Sitting with several friends.
'His aim is to meditate' one says of me
No, 'My aim is enlightenment' I add, slightly lucid of the situation
A good friend from school, looks at me and eyes become bright and intensified.
his eye becomes larger and larger until I am literally flying into his pupil, which unlocks into this kind of digital/mayan mandala and opens into a fast paced streaming vision..
I am travelling very fast and feel like I am being strongly guided, the gist of the experience inside was that-- if you I let go into the structure of my being that there is not need to force anything. That the energy that inhabits you is actually more free to move and create when you step out of the way. We already inhabit our individual manifestation of cosmic energy and the trick is how to let that latent form express itself without too much hands on work all the time on the 'small self' side of things.
After waking, I tried to keep this feeling of 'allowing' expression to unfold, when I remembered I let go of control and found myself engaging and speaking but without so much top-down focus. Bless.
The essence of the question involved here is contained in the saying of
Plotinus that the eye would not be able to see the sun if, in a manner, it were not
itself a sun. Given that the sun is the source of light and that light is symbolic of
the intelligence and of the spirit, then the process of seeing represents a spiritual
act and symbolizes understanding. Hence, the ‘divine eye’ of the Egyptians—a
determinative sign in their hieroglyphics called Wadza—denotes ‘He who feeds
the sacred fire or the intelligence of Man’ (28)—Osiris, in fact. Very interesting,
too, is the way the Egyptians defined the eye—or, rather, the circle of the iris
with the pupil as centre—as the ‘sun in the mouth’ (or the creative Word) (8). René Magritte, the surrealist painter, has illustrated this same relationship between the sun and the mouth in one of his most fascinating paintings. The possession of two eyes conveys physical normality and its spiritual equivalent, and it
follows that the third eye is symbolic of the superhuman or the divine. As for the
single eye, its significance is ambivalent: on the one hand it implies the subhuman
because it is less than two (two eyes being equated with the norm); but on the
other hand, given its location in the forehead, above the place designated for the
eyes by nature, it seems to allude to extra-human powers which are in fact—in
mythology—incarnated in the Cyclops. At the same time the eye in the forehead
is linked up with the idea of destruction, for obvious reasons in the case of the
single eye; but the same also applies when there is a third eye in the forehead, as
with Siva (or Shiva). This is explained by reference to one of the facets of the
symbolism of the number three: for if three can be said to correspond to the
active, the passive and the neutral, it can also apply to creation, conservation and
destruction. Heterotopic eyes are the spiritual equivalent of sight, that is, of
clairvoyance. (Heterotopic eyes are those which have been transferred anatomically to various parts of the body, such as the hands, wings, torso, arms, and
different parts of the head, in figures of fantastic beings, angels, deities and so on.)
When the eyes are situated in the hand, for example, by association with the
symbolism of the hand they come to denote clairvoyant action. An excessive
number of eyes has an ambivalent significance which it is important to note. In
the first place, the eyes refer to night with its myriads of stars, in the second
place, paradoxically yet necessarily, the possessor of so many eyes is left in
darkness. Furthermore, by way of corroboration, let us recall that in symbolist
theory multiplicity is always a sign of inferiority. Such ambivalences are common
in the realm of the unconscious and its projected images. Instructive in this
connexion is the example of Argus, who with all his eyes could not escape death.
The Adversary (Satan, in Hebrew) has been represented in a variety of ways,
among others, as a being with many eyes. A Tarot card in the Cabinet des Estampes
in Paris (Kh. 34d), for instance, depicts the devil as Argus with many eyes all over
his body. Another comparable symbolic device is also found commonly in demonic figures: it consists of taking some part of the body that possesses, as it
were, a certain autonomy of character or which is directly associated with a
definite function, and portraying it as a face. Multiple faces and eyes imply
disintegration or psychic decomposition—a conception which lies at the root of the demoniacal idea of rending apart (59). Finally, to come back to the pure
meaning of the eye in itself, Jung considers it to be the maternal bosom, and the
pupil its ‘child’.
