OBSERVING faces with an artist's eye gives a mythical slant upon life, as Thomas Mann has said. Like mime artists in a street drama, the graduates arrived hiding their anxiety behind the camouflage of their masks. Inner gods and demons, hopes and fears were numbed momentarily as each one ventured forth from the eye of the storm. Thankfully, the masks did not freeze over! Taut muscles relaxed, cheers were heard, and those not entirely satisfied resolved to bite the bullet, and make up in other ways for shortcomings.

At the dawn of each new academic year I find myself digging deep into my school for gems of wisdom, which will electrify my teenage audience. The Body, Mind and Spirit section in a bookstore seemed a likely place to seek out counsel on how to chart their course, on their voyage towards personal development. Titles such as Tai Chi: Chicken Soup for the Soul, and Self-healing, offered a balm for life's hard knocks; an intricate stew of truths and mirages.

While lost in my own world of exploration, the shock of being struck on the head by an elbow - or so it seemed - restored my sense of reality. I had, in fact, disturbed a stationary (model) Battle Droid. Suddenly, a breeze of inspiration ruffled my solitude. I had read reviews of Episode One: The Phantom Men- ace, but I was ignorant of its content. I paid a quiet visit to the cinema to discover for myself its mythic dimensions, and its spiritual underpinnings. The Force is a central element in the adventure, which may be sensed as intuition or the Holy Spirit, if we wish to use more traditional language.

ANAKIN, a gifted boy, with a special affinity with The Force, feels that his fate lies with the Jedi Knights. Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson), the elder of the Jedi Knights, passes on some advice - which I intend to impart as gems of wisdom - before Anakin parts with his mother. He is told life is about to change, that he must be brave, follow his path, and not look back. "Fear is the path to the dark side," he is told. Inner calm is emphasised, as it is only when one learns to quiet the mind that one hears higher powers speaking within. "They will teach you the will of The Force," Qui-Gon explains. "Your focus determines your reality," he concludes.

George Lucas isn't the only one with the inspirational urges. Sunshine through a classroom window stirred the inner voice of a pupil to create the following poem entitled, Nature on a Lonely Day.

Beauty caught me off guard.

She taught me greens, blues

Yellows and purples; it leaped

Through my lungs and found

A nest; it settled solid in

My heart. I tried to protest.

It would not leave; roots

Shot out, took their grasp.

I shook hands, and removed

My mask. Nature stared back,

And introduced herself.

I smiled.