Mandala and Feng Shui

Another example of Sacred Geography, which stems from the symbolic realm, can be found in Mandala. The mandalas are circular paintings, geometrical arrangements gradually evolving from center to periphery, and various abstract symbols appear in them. Over the centuries, the use of mandalas in China has evolved in everyday life as a way of channeling spiritual energy in a positive and individual way through Feng Shui.

Chi

The Chinese view nature as a living and breathing organism. They see the universe as a chain of life that is joined together, like a living body. This spirit of life is called Chi, and it can be expressed in three forms: one that moves in the atmosphere, one in the earth, and another that moves through the human body.

The Chinese have been conducting topographic surveys since 2000 BC, interpreting land forms according to their beliefs in mythology and Taoist astrology. All of China was organized into a huge sacred geography. Mountain areas were vigorous Chi, while flat ground was slow Chi.

Chinese medicine deals with Chi in the body, Tai Chi is the development of physical Chi through harmonious exercises, while Feng Shui deals with the research and use of earthy Chi for the purposes of human environment design: room, house, street, and city.

Yin and Yang

Yin and yang are the basic concepts of plus and minus. In the Chinese world, the comparison is analogous to the full moon and the missing moon. In a world of full moon people become more Yang, meaning they tend to have more activity. The opposite is true in the days of the New Moon. So people tend to Yin, they are peaceful and spiritual, relaxed and self-absorbed.

Every view, rural or urban, has its own Yin or Yang quality. A peaceful landscape, such as a forest or green meadow, has a female influence on chi energy. Large cities have a Yang - masculine quality. Places exposed to the sun are also of Yang quality, and shady places are of Yin quality.

Four Elements

The Yin and Yang are divided into four elements: air, water, earth, fire. Every element affects the other in a constructive or destructive relationship. For example, the element of the earth: plenty of sun - fire, in the fall season will bring good crop, but with too much sun the crop will be destroyed.

There are those who add a fifth element - tree. It is common and basic in ancient cultures as the source of life, which incorporates all four elements: it sucks water and is rich in moisture, its top moves in the wind, its fruits are like fire and its place of planting is in the ground.

Mandela

The four elements are also the four winds of the sky, and in this way the spatial mandala pattern is created.

The mandala is a circular metaphysical geometric illustration of the cosmos, containing various symbols, each of which is an archetypal symbol, in an inside to outside direction from the center. It express man's desire for self-unity with the universe.

Mendalas usually describe spiritual, intellectual, and emotional processes. 
There are also ancient mandalas that are cognitive maps of geographical regions. These landscape mandalas created a sacred geography. They include mountains and rivers, and other holy sites, such as tombs of saints. Monks and pilgrims made pilgrimages to them according to a certain route painted on the mandala. The holy places were seen as steps in the world of enlightenment.

Feng Shui

A useful sacred geography that developed from the world of mandala, and is very common nowadays, is called Feng Shui. The literal meaning of the concept is "wind and water," and it expresses harmony between the Chi of the earth and the Chi of mankind for the benefit of both.

Feng Shui is a collection of many archaic symbols from different fields designed to express the harmonious connection between nature and man. In Feng Shui, the basic concept that has evolved is that the original Chi can be channeled through a system of elaborate metaphysical geometry to each person and place, to the level of the individual organ. In this way, a complex and integrated system of law and practice evolved, encompassing all aspects of human life.

Bhagua

The most common tool for practical use in Feng Shui is the Bhagua, which is actually a mandala. The Bhaguan mandala is shaped like a compass, in which symbols of Fang Shui appear instead of the directions of the compass.

In addition to the four elements, the four seasons will appear in accordance with each direction, the main landscape bodies such as the sea, the sky, the mountain and the plain, the various family members such as father and mother, brother and sister, and many other archetypal symbols, abstracts of the world in which we live. Each direction features are well detailed in tables. The complex traditional Chinese calendar, which has a dozen animals, is also based on a similar principle.

The use of the Bhagua is done by placing it in the center of the space or the desired time, with its head toward the source of spiritual energy. From then on, the characterization of all parts of space and time is made.

