CAN HUMANITY DO WITHOUT CONFLICT?

[PatrickIregura]

CAN HUMANITY DO WITHOUT CONFLICT?

I know I might sound like toothache right now for picking up an essay-like question as a first post but the good news is that I am not necessarily looking for article-length answers, unless of course someone can afford to share one, in which case I would go through the long read with pleasure.

The reason why I chose this question is because throughout evolution, mankind has been hailed for ingenious achievements and noble deeds but on the other hand the history spreadsheet is dotted with ignoble acts of slaughter, deceit, theft, genocides and all the things that make us humans look in the mirror and wish we could turn into concrete for a second. So I am intrigued and embarrassed by this unhealthy relationships between the humans and conflict in the sense that in most of the cases conflict steam from something basic, primary a feeling or an emotion that when not handled in the right way can escalade into a monstrous crime. While I am not insinuating that human are fundamentally criminal, I still worry about our creativity when I see it at work on both ends of good and evil in a twenty four hours time span. I grew up wishing for peace without having to worry about how this could come about, now as a grown up I can’t have the luxury of just wishing so I look for more understanding and chase little involvements here and there to contribute to the process.

Peace is hard to get, while trouble seems easy to pop up, every i**ot can start a conflict in no time but genuine individuals would almost dedicate their lives to building some peace. It seems to me that the real challenge in the next decades is going to be how education helps people keep their egos and emotions in balance, there is a growing need to share smartness between the mind and the heart and the guts or whatever part of our humanity intervenes in trouble making process.

Although the question seems too big for a blog conversation, I actually just wanted to stir the analysis, it always feels good to chew on never-ending queries for a moment and I know conflicts benefit from a wide range of fuses such as: social injustices, institutional malfunctions, dissatisfactions, recession, manipulation, greed and hate and insecurities plane simple. The amazing part of this conversation is that sustainable peace is actually attainable; call it naivety on my part or me clinging on this hope as the life line of all the optimists but I firmly believe human beings have the resources in them to do this, whether they want it or are willing go down that road that I can’t be too sure.

Thanks.

Patrick Iregura

[zoe]

Never-ending queries!

Hey Patrick!!

I hope you are doing well! Great to see you on here, and awesome to have met you!

What you wrote can take me in a million directions, but I will just take the bait and share what comes to mind. In one sense, I feel like our sense of optimism dies down a bit as we age. We have to enter the real world, as it would be, and get jobs, be responsible, do what is required of us as individuals to ensure our survival and even more so, our ability to thrive in this world. I think that giving these actions meaning, every day, all of the routines that we have as we go through our lives, is what makes us human. I think it is easy to turn off, become unaware and unconscious to a certain extent, especially when there is so much pain around us. I think that as individuals we see this pain, and we don't like it, so we bury our heads in the ground. I remember reading an article for a literature class in college that talked about the amount of ignorance that we all need just to get by on a daily basis. Myself, I just need to recall how blessed I am in this life that has been given to me, how fortunate I am for everything I have and even everything that I don't have.

With regards to what you said about good and bad existing all around us, I think that human beings are capable of both. I think our lives are full of choices and perhaps it is the little choices we make which have a large impact. If we justify a small wrongdoing, we can continue down the path until we actually become evil! As human beings, I think we are so fragile and prone to the influences around us that it becomes almost second-nature to just follow and not lead. I think your point about education is most interesting. If we include, or at least work to shift, our educational systems to reflect our humanity than perhaps we can encourage better decisions to be made, perhaps we can foster a greater awareness.

I could talk about this forever, but I think I will give you a chance to reply before I keep going. I hope you are well!!

Be blessed,
Zoe

[DanielShvartsman]

Hi Patrick,

Your question is a huge one, as you said, and I think it is great that you put it in the "Everyday Life" forum, because conflict is a part of everyday life. For example, I am sure that I will have a conflict with my girlfriend tonight about what I wear to dinner. (I usually lose those conflicts).

I am going to approach this differently than Zoe, because as she said, there are so many ways to approach this.

I think humanity cannot do without conflict. There is no way for everybody to agree all the time. In fact, if there was no conflict, life would be poorer: there could be no art, no compromise, and no growth - there would be no need to change if conflict did not exist.

