The Mountain Man Mandala

The model is purposefully simplistic and correlates the ancient elements of nature (the elements of life) to the sensory manifestation of individual consciousness.

This key concept of environmental layering explores the observations of the similarities and differences contained in the specifications of the following natural environments:

The Outer Cosmic Environment
The realm of the earth, moon and sun - the local environment immediately accessible to the understanding of individual living beings of the deep cosmos ... understanding the nature of the cosmic elemental fire.

The Outer Terrestrial Environment

The realm of the earth's surface, the winds, the waters, the mountains and the forests and the multitudes of terrestrial planetary living beings: the world_view of the elements of living nature - earth, water and air, which are moved by the permeation of the cosmic fire into their realm.

The Inner Terrestrial Environment

The immediately perceived sensory mechanisms which engineer the various levels of individual consciousness. An exploration of the sensory correlates of consciousness and the corresponding mapping of these to the elements of survival without which life cannot prevail. A discussion of the basic survival requirements of the individual living human, and how further activities and higher thought is related to these.

The Inner Cosmic Environment
Still and calm - dwelling deep beneath the minute-to-minute daily routines of the modern individual's consciousness, there exist virtual centers of control and management which are known as the heart and the mind. The heart and the mind are spoken of by peoples from all walks of life, and exist as a commonality to all individuals. And beyond the nature of the heart and the mind, we seek the nature of the ecosystem of the soul - spoken of by many great souls during the course of planetary history and the emergence of human consciousness.

"Just as the outer world of man
has in it the terrestrial and the cosmic,
so too the inner world of man
has iin it terrestrial and cosmic environments.

Outwardly, the earth and sun
and moon are bound in journey;
Inwardly, the heart and soul
and mind are bound in journey.

Outer sunshine and the Inner Spirit -
these provide life to the realms.
The metaphysics of life hides
in the midst of natural simplicity.

--- mountainman
(Sierra Nevada, central Spain, 1978)