Awareness
Kuan Yin : She who harkens to the cries of the world
Rene Wadlow*
Wise in using skilful means
In every corner of the world
She manifests her countless forms
Awareness in our efforts of conflict resolution
Rene Wadlow*
We must recognize at the start that conflicts are rarely resolved just by compromise and adjustments. Conflicts are moments of high intensity of energies which need to be transformed into a radically different quality of flow in order to achieve stability and justice.
World Citizens have as a prime task to facilitate the transformation of the many existing conflicts in this period, which Sri Aurobindo has called “the last twilight which divides the dying from the unborn age.”
An important role for world citizens in situations of conflict is that of mediator. Such a role requires awareness. The mediator must be ‘awake’. This means becoming able to escape from the mindless automatism that govern so much of our lives, from senseless worries and fears, from prejudice, from ego cherishing and irritability, from vanity, from illusions of guilt and badness, from belief in separate existence unrelated to others.
By being awake, the mediator will know how ideas and emotions rise within himself — and thus within others. He must be awake to how his words and body movements influence other persons. A mediator is much more than the message he transmits.
Awareness means, in part, self-awareness and through self-awareness an insight into the conditions of others. We must examine ourselves and develop our capacity for thought and action. It is in this way that the full capacity and creative potentialities of the person are revealed. Without a measure of awareness, we cannot be sensitive to the needs and feelings of others. We need to understand through awareness of our own inner life that every strong emotion— whether love, hate or anger — has an impact which continues as does longer-lasting attitudes such as frustration, emotional turmoil, and other distorted states of consciousness.
Certainly, there are a number of techniques to be learned as a skilled mediator: how to listen, how to avoid forms of speech which are overly aggressive, how to disagree without offending, and how to negotiate. However, the most important aspect of mediation are attitudes of mind, particularly respect, concern and compassion for all other human beings.
Rene Wadlow, Representative to the United Nations, Geneva, Association of World Citizens
Rene Wadlow*
Wise in using skilful means
In every corner of the world
She manifests her countless forms
Awareness in our efforts of conflict resolution
Rene Wadlow*
We must recognize at the start that conflicts are rarely resolved just by compromise and adjustments. Conflicts are moments of high intensity of energies which need to be transformed into a radically different quality of flow in order to achieve stability and justice.
World Citizens have as a prime task to facilitate the transformation of the many existing conflicts in this period, which Sri Aurobindo has called “the last twilight which divides the dying from the unborn age.”
An important role for world citizens in situations of conflict is that of mediator. Such a role requires awareness. The mediator must be ‘awake’. This means becoming able to escape from the mindless automatism that govern so much of our lives, from senseless worries and fears, from prejudice, from ego cherishing and irritability, from vanity, from illusions of guilt and badness, from belief in separate existence unrelated to others.
By being awake, the mediator will know how ideas and emotions rise within himself — and thus within others. He must be awake to how his words and body movements influence other persons. A mediator is much more than the message he transmits.
Awareness means, in part, self-awareness and through self-awareness an insight into the conditions of others. We must examine ourselves and develop our capacity for thought and action. It is in this way that the full capacity and creative potentialities of the person are revealed. Without a measure of awareness, we cannot be sensitive to the needs and feelings of others. We need to understand through awareness of our own inner life that every strong emotion— whether love, hate or anger — has an impact which continues as does longer-lasting attitudes such as frustration, emotional turmoil, and other distorted states of consciousness.
Certainly, there are a number of techniques to be learned as a skilled mediator: how to listen, how to avoid forms of speech which are overly aggressive, how to disagree without offending, and how to negotiate. However, the most important aspect of mediation are attitudes of mind, particularly respect, concern and compassion for all other human beings.
Rene Wadlow, Representative to the United Nations, Geneva, Association of World Citizens
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