(1)
Thus the great solar god becomes a child again, seeking renovation at his mother’s bosom (a symbol, for the Egyptians, of the mouth) (31).
1 The Jungian idea is expressed as a pun. ‘Niña’ means both ‘daughter’ and ‘pupil (of the eye)’. The
phrase ‘Niña de los ojos’ is like the English ‘apple of one’s eye’, which gives something of the feel of
the pun.—Translator
To dream of seeing an eye, warns you that watchful enemies are seeking the slightest chance to work injury to your business. This dream indicates to a lover, that a rival will usurp him if he is not careful.
To dream of brown eyes, denotes deceit and perfidy.
To see blue eyes, denotes weakness in carrying out any intention.
To see gray eyes, denotes a love of flattery for the owner.
To dream of losing an eye, or that the eyes are sore, denotes trouble.
To see a one-eyed man, denotes that you will be threatened with loss and trouble, beside which all others will appear insignificant.
Seeing your own eyes in your dream, represents enlightenment, knowledge, comprehension, understanding, and intellectual awareness. Unconscious thoughts may be coming onto the surface. The left eye is symbolic of the moon, while the right eye represents the sun. It may also be a pun on "I" or the self. If you dream that your eyes have turned inside your head and you can now see the inside of your head, then it symbolizes insight and something that you need to be aware of. This dream may be literally telling you that you need to look within yourself. Trust your intuition and instincts. Dreaming that you have something in your eye, represents obstacles in your path. Alternatively, it may represent your critical view and how you tend to see faults in others. Dreaming that you have one eye indicates your refusal to accept another viewpoint. It suggests that you are one-sided in your ways of thinking. Dreaming that you have a third eye, symbolizes inner vision and insight. You need to start looking within yourself. Dreaming that your eyes are injured or closed, suggests your refusal to see the truth about something or the avoidance of intimacy. You may be expressing feelings of hurt, pain or sympathy. Dreaming that you have crossed eyes indicates that you are not seeing straight with regards to some situation. You may be getting your facts mixed up.
This is a Hindu term for a circle. It is a kind of yantra (instrument,
means or emblem), in the form of a ritual geometric diagram, sometimes corresponding to a specific, divine attribute or to some form of enchantment (mantra)
which is thus given visual expression (6). Cammann suggests that mandalas were
first brought to Tibet from India by the great guru Padma Sambhava in the 8th
century A.D. They are to be found all over the Orient, and always as a means
towards contemplation and concentration—as an aid in inducing certain mental
states and in encouraging the spirit to move forward along its path of evolution
from the biological to the geometric, from the realm of corporeal forms to the
spiritual. According to Heinrich Zimmer, mandalas are not only painted or drawn,
but are also actually built in three dimensions for some festivals. One of the
members of the Lamaist convent of Bhutia Busty, Lingdam Gomchen, described
the mandala to Carl Gustav Jung as ‘a mental image which may be built up in the
imagination only by a trained lama’. He maintained that ‘no one mandala is the
same as another’: all are different because each is a projected image of the
psychic condition of its author, or in other words, an expression of the modifcation brought by this psychic content to the traditional idea of the mandala.
Thus, the mandala is a synthesis of a traditional structure plus free interpretation. Its basic components are geometric figures, counterbalanced and concentric. Hence it has been said that ‘the mandala is always a squaring of the circle’.
There are some works—the Shri-Chakra-Sambhara-Tantra is one—which prescribe rules for the better imagining of this image. Coinciding in essence with the.
