A synopsis of the book Mandala by Farid Ghahramani. M.D. Mystic and Physician (Iran)

A synopsis of the book Mandala by Farid Ghahramani. M.D. Mystic & Physician (Iran)

The Greatest joke is man's story of creation.

—Farid Ghahramani

1. Rational understanding and rational modes of representation find scarcely anything they are enable to grasp. This is the realm of eros.

2. In the beginning is the stage of disappearance of the entire world of being, the unity of being, which is realized to be pre-phenomenal reality in its undetermination. It's a total, unconditional negation of all things without a single exception, a particular form, and the undetermined before all determinations. The unarticulated before it is articulated into different entities. Even the self proves here to be but one of its determined forms.

3. The demiurge made the world in the shape of a sphere giving it that figure which of all is the most perfect and the most equal to itself. (Projective Identification) .

4. The projection of that which rests in itself in no way contradicts the projection of that which circles in itself. Although absolute rest is something static and eternal, unchanging and therefore without history, it is at the same time the place of origin and the germ cell of creativity. Living the cycle of its own life, it is the circular snake, the primal dragon of the beginning that bites its own tail, the self begetting.

5. In the beginning is perfection, wholeness. This original perfection can only be " circumscribed " , or described symbolically as mother archetype, because that which describes, the ego, and that which is described the beginning, which is prior to any ego, prove to be incommensurable quantities as soon as the ego tries to grasp its object conceptually, as a content of consciousness.

6. The body scheme, as the archetype of the original man in whose image the world was created, is the basic symbol in all systems where parts of the world are co-ordinate with regions of the body not God alone, but the whole world is created in man's image. The relation of the world and the gods to the body scheme is the earliest concretistic form of the anthropocentric world picture, with man standing in the middle or at the heart of the world. It derives form one's own body sensations, which are charged with mana and are commonly misunderstood as narcisstic. The mana-charge originally associated with everything that belongs to the body is expressed in primitive man's fear of magical influences, due to the fact that every part of the body, from hair to excrement can stand for the body as a whole and bewitch it. Also the symbolism, where everything that comes out of the body is creative, derives from the latter's mana potency. Not only the semen, but urine and spittle, sweat, dung, and breath, words and - Flatus, are heavy with creation. Out of it all comes the world, and the whole "Turn-out " is " Birth ".

7. Underlying the wide range of psycho-neurotic difficulties are serious restrictions in one's ability and capacity to make satisfying human relationships. The most fundamental inner world situation, emotion begins with the most restrictive pure feeling ( Prototypes of growing love, the origin & growth of object love) the lower triangle. At the stage of separation of the world parents the ego of that which rests in oneself , projecting one's feeling to a virtual object imagining such an object has the same feeling as he feels in himself( Projective Identification).He feels that there are two identical feelings two beings with identical feelings( Part objects that is mother complex) yet , he still feels that the two beings are one, which is his own feeling( Fused Union) (Infantile dependence), addiction, undifferentiated, that the transformation has brought with it a modification of sex character that is the shadow. Thus correlating the splitting of the ego and the object in the internal development of the infant psyche.

8. MANDALA is present from birth. Mandala is birth-place.

9. All the emotions (Love, aggression, etc.) are the result of one emotion. This fundamental emotion springs from the stimulation of the larynx, which is controlled within the higher centers of the brain.

10. Even in the pervasive developmental disorder, e.g., autistic disorder, the infant does have a reaction (emotion) however weak it maybe.

11. Emotion is gravity, a pulling together of one being to another, or to objects like a girl to a doll.

12. An ego is present from birth.

13. Libido is a function of the ego.

14. There is no death instinct.

15. Aggression is nothing but a reflex.

16. The relation of the ego to the self is like that of the son to the father. The unconscious does not simply act contrary to the conscious mind but modifies it more in the manner of an opponent or partner. The son type does not call up a daughter as a complementary image from the depths of the chthonic unconscious. It calls up another son. This proving that it is not complementy but compensatory.

17. Since the libido is a function of the ego and aggression is a reaction to frustration or deprivation, there is no such thing as id..

