THE AMBASSADORS
Special Peace Issue
SELECTED STUDY
THE AMBASSADORS
Special
Peace Issue
SELECTED STUDY
Volume 2,
Issue 1
January 1999
Conflict
Without Violence
By Dr. Terrence Webster-Doyle
Preparing Our
Children to Understand and
Resolve Conflict Individually and Globally.
This presentation is for parents, educators, school administrators, counselors, social service workers and anyone who lives or works with young people.
Young people have been conditioned, through movies, television, games and books, to think that violence is an heroic cultural ideal, one that upholds fighting as the honorable solution to conflict. The current "heroes" portrayed in the media are more violent than the villains they are pursuing. There seems to be no limit to what violent means one can employ in the name of heroism, in combatting violence. Intelligent, nonviolent alternatives are not generally heroically thought of as ways to cope with the bully. The word "peaceful" connotes a passive, unheroic wimp. In order to counteract this age-old code of aggression, the "eye for an eye," "might makes right" deeply conditioned attitude, young people need to find active, passionate ways to deal with aggression, personally and socially.
In order to help young people in understanding violence and finding intelligent and humane alternatives to conflict, we adults need to develop programs in schools and the community to meet this urgent and vital need. On the personal or individual level, we need to teach young people how to cope with aggression through Conflict Resolution Training. Conflict Resolution Training is beginning to be explored in certain "troubled" areas in schools. On the social or global level we also need to teach young people about the causes of violence, where they come from, how they are sustained, that is, how the nature and structure of conflict is created and how through traditional reform conflict is paradoxically compounded. Young people need to see that the primary structure of conflict, of violence, has been inherited by them through a history of human division and fragmentation, stemming back through millennia. They must become aware that they are being influenced to continue this divisive, fragmented way of living, where the world is divided into warring "tribes," fighting over primitive reactions to territory, possessions and dominance for survival.
In order to help young people understand the primary causes of individual and global violence, we must develop a curriculum that goes into this issue of conflict holistically and developmentally. Young people need to be taught the skills of relationship, of what it means to live without conflict. They must learn to recognize the factors that prevent peace in relationship, not how to create idealistic solutions that only lead to more conflict through judgement and identification with moral righteousness. In order to truly understand and resolve both individual and hence global conflict, young people need to come into direct, nonjudgmental contact with it, as it's occuring in them and the world. In coming into nonjudgmental, direct contact with conflict, they have the opportunity to end it because of the very nature of the process employed. Traditionally conflict, changing behavior, has been approached intellectually, moralistically: "Thou shalt and shalt not," reinforced through punishment and reward. This conventional approach, by the very nature of this process, has sustained and compounded conflict and, in the extreme, has caused great suffering through war.
Children of War,
Education for Peace
The worst horror of war is the suffering of the innocent children. Terrorized by the insanity of violence, children become scarred for life with the memory of war time atrocities. How can parents, educators, counselors, school administrators and others who work or live with children help young people understand and cope with the aftermath of the experience of war? Beyond therapy to heal the scars of their experiences, children need help in understanding what war is ‹ where it comes from, how it is sustained and paradoxically how it is compounded by the conventional approaches to ending it ‹ that is, a curriculum that introduces them to the nature and structure of conflict, individually and globally. It is necessary to demonstrate how the fundamental structure or cause of conflict within the individual in his/her conditioned identification with a divisive, fragmentary world view causes not only personal conflict inwardly but outwardly, creating social conflict and in the extreme, global war. This workshop offers practical information, resources and activities to introduce young people to understand the causes of conflict. In comprehending the structure and nature of conflict, and the extreme conflict of war, the child can, with help from an adult, have the opportunity to put the war experience in an understandable context ‹ at least intellectually.
Combined with intensive psychological therapy, the child can begin to integrate his/her intellectual and emotional comprehension of his/her experience. Understanding the fundamental causes of conflict gives hope to the child for he/she can see a future when conflict can be understood and ended, especially the tribal reactive conflict of war. Knowing that the future holds this possibility, the reaction of despair can be eliminated, despair that crushes the spirit of the child.
Understanding
Personal and Global Conflict
FOR ADULTS WHO LIVE OR WORK WITH YOUNG PEOPLE:
TUG OF WAR: Peace Through Understanding Conflict: For adults concerned that young people clearly and intelligently understand the conflict and war that is so much a part of society today -- not on a political level but a fundamental one, so that children can see:
Workshop based on the award-winning book of the same name.
