Month: July 2021

A Dragon’s Mandala

/ Jame A. Agapoff, MD, MS (she/they) / Leave a comment

“I sketched every morning in a notebook a small circular drawing, a mandala, which seemed to correspond to my inner situation at the time… Only gradually did I discover what the mandala really is: … the Self, the wholeness of the personality, which if all goes well, is harmonious.”
– C.G. Jung

“Mandala“ is a compound Sanskrit word derived from manda, which means “essence,” and la, meaning “container.” Thus, a mandala is a “container of essence.” The container is your reality, and the essence contained in the mandala is your mind.

In Buddhism, there are many mandalas to represent different things. There are mandalas of samsara (conditioned existence) and the universe, mandalas of pure and heavenly realms, and mandalas representing hell realms. These mandalas are idealized representations of those realities.

Meditation practices using mandalas are a powerful way of gaining awareness of different realities and mental states. For example, by visualizing a mandala of samsara “the wheel of suffering” we may become aware of our own attachments to this life and the impermanence of our existence. Similarly, visualization of a Kalachakra mandala, which represents enlightened society and individual being, allows us to appropriate those enlightened qualities. Thus mandalas show us our faults but also our ultimate potential.

The psychiatrist, Carl Jung, saw mandalas as “a representation of the unconscious self.” He believed his paintings of mandalas helped him to identify emotional states and work towards a wholeness in personality. Jung’s mandalas helped him understand a deeper sense of his own reality, and he used that awareness to grow and transform himself into a better person and healer.

Jung recognized that each one of us is a mandala. Like a kaleidoscope, the mandala changes with our thoughts, emotions, intentions, and actions. It is the reality we perceive and the one we choose to create every day of our lives.

In the Asian traditions, the dragon is a positive symbol associated with wisdom and wrathful compassion. Modern Western culture has appropriated this progressive view of dragons, imparting upon them virtues such as strength, truth, and fearlessness. As depicted below, dragons and their symbols are common features in the mandalas depicting enlightened societies and self. Like the wrathful dieties, a dragon’s mind is clear, fierce, and unattached. Because they have conquered their own minds, they are the protectors of the perfect truth represented by the idealized mandala as seen below.

By visualizing the dragon as part of our own mandala, we discover a skillful means (a shortcut) to harness our own potential (inseparable from the dragon’s potential) for self-improvement and realization. Dragons have always been alive in the collective unconscious. Let them free.

Cut Your Losses

/ Jame A. Agapoff, MD, MS (she/they) / Leave a comment

Sunk costs are investments of time, energy, or money that have already been made. In life, there a plenty of sunk costs: i.e. the money we spend on investments, the time we spend courting a potential love, the energy we expend on achieving a particular goal. The important thing to remember about sunk costs is that they have already been spent. Therefore, they should not impact our future decisions. This is easier said than done.

In psychology, the sunk cost effect as defined by Arkas and Blumer, is the act of continuing an endeavor once an investment of money, effort, or time has been made out of a desire not to appear wasteful. The problem with the sunk cost effect is that it often leads to further losses.

For example, let’s say you invest a significant amount of time into a research paper but it is rejected by one journal, then another, then a third. The sunk cost effect might motivate you to keep submitting it to other journals; however, the wise choice may be to write something new.

Another real life example is related to investments. Let’s say you invested in the stock of a company and it lost 50% of its value. The earnings report shows trouble ahead, but you really hate to lose half your investment. What do you do? If you fall prey to the sunk cost effect you might wait to sell, or worse, invest more. In this case the best action is to sell because the sunk cost is gone and the probability of “getting even” is low.

Now, how about we tweak this example slightly. Let’s say the stock dropped by half, but the earning report and fundamentals look good, and the company appears undervalued. Do you sell? If you allowed emotion to drive your decision, then you might follow everyone else off the cliff. When evaluating sunk costs we must always be aware of our emotions. If we are operating from a place of greed or fear, we’re sure to lose every time.

So, cut your losses, but always be mindful of how your emotions are influencing your actions.

References:

Arkes, H.R. and Blumer, C., 1985. The psychology of sunk cost. Organizational behavior and human decision processes, 35(1), pp.124-140.

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Construct Your Uniform Wisely

/ Jame A. Agapoff, MD, MS (she/they) / Leave a comment

When I was a teenager, I aspired to be a non-conformist. For awhile, I dressed all in black…yep, I was one of those goth kids, until I slowly transformed into someone resembling a Sherpa. In college, I was a cross between a hipster and a preppie with a flare of geek! Haha!

I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was simply trading one uniform for another. This new uniform had rules. In essence, I was simply appropriating a new group identity, which is, after all, very conformist.

Having reinvented my self a few times over the years, I realize now that there is no such thing as non-conformity. All of us are conforming to something, whether it is a culture, a movement, or some existential ideal of a perfect self. What we wear is simply the outward reflection of this choice.

As all of us move through life, we should carefully choose our uniforms. Like it or not, appearances matter, and we are judged by them. The uniform we step into the world with speaks without words. In this way, there is little difference between the punk rocker and Wall Street trader. Both conform in their own way; both communicate through their appearance; both construct their uniform wisely.

What should you wear today?

Photo by Bruno Bueno on Pexels.com