mandala are such figures as the Wheel of the Universe, the Mexican ‘Great Calendar Stone’, the lotus flower, the mythic flower of gold, the rose, and so on. In a
purely psychological sense it is feasible to identify the mandala with all figures composed of various elements enclosed in a square or a circle—for instance, the
horoscope, the labyrinth, the zodiacal circle, figures representing ‘The Year’ and
also the clock. Groundplans of circular, square or octagonal buildings are also
mandalas. As for the three-dimensional form, there are temples built after the
pattern of the mandala with its essential counterbalancing of elements, its geometric form and significant number of component elements. The stupa in India is
the most characteristic of these temples. Again, according to Cammann, there are
some Chinese shields and mirror-backs which are mandalas. In short, the mandala
is, above all, an image and a synthesis of the dualistic aspects of differentiation
and unification, of variety and unity, the external and the internal, the diffuse and
the concentrated (32). It excludes disorder and all related symbolisms, because,
by its very nature, it must surmount disorder. It is, then, the visual, plastic
expression of the struggle to achieve order—even within diversity—and of the
longing to be reunited with the pristine, non-spatial and non-temporal ‘Centre’,
as it is conceived in all symbolic traditions. However, since the preoccupation
with ornamentation—that is, with unconscious symbolism—is in effect a concern for ordering a certain area—that is, for bringing order into chaos—it follows
that this struggle has two aspects: firstly, the possibility that some would-be
mandalas are the product of the simple (aesthetic or utilitarian) desire for order,
and secondly, the consideration that the mandala proper takes its inspiration
from the mystic longing for supreme integration. In Jung’s view, mandalas and all
concomitant images—prior, parallel or consequent—of the kind mentioned above,
are derived from dreams and visions corresponding to the most basic of religious
symbols known to mankind—symbols which are known to have existed as far
back as the Palaeolithic Age (as is proved, for example, by the Rhodesian rock
engravings). Many cultural, artistic or allegorical works, and many of the images
used in numismatics, must have sprung from this same primordial interest in the
psychic or inner structure (with its external counterpart to which so many rites
pertaining to the founding of cities and temples, to the divisions of heavens, to
orientation and the space-time relationship, bear eloquent testimony). The juxtaposition of the circle, the triangle and the square (numerically the equivalents of
the numbers one and ten; three; and four and seven) plays a fundamental rôle in
the most ‘classic’ and authentic of oriental mandalas. Even though the mandala
always alludes to the concept of the Centre—never actually depicting it visually
but suggesting it by means of the concentricity of the figures—at the same time it
exemplifies the obstacles in the way of achieving and assimilating the Centre. In
this way, the mandala fulfils its function as an aid to man in his efforts to regroup
all that is dispersed around a single axis—the Jungian Selbst. It is of interest to note that the same problem occupied the alchemists, except that a very different
aspect of being was under investigation. Jung suggests that the mandala represents an autonomous psychic fact, or ‘a kind of nucleus about whose intimate
structure and ultimate meaning we have no direct knowledge’ (32). Mircea Eliade,
speaking as an historian of religions and not as a psychologist, sees the mandala
chiefly as an objective symbol, an imago mundi rather than a projection of the
mind, without, however, discrediting the latter interpretation. The structure of a
temple—the Borobudur temple for instance—in the form of a mandala has as its
aim the creation of a monumental image of life and the ‘distortion’ of the world to
make it a suitable vehicle for the expression of the concept of supreme order
which man—the neophyte or initiate—might then enter as he would enter into
his own spirit. The same is true of the great mandalas traced on the ground with
coloured threads or coloured dust. Here, rather than serving the purposes of
contemplation, they have a ritual function in which a man may move gradually
towards the inner area, identifying himself with each stage and each zone as he
goes. This rite is analogous to that of entering into the labyrinth (denoting the
quest for the Centre) (18), and the psychological and spiritual implications are
self-evident. There are some mandalas which counterbalance not enclosed figures
but numbers arranged in geometric discontinuity (for instance: four points, then
five, then three), and are then identified with the Cardinal Points, the Elements,
colours, and so on, the significance of the mandala being wonderfully enriched by
these additional symbolisms. Mirrors of the Han dynasty depict the numbers
four and eight balancing each other and disposed round the centre in five zones
which correspond to the five Elements (that is, the four material Elements plus
the spirit or quintessence). In the West, alchemy made quite frequent use of