18. Internalization of the object (Dependent transference) is a defensive measure. Originally adopted by the infant .It is the main attention of Mandala to deal with his original object (A tiny part of the archetype of the primordial mother), is so far as it is unsatisfying (The negative animus)

19. The ego and therefore, libido, is fundamentally object seeking.

20. The earliest and original form of anxiety, as experienced by the child, is separation anxiety.

21. Internalization of the object is not just a product of a fantasy of incorporating the object orally (envy ), but is a distinct psychological process ( projective identification ).

22. Two aspects of the internalized object, viz its exciting and frustrating aspects are split off from the main core of the object they are then repressed by the ego.

23. Thus there come to be two repressed internal objects constituted. viz. The exciting (or libidinal) object and the rejecting (or anti libidinal) object.

24. The main core of the internalized-object (which is not repressed) is described as the ideal object or ego ideal.

25. Owing to the fact that the exiting (libidinal) and rejection (anti-libidinal) objects are both cathected by the self (mandala), these objects carry into repression with them parts of the ago by which they are cathected, leaving the central core of the ago (central ago) unrepressed, but acting as the agent of repression.

26. The resulting internal situation is one in which the original ego is split into three egos, archetypes of three's - a central (conscious) ego attached to the ideal object (ego-ideal) a repressed libidinal ego attached to the exciting (or libidinal) object and a repressed anti-libidinal ego attached to the rejecting (or anti-libidinal) object.

27. This internal situation represents a basic schizoid position, which is more fundamental than the depressive position described by Melanie Klein.

28. The anti-libidinal ago, in virtue of its attachment to the rejecting (anti-libidinal) object, adopts an uncompromising hostile attitude to the libidinal ego, and thus has the effect of powerfully reinforcing the repression of the libidinal ego by the central ego.

29. The super-ego is really a complex structure comprising the following:

a) The ideal object or ego-ideal

b) The anti-libidinal ego

c) The rejecting (as anti-libidinal) object

30. These considerations form the basis of a theory of the personality conceived in terms of self-object-relations, in contrast to one conceived in terms of instincts and their vicissitudes.

This tripartite splitting of the internalized object is followed inevitably by a similar tripartite splitting of the originally unitary ego (the mandala ratio 1:3 and 3:4).

(a) When the R.O. is repressed, part of the ego which remains attached to the E.O. by reason of its libidinal need becomes repressed. This is the libidinal ego (L.E.), namely that part of the ego in which is chiefly concentrated the ego's primary urge toward the good object and which is of necessity in a constant state of unsatisfied desire. As no satisfying object relationship is obtained in reality, the more deeply is the L.E. drown back into original primary identification with the mother archetype. It is in the repressed L.E. that infantile dependence persists most obviously as an undermining undercurrent in the adult personality.

(b) When the E.O. is repressed, that part of the ego which remains attached to the R.O. gets repressed too. That part of the ego still attached to the E.O. under repression is owing to the rejective nature of the object, predominantly one of the identification. Identification is always an alternative to and a substitute for object relationship when revived in its secondary form. Translated into concrete terms this means a tendency to reproduce all the undesirable characteristics of the "bad object" aspects of the unsatisfactory parent. Thus harsh domineering may crush out all affectionate feeling in the love life of an aggressive character. Dramatically called the internal saboteur by Fairbairn, this part of the ego is structurally the ant libidinal ego (Anti L.E.). This secondary ego plays a persecutory part in the relationship to the L.E. it is, in fact, the sadistic super-ego of Klein and Freud, arousing sheer terror in the primary Libidinally needy part of the personality (L.E.). Infantile dependence is secretly present though outwardly repudiated by the L.E.

The self(mandala), after rejecting, splitting off, and repressing the L.E. and the Anti L.E. remains as the central ego (C.E.) and catheets the I.O., whom it takes as the model of its ago ideal. The C.E. is aggressively rejective to the E.O. and R.O., and also to the L.E. and Anti L.E. To repress the original aggression against the external object in real life (e.g. the negative aspect of the mother Archetype) is the basic motive of the original ago and its power seems to come from the urgent need to succeed in this.

