The Spectrum of Alternative Dispute Resolution

I heard Elaine Enns and Ched Myers speak about peacemaking a few years ago and it sparked my thinking about how to view a whole spectrum of responses in working with conflict. The diagram below assumes that one party wants to move toward direct negotiation with the other party in the dispute. Unequal power, levels of cooperation and the presence of a third party all have an influence on the method chosen. Increased trust, communication and decreased violence all helps move clock-wise toward the upper right hand corner, negotiation.

War on Everything

We declare war, endless wars on drugs, poverty, corruption, crime, cancer, rust and even toilet bowl rings. Our American English language is peppered with the language of war.

• ideas shot down
• attack a problem
• more ammunition for the argument
• magic bullets
• combat illness
• campaigns and crusades for issues
• bombed the test
• arm yourself against ignorance insurance fraud, termites ...

Think of your own war-like terms. 

What would happen if we would call a truce from all this warring? If we declared peace on everything? If we used the same thinking and planning and quest for reconciling conflicting realities that we do when addressing a shooting war? What would personal transformation look like in the “peace on drugs?”  What would structural transformation look like in a “peace on cancer?” 

This shift from war defining everything to the standard of peace will take creative thinking. It may produce some ridiculous sounding ideas. But I am reminded of the old adage about nonviolence used for social change…at first it look irrational but doesn’t take long before, compared to the consequences of war, looks very rational indeed.

The Energies of Conflict

I was listening to a great talk by James O'Dea on transforming conflict through four sacred skills of peacemaking (see http://theshiftnetwork.com/course/JamesODea/intro/recording) and something struck me about accessing energies to sustain the peacemaker.

James says that in his peacebuilding he is always "aware of the dimensions of the problem but not inside the problem."  Called the cycle of violence, these energies of war are fear, disconnection, destruction and do not, in and of themselves, have the capacity for regeneration. Using negativity, anger and even violence (in our hearts or externally) will lead to more of the same in this cycle. Hope and life do not grow from this path.

James comments that "entropy is inside the problem and the energy is inside the solution." A focus on peace draws on the energies of possibility that are infinitely available for sustaining creativity and innovation.. A vision toward  reconciliation gives access to unlimited potential for transformation.

Conflict Composting: Microbes

In composting our conflict we looked at the refuse, elements of water and air and now the microbes necessary for the composting process. There are three types of microbes that operate in a compost pile at three different temperature ranges. There are those who can operate in the cold and those that operate when the compost pile reaches beyond 110 degrees. The hungriest microbes operate best in 70-90 degrees.  Warm weather composting is the quickest and most effective way to remake the plant refuse into soil-building and strengthening fertilizer.

Microbes are the microscopic miracles that turn a pile of stinking manure and rotting vegetable matter into life giving soil. Like humans and animals these little life forms need air and water as well as food to survive. It is their work at digestion that makes the compost a truly soil enriching

Microbes are analogous in our conflict composting to the spiritual miracles of life that turn our piles of painful memory into something that enriches our lives and others. A warm, aerated and watered soul provides the best conditions for quickly composting the refuse of conflict. The energy that moves the soul to transformation is somewhat of a mystery but we know its work by the results. We have seen many who, having gone through some fire of violence, trauma or loss, bloom into rich inspiration. Time is the ally of the microbes, the mystery of transformation and thus we have hope because we see that is possible to transcend the present stinky mess we have been given.

I hope this series of conflict composting has helped you to think about what needs to be composted in your own situation.

 Picture from: http://www.compostinfo.com/tutorial/MicrobesDefined.htm#Psychrophiles

Conflict Composting: Elements

In this blog series I am likening conflict transformation to conflict composting. We have seen that this process of composting is actually taking the dead matter, adding some elements of air and water and finally putting some little critters called microbes into the mix and the result is rich blend that regenerates the soil. I suggested that the dead plant matter we added first might be analogous to the trauma and brokenness that violent conflict leaves in its wake and be seen as an opportunity for new growth.

This week we add air and water which will make the composting a transformative work. They are but two elements of four (earth, air/sky, water, fire) that are sacred to indigenous spiritualities and necessary to all life on earth. They should not be owned by any individual but freely available to all. These two elements of air and water are analogous to the very foundations of our social lives.

The first element air, I suggest, corresponds to the rich tapestry of communications within our relationships. Communicating with those around us happens by pheromone, body language, emotion, oh and yes, voice. Add to that the disembodied means of communicating like the phone, email and social networking. This essential ingredient is a resource for composting conflict. While violence alienates, communicating reconnects. With our compost pile, not enough air pockets throughout means that the microbes charged with breaking down the refuse will not breathe well enough and be stifled in filling their function. If air is analogous to communication, then too little of that element will leave us with unresolved and/or uncomposted residuals from damaging conflict.

The second element necessary for proper composting is water. The right amount of water is crucial for microbe health and makes our compost bind together. This is analogous to our bonds clan or tribe. Understanding our valued place within the more complex social structures surrounding us binds us to that community in healing ways.

Cut off from those elements, we are quickly incapacitated by isolation and eventually cease developing just as our soil composting process would stop. Tending to a balance of these two elements results in a conflict composting process thrives.