That said, I think the goal of progress is to manage this conflict properly, so it does not become violent, destructive, genocidal, or painful. Patrick, I am sure you know that the 20th century, where we saw so much progress and growth in human achievement, we also saw the most violence and death and genocide in recorded human history. So progress has failed in many ways.

When we study conflict, we talk about how what groups or countries argue about - their positions - represent what they care about and want in life - their interests. There are some interests everybody shares - the desire to eat, to drink water, to live in a safe place, to have a family or community to share life with, for example. As the world population grows, our challenge is to ensure that everybody can achieve these basic human interests and needs, while also setting up systems - governments, education, law - to deal with those situations where a person or a group of people interfere with someone else's basic interest in a harmful way.

We cannot eliminate conflict, I think, nor pain and suffering. I do think we have made much progress as a society in facing conflict and managing it. At the same time, greater technological progress and greater scientific progress makes it easier for conflict to be more harmful and more painful. An article I read in the Economist - http://www.economist.com/world/international/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15108593 - talks about how we must progress morally as well as technologically.

We have progressed morally, but maybe not as fast as we have technologically. That is our great task for the 21st century, I think, above all else. I believe humanity can do this, and can manage conflict better. But we have a lot of work to do.

I would love to hear more thoughts on this!
Daniel

[hany]

Dear Patrick,

As you say, such a big question to discuss in a blog, but also as you say, all our little steps towards peace count.
It's really interesting the way you analyze how conflict begins, and as I read about it I started to think about myself, on how I control and express my emotions. I remembered some times when I lost my temper and lost control of my feelings. I remember how sad it made me after wards to have this emotions inside me, that always leaves me with disappointment.
My point is that I think that human nature, in my personal view, cannot live without conflict. We are rational human beings, blessed with free will, and it is only natural that sometimes we disagree about some things, or most things. But we were also blessed with the solution to this conflict, communication.
I feel like as time goes by, people have lost their patience and their ability to communicate in a positive way. We get carried by our daily overwhelming life and lost patience to stop for a minute to take a breath and listen to ourselves.
Communication, such a simple word with such big meaning. In a way this blog and this project we are constructing are a way of gaining back that lost ability to express ourselves, to learn again how to sit down and write about our thoughts and feelings towards something.

Best regards my friend,

Hany

[MichaSta]

Thank you all for sharing your thoughts.

The answers to this question are truly unending.
Emanuel Kant as he wrote about Enlightenment said "Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-imposed immaturity. Immaturity is the inability to use one's understanding without guidance from another. This immaturity is self-imposed when its cause lies not in lack of understanding, but in lack of resolve and courage to use it without guidance from another. Sapere Aude! (dare to know)."
While I agree that conflict is an integral part of the human experience, and a source of growth and progress, I too believe that it is just this immaturity, or rather this lack of courage to think for one self that lead mankind towards its most horrific deeds. Conflict does not imply conflict with another, and true growth and progress is not found on the battlefields, is not found in extended territories and resources, but in the ability to set our minds and hearts to share, cooperate, and aspire to be more than we are today.

Before I go on pondering have a look at the great Charlie Chaplin and his message: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yqnk4qNl ... re=related

Sapere Aude!

Micha

[zoe]

Hany,

Interpersonal conflict is a really good way to start. I know sometimes my mind gets going on how to solve all of the world's problems and encourage reconciliation and tolerance and all of the good things that we want to impart on our world. And then I think about my daily life and the way that I can actually do these things. Something I have found is that I'm not always willing! I know that as a human being I think of my needs before those of others. And I assume that some around me think of their needs over mine. Even though we know that our differences are a starting point of conflict, maybe it can be as simple as doing one thing differently in our lives every day.

I wonder if that can be sort of a challenge that we attempt. Maybe the next time we want to get angry at someone, we think of something nice to say to them or do for them instead. I think this can help us make a change for improving tolerance in our own lives. Who's in?


Zoe

[SarahC]

Patrick -

Thank you for your wonderful post. I enjoy reading it.