figures having a definite affinity with the mandala, composed of counterpoised
circles, triangles and squares. According to Heinrich Khunrath, the triangle within
the square produces the circle. There are, as Jung has pointed out, ‘distorted’
mandalas different in form from the above and based upon the numbers six, eight
and twelve; but they are comparatively rare. In all mandalas in which numbers are
the predominant element, it is number-symbolism which can best plumb its
meaning. The interpretation should be such that the superior (or the principal)
elements are always those nearest the centre. Thus, the circle within the square is
a more developed structure than the square within the circle. And the same
relationship to the square holds good for the triangle; the struggle between the
number three and the number four seems to represent that between the central
elements of the spirit (corresponding to three) and the peripheral components,
that is, the Cardinal Points as the image of ordered externality (corresponding to four). The outer circle, on the other hand, always fulfils the unifying function of
overriding the contradictions and the irregularities of angles and sides by means of
its implicit movement. The characteristics of the ShriYantra, one of the finest
mandala-instruments, have been explained by Luc Benoist. It is composed around
a central point which is the metaphysical and irradiating point of primordial
energy; however, this energy is not manifest and therefore the central point does
not actually appear in the drawing, but has to be visualized. Surrounding it is a
complex pattern of nine triangles—an image of the transcendent worlds; four of
these triangles have the apex pointing upwards and the other five downwards.
The intermediate—or subtle—world is suggested by a triple aureole surrounding
the triangles. An eight-petalled lotus (signifying regeneration), together with others of sixteen petals, and a triple circle, complete this symbolic representation of
the spiritual world. The fact that it exists within the material world is suggested
by a triple-lined serrated surround, signifying orientation in space (6).
To see a mandala in your dream, signifies that you will experience some positive changes in your waking life. It also symbolizes wholeness, unity, healing, inner peace, spirituality, and harmony.
Seeing a mandala in your dream means that positive changes are occurring in your waking life. It also symbolizes wholeness, unity, healing, spirituality, and harmony.
To dream that you are aiming for something, indicates that you need to direct your energies better. Keep your sight on the main goal. If you are aiming a gun or weapon, then it represents feelings of anger or pent up sexuality.
To dream that you are energetic, symbolizes growth, activity, expansion and insight. You need to channel your energy in a positive way.
To see anything ill formed, denotes disappointment. To have a beautiful form, denotes favorable conditions to health and business.
To dream of seeing only the side of any object, denotes that some person is going to treat your honest proposals with indifference.
To dream that your side pains you, there will be vexations in your affairs that will gall your endurance.
To dream that you have a fleshy, healthy side, you will be successful in courtship and business.
To dream that you are at the mall, represents your attempts in making a favorable impression on someone. You are trying to establish your identity and sense of self. The mall is also symbolic of materialism and the need to keep up with the trends, fads, and/or the latest technology.
Dreaming that you are at the mall, represents your attempts in making a favorable impression on someone. The mall is also symbolic of materialism and the need to keep up with the trends, fads, and/or the latest technology.
To dream that you are hard at work, denotes that you will win merited success by concentration of energy.
To see others at work, denotes that hopeful conditions will surround you.
To look for work, means that you will be benefited by some unaccountable occurrence.
To dream that you are at work, indicates that you are experiencing some anxiety about a current project or task. The dream may also be telling you that you need to "get back to work". Perhaps you have been slacking off and need to pick up the pace. Stop procrastinating. Alternatively, the dream reflects your success.
To dream that you are at your former work, suggests that there is an old lesson that you need to learn and apply to your current situation.
To dream that you have been replaced at work, represents your concern about your current job security. You feel that you are in a precarious position at work or in some group project.
Dreaming that you are at work indicates that you are experiencing some anxiety about a current project or task. The dream may also be telling you that you need to "get back to work". Perhaps you have been slacking and need to pick up the pace. Dreaming that you are at your former or past work, suggests that there is an old lesson that you need to learn and apply to your current situation. Dreaming that you are hard at work means success and merit. Alternatively, it may suggest anxieties about a current task or project. You may need to "get back to work" and stop procrastinating.