Brain Rules


Bad Dream, Good Dream

It’s a Thursday.  I am home from work watching mindless Super Dave Osborne videos on YouTube.  I’ve got zero energy and my brain doesn’t want to work.  Nasty cold. Super Dave Osborne is summarized quite well by Wikipedia as “a naive but optimistic stuntman who frequently appears injured when his […]


About Christian Mandalas

    Skills required: ability to play Pictionary® and / or ability to draw stick figures.   Christian Mandalas† –What are they? The Christian Mandalas books are a suite of Bible Study curriculum for individuals and small groups. Creating unique drawings as you study Scripture, you deeply engage with the Word […]


Christian Minds: M. C. Escher—Part 8

We come to Escher’s last print.  It is a mandala.  Bruno Ernst in his book The Magic Mirror of M. C. Escher observes, “In 1969, when Escher was already aware that he would once again have to undergo a serious operation, he used every possible moment in which he felt […]


Christian Minds: M. C. Escher—Part 7

Let’s summarize the Christian content found in Escher’s mandalas. In the print Verbum we have Christ’s role as the agent of Creation.  In Circle Limit 2 we have Christ’s role on the cross as the savior of mankind.  In Circle Limit 4, we have Christ’s role as the final judge […]


Christian Minds: M. C. Escher—Part 5

Suddenly, in the last twelve years of Escher’s work we find a series of five mandalas.  Escher is working independently.  He is not being paid by anyone or any organization to create Verbum or the five mandalas that follow. Circle Limit 1, executed in 1958, depicts an infinite number of […]


Christian Minds: M. C. Escher—Part 4

Mandala is the Sanskrit word for circle or disk.  Traditional mandalas have been used in Hinduism and Buddhism for hundreds of years.  These mandalas are typically drawn by trained Monks and used as an aid to individual meditation. Non-traditional mandalas were made popular in the West by Psychiatrist Carl Jung […]


Christian Minds: M. C. Escher—Part 3

Recall from Part 2 that Escher reveals himself though his art. From 1920 to 1927 we find at least 11 Escher prints with Biblical themes.  Nine prints depict themes from the book of Genesis.  A tenth print is entitled the Scapegoat.  Escher made the Scapegoat print for a booklet written […]


Christian Minds: M. C. Escher—Part 2

In a letter to his son Arthur, Escher wrote:  “I want to tell you about a ‘brother’ with whom I have made acquaintance.”  The ‘brother’ is Bruno Ernst, the man who wrote the book:  The Magic Mirror of M. C. Escher.  Apparently they belonged to the same religious order.  Escher […]


Christian Minds: M. C. Escher—Part 1

We have looked at four of Dr. John Medina’s Brain Rules. Vision.  Vision is our dominant sense.  “We learn and remember best through the use of pictures, not through written or spoken words.” Attention.  As I heard Spielberg state:  “You’ve got to hook them in the first ten minutes.”  In […]