Healing Thinking and
Being
(Book manuscript by Rolf Sattler)
Chapter
8
Complementarity of
Different Maps and Mandalas
"...widening our circle of understanding and
compassion..."(Albert Einstein)
Ken Wilber presented his AQAL map as A Theory of Everything.
However, no single map can
present everything. Therefore, we need a plurality of
complementary maps to obtain a more comprehensive picture.
Mandalas are maps that comprise the namable and unnamable.
Creating and contemplating mandalas can be healing. The
dynamic mandala comprises all mandalas that complement one
another. This complementarity is also healing because it
creates an even more encompassing wholeness.
Maps
Ken
Wilber’s AQAL map of the Kosmos, including human existence,
is a comprehensive map that allows us to see how healing
thinking is related to and affects other realms of Being.
However, we have to keep in mind that a map is not the
territory it refers to (see Chapter 4). Wilber agrees, but
claims that AQAL “is the most complete and accurate map we
have at this time” (Ken Wilber. 2007.The Integral
Vision. Boston:
Shambhala, p.18). Many of his critics dispute this claim. In my book
Wilber’s AQAL
Map and Beyond, I
also pointed out shortcomings of the AQAL map. One of the
most fundamental shortcomings or limitations of this map
is the fact that its most fundamental structure is
hierarchical (holarchical) and thus excludes other
ordering principles (see Ken Wilber, Holarchy and
Beyond). Instead
of insisting that “the Kosmos is a series of nests within
nests within nests indefinitely (Ken Wilber.
2001. A Theory of
Everything.
Boston:Shambhala, p.40), which means that the Kosmos is
hierarchical (holarchical), it seems more appropriate to
say that the Kosmos is hierarchical (holarchical), etc,
This would be an application one of Korzybski’s
extensional devices that avoids the trap of identity. The
“etc” could include other views of the Kosmos such
as holism in terms of undivided
wholeness, dialectics, Yin-Yang, continuum, and
network views (for a brief review see
Ken Wilber, Holarchy and
Beyond). Ken Wilber also recognizes such views,
but not with regard to the most basic structure of the
Kosmos, which, according to him, is holarchical.
In other respects,
we also need other maps that complement the AQAL map. It has
to be understood that no single map can represent everything.
Even a less comprehensive map may illuminate some aspects
that the more comprehensive map ignored or neglected. To use
an analogy, an aerial view of a mountain provides a
comprehensive map of that mountain, but a map of a cave in
that mountain shows details that could not be seen on the
more comprehensive aerial view (see my post on
Perspectivism and Complementarity: AQAL,
the Big Tube, and the Dynamic
Mandala).
Mandalas
To provide a more comprehensive and accurate picture of
reality and human existence we need a great variety of maps,
including conceptual, mathematical, pictorial and artistic
maps. As with maps, so with mandalas. Mandalas are maps that
refer to both the namable and unnamable. They often represent
the unnamable in the center and the namable emanating from
that center. When the unnamable is not represented
explicitly, the shape of the mandala may suggest the
unnamable (see my post on The dynamic Mandala).
Tom McFarlane devised a mathematical mandala that in some respects is even more
comprehensive than AQAL. In Chapter 5 of my book "Wilber’s
AQAL Map and Beyond", I presented a number of
conceptual mandalas. Artistic mandalas, including mandalas of the wisdom
traditions around the world, are well known.
Contemplating or creating mandalas can be healing for the
mind, body and soul. Mathematical and conceptual mandalas can
inspire and support healing thinking, which in turn can be
healing for the body and soul. Artistic and spiritual
mandalas can be healing for body-mind-soul (see, for example,
Cornell, Judith. 1994. Mandala. Luminous Symbols for
Healing. Wheaton,
IL: Quest Books)
Carl Jung and others have used mandalas to explore and heal
the psyche. Mandalas can also be a complement to conventional
medicine because they work holistically…”mandalas are, at the
deepest level, a reflection of the self, the cosmos and the
love that binds everything together” (Fontana, David.
2005. Meditating
with Mandalas.
London: Duncan Baird Publishers, p. 53).
The Dynamic Mandala
The AQAL map by Ken Wilber can be considered an unusual
mandala in which the unnamable is at the periphery instead of
in the center as in typical mandalas. As I pointed out in the
preceding chapter, Wilber presented several versions of AQAL
with differences in the conceptualization of the levels
(structural stages). However, the basic structure of AQAL is
fixed. In contrast, the dynamic mandala that I proposed in my e-book
Wilber’s AQAL Map and
Beyond, has no
such fixation. As in a kaleidoscope, any one mandala may
be transformed into another mandala, and through this
transformation the structure of the mandala may also
change. For example, a hierarchical (holarchical) mandala
such as AQAL may be transformed into a nonhierarchical
one. As a result more perspectives of reality can be
represented and explored. Greater freedom can be gained,
which can contribute to health and healing.
Actually, not all mandalas have been devised as
transformations of preexisting mandalas. It seems that most
mandalas, especially artistic mandalas, have been created
independently as different perspectives on reality.
Nonetheless, they can be seen as transformations of one another: as we
move from one mandala to another, we have to change our
standpoint that provides a perspective. Thus, the
transformation of the mandalas occurs via the observer or
contemplator of the mandalas. Since ultimately the observer
and the observed are one, we may refer to the dynamic mandala
that comprises the dynamic of the observer. Alternatively, we
may just emphasize that all mandalas are different
complementary perspectives on reality that are united by the
unnamable, which may be represented explicitly or implicitly.
Conclusions
Although the AQAL map by Ken Wilber is a
comprehensive map of the Kosmos, including human existence,
it has limitations and shortcomings. Even if Wilber would
enrich his map through useful suggestions made by critics who
offered constructive criticism - forget those who just like
to tear anything apart-, it would have to remain limited
because no single map can represent everything. Every map is
more or less limited. We want the most comprehensive map that
includes details of less comprehensive maps. But we have to
realize that less comprehensive maps may show details that
the most comprehensive map does not and cannot include.
Therefore, less comprehensive maps are also useful. In
general, a plurality of maps enriches our understanding and
also our enjoyment of reality. Such maps may be mathematical,
conceptual, or artistic.
Mandalas are maps that include the namable and the unnamable.
Since there are endless ways of representing the namable, the
number of mandalas we can create seems unlimited. Creating or
contemplating mandalas can be healing because it connects
what has been fragmented and ignored.
The dynamic mandala allows us to move freely from one mandala
to another – like in a kaleidoscope. Through this movement we
can connect different representations of reality, including
the AQAL map, which can be considered an unusual mandala in
which the unnamable is at the periphery instead of in the
center as in typical mandalas. Since different mandalas can
be seen as complementing one another, antagonism and conflict
between mandalas, especially conceptual mandalas, can be
relinquished and this again may be healing.
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Healing
Thinking and Being.
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