This message was posted to the United Religions Initiative (URI) online discussion group, January 15, 2009

The URI is an international organization working in interfaith to "create cultures of peace and end religiously motivated violence".  Their web site is http://uri.org

I have been a participant in the URI since 1997.  The URI has a network of almost 400 "Cooperation Circles" ("CCs") around the world.  Discussion through the URI online system is currently somewhat heated because of the situation in Gaza.  This message was posted, along with a few others, inviting a new way to look at the concept of "circle" within the URI context.

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It might be true -- that for many people in URI, a "circle" is another word for a "group".

A Cooperation Circle, according to URI definitions -- meets certain standards -- at least seven members from at least three different religions, spiritual expressions or indigenous traditions --

So -- for many people in URI -- it might be entirely natural and appropriate -- to think of a "Cooperation Circle" as any group that meets these standards

A CC -- is group that comes together to do something along the lines of interfaith, as suggested by the URI...

Something like that, more or less.

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But for me, as I see it -- it seems very clear -- that the concept of "circle" implies something significantly beyond the concept of "group".

A group -- is not really "ordered".  There is no inherent structure.   It's just "some people".   There is no single necessary internal ordering or framework.  A group, seen this way, can organize itself in any number of ways -- as the URI Charter indicates is its right.

So, for me -- something quite significant happens -- when a "group" comes together as a "circle".  A circle is much more than a group.

And I think this is especially true -- in the context of spirituality and interfaith.

The "group" concept -- can go in any number of directions, without any internal structure.

But a circle -- a circle is very different.  A circle has a center.

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For me -- this is very important -- and it's powerful.

Now, of course -- some of this is just my opinion and my own interpretation.

But a circle -- has a profound "ontology".

When a group comes together in a circle -- suddenly everything taught by Jungian psychology --- becomes present and relevant within the context of the group.

Suddenly -- we are talking about "mandalas".  We are talking about deep mysticism.  We are talking about ideas from mystical traditions from all over the world, as gathered up by scholars of comparative religion, like Joseph Campbell.

A circle is like a wheel,

with a hub at the center,

with a circumference, the outer boundary, the rim of the wheel

and "spokes" -- that go from each point on the boundary -- to the center, to the common hub -- to the shared common point in the circle....


It's like -- the flag of India

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_India

With the Ashoka Chakra at the center --

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashoka_Chakra

The twenty four spokes in this chakra wheel represent twenty four virtues:

• Love
• Courage
• Patience
• Peacefulness
• Kindness
• Goodness
• Faithfulness
• Gentleness
• Self-control
• Selflessness
• Self sacrifice
• Truthfulness
• Righteousness
• Justice
• Mercy
• Graciousness
• Humility
• Empathy
• Sympathy
• Godly knowledge
• Godly wisdom
• Godly morals
• Reverential fear of God
• Hope/trust/faith in the goodness of God.

Some might say -- well, this is India, it's influenced by Hinduism -- I am Islamic -- or Judaic -- or Christian -- or Taoist....

But would you really say -- that your religion or path or tradition -- does not embrace those virtues?

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For me -- the fact that "a circle has a center" is very powerful.  Circles can be connected to one another through their centers.

Human beings can be connected to one another through their centers, in very similar ways...

A network of circles can interconnect circles through their centers...

This is a powerful logic.  It's simple, organic, natural, and deeply resonant.

I want to be in circles like this.  I think circles like this -- can radiate out -- and connect everywhere -- where people honor those core virtues -- and others like them, expressed in different terms, taken from different traditions.

I think circles like this -- are inherently peaceful, and radiate peace.  I think the connection of circles like this -- creates peace everywhere.

Yes, circles are honored by indigenous traditions, and we first learned of them from indigenous people.

And today, all of us have the opportunity to learn those same basic principles, and adopt them in our lives and in our social groups.

These things are not complex and difficult.  They are simple and profound.  Circles are inherently holistic.  They bond diversity and unity.  They define commonality without enforcing uniformity.

On the critical issues facing "the community of nations" -- across all boundaries of diversity -- of language, of tradition, of underlying assumptions -- the principle of the circle can support all processes of negotiation and mediation.

What we need to decide in common -- because we have One Planet in common -- can be mediated through networks of circles.

Circles are balanced.  Diverse forces enter the circle, and come into relationship with other forces.

The demanding pressures -- of nuclear weapons -- come into balance -- with the demanding pressures of global epidemics or weather or water or ecology -- any of which, out of balance, can kill us all.

I want to be in a circle that contains all of these things.

That balances all of these forces.

That combines human wisdom from everywhere.

That listens to every voice, and incorporates every perspective.