SPIRITUAL TRAVEL.ORG Travel in the Spiritual Worlds

MANDALAS AND   SPIRITUAL TRAVEL Bright Imagery of Dynamic Circular Patterns

One encounter with a mandala in spiritual travel reminded me of a shooting gallery with a circular symmetry. There were bright and detailed forms of different colors moving in a precise almost mechanical fashion, some around the circle's center, some up and down, some spinning on their own central axis as they moved across other arcs. The moving objects were abstract circles, squares, triangles and lines filled with bright high-contrast colors.

One characteristic of these areas is their overabundance of energy. The forms radiate a great deal of light, and are somewhat surprising to the traveler in their visual intensity. In my experience, the mandala appears without prior warning spontaneously during a dream state. These areas are difficult to experience for more than a few seconds at a time, since a strong emotional response of surprise tends to bring the traveler back to the body shortly after the onset of the experience.

In general, strong emotional responses tend to terminate the experience. It is difficult to say where such imagery would lead if a skilled traveler were able to follow it for an extended period of time. The best way to prolong an experience is usually to be detached from what happens, although this is, in practice, sometimes a difficult rule to follow.