BRAVE NEW CHILD:
Education for the 21st Century
Anyone committed to awakening real intelligence, creativity and love in children will benefit from this profound look at the flaws of traditional education. Having taught at the Secondary, Community College and University level in both public and independent schools, as well as in Juvenile Delinquency Prevention, Dr. Webster-Doyle gives examples of the destructive patterns of education today, especially how conflict between people prevents openhearted teaching, learning and cooperation. He promotes practical innovations to open young people's minds and transform both learning and living. Based on the book of the same name.
FIGHTING THE INVISIBLE ENEMY:
Understand the Effects of Conditioning
Beseiged by violent video games, war toys, and such ruthless film heroes as "Rambo," children are under intense pressure to accept and even admire violent conflict between people and nations. Deliberately or accidentally, adults can also promote racism, sexism, extreme patriotism to further condition a child toward violent attitudes and behavior. In this workshop, participants gain:
Based on the award-winning book of the same name.
FOR AUDIENCES OF BOTH YOUNG PEOPLE (age 10 and up) AND ADULTS:
WHY IS EVERYBODY ALWAYS PICKING ON ME? A Guide to Handling Bullies: For any kid who's ever been bullied by a classmate -- and for kids who find themselves bullying others to get what they need. You've probably seen all kinds of bullying -- on the playground, in your neighborhood, family, and on the movie screen. Sometimes it seems like you have to be a "tough guy" to succeed in this world -- but you can solve your problems peacefully! In this workshop, fun roleplaying games, activities, and discussion help kids invent practical solutions to the conflict in their lives. Based on the book of the same name.
FIGHTING THE INVISIBLE ENEMY:
Understanding the War Within
Through the use of stories, games and activities this workshop will help young people (adults can join in, too!) begin to understand the effects of conditioning (the "Invisible Enemy") on their behavior. They will explore how the use of aggressive, war-like films, videos, comics, television and games have influenced them to react in fearful, defensive, self-protective ways in their relationships at home, in school and in the community and how the effect of this can create global conflict in their adult relations.
Based on the Award-winning book, FIGHTING THE INVISIBLE ENEMY: Understanding the Effects of Conditioning (for young people).
JUNIOR RAMBOS: What Makes Kids Warriors? What are the influences that can turn a child into a warrior? An extremely important workshop dedicated to bringing about peace by understanding what prevents it. Using specially selected activities, games and stories, this workshop can help young people (and adults, too) to understand the primary causes of war and how children are conditioned to think and act in war-like ways. It will also show participants how they can resolve conflict peacefully ‹ both personally and globally. Based on the Award-winning book, TUG OF WAR: Peace Through Understanding Conflict (for young people).
Workshops FOR ADULTS:
GROWING UP SANE: Understanding the Conditioned Mind: Living a sane and intelligent life means being aware of the problems of conflict in relationship -- where it arises from and how to resolve it without fighting or fleeing. This session will examine the relationships and social institutions that mold human behavior, and explore the influence such structures have on the development of human potential. The intent is to see and avoid those social influences that promote conflict and discourage true learning and originality. Based on the book of the same name.
THE RELIGIOUS IMPULSE: The Quest for Innocence. This workshop is for those concerned with bringing about ethical behavior in themselves and in young people they live or work with. It is an examination of the nature and structure of what it means to live a virtuous life. It explores the traditional approach in bringing about "good" behavior and examines how this process can paradoxically create disorder, individually and socially. It also questions the difference between religious practice and the religious mind. Based on the book of the same name.
PEACE, THE ENEMY OF FREEDOM: The Myth of Nonviolence: This workshop enquires into the fundamental structure of how we prevent peace by the very process of trying to bring it about. A look at how the conventional approach to bringing about peace through nonviolent ideological thinking and activism paradoxically creates conflict in relationship -- and, in the extreme, can actually contribute to war. Based on the book of the same name.
Dr Terrence Webster-Doyle was Founder and Director of three independent schools and has taught at the secondary, community college and university levels in education, psychology, and philosophy. Working in juvenile delinquency prevention, he has developed counseling programs geared towards young adults. Dr. Webster-Doyle is currently the Director of the Atrium Society and is the author of 15 books. He also earned a 6th-degree Black Belt in the art of Karate, and founded the Martial Arts for Peace Association.
