A database of 11,000+ illuminated guiding quotations in 40 categories from 600+ inspired books by our most brilliant and influential authors.
Compiled by JoAnn Kite
SHOW detailed search and navigation | Quotes | References | JoAnn
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"At one with the physical world around them, they (Native Americans) perceived the interconnectedness of all things, the circular nature of the universe, and the rightness of both birth and death in the overall scheme of creation." Seven Paths to God, The Ways of the Mystic (Joan Borysenko, Ph.D.) |
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"The oldest mandala drawing known to me is a paleolithic 'sun wheel', recently discovered in Rhodesia….Things reaching so far back in human history naturally touch upon the deepest layer of the unconscious and affect the latter where conscious speech shows itself to be quite impotent. Such things cannot be thought up but must grow again from the forgotten depths, if they are to express the deepest insights of consciousness and the loftiest intuitions of the spirit. Coming from these depths they blend together the uniqueness of present-day consciousness with the age-old past of life." C. G. Jung The Secret of the Golden Flower (Richard Wilhelm, translator) |
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"All over the world one can find temples constructed as three-dimensional mandalas. One can also find labyrinths, which are circular walkways created from sacred geometry. Walking in them allows you to become part of an integrating mandala reflecting universal wholeness." Mandala, Luminous Symbols for Healing (Judith Cornell, Ph.D.) |
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"In a world that is split, divided by the 'Civil War of Man', healing is needed to make whole. Mandala is a whole-ing technique; it is the alchemy of opposites reuniting, a blueprint that can be placed upon anything, or any man or being." Mandala (Jose and Miriam Arguelles) |
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"In the circle, which comprehends in itself the beginning and the end, we have the figure of true being; and circular motion is the only enduring form of motion. From this Spirit, which is called the Life of the Universe, proceed the life and soul of everything which has soul and life." Giordano Bruno (1548-1600), Italian philosopher and poet, answer at his trial before the Inquisitor in Venice, May 1592, quoted by I. Firth in "Life of Giordano Bruno, Boston 1887, p. 123 Reincarnation: The Phoenix Fire Mystery (Cranston/Head, editors) |
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"I have found that the eye which sees the whole circle expresses our soul simply and perfectly." Nikos Kazantzakis The Way of The Earth, Encounters with Nature in Ancient and Contemporary Thought (T. C. McLuhan) |
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"The shape of the world exists everlastingly in the knowledge of the true Love which is God: constantly circling, wonderful for human nature, and such that it is not consumed by age and cannot be increased by anything new….in its workings the Godhead is like a wheel, a whole." Hildegard of Bingen, Mandala, Luminous Symbols for Healing (Judith Cornell, Ph.D.) |
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"The mandala as a symbol of the self is the psyche's expression of its fundamental orientation to wholeness. Not only is it an expression of the goal, but it also indicates that the psyche has a built-in dynamism moving it toward its objective." Spiritual Pilgrims, Carl Jung & Teresa of Avila (John Welch, O. Carm.) |
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"Mandalas are also formed with the hands, danced, and represented in music (for instance Bach's 'Art of Fugue')….When a mandala is being formed, everything round and square known to man works on it too. But the impetus for its formation comes from the unconscious archetype." C. G. Jung: Letters, 1951-1961 (Gerhard Adler and Aniela Jaffe, editors) |
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"The point signifies unity, the Origin and the Centre. It also represents the principles of manifestation and emanation, and hence in some mandalas the centre is not actually shown but must be imagined….There are two kinds of point to be considered: that which has no magnitude and is symbolic of creative virtue, and that which – as suggested by Raymond Lull in his 'Nova Geometria' – has the smallest conceivable or practicable magnitude and is a symbol of the principle of manifestation." A Dictionary of Symbols (J. E. Cirlot) |
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"Circular motifs…point to our original wholeness – they are without beginning and end, self-contained and eternal." Journey Into Consciousness: The Chakras, Tantra and Jungian Psychology (Charles Breaux) |
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"It is the Mandala that can burst the fetters of man's internal bondage and conflict by leading him to a viewpoint from which the various polarities may be harmonized." Mandala (Jose and Miriam Arguelles) |
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"The circle, as the symbol of completeness and perfect being, is a widespread expression for heaven, sun, and God; it also expresses the primoridal image of man and the soul." Collected Works (Carl Jung) |
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"The soul is a spiritual substance of spherical nature, like the globe of the moon, or like a glass vessel that is furnished before and behind with eyes and sees the whole universe." Caesarius of Heisterbach, medieval Alchemist, 'Dialogus miraculorum', Dist. IV, ch. xxxix Collected Works (Carl Jung) |
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"Mandalas…are produced spontaneously, without external influence, even by children and adults who have never come into contact with any such ideas….The mandala symbolizes, by its central point, the ultimate unity of all archetypes as well as the multiplicity of the phemonenal world, and is therefore the empirical equivalent of the metaphysical concept of a 'unus mundus' [one world]." Collected Works (Carl Jung) |
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"The circle is a symbol of completeness; as indicated by the words, 'The Lord thy God is One.' (Mark 12:29)." Edgar Cayce Symbols, Guiding Lights Along the Journey of Life (Kathleen R. Prata) |
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"The Mandala was developed as a reminder of the direct perception of reality." Mandala (Jose and Miriam Arguelles) |
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“O great, greatest, incomprehensible fabric of the world, formed in a circle!” ‘Secret Inscription’ in the Great Magic Papyrus of Paris Collected Works (Carl Jung) |
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"In the present struggle of the planet the mandala presents itself as the seed-symbol of a more harmonized world order….The vision of renewed wholeness and brotherhood slowly spreads and filters through the consciousness of the [human] race." Mandala (Jose and Miriam Arguelles) |
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"In early Christian remains, the circle frequently appears as a serpent with its tail in its mouth." Violet Shelley, 'Symbols and the Self' Symbols, Guiding Lights Along the Journey of Life (Kathleen R. Prata) |
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“All the radii of a circle are brought together in the unity of the center which contains all the straight lines brought together within itself. These are linked one to another because of this single point of origin and they are completely unified at this center.” Pseudo-Dionysius, The Complete Works (John Farina, Editor-in-Chief) |
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"Your psyche is spherical, whole and complete. When you are approaching an experience of that wholeness, you begin to notice circles and spheres. The sun and moon are magnificent spherical mandalas, and isn't it a wonderful gift that both by day and by night, the heavens present the symbol of your wholeness to you?....The sphere contains the center point of your cohesive power. It can be used as an imaging device to aid in your movement toward wholeness." Reflections of an Elder Brother: Awakening from the Dream (Mary-Margaret Moore) |
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"We need to worship in circles again, preferably on the soil of Mother Earth wherever possible. Circles invite all creatures to be part of the grateful event and they allow the humans present to look each other in the eye while rounding and connecting themselves in step with the universe." The Coming of the Cosmic Christ (Matthew Fox) |
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“Caesarius of Heisterbach says that the soul has a ‘spherical nature.’” Collected Works (Carl Jung) |
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"Re-vision your home as a container for a sacred circle of love." Who Do You Think You Are? The Healing Power of Your Sacred Self (Carlos Warter, M.D., Ph.D.) |