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How is mandala a symbol for the wholeness of cultural and community life? How does it symbolize wholeness in the individual and in the community, and how do these facets fit together? How can we work together to form and strengthen the "mandala of community"?

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Mandala is a profound and widely recognized symbol of wholeness. In our banner, we are including 7 symbols of mandala, derived from different traditions or interpretations.
The first is the Ashoka Chakra, found on the flag of India, and symbolizing the "wheel and spoke" interpretation. The second is the Rose Window from Notre Dame cathedral. The third is Indra's Net, a profound symbol of wholeness from Buddhism. The fourth is the earth itself, perhaps not a mandala, but a circle and sphere and absolute symbol of wholeness and One. The fifth is a mathematical "group", and symbol of interconnection across and between sectors. The sixth is the taxonomic "tree of life" that categorizes all living species on earth . And the seventh is the wheel of co-creation, seen by conscious evolutionaries as a symbol of wholeness for all facets of human life and experience.

Select ALL answers that are true for you (perhaps more than one).

If the options appearing here do not express your own view, you can add new options, which will be available to all participants.

If the meaning of any concept or term seems uncertain, follow your own personal interpretation.

		Answer
1		Mandala symbolizes wholeness and balance in individual human psychology.

2		When I look at a mandala the energy is naturally a transmission of wholeness made Up of parts that are also wholes and the bigger whole is greater than the sum of its parts... This reality is immediately apparent to me when I gaze at any mandala.

3		E Pluribus Unum - Out of Many, One. We are one community, many people. We are the same (in some ways), we are different (in some ways). This is the basic principle of healthy community. Marianne Williamson said it right.

4		Mandala symbolizes the relationship of "the many" and "the one" -- showing how all seemingly separate things can be interconnected into unity.

5		"We're like the spokes on a wheel, all radiating out from the same center. If you define us according to our position on the rim, we seem separate and distinct from one another. But if you define us according to our starting point, our source – the center of the wheel – we're a shared identity." (Marianne Williamson)

6		Everything that exists is a facet of one wholeness. Mandala is a map of that wholeness.

See Pattern of the Whole
http://networknation.net/pattern.cfm