Socrates was wounded fighting ably as a hoplite in the Peloponnesian
Wars in defense of his beloved Athens. He died defending the dialectic, the
pursuit of truth/virtue through well reasoned choice. Warrior, Seeker of Wisdom,
Martyr, he was betrayed by the ignorance and fear of fellow citizens.
For Socrates, perhaps the major cause of human conflict is avarice, striving
for more than one’s fair share. “... our neighbors’ land will be wanted by us
... and they will want a slice of ours, if, like ourselves, they exceed the
limit of necessity, and give themselves up to the unlimited accumulation of
wealth ... we shall go to war.” Rather than seek riches he asked, “Where, then,
is justice, and where is injustice ... in the dealings of these citizens with
one another?”
John R. Swanton, writing in the middle of WWII asked, “Are wars inevitable?”
He suggested that the the motives for war are essentially the same whether the
conflict be between nations, tribes, clans or individuals. His list of motives
for war includes: revenge, social advancement, excitement, religious obligation,
capture of women, slavery, plunder, appropriation of territory, control of trade,
defense of the status quo, and fear. He proposed revenge, “getting even,” to
be the leading cause of human conflict, and that when war begins in any other
manner, revenge usually quickly enters as a secondary motive.
According to Ruth Beebe Hill, the Dakota, stoic warriors of the Great Plains,
saw a need “... to effect a balance between peacemen and warriors in the tribe.”
And that, “to endure as a tribe they also shall need to prove brave against
certain invisible enemies: foolish anger and destroying greed, bribery and jealousy.”
For the Dakota, each individual must arrive, on his/her own, at a accurate perception
of the processes of nature, speak truthfully and live honestly in accord with
these processes; this in service to community.
Chunksa Yuha said, “The Indian ... begins with the spirit of man and works down
through the laws of the universe. Taku skanskan ... something-in-movement, spiritual
vitality ... all the religion there ever was in that one phrase.”
The Dakota world-view closely resembles Hegelian dialectics, where-in everything
is seen in continual becoming and ceasing to be, nothing permanent, everything
changing and eventually superseded. Everything contains contradictory sides
or aspects in tension or conflict, which is the motive force of change, transformation
and desolution. Hegel saw change and development as the expression of spirit,
or idea, realizing itself in nature and in society.
Mediation. How is the conflict inherent in existence to be expressed, resolved,
employed to create an ever more marvelous and beautiful world? How are the emotions,
divergent perceptions and conflicting needs inherent in a family, school, church,
agency, corporation, town, nation, etc. to be conducted through minefields of
needless pain and destruction, to a place of superordinate solution and optimal
transformation?
May I help in resolving your conflict? I look closely at issues and underlying
factors. I strive to establish multi-lateral partiality, where-in I fully understand
the perceptions, and work for the benefit of, each party in the conflicted system.
I open communications and identify “ghosts”, as Tim Weitzel calls them, the
unheard voices, unseen forces, unexpressed needs that haunt and disrupt until
they are given their due. “Who ya gonna call?”
Contact me at larry@socraticsolutions.org |
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