The Lotus and the Lily: A Book Excerpt

In light of the magical properties of our quantum universe, Jung's poetic description of a mandala now makes perfect sense. Quoting Goethe's Faust, Jung said the mandala is "Formation, Transformation, Eternal Mind's eternal recreation." I didn't understand this when I first read it, but now I see that when we create our mandala, we form it and, in the process, form ourselves. Then, as we live with it and release its powerful intentions and commitments, we are transformed, and the whole miraculous adventure happens according to the playful laws of Eternal Mind.

There was a woman in the sixteenth century who understood the laws of this Eternal Mind better than any other woman of her time or perhaps any time. In Love Poems from God, Daniel Ladinsky calls St. Teresa of Avila "undoubtedly the most influential female saint in the Western world." These lines from one of her poems, "The Grail," give us a window into her profound understanding of how the world works. It makes you wonder if she saw the universe the way modern science sees the universe.

They are like shy, young school kids—time and space
before the woman and the man who are
intimate with God.
The realized soul can play with this universe
the way a child can a ball.

After spending a few months in deep exploration of the meaning and magic of the mandala, I've reached a few conclusions. As you move through the Lotus and the Lily and make and live with your own mandala, you will reach your own. But for me, the Intention Mandala is

Organic: It comes from within; no one can make one for you.

Creative: It generates, releases, and receives energy, information, and potential.

Alive: It moves, it spins, it connects, it attracts.

Mysterious: You make it, but you don't consciously know what you are making. You use it, but you can't control it. It creates, but you don't really understand how.

Paradoxical: It comes from you, but it is greater than you.

Ancient: It holds truths our ancestors knew millennia ago.

Mystical: It illustrates and holds the union of your small one with the One.