Tag Archives: buddhism

INFP Mandala

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INFP Mandala

INFP Mandala

Inspired by Jung’s personality type theory and the Myers-Briggs personality type indicator.

According to the test, will reveal an individual’s dominant psychological functions, thus determining choices, preferences, opinions and decisions the individual will make in the world according to his/her own personality attributes.

The personality attributes, according to this theory consist of eight psychological functions, which include introvert/extrovert, intuitive/sensing, feeling/thinking and perceptive/judgement, with each function ‘twins’ being opposites, or ‘two sides of the same coin’.

My own personality type, according to the criteria of this test, is INFP (Introvert/Intuitive/Feeling/Perceptive), which has been the concept of the INFP Mandala painting, but also hinting at it’s opposite ‘shadow’, ESTJ (Extrovert/Sensing/Thinking/Judgement), which would exist as an unconscious entity in my own mind, being projected onto the ‘outside’ world, onto actual ESTJ types and in reverse, the ESTJ ‘shadowside’ being projected onto myself, as an INFP, causing a conflict between the two personality types, until the ‘shadow’ sides have been recognised by both parties or sides, and recognised the opposite entities within themselves.

Each combination of type determines the character or personality of the particular individual, according to this test, which acts as a good indicator, but to measure an individual’s personality and character, cannot be measured through a simple test and to measure the human personality is obviously, by far, a lot more complex.




Gnosis

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Gnosis

Gnosis

 

Influenced by Jung’s concept of the ‘anima’, and influenced by the representation of the feminine in Hinduism and Christian Gnosticism. Known as Mohini and Sophia respectively.

In Christian Gnosticism, Sophia represents the feminine aspect of God.

Sophia and the feminine aspect featured in the Gnostic Gospels, yet were excluded from the Bible, along with other scriptures, leaving the masculine God, or Father God, without it’s female counterpart, feminine aspect and equal. The feminine aspect of God was relegated to flesh and bones with Mary being the closest aspect of the feminine to God, yet only human, hence why Christianity, along with other institutionalised religions were/are out of balance and primarily patriarchal and tyrannical in nature, causing much damage and destruction within societies through the ages, such as witch hunts, the degradation of women and much worse.

Without the feminine principal, or the degradation of the sacred feminine, societies and the individual will be out of balance, as can be seen throughout history. Fortunately, the feminine principal is striving to maintain the balance once again in modern times, although it is evident within societies, politics, the workplace, and so on, that the balance is not yet completed, but is pointing in a positive direction.

At an individual level, the feminine must be respected by the masculine and vice-versa, to maintain the balance and to respect each side of the equation. A man must be at peace and united with his own feminine nature and the woman must be at peace and united with her own masculine nature, which may have to happen despite the cultural inheritance of the individual, to be a balanced individual and reflecting outwards to the feminine and the masculine within nature. From a gender-neutral point of view, this can be represented with the yin yang symbol from Chinese philosophy, which would also be an expression from the archetype(s) of this nature or essence. In essence, the archetypes are invisible, or inconceivable to the human being, which is why they express themselves in so many forms, from culture to culture and individual to individual.

Gnosis, featured in the painting is the feminine aspect of a male at an individual level, communicating repressed features to the male ego-consciousness of the particular individual at that moment in time. Gnosis has revealed herself in mythical form in the individual’s psyche, although she may take many forms and change shape and form throughout time within the individual. She takes many forms in modern collective culture and sub-cultures, showing the state of the collective mind, culture, or sub-culture within that group. If the culture, sub-culture or group is out of balance, it will be up to the individual to correct his or her own original nature and balance. If not, and the individual’s cultural inheritance is unhealthy, the individual may be plagued with visits from hostile and tormenting entities in dreams and visions, revealing itself as an opposition to their own selves, which unfortunately can express itself in the physical world, with conflict on many levels, which is evident in the the world we live in now.




Mandalasm

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Mandalasm
Mandalasm

Another early painting, in around the year of 2002. I was realising at this moment in time, I wasn’t really an aspiring artist at all, but felt the urge to communicate ideas, whether that be to myself or to anybody who was interested. My endevours in painting and drawing were largely a private affair, although I wanted to develop a skill to improve a communication in form to what I wanted to express in ‘physical reality’. I was thinking that the images I wanted to reproduce from my mind’s eye, were in fact, essentially ‘mirrors’ to my own ‘self’. On the surface, this may seem quite self-indulgent, but there were deeper meanings to all of this seeming tomfoolery.

Alongside the ideas of Freud and Jung, I was reading and researching a fair amount into the realms of Shamanism. I was also dipping my toe into the realms of Hinduism and finding parallels between modern psychology, Shamanism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Western religious traditions, which also included pagan traditions.

Although, a relatively simple concept, ‘Mandalasm’ was created with the idea of a mandala, from both Hindu and Buddhist traditions. The ‘abstract’ design, or symbol which separates the two faces in Mandalasm, is my own spontaneous representation of a mandala, which according to Jung, represents the ‘state’ of one’s own ‘inner’ psyche. The psyche strives for balance and the ego, which most of us can only identify with at a conscious level, is only a fraction of a part which contributes towards the psyche’s striving for balance, although the ego must recognise all parts to become balanced, which for the ego, is like searching to look at the back of one’s head without a mirror.

The two face entities in this painting represent ‘guardian angels’, who, although are two separate entities, are one entity, who are one, but separate at a frequency. The entity or entities are female and represent a nurturing and caring quality, but also possess a darker side, which includes a freedom to explore, whether to one’s peril or growth.

I personally, experienced these female entities, in my mind’s eye on several occasions in my youth while learning certain activities and they came into my mind’s eye at an intensity before making a choice for learning which would disturb my psyche and put it out of balance for a long time to come, which would force me into a position to face my fears and demons, when I may not have been ready at that stage in my life, although when is an individual ready? At this moment in time, an interest in Shamanism shed more light, on a universal dilemma. An archetype of a paradoxical nature which consisted of exploration and wonder, but also of warning and trepidation.