mandalaofsoul

include engaging the program we want to change, and setting intentions through our affinity to thewhole. Transcending time-bound experience, the archetypal realm is formative and causal, to the formand experience that occurs in time. We are the local event of a transcendental cosmic drama. As weexplore the Mandala Process, we become conscious participants in the archetypal reality and thus moreable to effect change in our lives.Carl JungIn my first psychology class, we were discussing the nature of consciousness and the models thatallegedly explained the human constitution and personality. On one occasion, we were exploring theteachings of Carl Jung. In our discussion of Jung, our teacher said that archetypes formed the ground ofour being, as well as the deep forces that informed our lives from the unconscious mind. So we asked,“Where is the unconscious mind?” The obvious answer is that we don’t know, because we are notconscious of it. Yet we can sense it, and on occasion we fish images from its depth and infer its existencebecause of the awful and wonderful stuff that surfaces into our conscious mind or appears in ourcreative pursuits. This was a concern because as effective as we were with conscious daily life,apparently the unconscious was out promoting all sorts of mischief. Most of our selves, all the unknownpower and tortured remnants of past trauma, ancestral beliefs, and the secrets of the universe were,evidently, all swimming around in the deep sea of self, seemingly forming our lives without ourpermission. That was the story.Our teacher explained that the therapeutic process occurs as unconscious becomes consciousand that all effective therapies follow this protocol. Much of our motivation comes from striving to fulfillour unconscious nature as a self-revelatory process. Whatever is incomplete or unresolved within us willfind a way to the surface. It occurred to me, at that point, that when I would make art--drawing was afavorite activity from early on--my mood would change. When I was anxious, art resolved that. Evenwhen I was supposedly drawing real objects, something in the tone, line or image produced insight.Once I was painting a picture as a Christmas gift for my uncle’s family. It was a collection of various typesof primates. It was evident in the final piece that the picture insightfully portrayed the character of eachperson and their relationship to each other. Other times, deep spiritual realizations would occur in themidst of making a painting. I had my access to the unconscious, I thought. Not only did the imagesreflect archetypal forces; the process itself was archetypal.I began to see that I lived in the center of my life and that my life was a mirror. The seeminglyseparate distinction of events and people enabled me to manage my affairs in terms of their Newtonianappearance. Real things happened that had consequences. I began to see, as well, an overlay ofmeaning. Life as metaphor reflected back to me the projections of my undiscovered self. Life also beganto reveal a quantum appearance. The wily ways of perception became more revealed. I was seeing lifethrough the lens of my own psychology. Did this also mean that I was unconsciously colluding with theuniverse to arrange the events that I needed for the trajectory of my own evolution? Were events thatappeared unfair or damaging to me or others playing a conspiratorial role in my awakening to self, andtherefore potentially serving a “good thing?” I began to realize that in the same way that I was an artist8