Landscape painting inspired by idyllic Chi energy

The symbol of Yin and Yang, of two opposite Chi energies in the universe

The five elements arranged in the shape of a star

The mandala is a symbolic circular illustration of the universe

A meditating Tibetan monk draws mandala with colorful sand

Bhagua is an eight-sided mandala used by Feng Shui

The Humanized and Sacred Space

Gaston Bachelard wrote, in his book "The Poetry of Space", that metaphysics is rooted in geometry. Whether we like it or not, there is a basic spatial quality in thought. Man exists in space much more than he exists in time. We define ourselves in the expressions of our space, much more than in any other way. The combination of the concepts ''outside'' and ''inside'' created a dialectic of division. This is a clear geometry that blinds us once we bring it into action in reality. It is very similar to the dialectic of "yes" and "no", which decide everything. If one is not careful, it becomes the basis for images that control all positive and negative thoughts. Contrary to this, these concepts, because of their proximity, are also in intimate relations. They are always willing to change direction and convert their hostility. As a result, in the images of space we are in an area where exaggeration and reduction are easy and common. We live through reducing and exaggerating them. We strive to define existence and by doing so, elevate all situations to create a super-situation. The dialectic of ''here'' and ''there'' has thus been elevated to an absolute level, whereby these two unfortunate adverbs are adorned with the uncontrolled powers of a determined being.

In his book "Air and Dreams," Bachelard wrote that the landscape is a process of witty changes, in which the imaginary is present in the reality. It lead and amplify the powers of the soul. The real journey on earth is a journey to the imaginary land. In real psychology, imagination is primarily a form of spiritual mobility, of the best, most vivid and exciting kind. There is nothing more correct than to grant the land, which mobilizes all our forces, to be employed in it, an imagination that will elevate it from the level of materialism and give it a life of its own. We experience the face of the earth through the ability to renew our hearts and minds. Imaginary life with real laws controls its images, and they create an invitation for a journey, which we feel within us as feelings of liberation and relief. Imagination is not a condition; it is the embodiment of human experience.

Rocks that resemble the human figure, whether wholly or partially, are one of the most common phenomena in nature and are some of the best attractions for humankind. Around the world there are many sites where such forms appear, and there are many that are concentrated in one place, such as canyons. One of the most famous places in the world of human forms carved in the rock is the Red Rock Canyon of Petra.

For the Chinese there is even more significance to the forms of mankind in the rocks, since according to ancient Chinese religion the origin of the gods is in the mountains cliffs. In the heart of the Imperial Palace in the Forbidden City of Beijing are gardens with a number of large natural limestone rocks, pierced by many natural holes in a variety of shapes, whose purpose is to evoke the human imagination of the connection between the human figure and the landscapes of nature.

Martin Gray writes that throughout the ages, many cultures have described the geographical space in which they existed, and expressed this in a variety of ways. One expression of these concepts was the establishment of holy places.

Perhaps the oldest form of sacred geography is that of the Aborigines of Australia.

According to their ancient legends, in the mythological period of the beginning of the world, known as the 'dream', different creatures in the form of totem animals and humans emerged from the surface of the earth and began to roam the earth. They wandered across the earth, forming features of the landscape through everyday activities such as birth, play, singing, fishing, hunting, marriage and death. At the end of each dream these characteristics became clear as stones, and the bodies of their forefathers became hills, rocks, caves, lakes and other landscapes.

Prominent places, such as Ayers Rock, have become holy places. The Aborigines followed the paths of their fathers' dreams. The paths that the totem fathers passed through the landscape were called dream trails, or songs, and they connected the holy places with special powers. The mythological births of these ancestors gave the Aborigines a sacred geography, a tradition of pilgrimage, and a nomadic way of life for more than forty thousand years, making their culture the most lasting in the world.

The ''elephant and fish'' rock in Petra, the world's number one tourist site, all of which are natural anthropomorphic forms carved in the canyon's walls, alongside which the Nabataean curved monuments.

The cafe on the shore of the lake is an illustration of a dialectic between 'inside' and 'outside'

  

A rock garden in the heart of the Imperial Palace in the Forbidden City of Beijing

  

The Ouluru is a large, isolated desert rock. It is about 330 meters high and the base diameter is about 9 kilometers. It's the world's largest monolith. It is located almost exactly in the geographical center of Australia. It is sacred to the Aboriginal population.

The book Anthropomorphic Maps

Modern technological revolutions did not make the location less significant. On the contrary, they have increased its importance, because humans have become more aware of themselves. There is no more natural in our time than to combine the spectacular views of the earth's surface and outer space with new images.

