Why Conflict is a Given.
John Paul Lederach is one of my favourite teachers relative to conflict and peace building. His ideas around peace building flow out of a non violent Anabaptist tradition. The more I study non violence in all it's forms - from the obvious (war) to the not so obvious (how we perceive and name those who get in our way or fail to meet our expectations - idiot, fool, selfish, jerk, loser, and much worse - and those we blame for our own feelings of upset, anger and frustration) - the more it's principles and ideals take hold in my heart. So, I was reading Lederach's "Reconcile" for notes on a course I'm giving on high conflict persons, and was fascinated by his particular theory of the foundation for conflict. While I've read many theories on conflict, including theological ones relative to human conflict starting in the garden, Lederach's take synthesizes them with profoundly simple clarity. Essentially, at Creation, God gave mankind three monume