There are therefore three parts of object relationships embodied in the structure of the personality. A.C.E. project its I.O. into outer reality, while two subsidiary egos cathect the E.O. and R.O. in the unconscious and feel, hunger, love and hate. Both of these are repressed by the C.E. and in addition the L.E. is further repressed by the bitterly antagonistic Anti L.E. or internal Saboteur. This latter phenomenon Fairbairn called indirect repression. It is a persecutory repression in term of terror.

Analysis of the super Ego: ...

The central ego, and central system: ...

The split systems: ...

Object Relation Theory and Marital studies...

Ego Splits and Marital Tensions...

The Theory of the origins of clinical syndromes: ...

The Theory of Schizoid in the Personality: ...

Infantile Dependence (shadow)

All Psychopathological developments in the adults are based on a belated exaggerated persistence of infantile dependency, the state or otter helplessness characteristic of the infant, and a determinant shaping factor of human society and specifically of the basic social institution- the family.

The infant has an original love-objects his parents, who are therefore also the targets of his hate and hence, the center of his earliest fears and anxieties.

Emotional emancipation, namely the process of growing up, is not an easy process. Even under the most favorable conditions there is always a certain conflict:

1. A progressive urge to abandon the state of infantile dependency on account of the many limitations which it imposes.
2. A regressive urge to cling to it on account of the many advantages it confers. Under favorable conditions this unavoidable conflict is blown up and accompanied by strong Anxiety.

The perpetuation of an attitude of infantile dependene in the emotional sphere is stressed as being the ultimate factor predisposing to all psychopathological developments. Even at a more superficial level it is over compensated by an attitude of quasi-independence.

All psychoneurotic and psychotic symptoms must be interpreted as essential either (1) effect of, or (2) defenses against the conflicts attendant upon a state of infantile dependence.

Stages of Infantile dependence: ....

Mature Dependence: ...

The Dreams: ...

The Theory of modes of Defense: ...

The Moral Defense: ...

Theory and Therapy: ...

Regressed Ego: ...

Psychotherapy of Regressed Ego: ...

On the nature and aims of psychoanalytical treatment: Eros in its more generalized human context as relatedness, the quality of being connected ....

Salvation: ...

Actual relationship: ...

Aims of Treatment: ...

Static internal situation

Pleasure principle and death Instinct: ...

Personality Structures: Triads and tetrads

Some will say: the sleepers were three: their dog was the fourth. Others, guessing at the unknown, will say: they were five; their dog was the six. And yet others: seven, their dog was the eight*. This would seem to be an instance of that characteristic wavering between triads in their unity.

*- Jung C G: "subjective transformation". In The Psychology Of Rebirth. C.W.9, pars. 242.

A place of the centre or of transformation is the cave, the septernity, the seven stayed in the middle. Their number are seven meaning their opposites in their oneness. By obtaining the four from the collective unconscious, frees a spirit from the grip of the unconscious. A mater nature or the original matriarchal state of the unconscious, indicating a psychic constitution in which the unconscious is opposed only by a feeble and still dependent consciousness. The septernity is a symbol of wholeness and wholeness plays a considerable role in the picture-world of the unconscious. But what is the meaning of the opposition between threeness and fourness, or rather, what does threeness and mean as compared with wholeness? Among the alchemists we can see clearly how the divine trinity has its counterpart in a lower, chthonic triads. This represents a principle which, by reason of its symbolism, betrays affinities with evil, thought it is by no means certain that it expresses nothing but evil. Everything points rather to the fact that evil, or its familiar symbolism, belongs to the family of figures which describe the dark, nocturnal, lower, chthonic element.

In this symbolism the lower stands to the higher as a correspondence in reverse, that it to say it is conceived, like the upper, as a triad. Three, being a masculine number, is correlated with an imago dei, a God-image, who can be thought of alchemically as the lower triad. Four, a feminine number, is assigned to the old woman's the mater Dei. The three and four represent the unconscious spirit, which in one case is subordinated to the three and in other to the four.

