How to Interpret Mandalas
- 1). Study the geometry first. According to Jung, all mandalas, regardless of where they are from, show a constant interplay between the circle and square. The circle is the symbol for wholeness, while the square is the symbol for stability in the world. In general terms, this means that all human beings desire a full, spiritual purpose that can be transferred to day to day activities. Matter, in short, should become spiritualized. Matter is chaos. Our knowledge is the beginning of making order out of this.
- 2). Focus on the use of numbers. Several numbers repeat themselves in mandalas across cultures and continents. The number 1, for example, represents unity and the masculine; while 2 represents division and the feminine; 3 represents completion and 4 always represents the world --- the square. Other numbers are derivatives of these first four numbers. Numbers, according to Jung, are archetypes and always symbolize the same social functions and ethical ideas across cultures.
- 3). Look at the colors. Like everything else, color is symbolic. Nothing in the mandala is purely quantitative, but all is a symbol for the deeper self. The colors are usually four: yellow, red, blue and green. Respectively, these are the sun, passion, relaxation and vegetation. The real meanings here are far deeper. Red is often chaos and violent transformation, while blue is often (re)birth and death. Yellow is the sun, traditionally the symbol of knowledge and development. Green is hope, the ingredients necessary for further personal awareness.
- 4). Consider the mandala as a whole. While the above steps abstract from the whole and focus on the parts, interpreting the mandala symbolism also requires integral thinking, considering the whole object as a single picture. According to Jung, the mandala as a whole is about the constant return to the self. While our lives might meander from path to path, there is no real linear development --- there is a circular return to the self and our own self-definition. Evolution is false as a scientific theory as is any concept of linear progress in history or economics. Our motion as people, societies and historical agents is circular, returning to the self, not a linear progress to the "end of history," made so famous by Karl Marx and modern liberals.
- 5). Keep in mind continually that the mandala, ultimately, is a symbol of the human struggle. It is part of a constant drive to place order, often forcefully, on a world that seems chaotic and uncontrollable. Science, the state and "economic theory" have only exacerbated the problem. The solution to chaos, if there is one at all, lies in the self and the secure --- squared --- possession of truth --- the circle.
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