Art by Yishkah.
The mandala was once regarded as a vessel for life’s mysteries, especially when used in the Kabbalah. Why was this so? Was it because the intricacies of the designs drew our attention to a deeper level of thoughtfulness? Was it because the repetition in the mandala replicated the repetition in our daily lives? When I was a therapist I was never completely happy with just listening to peoples’ stories. I saw my role as teaching others to be their own therapist. We must all learn to track our thoughts and take responsibility for ourselves. As a species we have had very little control over our thinking. We allow our thoughts to run wild to a point where it is hard to reign them in or assess them. It was Sigmund Freud who pointed out just how little control we have over our minds, he used the image of an iceberg to demonstrate his theories on the unconscious. He maintained that our minds are like the iceberg, only a small portion is above the water, the rest is below. The mandala helps us to delve into the icy waters of the mind. It teaches us mindfulness. Art is a form of mindfulness and mindfulness is an art.