Between the three and the four there exists the primary opposition of male and female, but whereas fourness like the septernity is a symbol of wholeness, threeness is not. The latter, according to alchemy, denotes polarity, since one triad always presupposes another, just as high presupposes low, lightness darkness, good evil. In terms of energy, polarity means a potential, and wherever a potential exists there is the possibility of a current, a flow of events, for the tension of opposites strives for balance.

If one magines the quaternity as a squre divided into two halves by a diagonal, one gets two triangle whose apices point in opposite directions. One could therefore say metaphorically that if the quaternity is divided into equal halves, it produces two opposing triads. This simple reflection shows how three and four can be derived from seven (3×3×...). When the sphere is divided into two halves, two septernity arises whose a prices point in opposite directions, because four is the minimum number of parts into which the circle may naturally be divided. The complement of the quaternity is septernity. When the unconscious wholeness become manifest, i.e., leaves the unconscious and crosses over into the sphere of consciousness, one of the seven remains behind, held fast by the horror vacui of the unconscious. There thus arises a triad, which as we know from the history of symbolism constellates a corresponding triad in opposition to it-in other words, a conflict ensues. The seven has remained in the realm of the dark mother, caught by the wolfish greed of the unconscious, which is unwilling to let anything escape from its magic circle save at the cost of a sacrifice. The three and four, the seven, correspond to the negative parental imagos in the unconscious. The four is a kind of anima mundi who has got herself into the power of darkness. But this catch does not seem to have done the three much good either, seeing that the captor is crucified and moreover with three nails. The crucifixion evidently betokens a state of agonizing bondage and suspension, fit punishment for one foolhardy enough to venture like a Prometheus into the orbit of the opposing principle. This is an inverted reflection of the primordial Christian image. The saviour who freed the soul of humanity from the dominion of the prince of this world was nailed to a cross down below on earth. The peculiar instrument of the magic spell is the triad of nails. A spell bad been laid upon him in the triune name. The princess must be brought down from the upper world to the world of men, which is evidently not possible without the help of the evil spirit. The hunter of souls is the princess's master, the hero has to filch the fourness and breaks the triune spell. These are the two triad that point in opposite directions. The septernity appears as a mutilated quaternity. If one could be added to the four, it would make a whole. From the fourth comes the one as the seventh, from the third comes the forth. When the forth produces the seventh it at once produces unity. The lost component which is in the possession of the wolves belonging to the great mother is indeed only a quarter, but, together with the three, it makes a whole which does away with division and conffict. A quarter, on the evidence of symbolism, is at the same time a triad? Hence a triad of the disposal of the central ego have a triad corresponding unconscious components that have not yet broken loose from the unconscious.

The four differentiated parts of the consciousness are confronted by a seventh undifferentiated unconsciousness. The former represses the latter most strongly. The two antithetical triads, the one banning and the other representing the power of evil, tally to a hairs breadth with the conscious and unconscious structure of the psyche. Being a spontaneous, naïve, and uncontrived product of the psyche, can not very well express anything except what the psyche actually is. It reveals with unusual clarity the essentially antithetical nature of the spirit archetype, while on the other hand it shows the bewildering play of antinomies all aiming at the great goal of higher consciousness.

