"Mandorla People"
You can recognize "Mandorla people" by their willingness to stand in the middle between opposing ideas and chart a new path. Whether well known or living quietly within their own communities, Mandorla people are the kinds of leaders who manage to keep one foot in culturally accepted reality and the other in a never-before-seen blend of the old and the new. Mandorla people call us to be partners with them, and with one another, as we develop the capacity to stretch between realities.
For example, consider Angeles Arrien, a cultural anthropologist who has identified commonalites of age-old wisdom traditions from around the world and applies them in practical ways to our modern lives. Her unique application of ancient wisdom to today's circumstances offers new possibilities for finding one's way through a complex and often troubled world.
Likewise, each of the people listed below brings together diverse people or ideas in ways that create new and meaningful ways of being in the world. (Click on their names to learn more about them.)
Tracy Brown
A woman of great heart and intelligence, Ms. Brown has the ability to synthesize her deep understanding of people, culture, and systems, into practical approaches toward building what she calls a "community of unity." Her work ranges from advice for individuals on navigating through a world in which bias and discrimination is a reality of daily life, to helping corporations implement systemic change that creates a more inclusive workplace.
Jerilyn Brusseau
Brusseau is a cook, restaurateur, baker, businesswoman, humanitarian and cultural diplomat. In 1986 she founded PeaceTable to create shared culinary experiences and bring people together from different cultures. In 1995 she co-founded PeaceTrees Vietnam, a non-profit organization of American volunteers working alongside the Vietnamese people of Quang Tri Province to transform the destructive legacy of war into a safe and healthy future for the children.
Dr. Michael Eric Dyson
A minister, educator, and public speaker who challenges conventional wisdom with a fiercely beautiful passion and sharp insight. His sometimes radical, yet always clear-eyed, ideas are informed by everything from Ancient scripture to urban hip-hop culture. Identifiying himself as "a public moralist and a social ethicist," Dr. Dyson effectively re-visions the way we can address the dilemmas around such issues as racism, sexism, and homophobia.
Rev. Clarence Glover, Jr.
As a pastor, Rev. Glover weaves African spirituality together with his African-American Christian faith tradition. As an educator and cultural change agent, he works tirelessly for justice and intercultural healing, paying equal attention to individual concerns as to questions of organizational policy. His encyclopedic knowledge of culture, history, theology, and human nature is complimented by a profound commitment to live the principles he teaches.
Coach Phil Jackson
Coach Jackson, who calls himself a Zen Christian, brought a new type of leadership to his 3-time NBA champion Chicago Bulls. In his book, Sacred Hoops: Spiritual Lessons of a Hardwood Warrior, Jackson directs his players to act with a clear mind; respect the enemy and be aggressive without anger or violence; to live in the moment and stay calmly focused in the midst of chaos, so that the "me" becomes the servant of the "we."
Carolyn Myss
A medical intuitive who trained with Dr. Norm Shealy, M.D., Ms. Myss teaches the direct connection of spiritual and physical health, and stresses how "our biography becomes our biology." Straightforward, clear and challenging, Ms. Myss blends her medical knowlege with her strong sense of spirituality, drawing on the teachings of the Christian sacraments, Hindu chakra sytem, and the Jewish Kabbalah's Tree of Life.
Danaan Parry
Co-founder of the Earthstewards Network, the late Danaan Parry promoted meaningful conflict resolution through his Warriors of the Heart training, and facilitated grassroots peacemaking between communities in international 'hot spots' such as Northern Ireland and the Middle East. With his partner, Jerilyn Brusseau, Parry co-created Essential Peacemaking/Women & Men, which addressed conflicts between and among the genders.
Bill Proudman
Proudman is a founding principal of White Men as Full Diversity Partners, a culture-change consulting firm assisting Fortune 500 companies to address diversity in ways that are compelling for white men. WMFDP helps businesses use intentional engagement of the thornier issues around diversity - racism, sexism, homophobia - as a means to develop courageous leadership skills and authentic partnerships between and among women, people of color, and white men.
Sobonfu & Malidoma Somé
Members of the Dagara tribe in West Africa, and fully initiated into their culture's Wisdom Traditions, Sobonfu and Malidoma's spiritual vocation is to serve as a bridge between their indigenous culture and the modern world. Standing in the Mandorla between cultures, as well as between the earthly and spiritual world, they build relationships that allow ancient knowledge to help shape new ways of being called for in our interconnected and multicultural world.
Sidra and Hal Stone
Drs. Hal and Sidra Stone took their decades of experience in traditional Jungian psychology and developed their own work - Voice Dialogue - a psychospiritual study of the many selves or subpersonalities that make up the psyche. The Stones' teaching emphasizes the development of an "Aware Ego," which can stand in the tension of opposing selves and make choices that are informed by different creative energies.
Dr. Andrew Weil, MD
Founder and director of the Integrative Medicine Program at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Dr. Weil advocates a thoughtful union of traditional medicine and alternative healing approaches. He trains physicians to consider patients' minds and spirits, as well as physical bodies, in diagnosis and treatment of illness. His work emphasizes a true partnership between patient and practitioner, and focuses on health and healing rather than disease and treatment.
Michael Welp
Founder of the consulting firm EqualVoice which helps organizations create collaborative, equitable environments in which all voices are heard, conflict can be transformed into increased effectiveness, and leadership is cultivated in every person. Seeing diversity as a source of transformation and unification, and conscious of his privilege as a White heterosexual male, Michael is a principal of the joint venture White Men as Full Diversity Partners.
Marianne Williamson
A longtime leading speaker and writer on spiritual themes, Ms. Williamson turned her focus to community action and politics in the late 90's with Healing the Soul of America: Reclaiming Our Voices As Spiritual Citizens. Her powerful role as a visionary led to her co-founding of the Global Renaissance Alliance, which brings together hundreds of small Citizen Circles around the world for the purpose of spiritual activism.Do you know some other Mandorla people? Send us your additions to this list at dirkvelten@mac.com
Go back to...
What is a Mandorla?
Contemporary Implications
The Mandorla Through History
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Mandorla Resources International
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