Mandala Therapy
In the book Mandala Symbolism, by C.G. Jung, (1972) translated by R. F. G. Hull from the collected works of C. G. Jung, the author states that the “squaring of the circle” is one of many archetypal motives which form the basic patterns of our dreams and fantasies. The squaring of the circle, he asserts, is the archetype of wholeness. He explains that all humans possess an instinctive inalienable stock of those qualities, which characterize a species. During times of great psychological distress, turmoil and disorientation, his patient’s mandala drawings were attempts at instinctive self-healing on the part of nature, not from conscious reflection but from instinctive impulse. He further distinguishes between personal mandalas and ritual mandalas. The former incorporates a multiple variety of motives, the majority including the circle and the quaternary. The latter mandalas always display a definite style and a limited number of motives as their content. C. G. Jung explains:
Individual mandalas make use of well-nigh unlimited wealth of motifs and symbolic allusions, from which it can easily be seen that they are endeavoring to express either the totality of the individual in his inner or outer experience of the world, or its essential point of reference. Their object is the self in contradistinction to the ego, which is only the point of reference for the consciousness, whereas the self comprises the totality of the psyche altogether, i.e., conscious and unconscious.
Dr. Jung presents many mandalas produced by his patients during their therapy and shows the gradual healing process as he interprets the symbolic contents. He explains that those personal mandalas serve to produce an inner order, which is why, when they appear in a series that often follow chaotic, disordered states marked by conflict and anxiety, express the idea of a safe refuge, of inner reconciliation and wholeness. In the conclusion of his book the author states:
I could produce many more pictures from all parts of the world, and one would be astonished to see how the same fundamental laws that can be observed in individual mandalas govern these symbols. In view of the fact that all the mandalas shown here were new and uninfluenced products, we are driven to the conclusion that there must be a transconscious disposition in every individual which is able to produce the same or very similar symbols at all times in all places. Since this disposition is usually not a conscious possession of the individual I have called it the collective unconscious, and as the basis of its symbolical products, I postulate the existence of primordial images, the archetypes. Knowledge of the common origin of these unconsciously performed symbols has been totally lost to us. In order to recover it, we have to read old texts and investigate old cultures, so as to gain an understanding of the things our patients bring us today in explanation of their psychic development. And when we penetrate a little more deeply below the surface of the psyche, we come upon historical layers which are not just dead dust, but alive and continuously active in everyone – maybe to a degree that we cannot imagine in the present state of our knowledge.
Personally, I regard Dr. Jung’s works on the mandala monumental in the true meaning of mandala therapy as a means of reestablishing harmony to individual well-being, healing and self-transformation, as well as the healing of the world as evidenced in the purpose of the Native American Indian circle dances and healing ceremonies, the Tibetan Kalachakra mandala for peace, and the many ancient power sites found all over the surface of our earth.