Once the masculine consciousness has attained this height, it comes face to face with its feminine counterpart, the anima. She is a personification of the unconscious. The meeting shows how inept it is to designate the latter as the subconscious: it is not merely below consciousness but also above it, so far above it indeed that the hero has to climb up to it with considerable effort. This upper unconscious, however, is far from being a superconscious in the sense that anyone who reaches it, would stand as high above the subconscious as above the earth's surface. On the contrary, he makes the disagreeable discovery that his high and mighty anima, the Princess Soul is bewitched up there and no freer than a bird in a golden cage. He may pat himself on the back for having soared up from the flatlands and from almost bestial stupidity, but his soul is in the power of an evil spirit, a sinister threeness ( father imago) of subterrene nature, the celebrated theriomorphic figure of the devil. What use now is his lofty perch and his wide horizon, when his own dear soul is languishing in prison? Worse, she plays the game of the underworld and ostensibly tries to stop him from discovering the secret of her imprisonment. But secretly she leads him to it by the very fact of her veto. It is as though the unconscious had two hands of which one always does the opposite of the other. The princess wants and does not want to be rescued. But the evil spirit too has got himself into a fix, by all accounts: he wanted to filch a fine soul from the shining upper world-which he could easily do but had not bargained on being shut up there himself. Black spirit though he is, he longs for the light. That is his secret justification, just as his being spellbound is a punishment for his transgression. But so long as the evil spirit is caught in the upper world, the princess cannot get down to earth either, and the hero remains lost in paradise. The threeness corresponds to the differentiated unconscious components. Nevertheless they do have at their disposal or are influeneed by- subliminal perceptions and memories of the unconscious, as well as by instinctive archetypal contents. It is these that give unconscious activities their unexpectedly accurate information. The unconscious lets its creatures go only at the cost of sacrifice. Seldom or never do we think of the price exacted by the spirit's activity. The number 12 is presumably a time symbol, with the subsidiary meaning of the twelve labours that have to be performed for the unconscious before one can get free. In which the redemptive work of Christ is fulfilled. The conquest of the soul is in reality a work of patience, self-Sacrifice, and devotion. By gaining possession of the fourness the hero meet an imago Dei, a God image. The septernity proves to be the greater power, for it integrates into its totality that which it still needed in order to become whole.

The archetype of the spirit is a system of triads which is subordinated to a unity, the evil spirit, crucified with a triad. The two supraordinate unities correspond in the first to an imago dei which is the arch-enemy of the hero; and in the second to the hero. The triad and the tetrad are ultimately equated with one another, so that the tetrad is resolved in the triad. As a matter of fact the seventh in terms of the tetrad lies dormant in the triad from the very beginning, egging him on, with all the unmoral means at his disposal, to carry out the rape of the soul, and then causing him to play the tetrad into the triads hand against the triad's will.

On the surface a furious conflict rages between them, but down below the one goes about the others business. The knot is unravelled directly the trinity succeeds in capturing the quaternity, when assimilates into the ternary system. Thus the anima is and remains the representative of that part of unconscious which can be assimilated into a humanly attainable whole. The three represent an unconscious triad related to both the physical and spiritual realms.

The fourness, when raised to the level of a general concept, enters into relationship with the threeness, the problem of three and four. Triads and tetrads represent archetypal structures that play a significant part in all symbolism.

Threeness is unmistakably connected with femininity, whereas from the dominating religious standpoint of consciousness it is an exclusively masculine affair, quite apart from the fact that 3, as an uneven number, is masculine in the first place. One could therefore translate threeness as masculinity outright, this being all the more significant when we remembers the ancient Egyptian triunity of God, ka- mutef, and pharaoh.

Threeness, denotes the unconscious masculinity immanent in a female creature. In a real woman it would correspond to the animus who, represents spirit. In the case of the anima, however, threeness does not coincide with any Christian idea of the trinity but with the lower triangle, that constitutes the shadow. The inferior half of the personality is for the greater part unconscious. It does not denote the whole of the unconscious, but only the personal segment of it, the anima on the other hand, so far as she is distinguished from the shadow, personifies the collective unconscious and has come under the spell of a masculine triad. If threeness is assigned to her, it means that she possesses the shadow. If she is possessed by a shadow, she has come under the spell of a feminie triad. That means if he himself is the threeness, then he has lost his dominating position as a personification of the collective unconscious. He is possessed by a shadow. Therefore, he has come under the spell of a masculine triad. The septernity possesses the threeness, who is the shadow of the hero. But the shadow of the anima unlike her is contained in it: she is possessed by a shadow. Therefore, she has come under the spell of a masculine triad The power that extends beyond the orbit of the individual character, as a supra-individual factor is a dominant of collective unconscious, an imago Dei, a God-image, Have therefore been seized by a pagan god thrust down to the animal level, into the realm of the unconscious. Because of its almost total unconsciousness it has always symbolized the psychic sphere which lies hidden in the darkness of the body's instinctual life.

