Update 1.32 — hope and trust, impression instead of impact.

In this update, I will add two terms to the Mandala of Characters. These terms are:
— hope, and
— trust.

I decided to add “hope” and “trust” to the set of concepts and phrases that we can find in the lower right corner of the Mandala of Characters. Now, this set looks as follows:

impact, magic, skepticism, alchemy, influence

The word “hope” I have decided to place in this way.

impact, impression, magic, skepticism, hope, alchemy, influence

In the above set, we can also notice that I crossed out the word “impact” and next to it, I placed the word “impression”. It is because I have decided to remove the word “impact” from this set. Instead, I use the word “impression”. I will explain later in update why I made this change.

As for the term “trust”, it will refer to the set of concepts which is in the upper left corner of the Mandala. This set looks as follows:

attention, attitude, belief, focus, persuasion

I want to place the “trust” into this set in this way.

attention, attitude, trust, belief, focus, persuasion

The general diagram of the Mandala of Characters after adding “trust” and “hope”, and replacing “impact” with “impression” will look as follows:

First, I explain, why did I decide to add the terms “hope” and “trust”?

Let me start with “hope”.

HOPE

At first, let me remind you that I want to include “hope” in the following set of concepts.

impression, magic, skepticism, hope, alchemy, influence

To use the word “hope” once inspired me the popular in English language phrase “hoping for a miracle”.

Specifically, I was fascinated by the connection of the words “hope” and “miracle”. I realized that there is a psychological link between these two concepts. In the set of concepts that I presented above, actually, there is no word “miracle”, but the “miracle” I associated with the word “magic”. And “magic” we can find in the above set of concepts. So, I think we can say that we have a connection between the words “magic” and “hope”.

Besides, “hope” may apply to other concepts in the above set, as well. It means the concepts of “impression”, “alchemy” and “influence” are related to “hope”. It is because, when we make “impression”, or we want to “influence” someone, we “hope” that our “impression” or “influence” will bring the effect we expect. We hope that in some magical or alchemical way our business or affairs will go in the direction we would like.

Hope is, in a sense, magical. It is because it is often difficult for us to justify why we hope? We can hope for something against logic and commons sense.

We just feel and know that we can, we should, or we must hope for something. We just feel that hope itself is a force that can bring impression and influence.

The fact that hope is a powerful force confirms, for example, the phrase “hope dies last”. So when we lose hope, we stop putting our efforts into this, what we had hoped for.

The fact that hope is a powerful force confirms, for example, the phrase “hope dies last”. So when we lose hope, we stop putting our efforts into this, what we had hoped for. In turn, when we fight with someone or with something, we actually lose with something or someone when we lose hope that we can win.

Admittedly, in life, it happens that sometimes our actions start to pay off some time after we lost hope. However, the fact is that, with hope, we can devote much more time and energy to our activities than if we acted without hope. Thanks to this, the expected effects of our actions is more likely. And it is so, regardless of whether the effects of our actions appeared before or after the moment when we lost hope.

All in all, just because we hope we put much more energy into what we do. Thanks to hope, we are also able to persevere in some actions much longer than without hope.

Hope is also useful in times when the situation looks hopeless. Then we are often actually hoping for some miracle, magic, or some other mysterious forces that can improve our situation.

Here comes to my mind some period of time of my life. It means, the last ten years when Poland was communist, that is in the 1980s. At that time, in Poland and in many countries of the communist bloc, there was a severe economic crisis. Apart from the economic crisis, common people had no other alternative than to be stuck in it. It was because Poland was then separated from the rest of the world by the so-called iron curtain. The average Pole could not go abroad to improve his fate. So, in a situation where we had to be stuck in a difficult situation, and we could not get out of it, one option left for us. That is hope for a miracle and the hope that this miracle would finally come someday.

