THE MANDALA AS AN EXPRESSION OF THE DIVINE...January 19, 2024

My art efforts are like a second grader; I'm no artist. But during a difficult life transition I drew many mandalas*, sometimes using colored pencils. I often started with a circle and maybe some spokes to the center. Later I learned to draw a hexagon and then an octagon to begin. After getting that foundation I just let my hand continue -as if on automatic pilot, not by any ego designed plan- to fill in detail as it emerged. No rush, just being there with it. 

I became aware the ego tries to take over the drawing process and make the design. So I resisted that by relaxing and releasing any expectations of the outcome.  Jung believed this was a channel through which the Unconscious expressed itself. Sometimes I was unsure if the product was the ego's doing or something larger and unconscious to me? For what it's worth, I came more and more to trust it was what Jung calls the all-embracing Self representing its state through me. Neither dreams nor creative  mandalas seem like something my conscious ego would have ever thought or planned.

**

I found it a therapeutic and settling activity and often it changed my conscious attitude. It can be a welcomed centering experience. I may have spent an hour at times, as it began generating more detail, repeating a design throughout the containing edges. There are often many repeating motions and I try to always be consciously aware of the outer boundary and the center. It feels, in the end, like something 'whole' or 'complete' has been created. 

Best wishes if you try drawing your own mandalas. It's safer, as in life, to not take oneself too seriously. It can be a nice distraction and some fun. I do think it should be a very private activity.

*The word mandala means 'circle'. The mandala pattern is used across most religious traditions. It represents wholeness, holiness and all things encompassed by the Divine. It seems mandalas occur very frequently throughout nature and find themselves adorning many famous temples, mosques, cathedrals and ordinary churches.

**This sketch was initiated by a nightly dream. The image was about 'walking in Philadelphia for the first time.' The message was about 'love in the world.' Philadelphia is called the city of 'brotherly love' and is named by one of the Greek words for love -'Phileo' meaning mutual/honest friendship.

A NEEDED CORRECTION IN USING SACRED TEXTS(Bible)....January 14, 2024

AUTHENTIC RELIGION IS CREATIVE, NOT COPYING HISTORY..December 30, 2023

The kind of spiritual insight Jung describes below is what I hear in the United Church of Christ's statement that 'God is still speaking. Don't place a period where God has placed a comma' it says.

The Jesus story, as other authentic spirit stories,  is not about returning to any history but to a non-historical (Not done like this before.)'new creation'. This is the living authentic meaning of spiritual hope in the human heart, of genuine en'courage'ment in despair, of enthusiasm( God breathed) about the nature of life and of living it. 

Sadly the same mistake is usually made with the Jesus story as in other authentic religious movements. It is willfully squeezed into artificially imitating or copying some version  of the symbolic historical story. 

Creatively living the Jesus story is never about redoing any history but about living courageously, humbly and lovingly one's unique life as Jesus is pictured in the gospels' stories living his. 

'New Creation' living, we might call it, is about anyone who hears the inner Divine voice and call, wrestles with it and decides to follow it's meaning -day by day and hour by hour. 

There are many examples of this immemorial 'religious' type attitude recorded and observed. Those become history's symbolic stories. And to practice them afresh and uniquely always brings some new and needed thing into this ever evolving world.

 

BEWARE NATIONAL LEADER SAYING, "ONLY I CAN FIX IT'." Dec 25, 2023

Oh the danger of expecting a proclaimed  charismatic leader to take over our own personal and unique responsibilities which destiny assigns to each individual. 

Surely only this approach and insight  can guide one to his/her truthful duty to others and to what is always called God. Any group allegiance to an accommodating proclaimed leader tears down that process of improving, making more compassionate and just, any human group or whole culture.

DREAM: HUMAN COMMON CARE...December 24, 2023

Dreams are often too personal to share. Partly because the shadow aspect, instead of being repected for its honesty, will often be negatively judged.  No developing person needs that.

Dreams are likely our most handy and direct honest connection to our unconscious spiritual roots. But aren't usually appropriate for community 'testifying'. The community is often not ready for such personal intensity.  Our richest internal experiences should be discerningly and sparingly shared Imo.

