my father's mandalas

MY FATHER'S MANDALAS

Valerie says, "The wonder of mandalas entered my life over nine years ago, at the time of my father’s passing. The journals he left behind tell the most miraculous stories. My father was an artist and graphic designer, who enjoyed his work so much, that a five-hour client project would receive days, weeks, even months of attention and nurturing, as he worked to create miraculous works of art."

"My father considered his drawings and illustration to be his prayers. His last graphic design project, just two months prior to his death, was for a bromeliad nursery client. He’d been working for weeks on a package design logo for a new "forever-blooming" plant collection. As an artist, my father was very fond of symbols and their meanings. He had incorporated one of his favorites, the infinity symbol, into this logo design. I remember seeing the joy on his face, for days and nights, as he sat at his drawing board, pondering the infinite number of wondrous design possibilities."

In his journal, dated Feb. 8-14, 1998, he wrote:

"For the last two weeks, I have used whatever time could be found to develop a logo design for my floral client. The results are best evidenced by the final three designs, which are especially satisfying. They represent a simple, fully realized integration of the infinity symbol with the floral motifs--a perfect blend of form and content. Even more rewarding has been the awareness, following their completion, that I had created mandalas! My delight has continued to increase as I have looked through Carl Jung’s Man and His Symbols and found surprisingly synchronistic information, about mandalas, that relates perfectly to my designs."

"Jung stressed that the only real adventure remaining for each individual is the exploration of his own unconscious. 'The ultimate goal of such a search is the forming of a harmonious and balanced relationship within the Self. The circular mandala images this perfect balance’ (p.231)."

"‘[Mandalas] represent the wholeness of the psyche or Self, of which consciousness is just as much a part as the unconscious.' (p.268)"

"They [the mandalas] are astonishing gifts from the unconscious--not only as perfect solutions to a design problem, but more profoundly, as intrinsic rewards! It is a good feeling indeed to realize that my unconscious has not only symbolized wholeness with the many synchronistic references to mandalas, but has demonstrated wholeness by establishing them as rewards through synchronistic references... This harmony between my conscious and unconscious is the peace that I am joyfully seeking."