ONE FACE: A Collection of Interfaith Prayers and Poems

My collection of interfaith prayers and poems for personal and communal interfaith and integral spirituality practice is now available online for viewing and for download. Available at: http://bit.ly/2RaVD7W.

One Face by MAK (Mark Allan Kaplan)

Every faith

has a different view

of the same Divine Reality;

Every heart

has a different way

of feeling

the One Love;

Every mind

has a different way

of understanding

the One Truth;

And every face

is a different form

of the

ONE

Divine Face.

The Experience of Divine Guidance Research Presentation

The Experience of Divine Guidance from Mark Allan Kaplan

The Experience of Divine Guidance Research Presentation is a presentation given at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology in June of 2005 presenting the research findings of the doctoral dissertation "The Experience of Divine Guidance: A Qualitative Study of the Human Endeavor to Seek, Receive, and Follow Guidance from a Perceived Divine Source" - Mark Allan Kaplan, Ph.D., Dissertation Abstracts International, 2005, 66 (05), 2855. (UMI No. 3174544).

ABSTRACT: This research study examined the experience of seeking, receiving, and following guidance from a perceived source of divine wisdom. Nine advanced spiritual teachers (5 men and 4 women) from 7 spiritual traditions participated as coresearchers in this study. Coresearchers were North American or European born, predominantly Caucasian, California (USA) residents between the ages of 52 and 74. Coresearcher participation consisted of individual semistructured in-depth interviews. The questions and topics of discussion used for the interviews were developed through a process of researcher heuristic and spiritual self-inquiry. The results of a grounded-theory-based qualitative content analysis of the interview transcripts suggested that the experience of divine guidance, as measured in the current study, is characterized by a common structuring of the experience that includes general categories, factors, and patterns which appear to manifest into various particular and contextual forms depending on the individual person, event, and circumstance. The reported common structures of the experience included: The perception of a divine source of guidance; the experience of seeking, receiving, and following guidance from this perceived source; and various contributing, impeding, developmental, and mediating factors. Additionally, each coresearcher reported a unique metaphor of divine encounter that appeared to give them an archetypal and visceral way of describing and holding the experience. The researcher appeared to experience each of the coresearcher’s metaphors of divine encounter through some kind of resonant learning or mimicking process. A Guidance Experience Template, Guidance Experience Evaluation Checklist, and Synthesized Guidance Practice were developed as aids to counselors, practitioners, and researchers exploring the experience of divine guidance. The findings of this study, and the development and implementation of guidance-related applications in this research, may advance the understanding of this common and historically significant human experience, and offer a valuable contribution to the fields of transpersonal psychology, spiritual guidance, and spiritual psychology.

This presentation is available at SlideShare.

The complete dissertation is available at Google Play and Dissertation Abstracts International.

iPeace Mantra-Mandala Faith Traditions

I have received several questions around the process of inclusion and exclusion of the faith traditions included in the iPeace Mantra and Mandala practice. Since it was impossible to include all the many faith traditions in the world in this one practice, the process of inclusion and exclusion of which faith traditions would be included was a very careful, meditative and challenging endeavor that included rigorous scholarly research, deep spiritual inquiry, and the application of linguistic and audiovisual psycho-spiritual dynamics.

There were several factors involved in the choosing of which faith traditions were included or excluded in this mantra-mandala peace practice including the inherent requirements and limitations involved in the creation and practice of mantra repetition and mandala gazing; the faith tradition’s level of interconnectedness with major linguistic streams and archetypal patterns and symbols; the structures of consciousness associated with the tradition; the historical, cultural, and geopolitical impact and demographics of the tradition; and the degree of separation, psychic wounding and call for healing and peace associated with the tradition. Below is a chart of the included words and symbols of the iPeace Mantra and Mandala and their correlated linguistic, symbolic, faith, and cultural streams:

Word	Language	Symbol	Faith Traditions	Cultural Traditions
Sipala	Hopi	Medicine Wheel	Primal Traditions - Shamanic, Aboriginal, African	Indigenous Traditions
Sith	Gaelic	Celtic Knot	Pagan/Polytheistic Traditions - Goddess, Druid, Celtic, Wicca, Greek	Folk and Ethnic Traditions
Shanti	Hindi	Sanskrit Om	Hinduism	Indian Traditions
Shalom	Hebrew	Star of David	Judaism	Abrahamic Traditions
T’ai	Chinese	Yin-Yang	Taoism	East Asian Traditions
Sidi	Tibetan	Dharmacakra (Wheel of Dharma)	Buddhism	Indian Traditions
Pax	Latin	Cross	Christianity	Abrahamic Traditions
Salaam	Arabic	Star and Crescent	Islam	Abrahamic Traditions

