Political Science

The Spirit of Dialogue: Lessons from Faith Traditions in Transforming Conflict

Island Press

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ISBN:
Published:
Sep 14, 2017
Copyright:
2017
Size:
6 x 9 in.
Illus:
63 figures, 27 boxes, 7 tables
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We tend to approach conflict from the perspective of competing interests. A farmer鈥檚 interest lies in preserving water for crops, while an environmentalist鈥檚 interest is in using that same water for instream habitats. It鈥檚 hard to see how these interests intersect. But what if there was a different way to understand each party鈥檚 needs?

Aaron T. Wolf has spent his career mediating such conflicts, both in the U.S. and around the world. He quickly learned that in negotiations, people are not automatons, programed to defend their positions, but are driven by a complicated set of dynamics鈥攆rom how comfortable (or uncomfortable) the meeting room is to their deepest senses of self. What approach or system of understanding could possibly untangle all these complexities? Wolf鈥檚 answer may be surprising to Westerners who are accustomed to separating religion from science, rationality from spirituality.

Wolf draws lessons from a diversity of faith traditions to transform conflict. True listening, as practiced by Buddhist monks, as opposed to the 鈥渁ctive listening鈥� advocated by many mediators, can be the key to calming a colleague鈥檚 anger. Alignment with an energy beyond oneself, what Christians would call grace, can change self-righteousness into community concern. Shifting the discussion from one about interests to one about common values鈥攂oth farmers and environmentalists share the value of love of place鈥攃an be the starting point for real dialogue.

As a scientist, Wolf engages religion not for the purpose of dogma but for the practical process of transformation. Whether atheist or fundamentalist, Muslim or Jewish, Quaker or Hindu, any reader involved in difficult dialogue will find concrete steps towards a meeting of souls.