Mandala is the Sanskrit word for sacred circle, there is no
beginning and no end, a universal symbol for God as an all-inclusive Love
without distinction. 

Representative of life, mandala symbolism has polarities or opposites. For example, night and day, joy and sorrow, sun and moon, birth and death, love and fear. Yet, through our experiences we realize the value of not seeing our world in simplistic black and white, "either or" terms. In ever increasing awareness, we create space for the "both and" possibilities that is part of the fullness of life. The center of the mandala is white, symbolizing pure spiritual light, unity, love and forgiveness, wholeness and healing; accepting all that is, both light and shadow. 

Once while skimming the shelves in a used bookstore, I
came across a book called, "Dreams" by Carl Jung. I was struck by the beauty and symbolism of the intriguing mandalas drawn by
some of his patients.  In that moment, I knew that I was going to draw mandalas for the rest of my days; that was
15 years ago.  The expression of my spiritual journey became
inextricably bound to the sacred circle.

Pema Chödrön
offers her perspective, “Each person's life is like a mandala- a vast, limitless
circle. We stand in the center of our own circle, and everything we see, hear
and think forms the mandala of our life. We enter a room, and the room is our
mandala. We get on the subway, and the subway car is our mandala, down to the
teenager checking messages on her iPhone and the homeless man slumped in the
corner. We go for a hike in the mountains, and everything as far as we can see
is our mandala: the clouds, the trees, the snow on the peeks, even the
rattlesnake coiled in the corner. We're lying in a hospital bed, and the
hospital is our mandala. We don't set it up; we don't get to choose what or who
shows up in it. It is, As Chögyam Trungpa said,
"the mandala that is never arranged but is always complete." And we
embrace it just as it is.

Everything that shows up in your mandala is a vehicle
for your awakening. From this point of view, awakening is right at your
fingertips continually. There's not a drop of rain or a pile of dog poop that
appears in your life that isn't the manifestation of enlightened energy, that isn't
a doorway to sacred world.”  

Mandalas are expressed everywhere in nature, from a
cellular level, to the iris of your eye and out beyond to the stars in our cosmos. We recognize that
our life experience is filtered through our minds visioning. We can be curious about the lens through which people explore their inner and outer realm of their universe
with a submerged sense of knowing.  

My brother John saw the world through the lens of architecture. He was keenly aware of how things were built, the quality
of craftsmanship, the angles and lines of design. He noticed the intricacies and beauty in the details.

Sponge Bob Square Pants colors the imagination of my six year old granddaughter
Rejie’s daily life. She knows by heart all of this character’s dance moves and his
lines in every episode of the series. My husband, Woody sees through the passage of time with a fascination for history.

Letter writing and thoughtful gestures of remembering people
by sending a card for every occasion is the caring
eyes my mom has shown throughout her 97 years.

Photographer and film artist, Dane Dakota looks through the camera
lens into the divine essence of  nude female Beauty. Minton Sparks sees in vivid pictures of storytelling.

Erie Chapman sees through sacred eyes, the Holiness of your caregiving.

How does your heart see?

~liz Sorensen Wessel

Above mandalas by ~liz