Rationale

Honoring and Harnessing Your Archetypal Spiritual Styles and Questions

The rationale for our methodology has been exemplified by many of the world’s greatest teachers including the Buddha.  Here the Dalai Lama summarizes how the Buddha honored the learning styles of his students.

The Buddha knew the different mental dispositions of his followers.  The main purpose of teaching religion is to help people ….. so he taught what was suitable according to the disposition of his listeners …..  A teaching may be very profound but if it does not suit a particular person, what is the use of explaining it?  In this sense, the Dharma is like medicine.  The main value of medicine is that it cures illness …… if it is not appropriate for the patient, then it is of no use.  Since there are different types of people in the world, we need different types of religion.”  (From the Introduction of “The Four Noble Truths by the Dalai Lama)

Just so, our process doesn’t begin with a one-size-fits-all set of doctrines and beliefs into which you must fit yourself.  Rather, you begin by discovering and harnessing your natural styles and questions through which you will explore authentic wisdom and practices of the world’s great spiritual and secular traditions.   The InterSpiritual Mandala Process provides a structure, process and mentoring. Discerning the right answers and practices is up to you.

The field of psychology helps reveal the inner dynamics of our mind including our emotions, cognitions, perceptions, habits, and personality traits. Mythology helps us to become aware of our inner dynamics through the stories of archetypal beings who personify them in their lives. Philosophy provides a rational framework for finding answers to life’s big questions about our existence, the nature of reality, our ways of knowing and our values. Religions offer teachings, rituals, belief systems, and communities of worship, as well as civilizing principles for governing our thoughts, emotions, habits, and behaviors in relationship with others. Spirituality helps us to experience the essence of our existence, actualize such essential values as love, compassion, empathy, and wisdom, and to reconnect with the original epiphanies and insights upon which a religion was founded.

The InterSpiritual Mandala is designed to help us reclaim a personal sense of the spiritual and infuse these values and insights into all aspects of our lives.  It is a container, or memory palace, to hold all the perspectives and practices of our personal spirituality.  The “mandala process” is designed to help us  marry the treasures of the world’s ‘wisdom traditions’ in order to forge profound meaning and purpose, as well as greater unity, peace, and wellbeing amongst us all.