5. Square and psychological states.

Next important element of the Mandala will be to show how changes of psychological states take place.

To use psychological states in the Mandala mostly inspired me Enneagram. To the ideas that I took from Enneagram, I added Carl Gustav Jung’s ideas and my own modifications.

Thus, the changes of psychological states are presented in such a way that when psychological states change, our behaviors are becoming similar to behaviors of other’s character types. Symbolically, then, we move to other types when our psychological states changes.

To symbolically present psychological states and movement between them, I used a square.

The sides and diagonals of the square symbolize the connections between psychological states.

The vertices of the square symbolize psychological states. These psychological (or mental, psychic) states are:

1. Conscious State. That is, when we are most typical or normal, or when we are under the control of our Consciousness.
2. Strong Self-Esteem State (or Power State). That is, in general, when we feel powerful or when we have high self-esteem.
3. Soft Self-Esteem State (or Vulnerable State). That is, in general, when we feel vulnerable or when we have low self-esteem.
4. Unconscious State (or Complementary State). That is the State which in our case is the most untypical, abnormal, unpredictable, unexpected, etc. We are in this State when our Unconsciousness has the greatest control over us. So, Unconscious State is opposite to Conscious State. And, at the same time, Unconscious State is complementing Conscious State.

So, in general, our behavior changes depending on the state in which we are.

We usually try to act consciously. That is, we try to be in the Conscious State. Then, from our point of view, we are most normal, typical, and predictable. Then, we are able the most consciously manage to control our behavior. In short, then, we have the biggest self-control. Conscious State is also a state in which often we would prefer to be all the time. We believe that it is our natural state and we should follow it. Besides, we consciously believe that other people should perceive us as we are in Conscious State. And usually, this is the way we are towards other people. Also, other people are accustomed to our conscious behavior, and they perceive us in this way. So, we often think that Conscious State is the state that represents us. We also believe that is who we really are. That, this is our real character, style, image, way of being, etc. Figuratively, we can say that Conscious State among psychological states plays a specific role of the boss, manager, leader, and so on.

However, we are not able to consciously control our behavior all the time. That is, we are unable to be always in Conscious State. And again and again, we go under the influence other psychological states, on which Conscious State has a lesser impact. These other psychological states are:
— Strong Self-Esteem State (or Power State),
— Soft Self-Esteem State (or Vulnerable State), and
— Unconscious State (or Complementary State).

Strong Self-Esteem State (or Power State) is when we just feel powerful, or we have high self-esteem. For example:

• when we are feeling valuable;
• when we have an impact on our environment;
• we think that we have an advantage over other people in some ways;
• we have the motivation to develop;
• our spirit is uplifted;
• etc.

Soft Self-Esteem State (or Vulnerable State) is when we just feel vulnerable, or we have low self-esteem. For example:

• we feel undervalued;
• the surrounding is overwhelming us and has a too big influence on us;
• we must give in to something, or we have to do something that we do not want to do, or actually, we do not know what we want to do;
• it is more difficult for us to develop, we lack motivation for our own invention;
• lack of willingness or conviction to do something that we want;
• we feel “blue”, sad, depressed, etc.
• it is easier for us to adapt to someone’s way of thinking and acting than to keep our own way of thinking and acting;
• etc.

In the Mandala of Characters, I do not treat the Soft Self-Esteem State (or Vulnerable State) as something bad that we should avoid, and something that it is not worth to give in. In many situations, we need this State very much, and it is beneficial for us. For example, one of great role of Vulnerable State is to create a counterweight to its opposite State. That is, to the Strong Self-Esteem State (or Power State). Thanks to this, Vulnerable State greatly contributes to maintaining balance in our psyche.

Besides to Power or Vulnerable State, we can also give in to the State on which our Conscious State has the least impact. This State is—Unconscious State. It is the State in which we are the least guided by our Consciousness. Then our Consciousness has the least control. We can say, that then for some time we give in to a different life philosophy, lifestyle, way of being, etc. It means we give in to a lifestyle, which is opposite to the lifestyle we have in our Conscious State.

As a rule, we try to avoid the Unconscious State when we are between people, and, in general, in everyday life. For example, at work, at school, in public places, etc. Most often, we can be in the Unconscious State either when we are alone or when we are in the company of close friends and loved ones. Among less close people we can also be in Unconscious State. For example:
— during some good fun, party;
— under the influence of alcohol or other stimulants;
— under the influence of some moods or excitements;
— under the influence of someone charismatic;
— etc.

These situations, however, are less typical. It means they depend less on ourselves and more on some external factors. That is why, as a rule, when we have a decisive influence on the given situation, we give in the Unconscious State when we are alone or in a group of trusted and close people. And if we are between people, then we can move to the Unconscious State, when we feel or think that others do not pay attention to us. It can be like that, for example, while shopping, walking around the city, while we are in a cafe, pub or restaurant, etc.

