The Mandala and the Multi-Center Perspective

During one of our trips I told Gene that his talk about Alexander
and his theories that our visual field must have multiple centers
made me think about the mandala and Carl Jung. The mandala is
an Indian and Buddhist symbol that represents their view of the
universe. The words "multiple centers" resonated with my
recollection of the mandala because although the structure is a
regular composition of concentric circles and squares, it is
surrounded by local centers that look regular at a distance, but are
distinct at close range. The symbol is a mix of regularity and order,
as well as infinite diversity at the same time.

In the mandala above you can notice that each small concentric circle
is a different scene from Budha's life. I think that the purpose of this
kind of symbol is to fuse the minute personal perspective of our personal
experience with the larger cosmic scheme. During Gene's talk about
whether Alexander's ideas are universal or just his subjective opinion
the word wholeness popped up. This is what made me think of Carl
Jung, who studied the relationship between religious symbols and
psychology. One of Jung's main ideas is that regardless of the culture
we come from, we all possess the same archetypes. Jung studied
symbols across cultures similar to the mandala,;and thought that the
mandala represents the archetype of psychological wholeness or an
expression of the totality of the self. Wholeness is paramount for
Jung because he believed that the main task of psychoanalysis was
to counter the segmentation and compartmentalization of the self .
There is an uncanny similarity between the mandala and a diagram
of the Jungian self.

How do I link this back to photography? Well, from Gene's 

presentation I also remember the perfectly regular Nurenberg 

building, and from a different presentation of a previous class the 

tall glass buildings of le Corbusier. My personal reaction to both 

is a visceral horror at the rigidity and perfect symmetry of their 

lines. I like regularity but I react with disgust as it approaches 

perfection, as if the symmetry takes something from my humanity 

instead of enabling it with a modicum of order. A perfectly 

symmetrical mandala would not reflect the universe according to 

Buddhist, and a self rigidly ordered for Jung would be a sign of 

psychological sickness rather than health. Jung cannot prove that 

his diagram of the self is universal, but his ideas on the mandala 

are cannily close to Alexander's observations of images. 

Danny W Chang