I think it is so true and so interesting how you say every i**ot can start conflict quickly and easily, and, creating peace can be a process that is so much more difficult. It is hard to make sense of how and why this can be, and I feel overwhelmed thinking about it. This is so true. It is easy to cause damage that can last lifetimes, and rebuilding things often takes work, pain, dedication, tears, resources, etc.

Teaching about conflict and conflict resolution in schools is brilliant. The earlier in school we could do this, the better. Like you allude to - the most important things we can teach kids in schools is conflict resolution, kindness, responsibility and ethics. This can seem basic and easy, but how many adults have lost touch with these things. How many adults truly didnt get these teachings as children. I think, unfortunately, many! What a difference this could make for the future if we can allow these concepts to blossom in young people. It would be an amazing world if people could really learn, allow and experience these bigger pieces of life. Often times people dont get this foundation nourished at a young age, and it is harder to reclaim as an adult.

I am looking at a quote right now that is one of my new favorites: "Only the proper environmental conditions are required to allow the underlying and natural 'seed of compassion' to germinate and grow." --Howard Cutler

I love this quote because it reminds me that basic human nature is goodness. There will always be conflict, but under this, our basic human nature is goodness. It is often hard to find this, though, after there has been a lot of conflict without positive resolution. After much damage has been done. This is where the work of rebuilding peace comes in, and this, like you say, can take much more work.

Conflict is not the problem, conflict is natural. How we handle it is where the learning can come in and provide hope. If we can begin teaching this to young people, imagine the positive difference there could be.

[zoe]

Hi Sarah!

I hope you are doing well. It is really only since joining this blog that I have become really interested in the way we are educated. It does seem that conflict is inevitable, and I agree with you that this doesn't mean human beings are bad! I think there are just a lot of things we don't know how to respond to. My background isn't in psychology but in undergrad classes I took, it was alarming how people behave, especially with regards to authority. It seems that because from a young age we are taught to follow what we are told, there are certain orders that we just follow, regardless if these are moral or immoral.

I know there isn't an example to really explain the phenomenon but I often think about the analogy of the frog in hot water. If you put a frog in boiling water, it will jump out immediately. But if you put a frog in warm water and heat it until it boils, the frog won't jump out. It is scary that we can see this phenomenon in hindsight, especially with regard to genocide.

I think the importance of education can not be understated. It seems like we teach a lot of the hard sciences and humanities all over the globe but we fail to educate youth in matters of the emotions and behavior. While I think the purpose of the educational system is really to encourage youth to come to the desired conclusions and to follow positive role models, I think this has become more implicit than explicit.

Zoe

[odeth]

All that have reacted on this post.
Hi there?

So interesting to read this exchange of good ideas. As almost everyone who reacted on this believed the influence of education and more especially in young people. I strongly believe this. The only thing we can do for our society is only in input( young ones' education) if we don't do this, then we will do nothing to the out put, what we do here (out put) is to suffer the consequence of what we once decided.

Conflicts have to be there and as majority of you shared, shall we always be conscious on how we manage or handle these conflicts? The existance of social or political conflict is not the concern, conflict is often a source of creativity and change. A Conflict shows that things will change, have changed or that there is a need for change.
In our every day life, things we do is out of the decisions based on conflicts. Conflict is simply a choice.

We are doing a course on INTERVENTION MECHANSMS
INTERVENTION COMPONENTS/PROCESSES
Will you allow me to share with you the DEFINITIONS and DIMENSIONS of conflicts


What is conflict?
• Conflict involves people: It is a state of human interaction between two or more arties.
• Conflict is a state of human interaction where there is disharmony.
• It emerges when parties compete over perceived or actual goals, values or interests.
• It occurs when parties confront each other with opposing actions and counter-actions.
• It is an indicator that something is changing, has changed or needs to change.

• It is an interaction which aims at ‘beating’ an opponent.
• Conflict is a form of competitive behaviour between people or groups. It occurs when two or more people compete over perceived or actual incompatible goals or limited resources (Boulding 1962, cited in CDR 1986:2).

• A social conflict exists when two or more persons or groups manifest the belief that they have incompatible objectives (Kreisberg 1988:2).

