Dualistic Tension

In 2005, I became aware of having dualistic tension within myself. As my stay in the United States lengthened, differences between my culture of origin and adoption became more evident. In graduate school, the gap between myself and my classmates felt acute. I was thinking about quitting school. Then I took a class taught by Alexander Shaia, a Jungian sandplay therapist. In his class, we studied Robert Johnson’s writing on the Mandorla and were asked to practice drawing a Mandorla for twenty one days. Through this practice, I created the list that follows (more recently edited). It has held importance for me. The image of the Mandorla allows me to sort the tension of opposites, or I should say, the duality that I face. It also guides me to accept an unknown possibility in the emerging third, which is represented by the middle column below. This is the almond shape in which the image of Christ was often placed, where heaven and earth overlap:

The Mandorla suggests resolution through the creation of a third thing. When Christ is placed within the Vesica Piscis (or Bladder of a fish), his universal function is revealed. Personally, I am inclined to see that he symbolizes the unification of God and Goddess, however there are many ways to apply this principle. The principle itself can be described in many ways, but I prefer to think of it as wholeness, which we can take to be the transcendent function of the Self.