Nearing the end of the semester, I now have a collection of mandalas that I have created over the past few weeks. Though I find the mandala making process a way of relieving stress, lately it has been difficult to find time to work on this craft because I have been very busy. Even though the mandalas that I have been making do not look too intricate, the drawing of the circles and creating the patterns on the mandala involve a lot of patience. However, I have been able to create small and quick sketches. As of now, I do not have as many mandalas as I’d wish to have, but I think I am satisfied with the quality of each mandala that I’ve created.
In one of my mandalas, I incorporated a quote by Adlai E. Stevenson, which reads “Making peace is harder than making war.” The past few weeks our class has been discussing the Israeli- Palestinian conflict and I find that this quote closely relates to this topic. For years, Israel and Palestine have been experiencing an ongoing struggle and have yet to come to a compromise. This quote by Adlai Stevenson illuminates the difficulty of obtaining peace, which causes many people to turn to war because it is the easier option. Many times in the Israeli- Palestinian conflict, people went down the path of war simply because it was perceived to be the easier option. While creating this mandala, I thought about how it is important to recognize that although peace is not the easier option, it is the better option.
As our personal projects come to an end, I wish to find more time to create mandalas and continue to enjoy the calming experience of mandala making.
Jordan, I think your mandalas are very intricate and well drawn, it really looks like you put a lot of time and effort into them. I also really like how you incorporated the mandalas into themes we have been discussing in class. I understand that mandala making takes up a lot of time and requires patience but overall, do you think the practice of creating them makes you feel calmer/relieves stress in any way?