This blog has grown out of a current flowing in my life for many years — one of psyche, awareness, and love. Not as abstract ideas, but as living rivers, each with its own fragrance, each carrying me into mystery by way of its unique portal.At the river of psyche, I encountered Jung and the alchemists, who whispered that descent into shadow and loss is not a detour but the beginning of transformation. These waters were dark, mineral-rich, shimmering with images that asked to be tended rather than transcended.At the river of contemplation, I met teachers of Dzogchen, Mahāmudrā, Zen, and Advaita, pointing toward the sky-like nature of mind — vast, open, already free. This river reflected the infinite sky, so that gazing into its surface one could not tell whether one was looking up or down, inward or outward.At the river of devotion, I was met by the poets and mystics — Rumi, Mirabai, Hafiz, John of the Cross — who sang of longing not as weakness but as fire, an ember of the Beloved hidden in the heart. This river glowed as much as it flowed, a stream of flame carrying the fragrance of rose and smoke.For a long time, I kept these rivers apart: analysis in the consulting room, meditation in the retreat hall, devotion in poetry and prayer. Slowly the boundaries dissolved. I began to see that what Jung called shadow, what neuroscientists describe as implicit memory, and what the mystics call the unwanted guest are not separate. They are movements within a single mandala, facets of one mystery awaiting our presence.Over time, I came to see that descent, vastness, and love are not only rivers but gateways — three great doors into the same living pattern. The mandala shows us that descent roots us in the soil of shadow, vastness opens us to the luminous sky of awareness, and love ignites the flame of intimacy with the Mystery. Alone, none is complete. Together they form the vessel of transformation, both personal and archetypal.This blog (and all of my writing) is an invitation to step consciously into that mandala — not as an abstract diagram or intricate artwork hanging on the wall, but as a temple already surrounding you. You are already inside it, already carrying its fragrance in your breath and longing. The mandala lives in your nervous system, your relationships, your imagination, and your soul. The work is not to construct it, but to recognize and participate in its unfolding beauty.