While not all faith traditions are directly included in this mantra-mandala peace practice, the practice has been designed to resonantly include all faiths on a subtle level by including and linking major linguistic and archetypal streams with these select traditions producing an intra-psychic synchronization of a vast number of cultural, linguistic, and spiritual and faith tradition streams. The theory behind this is that if enough dimensions and perspectives are integrated and synchronized it produces a generalizing resonance effect embracing all dimensions and perspectives, much like how a tuning fork’s vibration will spread to and resonant with other tuning forks around it. For example, the Baha'i tradition is resonantly connected through its roots in the represented Abrahamic cultural, religious, linguistic, and archetypal streams of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and by its resonance with the practices’ more general pattern of the integration of other traditions; and Zoroastrianism is resonantly linked through its deep connection to both the represented Abrahamic and Indian cultural, religious, linguistic, and archetypal streams. 

Above is a word cloud representing some of the major world spiritual and faith traditions coded by color to represent the associated and resonant cultural traditions; with the size of each tradition’s name representing the current and/or historical size of its population of adherents. The colors representing the major cultural faith streams include: Blue for the Abrahamic Traditions; red for Indian Traditions; yellow for East Asian Traditions; orange for Folk and Ethnic Traditions; red for Indigenous Traditions; and violet for Hybrid Traditions. Note that the term “Hybrid Traditions” refers to traditions that have multiple cultural historical roots. While the Baha'i faith has a multi-cultural and multi-tradition embrace in its theology and practices, it is not considered hybrid in the sense that it has clear and direct roots in the Abrahamic streams. 

In addition to this mantra-mandala peace practice I am working on other longer-forms of peace practices including a video meditation practice that will attempt to include all living faith traditions, including Zoroastrianism, Baha'i, Shinto, and many others.. 

Meditation for Interfaith Peace

The iPeace Mandala  and Mantra

In the service of advancing inner and outer peace between faith traditions I created and practice this Mantra-Mandala Meditation for Interfaith Peace, and offer it here for those who wish to use it as part of their own meditation and/or peace practice.

THE IPEACE MANTRA

Sipala Sith Shanti Shalom T'ai Sidi Pax Salaam

The iPeace Mantra is a compilation of eight words for PEACE from eight different languages used to represent the eight major streams of world religions:  Primal Traditions, Paganism/Polytheism, Hinduism, Judaism, Taoism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam.  The words are arranged in the chronological/historical order of the emergence of each of these faiths. The purpose and intent of this mantra is to nurture and amplify personal and collective peace. This mantra can be used by itself or as part of any mantra meditation practice or in combination with the below mandala meditation. For a audio sample of the mantra visit the iPeace Project at: http://www.ipeaceproject.org/

Word	Language	Traditions
Sipala	Hopi	Primal Traditions - Shamanic, Aboriginal
Sith	Gaelic	Pagan/Polytheistic Traditions - Goddess, Druid, Celtic, Wicca, Greek
Shanti	Sanskrit	Hinduism
Shalom	Hebrew	Judaism
T’ai	Chinese	Taoism
Sidi	Tibetan	Buddhism
Pax	Latin	Christianity
Salaam	Arabic	Islam

THE IPEACE MANDALA

The iPeace Mandala 

The iPeace Mandala is an assemblage of eight symbols from eight major streams of world religions: Primal Traditions, Paganism/Polytheism, Hinduism, Judaism, Taoism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam. These symbols are set in a circle around an image of the earth and within a beautiful mandala pattern by artist Maja Apolonia Rode.

Surrounding these images are the words of the iPeace Mantra which, as stated above, is a compilation of eight words for PEACE from eight different languages representing each of the eight traditions. The symbols and words are arranged in the chronological/historical order of the emergence of each of these faiths. The purpose and intent of this mandala is to nurture and amplify personal and collective peace. Gazing at this mandala while repeating the mantra has been a powerful and transformative practice for me. 

A free printable copy of the iPeace Mandala is available at: http://www.ipeaceproject.org/. For those wishing to spread the iPeace Mantra and Mandala energy through other dimensions of their life or share it with others, you can purchase iPeace Mantra and Mandala Note Cards, T-Shirts, Posters, Stickers, Mugs, and more at the iPeace Project store at: http://www.zazzle.com/ipeace

With blessings of peace for all faiths and peoples...