Accessed: May 8, 2023).



Lockdown Art – Prayer Flags

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In the Uk we are well into our lockdown by a couple of weeks. If you are like me then you may have been using this time to be more creative, do healing soul work, write poetry or take some courses in something you always wanted to learn

If you have a stack of paintings and drawings you have made during this time of crisis then this is beautiful and brilliant memento of being able to stay calm and collected during a world crisis and difficult time for everyone

So this could make a great book for your drawings or paintings OR

another thing we could do with this work once the lock down is over is turn them into coloured prayer flags as a memento of the pandemic of 2020 to hang in your home once all this is over.

So this is some of the art I have been making during this time.

 

20200405_164201_20200405164527730

20200328_115526

spring1

The idea is to keep collecting these positive uplifting images with the intention of peace and harmony to ALL during this time and beyond and then going to the print shop once this is all over – printing them postcard size and transfering the images onto silky fabric using a product like image maker

If you wanted to make the prayer flags fancy you could even stich into them or add details like beads and then threading them onto a chord to hang as prayer flags from this time in quarantine

A bit like these prayer flags

 

prayer flags 014

You could even add bells or tassels to the bottom and it would make a wonderful memento of this time in history of the pandemic of 2020 as well as showing off the creative work from this time.

Happy creating 🙂

Above All Else Guard Your Heart

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English: Scroll of the Book of Proverbs

English: Scroll of the Book of Proverbs (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The book of proverbs is all about Wisdom. God is concerned that we acquire some wisdom both to better know Him but to also keep us safe and free us from trials and traps.  God compares His dear flock to sheep but this does not mean His sheep should be mindless.  Jesus instructs His disciples to be as wise as serpents but as as harmless as doves.

Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men,from men whose words are perverse, who have left the straight paths to walk in dark ways, who delight in doing wrong and rejoice in the perverseness of evil, whose paths are crooked and who are devious in their ways

Wisdom will also save you also from the adulterous woman, from the wayward woman with her seductive words,surely her house leads down to death and her paths to the spirits of the dead.

Blessed are those who find wisdom those who gain understanding, for she is more profitable than silver
and yields better returns than gold. She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor.Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her;those who hold her fast will be blessed

Proverbs

But what wisdom may we gain from reading a book that is at least 2000 years old? – the Bible is full of sound advice and timeless wisdom thats still relevant and helpful today you can find everything in there from relationship advice, to how to best deal with politcians or wise counsel about debts and money matters, but if there was one key important thing to note, what might it be? In the Book of Proverbs God says

ABOVE ALL ELSE Guard your heart for everything you do flows from it.

Love is the most important thing to God, before he looks at anything else He examines the heart – He loves us with an unfailing love, He does not change nor does His love, it is us that changed, we fell, we got entangled and destructively ensnared in the duality of good and bad deeds, sin, the fruit of the tree of knowledge that separated us from God but He was always there.

In life, He instructs us, we need to guard our hearts, nurture and protect our love. He wishes that love and faithfulness would never leave us; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.  Perfect love casts out all fear. People with cold stone hearts create a cold and cruel world and their deeds become evil even with the best logic behind them or otherwise brilliant scientific or scriptural understanding. Everything we do flows from love or the state of our hearts.
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. (1 Cor 13)

Religious teachers throughout the world may demonstrate perfect clarity in their understanding on the Law and hold masters degrees in it, but where they lack love then they will do the opposite of what love demands. This is where people are stoned to death for adultery or other crimes, perfectly right by the law books, but love and compassion says no there is none without sin to take the stone and the one without sin would not do it. There are cruel and barbaric religious wars, hate crimes, terrorism  mutilations  tortures, beatings countless murders all done in the name of religion. The scriptural justification is underlined in triplicate in the Holy Books – its totally right and justified in law somehow somewhere, but would love do it? Love, understanding wisdom mercy forgiveness and compassion is what God demands from His disciples. Jesus says – Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” God does not care about good or bad deeds.  He takes care of sin or bad deeds, but no good deed will get you into heaven what He wants and requires is love.

what does love look like, the Bible describes in detail what love does:
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. Love does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres

If we have love we have all these qualities we easily forgive others, indeed see nothing to forgives and keep no record of wrongs, it always protects, so if you love others there would be no question of  killing them or even subjecting non believers to heavy penalties even if the law demands it, love doesnt allow it. Love always hopes – so the law may demand people go to hell for eternity even but love hopes the best for every sinner great or small. Love does not condemn thy neighbour nor even judge.

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.

If you love God you want to follow His commands and lead a life pleasing to God and if you love your neighbor as yourself you wouldn’t murder them (thou shalt not kill) or steal from them (thou shalt not covet your neighbors goods) so you would automatically follow the whole law and commands of God just by focusing on the command to love – which comes from guarding your heart and cultivating the qualities above every day and weaving it into all you do. Empathy placing yourself in the shoes of others even praying for an “adversary”

God heals the broken hearted, love is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit it can be restored for without Love then all things we do are affected. Without love you may be following the law like a long list of chores and still getting it wrong, wheras someone with love would follow them easily and be unable to do things against the law because love simply wouldnt allow it.

Love then and compasssion, not the law or trying to avoid every single sin which is impossible to do, should always be our highest goal. Not only that it should be part of everything we do “in everything strive to love” It is Gods urgent command, to love Him as much as He loves you and love others with the same Love He pours out on the world it is the fufillment of the Law

Lambs and the Good Shepherd

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Good Shepherd

This is a test blog – but i thought I would write about Jesus and my recent visit to the Gower Heritage Centre.

http://www.gowerheritagecentre.co.uk/main.htm

This is a great place to visit whether young or old and as I visited with the familly we were lucky enough to feed the resident lambs at the end of the day.  If they were still with their mother they would have been able to feed whenever they wanted so in a way it was a shame they are denied this for a plastic baby bottle for a full guzzle of milk at the end of the day. Lambs are amazing creatures – as they feed they dig their back heels into the ground reverse suckle and wag their tails like crazy. Perfect little creatures, something so perfect and amazing has to be created by God – i find myself grateful once more i dont eat them.

Lambs

Lambs (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Im a new Christian and studying Christianity at the moment and Jesus was a shepherd – he loved lambs, he compared human beings to sheep. Not in a derogatory way like sheeple but no because human beings need the same love and care as attention from God that a good shepherd showers on his flock. They need love and care and good company, defense from wolves, clean pastures and to be fed.  In Christianity we need to be fed regularly on the Word of God.  Jesus says He is the good shepherd and he gave the care of His sheep to His disciples also – He tells simon and Peter if you love me – care for my sheep – feed my sheep.

Jesus:

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd

 
In John 10  Jesus talks about those who came before Him as thieves and rogues and presumably other religious leaders like Gurus are like hired hands – these people are just men they are not God and they are not the good shepherd, when trouble comes they flee and leave their flock to the wolves to save their own skin but Jesus is different – he lays His life down for His sheep and protects and frees them< he has the Power and Authority to do it even at His own detriment as the ultimate act of Love and sacrifice. He puts the welfare of His sheep above His own welfare even as God and loves every single one – as a good shepherd loves cares for and defends the trusting and gentle lambs in His care.