A Process Oriented approach to Conflict

The Process approach to conflict aims to help small and large groups of people to live, work and grow together within their environment.  It is a subtle, advanced and complex method that is difficult to explain in a simple way and is as challenging to practice.  Grounded in Process Oriented Psychology (POP), developed by Arnold Mindell, it draws on many disciplines for its theoretical background e.g. physics, Taoism, Jungian psychology, Gestalt, Psychodrama, and integrates political, social, spiritual and therapeutic perspectives within its developmental approach.  It seeks to establish a new profession underpinned by "deep democracy".   Its focus is on issues that are of major concern to the world or community and offers some new and radical ways of understanding and dealing with conflict.

Field theory

Critical to the Process approach is the notion of energy fields.  They can be seen as the context within which conflict is occurring and understood, and out of which it springs.  The dynamic of nature, personality, group or community is understood in process terms rather than structural terms.  Drawing on the ideas of modern physics, archetypal psychology and ancient Taoism, the Process view is that at best, structure or form, as it appears at any given moment of observation, is temporary and we are better served by being able to be aware of the flow of energy and notice the different paths and forms into which this energy flows.  Our identities, therefore, are seen as fluid and formed by these energy flows.  The energy flows are more important than the temporary structures and forms that the flow may take, and with which we tend to identify ourselves, i.e. our ego, family, organisation or ethnic group. 

Contrary to the way we tend to view and treat them, these forms/ identities are constantly in flux - the field is continually resolving and reorganising itself into new forms.  It is our mental pictures, beliefs or constructs that are fixed and which fail to keep pace with the flow, which highlights the importance of our perceptual and meaning making processes in how we deal with conflict.  In conflict, we often assume that the field is synonymous with our consciousness and intended actions; that our partial perception constitutes a grasp of the whole.  The Process view is that the fields are boundary-less, continue outside our conscious awareness and can also be experienced in the form of dreams, unintended actions, experiences, events or other happenings in the world if we are prepared to notice and be open to them.  The Process approach stretches our perceptions of time, space and causality when dealing with conflict and, most importantly of all, our ability to become aware of the field.

To help recognise and work with process or flow, POP uses concepts like Roles, Timespirits, Ghost-roles, Edges, Hotspots, and so on.   Roles are the term ascribed to these emergent forms while Edges are the boundaries of such identities as experienced.  Hot-spot is the term used to refer to the sudden emergence of energy, tension or conflict during encounter between forms.  This Process language enables participants to converse about these energy flows but language and styles of communication used can, and need to be, as diverse as the cultures or identities within the field.  Such diversity is honoured and encouraged whether in the form of movement, sound or visual imaging.  Additionally, the field is larger than we can experience, perceive, understand  or at any given moment incorporating both consensus (agreed-upon) and non-consensus reality.   So we need to have ways of describing and representing parts of the field or identities that may not be apparent at the time and whose presence may only be inferred from the warp and flow of what is apparent, eg. Ghost-roles or Timespirits.

Fields have no boundaries.  So, viewed in this way, separateness of the personal, the social, inner and outer have little meaning.  The personal, political, material and spiritual interpenetrate and are all part of the same field.  These aspects and we ourselves are all interconnected, as much ancient wisdom and New Age philosophies remind us.  Some common metaphors may help us relate more easily to fields and their impact.  Fields are dream-like and their forces can be felt.  They exert influence, often in hidden ways, much like an electromagnetic field.  They can also be likened to weather patterns, they are sometimes calm and sunny and at others electric and stormy and, like weather systems, they can be seen as generative forces that are constantly evolving and changing.

In relation to conflict, some of the most interesting patterns and dynamics occur at the boundaries and interfaces, when the warm fronts meet the cold fronts so to speak; we encounter Edges in the Process world view - the point or area in the field where two different forms or identities meet.   It is here amidst the meeting of different energies, that we often experience what we call conflict - turbulence, heated exchange, confusion and disturbance of identities, - the possibility of expansion and the threat of extinction, the possibility of a new formation - which, in Mindell's view, is an indication of the field trying to rebalance itself, as fields are wont to do.

These patterns and dynamics can be observed in our personalities, in our relationships, in groups, communities and organisations as well as in nature.  It helps us to see conflict as part of a natural process of growth and evolution - the growing pains of personality, relationship or community - and as an alternative to reducing our understanding of it to interpersonal competition or abnormality.  This conception of conflict offers us a way of depersonalising conflict - of focussing on "what" is in conflict rather than "who" is in conflict.  It provides us with a way to move beyond the personalisation of conflict, causal explanations and blame with which we are so familiar and which can be so problematic.  We ask, not how to avoid or get rid of it, but what is unfolding in nature, what needs to be transcended, what can the conflict teach us, how we can use its energy for growth and transformation, and so on.

Sentience and awareness therefore, are central to being, interacting and growing in such fields and the facilitator's role is to assist the field become aware of itself.  The Process view is that awareness itself is the facilitator and the mindfulness of all present in the field is needed to generate such awareness.  The challenge for the individual, group or organisation is to use this energy to become aware of, encounter, learn about, and transform itself.

Conflict initiates the awareness process.  Often, the encounter between energy flows in the individual, group, community appear in the form of attraction, repulsion, disturbance, turbulence, harmony, incongruence, conflict, emotion, stereotyping, sub-grouping, and violence among others.  The Process view is that if all voices or elements in the field can be heard and honoured that this will lead to learning and development, healthier individuals and communities and a significant reduction in the potentially destructive outcomes of conflict. 

This as you can imagine this is not always easy or comfortable given our propensity to avoid conflict.  A major shift in our conventional attitude to conflict is required.  Process work offers us a set of concepts, strategies and tools to make this possible and to engage in conflict in a more creative and productive way.  It is a theory and practice continually undergoing action-research and development.

In the next issue we will explore how these fields can be worked with, explore some of the concepts and applications of Process work and review The Deep Democracy of Open Forums by Arnold Mindell.  Other books by Mindell on this approach to conflict include The Leader as Martial Artist, and Sitting in the Fire that I reviewed in an earlier edition of this newsletter.