I write about Conflict Resolution, but I think there are many
inter-woven roots of Conflict Resolution; some you can see because they’re
visible and above-ground, and some you can’t see because they’re often
invisible, unseen because of ventilating and creating underground.
In the scheme of things, Conflict Resolution has much to do with culture
and how inter-cultural relationships function either in unhealthy or
healthy ways. Culture is much more than
just the kind of language spoken. It
consists of many, multiple layers upon layers and social conditioning upon
social conditioning elements. The fact
that it has so many variables means that conflicts and embracing, death and
life, separation or diversity, etc. are all part of the gift-wrapped package.
If you leave Austin, you can go out to the wilds, forests, state
parks, and national parks, and view the micro-culture of a chosen
ecosphere. Here, you don’t find places
that have the same kind of plant or tree lined up, military style, standing at
attention, and getting ready to salute the top dog. No, in the wild, you see chaos, destruction,
thriving and growing, going through evolutionary growth development, there’s a
general messiness in any kind of healing-- galore! You see randomness, a natural graffiti of
flora and fauna colors, leaving their colored pollen to remind us of their
presence, because we are all interdependent beings, joined in the circle of
life, and dancing crazily on the edge of a forest fire.
“Monoculture—the practice of replicating a single plant, product or
idea over a huge area—is about the most unstable, unsustainable, unimaginable
form of organization that exists, but in the short term it keeps the system
running smoothly and keeps the power in the hands of a small number of people” (P. 1, The Icarus Project: www.theicarusproject.net, “Friends Make the Best Medicine: A Guide to
Creating Community Mental Health Support Networks”—you can obtain copies of this book free of
charge by going to the website above).
Living in a Monoculture means you want everyone else to be a carbon
copy of you. A Multi-Culture celebrates
and respects difference, diversity, the freedom and dignity of each person
individually, an equality-fueled partnering, an avoidance of the Doctor (once
known as the supreme expert, infallible
god with scalpels, icon, distant, often unapproachable and acting without much
humility, monologic communication, often acting as if superior to a patient (a
peer?) and family members, as if they are somehow separate, “better than,”
“grasping for control,” etc. Do any
of these images resonate with you?
Monocultures are not conducive to life, and generally within natural
systems you see Multi-Cultures living and breathing interdependently. In Monoculture, primarily in Western
Democracies is a way that wealthy people and systems control and exploit
others. “Powerful people figured out
awhile (sic) time ago that it’s a lot easier to control things if everyone’s
eating the same foods, listening to the same music, reading the same books,
watching the same TV shows, and speaking the same language. This is
what we call the Monocult, and while
everyone is supposedly more and more connected by this new ‘”global culture,”’
we’re more and more isolated from each other.” (Ibid.,
p. 1).
The
Icarus Project is both a pioneer and an outgrowth of a
psycho-social wave that is now growing and picking up steam. This is a
peer-based model of recovery that functions on the basis of self-empowerment,
self-transformation, and supportive community; it’s known by various names
(Peer Support is perhaps the most common), but suffice it to say that many are
concerned and disillusioned about the old school Medical Model that’s built on
an hierarchal, up-down, doctor as boss/patient as servant. Many individuals and organizations are
resisting how the Medical Model runs counter-intuitively and out of alignment
with the natural systems in which we live.
These people are rising up in diverse ways to use their voice to
clearly and personally state their own identity, and to offer peer resources
and initiatives to those with Mental Illness, many who have been very damaged
by the current rigid model of The Medical Model.
So we have a perfect set-up for conflict, right? Yes, that’s true: and we also have a perfect
set-up for psycho-social-creativity to
work. It’s good for us to remember
that one of the powerful, growth-producing phenomenon that dynamically is a Conflict>Creativity>Transformation>Conflict>Creativity>Transformation
cycle that continuously re-images and reformulates itself, changes,
flows, takes two steps back, lacks permanency, is randomly impacted by
conditions, causes and effects, is simply a part of the life-death process,
opens us up to our incredible mind-bodies capacity for mindfulness and
awareness, etc.
We are
not victims, we’re not weak, disassociated or unthinking; we base our view of
reality on empirical facts, not what we ever always think about facts or
scientific laws or functions of living, but
our experience that speaks to other listening voices, and is our credibility
and legitimacy that we own and use. Our stories ride out our path of
self-expression as well as journey us towards fulfillment of our human
potential. Our stories have the power to
heal us and send out the energy that is available for any healing on this
planet to take place.
I urge you to check out the Icarus Project Website (www.icarusproject.net). They offer resources that clear-mindedly
give meaning to our humanism, our return to the garden of humanity, and the ecstasy
and dignity of human selfhood.
I am gathering information presently as I envision a group gathering
of those who have been negatively impacted and affected by the Monoclot in the
area of Mental Health and Mental Illness.
The group mission would be to offer a safe and confidential place for
folks to communicate their stories; if you, or anyone you know, have ideas,
creative inspirements, input, questions, would like to be a part of this kind
of group, etc. Please email Christopher
Bear-Beam at sunbear.com@gmail.com.
© Christopher Bear-Beam January 2, 2014