Anthropomorphism, which is the provision of human qualities and appearance to inanimate objects and animals, is very common in world cultures as a means of expression. Within the framework of all known religious beliefs, this principle is used on a daily basis, but modern technologies also require the use of it in order to improve the connection between the machine and the person.

The great popularity of Anthropomorphism rests on the fact that the human body is the focal point of attention to cultivation, nutrition and health. The human body is a miniature world in which the outside world is reflected. Therefore, there is a historical collaboration between medical professionals and artists for the purpose of illustrating the anatomy by the most graphic and artistic methods, even at the expense of pure scientific description.

In the book "Anthropomorphic Maps" are described, in the first part - ''anthropomorphism", the origins of anthropomorphism.

The second part, "The Anthropomorphic Map," describes the sources of these maps, in which the surface is described as a human figure.

The third section, "Historical Anthropomorphic Maps," covers the development of these maps from the dawn of history to the present.

In the fourth section, "Other Anthropomorphic Maps", original maps of different regions of the world, from continents, through states to islands, are presented.

The fifth part - "Map of the Human Figure of the Holy Land" - deals with the original work of the author of this book, which sheds light on the origins and meaning of Jewish faith.

The sixth part - "The Anthropomorphic City" - deals with the city. The city is a whole expression of Anthropomorphism in space.

The seventh part - "Earth and Outer Space" - is devoted to the Anthropomorphic landscapes that are revealed in outer space.

The eighth part - "Means of Transport" - deals with the car, the ship, and the airplane, through which mankind travels from place to place, and in the way gives them humanized qualities.

Yiddish and the Holocaust

Conversation about the Holocaust after a Yiddish concert in Central park, New York, between three people from the audience, in June 2018.

The Domes of Paris

When the Dreyfus affair broke out in 1895, a very important development in the field of aviation also occurred, the invention of Zeppelin. The zeppelin was a German invention, which the French were very afraid of. Behind them were 100 years of almost exclusive control of the air. This was thanks to the invention of the hot-air and hydrogen manned balloons, back in 1783, seven years before the French Revolution. Now, for the first time, there was an aircraft not at the mercy of the winds. Zeppelins could reach anywhere, at any time, and stay above the target as much as they wished. The military and political reality has changed completely. World War I broke out and was largely influenced by the air raids of the German zeppelins. It shaped the modern state.

The period of the Dreyfus trial is also known as the "beautiful period" or the "Belle Epoque" in the history of France. During this period French culture reached its peak. The balloon was the technological symbol, as well as the cultural source of inspiration. All sectors of were influenced by it, especially architecture and painting. Everything that was high was decorated in detail. The most notable feature was the Eiffel Tower, which was originally designed for tying balloons as part of the international trade fair in honor of the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. But the most appropriate architectural and periodical symbol was the ornate dome, which was built in many institutions in Paris at that time. These ornate domes resemble the first balloons, which were made of silk sheets. On the outside, the domes are prominent features in the urban landscape and are integrated as architectural pearls between the roofs. Anyone who enters them is immediately impressed by their unique size and decoration. Time stands and the soul expands.

It is important to say that unlike the domes of religious buildings around the world, the Parisian dome is secular. It is located in public buildings of all kinds. It is addressed for the secular citizen. The domes illustrate the French worldview during the Belle Epoque. They saw the sky as a painting of unlimited inspiration, not only religious, but cultural and human in general. It was now possible to use the sky as a colorful background for Impressionist painting, which became the flagship of French culture. This is expressed in the city's most important museums.

Paris was completely rebuilt during the Belle Epoque period, with Large squares leading to long boulevards. The boulevards cross the city like air routes. There are dialogues between the square and the boulevard, the circle and the straight line, the dome and the long hall. The dome and the square are a place of convergence and a sense of eternal perfection. In contrast, the long hall or the boulevard represent a story plot developing over time.

The dome or the square can be compared to the French ''macron'' cookie, which was created at the beginning of the 20th century, as a cookie made up of two discs, including a filling. The macron is considered difficult for baking.

The long hall or boulevard can be compared to the baguette, the long and narrow French bread. The baguette is a simple bread and was invented in World War I. when French did not have enough time to puff the dough for complex breads during the war nights.