Tactics in the Service of FatherPower

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In pursuing these tactics we endorse the debunking

of four myths about conflict from

psychologist Nate Regier, author of

Conflict Without Casualties, writing in

Fast Company, November 11, 2016.

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Myth No. 1: Peace Is The Absence Of Conflict

Peace is an active, dynamic, and generative process that demands healthy conflict. If peace means we’re getting along, cooperating, and not hurting each other, then we can’t get there without addressing our differences and disagreements first. Diversity is a basic fact of human society–it always has been, from the very beginning. Embracing and working with it is the only way toward peace, and this involves a certain degree of conflict.

 

Myth No. 2: Conflict Is Destructive

Conflict can be destructive, but it by no means has to be. Mythologist, poet, and psychologist Michael J. Meade believes that the purpose of conflict is to create. If we define conflict simply as a gap between what we want and what we are experiencing, then the real question becomes, “How are we going to close the gap?”

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Myth No. 3: Conflict Needs To Be Minimized, Managed, and Controlled

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Try and remove the conflict itself, and you’re likely to reduce your creative potential. The problem with conflict reduction, mediation, and management philosophies is that they make conflict out to be the culprit. It isn’t. Conflict is the source of energy.

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Myth No. 4: Compassion Is an Antidote to Conflict

Being truly compassionate means caring enough to engage in creative conflict with someone. That’s a powerful opportunity–why try to avoid it?​​​​

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