• Conflict relationship is one in which the parties have incompatible preferences; a co-operative relationship is one in which the parties can obtain highly preferred outcomes if they work together (e.g. marriage, employer-employee relationships). Most relationships involve a mixture of conflict and co-operation (Kent 2000:4).

• Conflict is an outgrowth of the diversity that characterises our thoughts, our attitudes, our beliefs, our perceptions, and our social systems and structures. It is as much a part of our existence as is evolution (Weeks 1994:7).

• ...[W]hile individual people continue to relate to each other, but in pursuit of differing goals, there will always be conflicts of one kind or another (Rupesinghe 1998:27).

• The existence of social or political conflict is not in itself a cause for concern. Conflict is often a source of creativity and change (Rupesinghe 1998:27).

FIVE FIVE DIMENSIONS OF CONFLICT

The five dimensions of conflict below chart a typical conflict, whether it is interpersonal or global.

DIMENSION # 1:
Who or how many parties are involved?
• Internal – a conflict within oneself
• Interpersonal - a conflict between two or more individuals
• Intragroup – a conflict within a group (Groups can be institutions, organizations, or any groups of people who share a specific role or identity.)
• Intergroup – a conflict between two or more groups
• International – a conflict between two or more nations
• Global – a conflict that directly or indirectly has an effect on all people and nations in the world
• Transboundary – a conflict between groups that is based on their positions in relation to a geographical boundary

DIMENSION # 2:
What are the sources of conflict? What is it about?
• Conflicts over Resources (Human Resources; Things and Capital; Natural Resources; Land and Territory)
o When people, groups, or nations are competing for the same resources
o When there is a dispute over who has a right to certain resources
o When people, groups, or nations want to take someone else’s resources or prevent someone from getting needed resources

• Conflicts over Values (Beliefs, Choices and Perspectives, and Preferences)
o When people, groups or nations have relations with each other, but hold different deeply held beliefs about the role of an individual, group or family within their culture, cultural practices, politics, and/or religion
o Conflicts over “what is most important”

• Conflicts over Psychological Needs (Power and Control, Emotional Needs)
o Conflicts related to an individual’s or group’s need for respect, love, affirmation, approval, friendship, and power over their own fates
o Conflicts related to the need of individuals to belong and have the opportunity to develop and achieve
o Conflicts that arise when psychological needs are not fulfilled
o Conflicts between an individual and other people or institutions when obstacles prevent someone from having their needs met




DIMENSION #3:
What type of relationships exist between conflicting parties?
The type of relationship that exists between conflicting parties will often determine the intensity of the conflict and its outcome. Important questions to ask include:

• What kind of climate is present between conflicting parties? How can the climate change the outcome?
o Trusting or suspicious
o Friendly or hostile
o Open or resistant
o Calm or emotionally tense

• Do parties come to the conflict with equal power or a power imbalance? Does anyone party control the resources and decision-making process?

• What is the degree of interdependence between the conflicting parties? (In other words, do the actions of one person or group seriously impact the others involved in the conflict?)
o How often do the parties see or interact with one another?
o Is a positive relationship valued equally by both parties?
o Does each party need the cooperation of the other to achieve important goals?

• How well do the parties know one another?
o Does the relationship matter to both or one of them? How much?
o Does it matter if conflicting parties come from different cultures and know little about the other?

DIMENSION #4:
What is the history of the conflict?
Usually the longer a conflict exists, the more intense and complex it becomes, and therefore, the more difficult to resolve. Yet, there is also a point when parties can become so “battle weary” that they finally see resolution as the best strategy.

Factors that complicate a conflict:
• The duration of the conflict
o How long has the conflict continued?
o Are the original parties still actively involved in the conflict?

• The frequency of the conflict
o How often has the conflict reemerged?
o Are there periods when the conflict escalated to severe levels?
o Did the conflict develop in stages?

• The intensity of the conflict.
o How life threatening is the conflict?
o Is the conflict emotionally or ideologically charged?
• The perception of the conflict by both those directly involved and those who witness it but do not feel directly affected by it
o Do people “see” the conflict as serious or irrelevant? (Conflicts can remain unresolved when there is little or no pressure to address them – when people from “inside” or “outside” the conflict don’t perceive it to be compelling enough to resolve. Conflicts are not always visible or easily identifiable. In these situations, the conflict remains, even though it is hidden from view or ignored.)