An interesting case of moving to Unconsciousness when we are between people is a situation when we are tired, exhausted, etc. For example, at work, we can give in to our Unconscious State, when we are just so tired that we no longer have the strength to control ourselves consciously.

Similarly, different moods or emotions can cause this that our Unconscious State will have a bigger impact than our other psychological states. For example, it can be such moods and emotions like anger, rage, euphoria, excitement, big joy, etc. Such a situation we can observe, for example, in the behavior of various athletes, sports stars or sports celebrities. Under the influence of exhaustion, tension, pressure, doping the supporters, the drama of the situation, etc., often they move from their Conscious State to other psychological states. And, among others, they just move to their Unconscious State.

And often under the influence of their Unconscious State they:
— either do something extraordinary,
— or they behave inappropriately, or they do something that is far below their capabilities.

We can ask here, why we are constantly moving between the four above main psychological states?

Generally speaking:
— if we spend too much time in one or more psychological state,
— or one of the states is impacting us too much,

it often leads to a disturbance in the balance of our psyche.

Then, to restore balance, our psyche strives to move us, at least for some time, to another psychological state.

Our psychological states often change under the influence of other people, For example:

• when other people tell us that we are behaving inappropriately,
• when others do not like when we are over-confident or under-estimated, and they try to influence us somehow, to change our attitude,
• when we are letting others have an influence on our mood,
• etc.

So, generally speaking, into other psychological states:

• either we lead ourselves, (that is, we do it under our own influence),
• or others bring us into other psychological states.

Besides, various circumstances and life situations can bring us to different psychological states.

More broadly, psychological states I will discuss in chapters about particular types of the Mandala of Characters.

In the diagram below, I use the square to symbolically present psychological states. It means each vertex of the square represents one state.

The square, in turn, I placed in a circle which symbolically contains all individual types of characters. It means each point on the circle represents a different character. Among them, I distinguished 12 main types of characters.

The arrangement of the above square corresponds specifically to the Moist Air type. Each of the other types of the Mandala of Characters has its own properly arranged square. Squares for particular types I will present in chapters dedicated to each type separately.

In general, however, analogically like in the square above, each type of character will have its psychological state arranged as follows:

• Conscious State is in the place from which takes name the given type of character. So, Conscious State is the state that represents the given type.
• Opposite to Conscious State, that is, on the other side of the Mandala, is Unconscious State (or Complementary State).
• On the other two vertices, opposite each other, are:
  — Strong Self-Esteem State (or Power State), and
  — Soft Self-Esteem State (or Vulnerable State).

Regarding the Power and Vulnerable State, in the diagram above, we can see that the speech balloons have inscriptions “Power or Vulnerable State”. This is because, during the development of the Mandala of Characters, I came to the conclusion that Power State for a given type can be in two places. Also, Vulnerable State for a given type can be in two places. Initially, as in Enneagram, I assumed that during Power or Vulnerable State, we can move to one place. However, after a lot of considerations, I came to the surprising conclusion that for a given type, Power or Vulnerable State can be formed in two places on the Mandala of Characters. I will write more about this later in this description of the Mandala construction.

So, each type has its psychological states, which are arranged analogically to the above diagram. Also, for every type of character, the position of the whole square (with psychological states on it) will be different.

In other words, the above square, whose verticals represent four psychological states, rotates inside the circle. The circle on which are located the types of characters. Therefore, for every type of character, this square is located differently.

Along by the above square, we move from one psychological state to another. This is done so that we consciously try to stay in Conscious State. That is, on the one of the vertices of the square.

From this vertex where is Conscious State we can move to the following state:

• towards one of the two vertices, where are located—Strong Self-Esteem States (or Power States);
• towards one of the two vertices, where are located—Soft Self-Esteem States (or Vulnerable States);
• and directly (along the diagonal of the square) towards the vertex, where is located—Unconscious State (or Complementary State).

In the case, when we are in one of the two vertices where is “Power or Vulnerable State”, we can move from there further to the Unconscious State.

If we are at the vertex of the square, where is Unconscious State (or Complementary State), from there we can move:

• towards one of the two vertices, where are located—Strong Self-Esteem States (or Power States);
• towards one of the two vertices, where are located—Soft Self-Esteem States (or Vulnerable States);
• and directly (along the diagonal of the square) towards the vertex, where is located—Conscious State.

In the case, when we are in one of the two vertices where is “Power or Vulnerable State”, we can move from there further to the Conscious State.

About the ways mentioned above of moving between psychological states, I will talk more later in this description of the Mandala of Characters.

In conclusion, the above square, whose vertices correspond to our psychological states, symbolically represents our psyche. The appropriate location of this square on the Mandala of Character will symbolize particular types of characters.