Mandalas take many forms. These circular representations of the Universe are most well developed in Buddhist and Hindu traditions, but they also appear in other realms, some of them quite unexpected. Jung thought that the mandala was an archetype, “the psychological expression of the totality of the self,” a interesting interpretation, albeit one that is perhaps at odds with the self-transcendent meaning seen by many others.
Two mandalas converged in National Academy of Sciences building on the Washington Mall last week. I brought one of them, embedded in the words of The Forest Unseen. I discovered the other mandala as I entered the building and looked up. The dome of the Academy’s Great Hall is representation of the totality of science, with the words “Ages and cycles of nature in ceaseless sequence moving” scribed on its inner rim. Do I hear an echo of Buddhist impermanence here in a space opened in 1924 as a “Temple of Science“?
At the center: the sun. Around: symbols of the various divisions of early Twentieth Century science (information theory, quantum mechanics, and genomics are missing, among others). The artwork was created by Hildreth Meière, one of the most prolific and honored of the Art Deco public artists, and one of America’s most lauded mosaicists. For this project she used tile painted with hot gesso, producing a luminous, textured surface.
For better photos than my cameraphone shot above, see the NAS’s flickr page. NAS also has some excellent information about the meanings of the various elements in the design. If you have an iPad, you can get an app that walks you through the symbolism of the dome, a joy that is not yet available to the unpadded.
As I walked into the building to receive the book’s award and to talk about the forest mandala, my sweaty-palmed tension was eased a little by Meière’s mandala. Science and mandalas can, perhaps, be in fruitful conversation.
David George Haskell 
I am always in awe of the abilities of others. Holy cow, what a beautiful piece of art. You yourself must have had much awe for many reasons!
Yes, it is an amazing artwork in a fabulous space. I was awe-fully nervous.
Truly beautiful. Thank you for sharing this. And congratulations to you!
Wonderful accomplishment.
Thank you, Lucy!
Congratulations on your award. May the circles you travel and contemplate widen, however small they first appear.
Thank you for this very kind wish. I return it to you: may your own mandalas be enlightening and full of delight.
Nicely tied together, as ever. As for odds and self-transcendence, a message I take from your book is that the totality of the self can never stop at the body’s physical and psychological boundaries.
Thank you, David. Yes, “the self” is hard to define from a biological perspective let alone the psychological. Connection mediates all.
Congratulations! And thank you for providing an opportunity to spend an hour on a rainy Sunday morning marveling at the work of another remarquable artist!
Thank you, Karen!
Fabulous. Thank you, once again.
Thank you.
I, too, ‘wonder as I wander’….
and am full of gratitude that we
are on earth at the same time
for such a short time, such a short
time, but oh! what we see
and feel and experience.
Thank you for all that you
share!
Fountainpen
Thank you. My best to you and your felines!
Talk about the world being bound together by the same small ideas….Very fitting that it was above you, of all people!
Yes, the world does seem quite tied together by ideas and connections. Very ecological, one might say (!).
The Forest Unseen stands out among the winners for its uplifting stories of hope and life. Science has many big rocks to push uphill. Nice that Science can also pause to sit on one, celebrate the knowledge, and enjoy the mystery.
Thank you Wendy! Nice image of rock-pushing and -sitting! (Sisyphus comes to mind.)
Visual descriptions of art, blended with science, touched with spirituality and love. I am describing both your book and the mandala above. Congratulations on your reward and award.
Thank you very much, Bruce!