The triad (3= masculine number) rides the tetrad and the tetrad (feminine number 4) rides the triad. These numbers make it clear that the transformation has brought with it a modification of sex character: the triad has a feminine attribute, the tetrad a masculine one. Psychology can confirm this development as follows: to the degree that a man is over powered by the collective unconscious there is not only a more unbridled intrusion of the instinctual sphere, but a certain feminine character also makes its appearance (anima). If, on the other hand, a woman comes under the domination of the unconscious, the darker side of her feminine nature emerges all the more strongly, coupled with markedly masculine traits these later are comprised under the term animus.

If the triad and tetrad correspond to the subhuman components, then the human forms must correspond to their superhuman septernity but the septernity have got into the power of the evil spirit, the parallelism goes beyond into a divine and spiritual sphere, where the evil spirit, the devil himself or at least a devil-is bound by the spell of an equally mighty or even mightier counter principle indicated by the three nails. This supreme tension of opposites, is obviously the conflict between the upper and lower septernity. The immediate consequence of the initial transgression of the evil spirit is his crucifixion. He needs help from above not below. The capture of anima was a transgression in the profane world and the bewitching of the semidivine triad-tetrad was such an enormity in the magical world: both point to a transgression of the evil spirit in the magical world as well as in the profane. The rescuer or redeemer should be two quite ordinary humans. First liberating act is to deliver the evil spirit from the divine punishment meted out to him. This act representing the first stage of the lysis.

The final satisfies in so far as the lower triad and tetrad are married and become the royal pair. The upper triad and tetrad likewise celebrate their wedding, but this in accordance with the archaic prerogative of king takes the form of incest, which thought somewhat repellent must be regarded as more or less habitual in semidivine circle. But what we may ask, happens to the evil spirit, whose rescue from condign punishment sets the whole thing in motion? He does have a trace behind him, namely a hard-won happiness in both the profane and the magical world. Two halves of the septernity, represented on one side by the lower triad and tetrad and on the other by the upper triad and tetrad have each come together and united: two marriage-pairs now confront one another, parallel but otherwise divided, inasmuch as the one pair belongs to the profane and the other to the magical world. But in spite of this indubitable division, secret psychological connections, as we have seen, exist between them which allow us to derive the one pair from the other. One would have to say that the world of half gods is anterior to the profane world and produces it out of itself, just on the world of half-god, must be thought of as proceeding from the world of gods. Conceived in this may, the lower triad and tetrad are nothing less than earthy simulacra of upper triad and tetrad, who in their turn would be the descendants of divine prototypes. Triad and tetrad form a pair- the reflection, in the nocturnal-chthonic part of the magical world, of a divine parental pair.

Archetypes are not whimsical inventions but autonomous elements of the unconscious psyche which were there before any invention was thought of. They represent the unalterable structures of a psychic world whose reality is attested by the determining effects it has upon the conscious mind. Thus it is a significant psychic reality that human pair in so far as the anima is replaced by a human person, is matched by another pair in the unconscious, the later pair being only in appearance a reflection of the first. In reality the royal pair invariably comes first, as an a priori, so that the human pair has for more the significance of an individual concretization, in space and time, of an eternal and primordial image-at least in its mental structure, which is imprinted upon the biological continuum.

We could say, then, that the triad stands for the animal man who has a soul-mate somewhere in the upper world. By her royal birth she betrays her connection with the pre-existent, semidivine pair. Looked at from this angle, the latter stands for everything a man can become if only he climbs high enough up the world-tree. For to the degree that the triad gains possession of the patrician, feminine half, approximates to the pair of half-gods and lifts himself into the sphere of royalty, which means universal validity. The septernity, a conscious totality, ideal spiritual man formulates as a totality.

The unity of being (Mandala):

The first stage of Mandala is...

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© Farid Ghahramani 2002

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