DIMENSION # 5:
How are the parties dealing with the conflict?
In every conflict, all parties involved make choices to take some action they think will help them get what they want and need. These choices may be spontaneous or calculated, constructive or destructive. Conflicts can develop in stages and consequently may involve many different responses as the conflict proceeds. Some of those choices are:

• Avoidance – deny, ignore, or back off the conflict
• Diffuse the conflict – postpone, wait, gather data, or check it out
• Engage in the conflict – methods might include:
o Direct force or competition
o Accommodation – to adapt or adjust
o Compromise
o Use collaborative problem-solving
• Practice restorative justice - valuing community continuity and well-being in the solution


Stay blessed

Odeth.

[EvanKaufman]

This is a great topic that stirs deep into the nature of mankind. I have enjoyed reading everyone's insights and will attempt to offer some of my own.

I agree with Patrick that Conflict stems from something very basic in humans. It is something so basic, yet for the entire existence of man, we seem to have acted in ignorance and failed to understand our own basic nature before plunging into this "world." But it is hard to blame man also, because you are right, the majority have not been educated on simple things like emotions and thoughts. In fact, for most of us, we are slaves to our own emotions and thoughts and walk around like zombies as if we still have not woken up from our dreams. I remember hearing once, that when an average adult in the western world gets up in the morning and enters the shower, they are already lost in a myriad of thought patterns. The warm water may be splashing on their back and they might be going through the movements of washing themselves but they are not completely there; they are already at work, in their office, planning their day, thinking about the test at school, pondering if the boyfriend/girlfriend is still mad at them, worrying, thinking, day dreaming. They may already be in conflict before they get out of the shower.

In my opinion, it is the monkey mind and our allegiance to it that is the primary source of most conflicts. More broadly, it is our identity conceived in thought which triggers unhealthy conflict. A man has beliefs or ideas about who he/she is and those beliefs are incompatible with another's beliefs about who he/she is. But a deeper question might be to ask "who am I." Are we the thoughts in the mind that we conjure up rampantly on a daily basis? I would argue that we are not and never where a passing thought that arises and disappears through the mind. A thought arises and the body and emotions follow like a pawn. Those emotions are felt, and the corresponding idea is that what ever we are thinking is true. We blatantly make things up and believe them to be true all the time. Our identity is derived from a bundle of these thoughts which are constantly changing to match the idea we have about who we are.

The mind is only a tool which has its limits. Understanding these limits seems key. A popular analogy is the idea of thinking about how honey tastes. You think and conjure images and produce sensations in the body about how you think honey tastes to the point where you swear you can almost taste it. But no matter how real it seems, it can never be the same thing as tasting real honey. I make this point to show how delusions of the mind can seem real but are not. No matter how much I think about another person or myself, it cannot be real. It is only an image. As Osho points out, "...society creates an image by which you can be exploited." Now, how this all relates to conflict.

Say I am told that I am part of the "A" tribe and that the people of the "B" tribe are the reason for all of my problems and that they must be dealt with. I conjure up images of these "other" people and make up stories of how they are the problem. Then I might take actions that I would not normally take without these mental delusions. These delusions may be the self imposed immaturity that Kant talks about as quoted by Micha. It is an immaturity to deal with life in the mind only. Not realizing the mind for what it is, and trying to use it for things that it cannot possible do. When we identify or constantly refer to mental beliefs, we act irresponsibly because we do not react to life but instead react to mind.

Education about the mind and emotions can be key to a good prevention policy. Instead of having conflict played out based on intensified ideas and beliefs, people will have be taught about the limits of the mind and may not subscribe to the popular destructive ideas, and identities being touted by a person or a group. This does not mean that their will be no conflict because some conflict is healthy, but when it turns destructive and violent is when it becomes a real problem. So can humanity do without conflict, sure it could, but at this time, how many people are willing to.

Evan

Please see this article from Osho which talks about the suppression of emotions and expression as a primary cause of conflict and war. http://www.osho.com/main.cfm?Area=Magaz ... N=60397732