| THE MANDALA SERIES - A GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Dan has worked with the mandala condept and form over many years. His expressions are at times geometrically regular and then free-form. The symbols employed and geometries used convey meaning on many levels. Symbols express portions of our outer and inner reality in concentrated form and remind us of particular links of significance or meaning - not only to express and remind but to engage in an act of influencing future realities. A potent example would be the lotus. Mandala is a sanskrit term for 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 given visual expression. The mandala is 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. Its basic components are geometric figures, counterbalanced and concentric. Hence it has been said that "the mandala is always a squaring of the circle". 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, etc. 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. It is the visual plastic expression of the struggle to achieve order and of the longing to be reunited with the pristine, non-spatial and non-temporal 'Center', as conceived in all symbolic traditions. Timeless, all-embracing, the mandala is one of the great symbols of human experience. Its concentric structure suggests the passage from state to state, from the material to the spiritual; its center is eternity, its periphery is perfection. Its circular form and concentric structure reflect the shape of the universe outside and the sense of perfection within. Concentric rings can be seen as an evocation of the universe, of galaxies swirling around a center, of planets revolveing around the sun. At the same time, it is a model of the soul's journey from the periphery to the center of all understanding. Source materials for the above include: Dictionary of Symbols by J.E. Cirlot.; and Sacred Symbols published bt Thames and Hudson. |
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