With that reservation I share my most recent dream. I think it reflects a best spirit of the modern Christmas idea and one of the best symbols of the historical Christian church tradition.  So why not share?:

DREAM: I was in a poor community. I was like a community organizer to help bring needed life resources. Today I was participating in their ritual of 'food sharing' , whatever they had. I was in charge of a large pile of bagged groceries for a group. The idea was for me to bring in extra food for the pile. But I had found none that was in addition to what my group already had contributed. Another group added some bags seeing the situation. I was disappointed that I had added nothing.  

And time came for the group to open the bags. They did it orderly and gave to each other according to needs. No one was left out. There were genuine smiles on their faces and I inwardly cried with honor for their rich humanity. They were pleased I was there and not resentful of my failed efforts. End.

COFFEE HIGH HISTORICAL PLAQUE...December 24, 2023

https://www.facebook.com/groups/899162055159832/permalink/905495164526521/?app=fbl

WHAT ABOUT OUR EGOS?? December 24, 2023

 WHAT ABOUT OUR EGOS? Someone in a FB group asked if our ego is important? Does it help us? Or would we be better persons without it?

There may be some confusion about the ego, as described by Jung, as a central part of who we are. I offered this response:

I'd say, and I think Jung confirms, your ego is extremely important. Without our ego, what we call our 'me' or 'I', we have no solid identity. Jung says the first half of life is rightly devoted to building  a healthy ego. It is called our 'conscious' ego.   No ego would mean no consciousness, no me.

So what is the negative aspect of our ego? It gets complicated. In building up itself from its first appearance in early childhood the ego begins to assume it is like a little god. This can continue in different degrees throughout life. The ego innocently believes its personal consciousness is the full, right and complete consciousness. It can come to think others and the world should serve it and may feel rejected when they don't.

So that naturally developing self-centeredness becomes an unconscious aspect of the ego. I suspect no one escapes this situation. It is this unconscious (unknowing)aspect of the ego that induces it to over-estimate its, otherwise amazing, existence.

I'd say the ego suspects it needs to submit itself to something higher than itself and, depending on the person, s/he will try to permanently submit itself to a parent, a partner, a hero, a party, a profession, a religious creed or formula. ...on and on. None of this works well because any of these will take over the ego, helping it to not take mature responsibility for itself but casting itself upon some other person, thing or belief system.

Jung suggests that the ego does need to learn to yield itself to that which is worthy to be yielded to. He calls that something the larger Self, an inner experienced spiritual reality whose goal for the ego is 'wholeness' or 'completeness',  not the 'perfection' the culture has told it to be. But becoming this ever developing, unique, flawed and increasingly conscious self Jung suggests is the paramount spiritual goal for each human life.

This yielding of the ego to the higher reality (This is the origin of the Jungian notion of AA's higher power) toward a unique whole or complete person should keep one developing spiritually/psychologically for a whole lifetime. Jung calls the process 'individuation'. Through it one's consciousness(ego) and

unconscious material gradually added to it lets this pair of opposites(and many other pairs of opposite experiences we often painfully learn from) unite to be in increasing harmony.

The above is my effort at a synopsis. Maybe it can be helpful?

Long story short. It is very important to much value your ego always. Never reject it but always question it (That never dawns on some people because their ego is still like an authoritative god-parent.)Become aware of your ego's issues. Remind it, your conscious ego self, that there is still much remaining in its larger unconscious(eg. personal denials and repressions, other persons' different experiences than yours, plus the timeless inner contents of the vast Collective Unconscious-common to every human.) of which your ego is simply not yet aware.

So our ego, no matter how conscious it becomes, must learn to live and behave with a solid level of genuine humility. This seems central to our human condition, like it or not.

As complicated as our human condition is, as described above, it seems that a prideful 'I already know what is true and best' approach to life and others is unwarranted and untruthful. As this is learned we might better resist falling under the unbalancing influence of persons , groups, media or beliefs which show signs of not yet learning well about their own ego.  Imo increases in this kind of personal/social awareness might significantly make the world safer and more compassionate.