The final desire, moksha, is beyond language and therefore more difficult to talk about. Its mystery is what allows moksha to have such great power. Moksha speaks to para atman, the supreme divinity. It is the desire for liberation and freedom from suffering. Moksha is the motivation to know something greater, yet unknown — beyond.
If we want to be more pragmatic and practical with moksha, we can describe this desire as not wanting to be burdened by that which brings pain, suffering, disappointment or despair.
I offer you this poem by Mary Oliver that, for me, expresses how the sacred and spiritual can be found in any moment as long as one is curious and open to listening.
I don't know where prayers go,
or what they do.
Do cats pray, while they sleep
half-asleep in the sun?
Does the opossum pray as it
crosses the street?
The sunflowers? The old black oak
growing older every year?
I know I can walk through the world,
along the shore or under the trees,
with my mind filled with things
of little importance, in full
self-attendance. A condition I can't really
call being alive
Is a prayer a gift, or a petition,
or does it matter?
The sunflowers blaze, maybe that's their way.
Maybe the cats are sound asleep. Maybe not.
While I was thinking this I happened to be standing
just outside my door, with my notebook open,
which is the way I begin every morning.
Then a wren in the privet began to sing.
He was positively drenched in enthusiasm,
I don't know why. And yet, why not.
I wouldn't persuade you from whatever you believe or whatever you don't. That's your business.
But I thought, of the wren's singing, what could this be
if it isn't a prayer?
So I just listened, my pen in the air.
Moksha Exploratory Questions
- How would you define freedom?
- How does freedom show up in your life; or how would you like it to?
- What allows you to feel unburdened?
- What is sacred (truth, god, divine) to you?
- What is your relationship to the sacred?
- How does that relationship free you from fear, anxiety, grief, and the pains of life?
Mandala Making
Get all your supplies ready, or at least what you anticipate you will need. The basics are:
- Paper, poster board or cardboard
- Scissors, X-ACTO blade
- Glue
- Magazines, images, old cards
- Embellishments, glitter, string, cord, etc.
- Compass or bowl to make your mandala.
- Take some time to answer the moksha exploratory questions (following) for yourself. You can write them down or just sit with them for a bit to activate the feelings of moksha within before you start your collage.
- In your sacred space, close the eyes and turn inward Remember the answers and feelings that the questions have brought to the surface.
- Scan through the magazines and pull out the images that you are attracted to without thinking about how they will fit together or if they make any sense. Let the images speak to you.
- Cut out your circular mandala from the paper or cardboard to know the size of what you are looking for and how to bring the reverential quality within the circle.
- Look through the images. Decide which ones are most important: the ones that take you to the feelings of liberation, freedom, curiosity…. moksha — the beyond.
- Make fine cuts on the images you have chosen.
- Arrange them inside your mandala to tell the story of what artha means to you. Essentially you are creating an image definition of moksha.
- Glue the images within your mandala.
- Write any thoughts, ideas, other images or references that came up throughout the process. Like I mentioned in the tutorial, I like to keep my journal next to me while I am creating for two reasons. Firstly, to jot down anything that comes up, and secondly, to write things down that will distract me or pull me away from creating. Sometimes I remember I have to finish the laundry or call someone.If it’s going to distract me and it’s not urgent, I write it down to do later.
- Give thanks for the time in your sacred creative space, and add the collage to your altar.