So, then, the popularity gained various magical theories and practices, which could help change our situation for the better, for example:

• Various meditation techniques that can bring good health and successes.
• Various methods of self-healing.
• Bio-Energy Therapy, or Bio-Energy Healing.
  At that time, crowds attended the sessions of various healers. Healers from all over the world come to us, and they were very popular. For example, I heard a lot about Filipino healers.
• Hypnosis.
  Then, even on public television therapeutic sessions of the famous hypnotist Anatoly Kaszpirowski were broadcasted.
• Dowsing, radiesthesia.
  Dowsing services were very popular. Specialists in this field helped to find so-called water veins, that is groundwater (specifically—aquifers). Dowsing specialists marked the best areas for digging a water well. They are able to find aquifers up to few meters under the ground. (Currently, with the help of instruments measuring the electrical resistance of the ground, aquifers can be found deeper, up to ten meters or more under the ground).
  According to dowsers, water veins can also have a negative impact on people. So, dowsers helped locate the right place to build a home, the best place to sleep, rest, and work. Besides, dowsing was used to find diseased organs in the body; to cleanse the human energy field (namely, aura); to remove negative radiation of objects and charge them with positive energy; to recognize the sex of the child during pregnancy; to detect whether somebody has sympathy or antipathy towards us; to find the appropriate diet, and many, many others. At that time, I was very impressed with the radiesthesia. I also bought a special pendulum, and I tried to learn to use it in private.
• Healing with shapes and symbols.
  On sale were various healing shapes or symbols. For example, they were printed on a piece of fabric, which could be put under a bed-sheet. And thanks to it during sleep, we could be healed or regenerated.
• Healing amulets and talismans.
  
• Journals and books.
  Journals and books about various magical topics had high sales.
• Acupuncture and reflexology (or zone therapy).
  Foot reflexology is the only alternative method that I still use in my life. I do not know how much it helped me, but I just like to do it because it is easy to use. Under my desk, I have a few massage rollers and balls, and for example, now I can massage my feet while writing.
• Psychotronics.
  
• Feng shui.
• Astrology.
• I Ching.
• Affirmations.
• Music therapy.
• Chromotherapy.
• Tarot.
• and many, many others.

Besides, at that time when I was young in Poland also became popular:

• Enneagram,
• Carl Gustav Jung’s theories,
• psychoanalysis and various types of psychotherapeutic methods,
• meditation,
• yoga,
• philosophies of the East and the paths of spiritual development, such as Buddhism,
• dream analysis,
• etc.

In short, Poland in the 1980s absorbed like a sponge, various alternative or magical methods from all over the world.

I also participated in, for example:

• In rebirthing sessions.
• I was on a course, where I studied various spiritual techniques, among others so-called “fire-walking”.
• I attended to fair and festival of alternative medicine and lifestyle,
• I bought some amulets and symbols that were supposed to bring me success,
• I bought types and CD-s with affirmations and healing music to bring me health and prosperity,
• I read about magic, alternative medicine and lifestyle, for example, Kahuna magic, numerology, books of Leonard Orr, Louise Hay, Osho, and others.
• I read books about meditation and Buddhist practices, for example, Thich Nath Hanh books,
• I was very fascinated by two Polish professors:
  — Włodzimierz Sedlak — priest and biologist, founder of the Polish school of bioelectronics, the electromagnetic theory of life, and the concept of “wszechprónia”. (I did not found English therm, probably we can translate it as “Omni-vacuum” or “Omni-space”).
  — Julian Aleksandrowicz — internist, professor of medicine, humanist, social scientist, promoter of blood donation, pioneer of Polish ecological thought. I was especially fascinated by the Professor's book entitled “Sumienie ekologiczne”, that is, “Ecological conscience”, published in 1988. Professor Aleksandrowicz postulated that ecological conscience should be popularized in society. This idea was really pioneering because the ecological conscience still hardly is spreading in our social consciousness. I think it would be worth to popularize the concept of “ecological conscience” widely.
• I wrote down and analyzed dreams,
• etc.

Personally, I was also lucky that my wife had similar interests to mine. So, we could inspire each other and share our thoughts. Also, my mother, influenced by the books and magazines that my wife and was buying, became fascinated by magic and alternative topics.

To sum up, in communism and during the long economic crisis in Poland in the 1980s:
— we hoped that our magical or alternative actions would improve our situation,
— and we hoped that some miracle would happen, in a sense, that perhaps the situation of our country would change and the crisis would somehow end.

Thus, “hope” is related to the concepts of miracle, magic, alternative, etc.

Above I mentioned about my experiences of keeping hope in time that has been very hard for me. However, as we know, people can keep hope even in much harder times. For example, in Poland during the Second World War. These times often were not giving any hope at all. The Nazi German army, which occupied Poland ruthlessly and cruelly, seemed huge and invincible. Nevertheless, a part of people in Poland and other occupied nations tried to catch any hope that the war would end someday. And they fought for survival and freedom, even in the face of the possibility of losing their lives every single day of the war.

