Joanna Macy’s Truth Mandala, reproduced from Coming Back to Life (Macy & Brown, 1998). The dominant “Honouring Our Pain for the World” practice in current use — see also The Cairn of Mourning and The Role of Hope in the Truth Mandala as companion pieces, and the Work That Reconnects Network’s own introduction to this stage of the spiral for the wider context. Full source page: rainforestinfo.org.au/deep-eco/truthm.htm.
Purpose & Background
This ritual exercise provides a simple, respectful, whole-group structure for owning and honoring our pain for the world, and for recognizing its authority and the solidarity it can bring. The practice emerged in 1992 amidst a large, tension-filled workshop in Frankfurt, on the day of reunification between East and West Germany; since then it has spread to many lands. To many participants it has been the most significant experience in a workshop, if not in their lives.
Description
People sit in a circle, as closely packed as possible — creating, as we often put it, a containment vessel, an alchemical vessel for holding and cooking the truth. The circle is divided into four quadrants (visible demarcations are not needed), and in each is placed a symbolic object: a stone, dead leaves, a thick stick, and an empty bowl. Entering each quadrant, the guide holds the object it contains and explains its meaning:
“This stone is for fear. It’s how our heart feels when we’re afraid: tight, contracted, hard. In this quadrant we can speak our fear.”
“These dry leaves represent our sorrow, our grief. There is great sadness within us for what we see happening to our world, our lives, and for what is passing from us, day to day.”
“This stick is for our anger. For there is anger and outrage in us that needs to be spoken for clarity of mind and purpose. This stick is not for hitting with or waving around, but for grasping hard with both hands — it’s strong enough for that.”
“And in this fourth quadrant, this empty bowl stands for our sense of deprivation and need, our hunger for what’s missing — our emptiness.”
You may wonder: where is hope? The very ground of this mandala is hope. If we didn’t have hope, we wouldn’t be here — and as we proceed, we see how hope underlies what is expressed in each quadrant. (See also: The Role of Hope in the Truth Mandala.)
“We will begin with a dedication and a chant, because this is holy ground. Nothing makes a place more holy than truth-telling. Then we will step in one at a time, spontaneously. We will take a symbol in our hands and speak, or move from one to another. We may come in more than once or not at all; there is no pressure to enter. Even if you stay on the periphery, you will find that, as each person enters the mandala, you are in there with them. We will speak briefly. In brevity, words are powerful.”
The guide then demonstrates how each symbol can be used to speak the knowings and feelings we carry — for example, holding the stone of fear:
“I’m scared by the spread of cancer and AIDS. Will my lover be next? Will I? Where can I go from the poisons? They are everywhere, in our air, our water, our food.”
“I feel sorrow for the people of Tibet — and for the loss of all the old indigenous cultures. Now when we most need the wisdom of their ancient traditions, we wipe them out. So I weep for us, too.”
“Oh, the fury I feel for our war on the poor! I can’t believe that welfare bill! What will happen to the women, the children? What kind of jobs can they get?”
“I don’t know what to do. I recycle, I take the bus, I change my diet, but in truth I don’t know what can save us. I am empty of ideas, strategies, confidence.”
Since we are not used to talking like this in public, we need the support of the whole group. After each person has spoken, everyone says, “We hear you.” That’s enough — agreement or approval isn’t needed, just hearing and respect. Pause for three breaths in silence between speakings. If something doesn’t fit one of the four quadrants, a cushion in the center of the mandala is a place to stand or sit to give voice to it — a song, a prayer, a story. In the Truth Mandala we speak not only for ourselves, but for others too; this is the nature of ritual, that it allows us to speak archetypally — not just as separate individual selves, but on behalf of our people, our Earth.
Before the ritual’s formal start, ask for the group’s commitment to confidentiality: “what is said here stays here.” Indicate the duration of the ritual, which helps people be comfortable with the silences that arise. The ritual time begins with a formal dedication of the Truth Mandala to the welfare of all beings and the healing of our world, initiated with a simple chant or sounding — the syllable “ah,” which in Sanskrit stands for all that has been unsaid, and all whose voices have been taken from them, or not yet heard.
Trust yourself to sense the moment to draw the ritual to a close, reading clues in body language and the energy of the group. As you prepare to close, tell people, so those still waiting to speak can seize the chance: “The Truth Mandala will continue in our lives, but this chapter of it will draw soon to a close. Let who wish to, enter it now and speak.”
Closing
The formal closing is a key moment in which to enlarge the group’s understanding of what has transpired. First the guide, speaking generally and on behalf of all, honors the truth each has spoken and the respectful support each has given. Truth-telling, as Joanna says, is like oxygen: it enlivens us. Without it we grow confused and numb. It is also a homecoming, bringing us back to powerful connection and basic authority.
Then the guide points out the deeper import of each quadrant. Each symbolic object is like a coin with two sides: the courage to speak our fear is evidence of trust. The sorrow spoken over the dry leaves was, in equal measure, love — we only mourn what we deeply care for. “Blessed are they that mourn.” The anger we heard springs from passion for justice. The empty bowl, too, is to be honored: to be empty means there is space to be filled.
Timing & Group Size
Never conducted with less than twelve people or more than a hundred. Even with large numbers, draw it to a close after an hour and a half — the process is intense, and though people are riveted, they grow more tired than they are aware. Place it near the middle of the day, with a break following. Ensure participants have already had an opportunity to talk with each other in some depth (Open Sentences or Small Group Sharing) before doing the Truth Mandala, so that these strong, distilled utterances come out of some reflection. Afterwards, time for rest or journaling helps people absorb the experience.
Suggestions
- Participate. Don’t hold aloof — enter the ritual as honestly and openly as you can, while fulfilling your responsibilities as guide.
- Feel free to adapt the arrangements to people’s needs. In workshops with the elderly, the mandala can be set up on a table rather than the floor; in a psychiatric ward, the stone and stick have been replaced with other objects, like a vine and a picture.