Foundations of Peace

The Essential Knowledge

People fight and people make peace. Any other concept is an abstraction or euphemism disguising the truth. Therefore, peacemaking requires a multi-discplinary approach, starting with some fundamental knowledge. The knowledge base includes neuropsychology, listening, concepts of justice, maintaining inner awareness and a non-anxious presence, understanding the hard science of focused intention, and shifting away from the Enlightenment view of man as a rational being to people as emotional beings.

World Peace to Personal Peace--It All Comes Down to People

Nations don't fight; people fight. Every conflict, dispute, and fight comes down to people. Understanding how people fight and how they transform conflicts into peace is therefore foundational to peacemaking. This understanding is possible because all humans are wired the same way. Each of us has a brain, a body, and a set of basic needs. Each of us also has the capacity for evil and destruction, as well as great acts of altruism, charity, compassion and loving kindness. Each of us has a higher consciousness, a soul if you wish, that we can tap into for guidance, instruction, and direction. Despite the vast array of cultures developed by humans, we still are all essentially the same. This sameness is what makes peacemaking possible.

When we begin to understand the basic wiring in our brains, our basic needs, and the importance of emotions, the tools of peacemaking become more useful and available. Peacemaking goes far beyond conversations or improved communication. Peacemaking embraces the completeness of every human, acknowledges how similar we are all to each other, and sees differences as opportunities for bridges and connection. In this section of the site, concepts fundamental to effective peacemaking will be introduced. The choice of topics is based on experience with over 1,500 mediations and peacemaking assignments. This is what seems to be at the core in every dispute.

War and Peace in Our Brain--Neuropsychology of Conflict Let's start with the brain. Freud was a genius for trying to decipher the inner workings of the mind, consciousness, and behavior. He was actually a neuroscientist before turning to hynoptism then psychotherapy. For all of Freud . Unfortunately, he was mostly wrong and western cultural beliefs have held onto his outmoded theories for too long. This section is a summary of neuropsychology as it applies to conflict.	Listening Listening another person into existence is one of the greatest gifts one human can give another. It costs nothing, yet is one of the scarcest commodities to be found. Listening goes out the window when conflict erupts. One key to de-escalation and peace is found in listening skills. Its a lot more than just hearing words as you will learn in this section.
Justice and Injustice What would a Lawyer to Peacemaker site be without acknowledging the importance of justice and profound effect injustice has deep inside people in conflict. However, justice is a word with many meanings and those meanings often conflict with one another. This section will talk about justice in its many forms and show how imbalances in our inner scales cause disputes.	Being Non-Anxious Whether you are a mediator or peacemaker or in the thick of the fight yourself, maintaining a non-anxious presence is vital. The challenge is in dealing with the fears and anxieties that naturally arise when the ancient fear response systems of our brains are triggered. Essentially, peacemakers learn to re-program their response systems to a compassion response. This section talks more about that.
Focused IntentionThe power of the human mind to change the external environment through focused intention has, until recently, been relegated by science to the realm of mysticism, spirituality, and quackery. However, more and more hard science is showing that focused intention can change the physical reality around us. This has huge implications in peacemaking. This section shows you why.	Escalation and De-Escalation Conflicts, whether between wives and husbands, children, business partners, or nations, follow a predictable course. Understanding the five stages of conflict will give you deep insight into why people fight the way they do. And, understanding the science of escalation will give you tools to de-escalate conflicts efficiently or understand why they cannot be at that moment.