This is my mandala. It was created at a worksop primarily focused on intuition. Running on emotional "empty" I joined my mom and her friend at Viva Books, anticipating a lecture on nurturing intuition (which at the time I was CLEARLY in desperate need of nurturing). Instead I participated in cataphatic meditation. Expecting nothing more than a nice 30 minute nap I was immediately invited into an inner journey like nothing I have experienced before. At one point...I saw myself....rather...the back side of my naked self. And I will leave the rest of that particular scenario out of this blog. Oh! Don't you wish you knew!
After meditation we were encouraged to shut our eyes and let our hands move with the media we had before us. Here is what I created. And...it must be said...I DO NOT draw.
I recently had my mandala framed. This strong woman sits next to my bed. She is currently reminding me that one second I might know exactly what I want and refuse to apologize for it, while the next moment I might drop my head, toss up my arms and say, "I just don't know." And she represents for me...the notion that those two particular polarities are OKAY!
It was magical.
The word "mandala" is from the classical Indian language of Sanskrit. Loosely translated to mean "circle," a mandala is far more than a simple shape. It represents wholeness, and can be seen as a model for the organizational structure of life itself--a cosmic diagram that reminds us of our relation to the infinite, the world that extends both beyond and within our bodies and minds.
Describing both material and non-material realities, the mandala appears in all aspects of life: the celestial circles we call earth, sun, and moon, as well as conceptual circles of friends, family, and community.
Representing the universe itself, a mandala is both the microcosm and the macrocosm, and we are all part of its intricate design. The mandala is more than an image seen with our eyes; it is an actual moment in time. It can be can be used as a vehicle to explore art, science, religion and life itself. The mandala contains an encyclopedia of the finite and a road map to infinity.
Carl Jung said that a mandala symbolizes "a safe refuge of inner reconciliation and wholeness." It is "a synthesis of distinctive elements in a unified scheme representing the basic nature of existence." Jung used the mandala for his own personal growth and wrote about his experiences.
It is said by Tibetan Buddhists that a mandala consists of five "excellencies":
The teacher • The message • The audience • The site • The time
An audience or "viewer" is necessary to create a mandala. Where there is no you, there is no mandala. (from: You Are the Eyes of the World, by Longchenpa, translated by Lipman and Peterson).
And she takes just like a woman,
And she aches just like a woman,
And she wakes just like a woman,
Yeah, but she breaks just like a little girl.
-Bob Dylan
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