The Natural Mandala is a six-foot square original work by artist Rex Oxley. It is exhibited as a vertical sculpture that is rendered completely with organic material. It employs a multi-facetted range of texture, color, depth and architectural features that are each inspired by nature’s designs. As a traveling fine art exhibition, The Natural Mandala has touched the hearts of many who have sat before it, each with their own story to tell about their relationship with the natural world. Many have spoken about how some of the organic forms displayed within the work elicit memories from childhood while others find intriguing patterns, matrixes and iconic symbols within this natural realm.

For the contemporary Western mind, the mandala form has become synonymous with meditation practices that use it as a vehicle for focusing the conscious mind and then for centering one’s spiritual connection within the body/mind forum. This psycho-spiritual dualism is brought into conscious awareness as one who practices this form of “open eye” meditation develops their visual acuity, inducing the meditating mind toward introspection. The mandala is actually an ancient form of art. Peoples indigenous to many different cultures and religions around the globe have used the mandala to illustrate their beliefs, while for others; it is the central focus within their religious initiation practices.

The mandala form is widely used today in the East as well as here in the West with great variety. Since ancient times, it has become traditionally accepted that the circle is a diverse and powerful symbol. As a symbol of unity, wholeness and connectedness, this circle symbol evolved and has emerged as the mandala form, a highly potent, structured image of psycho-spiritual healing. Now, it is employed in many fields of mental health, anger and stress management, as well as more intense work, such as with patients afflicted with cancer, leukemia, HIV-Aids and for (art) therapists whose work extends to patients that are terminally ill. Certainly, the mandala form can aid in healing emotional traumas as well as many day to day ailments that include fatigue, tension, worry, anger, stress, despair and depression. For these, many people are recognizing the potential of meditation and the use of the mandala in this vein. People are using the mandala in their home; creating mandala meditation spaces to experience its calming influence and healing properties. Businesses, offices and large corporations are discovering the vital benefits of creating similar “therapeutic spaces” for their employees’ temporary retreat, finding that productivity increases when workers are healthy and happy within their mind, body and spirit.

Today, as we continue to face critical issues concerning nature reclamation, restoration, cultivation and conservation it is still easy to loose sight of our deepest intent to maintain purity of nature within our world. Many are fighting our battles daily to this end, while others carelessly liter and desecrate our precious natural resources. To raise awareness in the face of this mindlessness is to be reminded of the beauty and fecundity of nature in all of its exquisite grandeur and infinitesimal detail. To stop and consider the delicate color gradations within a fallen leaf or the mathematical wonder of a seedpod structure is to once again become attuned to the voice of nature. When we once again listen carefully to nature we hear the faint echoes of nature’s teaching about our place within nature and the cosmos. Finally, nature’s fervent call brings us home within, and it is within where we find our quiet center, our personal respite from the cares of the world and our deepest connection to God of All That Is, The Master Creator.

So, for many, the Natural Mandala answers the call from our innate spirit that connects with the natural unity of One. When we calibrate our energies to be in harmony with nature, we discover our intrinsic connection that we have with All That Is. It is this inherent bond that beckons to our divine spirit. As we sit before the Natural Mandala, a metaphor for our relationship with nature, we place our consciousness within its realms and experience an odyssey for our minds that opens us up in preparation for transcendence, this becoming a revival for the soul.