mandalaofsoul

Children begin by creating big loops that come from distant spaces; these constitute theoverture in which all the main themes are already intoned. In their drawings childrenreveal realms with which at this early age they are still intimately connected.Long before the child does pictorial illustrations, lines are visible on paper whichare not related to objects. They appear as flowing rhythms, which gradually materializeas a symbolical language of forms. Illustrative elements enter only gradually into thecompositions. The drawings of this early stage show in an impressive way how intenselythe child lives till the third year in movement and rhythm. The chalk reveals the childwriting dancingly in space; choreographies—lines of rhythmic-dynamic life. They areprocesses, which condense out of primeval movement and finally come to rest insymbolical, geometrical forms. ( Strauss, 15)When you watch young children make their fist drawings, you are witnessing an amazing event.The first drawings we make are clockwise spirals and circles. The spirals move from the perifery into thecenter. This is the incarnating process and reflects the first formulation of the cosmic person unfoldingfrom the void or formless, from beyond archetype. This is nous, the first wind or breath of spirit intoform—the word made flesh. The archtypal person moves spontaneously, as the intentionality within ourmovement to draw, and we make conscious the the archetypal self. It appears to me that this imagemakingbehavior links our developing physical self with the cosmic archetype of self, the one self. In thisprocess, all of the basic mandala-contextual geometry is represented. We are incarnating ourselvesthrough drawing, and the geometries and codes are the ones that link our cosmic and physical selves.As our bodies develop, we create the information link through drawing. The master archetype ofwho we are is the Cosmic Person, or Kadmon. As we make art, we circulate this primal spiritual forcethrough the complexity of our life. In early childhood, this process develops will. When we repeat thisprocess as adults, we become conscious--we reflect and transform. Now we use that will to transformour self-awareness into cosmic awareness.We are the incarnation of the universe discovering itself. As the child draws, the person is born.In the first seven years - especially the first three - the developmental stage is the incarnation of theetheric (archetypal). Just as Kadmon is the archetype of self, the world of Kadmon, the universalunconscious (etheric realm) is also the archetype for the world around us that forms the context for lifein the physical world. The archetypal world reflects the physical world as internal landscape, and thephysical world reflects the archetypal in its landscape. The movement in drawing reflects the soundpatterns of the primal formation as the soul engages and encodes the primal being.The instrument of the body and its given functions are of course already there before the childtakes up the chalk. Yet impulses are obviously at work building up and forming the wholeorganism. …Structured shapes crystallize out of flowing forms that arise out of primevalmovement…The shaping element becomes part of form-creating movement. (Strauss, 16-17)44