They also fought for the future, and they tried to prepare for it somehow. Therefore, they ran underground education, namely, secret schools and universities. They hoped that when the war ends, they would be able to live and work in peace and be able to fulfill their plans and dreams.

So, hope is a powerful force.

Now I would like to return to the set of concepts to which I added “hope”.

impression, magic, skepticism, hope, alchemy, influence

We can see the word “skepticism” in this set. At first glance, skepticism is associated with doubts. So, we can ask the question, why is “skepticism” associated with “hope”?

Indeed, it is interesting.

Skepticism we can find at this point of the Mandala of Characters mainly because it is a counterweight to the concept of “believe”. “Believe” is on on the other side of the Mandala. So, “skepticism” should fit into this place of the Mandala. Indeed, this may seem strange, because we may think about skeptical people that they do not have too much hope. However, if we think about it more, we can conclude that there is an interesting relationship between hope and skepticism. It means, to know what is worth to hope for, it is worth being skeptical. It is because, thanks to skepticism, we will not put hope in something that may not come true.

It follows from this that skepticism does not undermine or reduce our hopes, on the contrary, skepticism can organize, prioritize and strengthen our hopes.

Regarding the above sot of concepts, that is, the set:

impression, magic, skepticism, hope, alchemy, influence

I would like to draw attention to the word “impression”, namely, the first word on the left side.

Until this update, I used the word “impact” instead of “impression”.

impact, impression, magic, skepticism, hope, alchemy, influence

Why I made this change?

I came to the conclusion that the word “impact” in English is nowadays widely used. For example, we can hear a lot about methods and strategies that make the impact which can be: positive, healthful, important, crucial, cultural, moral, social, political, economic, environmental, educational, academic etc. So, I think, “impact” we can rather treat as a force that somebody wants to use to make some changes. And in the Mandala of Characters “impact”, we can treat as the force which can make every type of character. Then, “impact” looks like a very universal term that suits everybody.

In that case, I decided to replace “impact” with “impression”.

I think “impression” better fit to the neighboring term “magic”.

Why is “impression” connected well with the “magic”?

It is because people who use “magic” in interpersonal relationships try to exert an “impression” on others. In a sense, they do it like some magicians or illusionists who thank to what they do and what they say, try to exert a strong “impression” on others.

The example of making a magical “impact” is “impressionism”. “Impressionism” is a direction in the art that in some way, makes a great “impression” on people.

In life, we try to make a magical impact, for example, in business, science, religion, etc. So, we try just to make “impression” in some possible way. In a sense, we use “magical tricks” which will encourage others to think or to do what we need, we desire, or we dream about.

So, probably we can say that by using an “impression” we try to make an “impact” on others. Maybe it can be our definition of magic in life:

“Using an “impression” to make an “impact”.

TRUST

As I mentioned at the beginning of this update, I added the word “trust” to the set of concepts, which we can find in the upper left corner of the Mandala of Characters. Here is this set:

attention, attitude, trust, belief, focus, persuasion

As we can see, I placed “trust” next to the concept of “belief”. I decided to do so because “belief” in our lives is often associated with “trust”.

The concept of “trust” is often used in religion. For example:

• we trust our Lord and the fate he had set for us,
• we have trust in God’s will,
• we trust God’s plans,
• we have a famous painting with the inscription “Jesus, I trust in you”, we can read about it, for example, here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divine_Mercy_image
• etc.

When it comes to typical life, “trust” can be manifested in it, for example, in these ways:

• we trust our own or someone’s potential;
• we trust our own or someone’s skills, experiences, talents, abilities;
• we trust our reliable partners and co-workers, and we give our trust (that is, “benefit of the doubt”) to new partners and co-workers;
• we trust or give our trust (that is, “benefit of the doubt”) to various companies and institutions;
• we trust, or we give the benefit of the doubt to various specialists or professionals, whose services we use;
• we trust that the products we buy in the stores are of good quality;
• etc.

So, trust is very much related to belief. For example:

• If we trust someone, it is easier to believe that what she or he is doing for us is also for us beneficial.
• If we trust someone, it is easier to believe in what she or he is saying.
• If we trust our talents, abilities, and skills, then it is easier for us to believe that we have a chance to succeed.
• When we trust someone, it is easier for us to be faithful or loyal to her or him.
• Etc.

Bibliografia: