Found another new organization that focuses on positive change for the future: Futurenet, the publishers of Yes! A Journal for Positive Futures. I found them while doing some research on Marshall Rosenberg and Matthew Fox. Dr. Rosenberg is a leader in the nonviolent communication/mediation community (he founded the Center for Nonviolent Communication) and I'm *very* interested in the work he's doing. He studied with Carl Rogers and incorporates spirituality into his methods on a fundamental level.

Matthew Fox is one of the leaders in the creation spirituality movement and founded the University of Creation Spirituality. What I like about what I've read on him so far is his emphasis on spirtuality leading to compassion and how we literally create our own experience.

All this may seem somewhat removed from conflict resolution but it isn't. There are two main schools of thought around conflict: 1.) That conflict can only be managed or 2.) That conflict can actually be resolved (re-solved, perhaps indicating that all resolutions exist, it's just a matter of finding them?). I'm of the second school of thought - that conflict can be resolved on its most basic level - the level of understanding between human beings.

One of the first things to do is look at the definition of conflict. How do we define and regard conflict? To me, conflict represents potential change - change in our physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual reality. Because we're human, we're not always open to change of any type or change of a type we feel we're not ready for. So this creates a struggle between the reality we're currently experiencing and the reality we think this change will bring. If the potential reality doesn't meet our (usually rigid) expectations, if it has the potential to change our current experience, we rebel, we struggle and we engender conflict.

Conflict can happen on a tremendous number of levels from personal conflict between two people to cultural, societal, and national conflicts between various groups of people. Conflict also takes place internally, within our own hearts and minds. It's my belief that our external conflicts directly mirror our internal conflicts. That a national conflict mirrors the hearts and minds of the people who consider themselves part of that nation.

So where I'm going with this is here: If we can find a way to look at our internal conflict and begin re-solving our personal issues around change and growth, it seems that we can begin to change our thought process, thus beginning to create from a different, perhaps higher, perspective. If our mind is our tool of creation, if the power of our thoughts shapes our reality, then wouldn't it follow that we should have a clearer understanding of where those thoughts are coming from? Are they coming from our acceptance of the ever present Now or are they coming from our resistance to change, our fear of the unknown?

The very language we use changes dramatically depending on where our thoughts originate. Instead of a problem, it becomes a challenge. Instead of difficult, it becomes interesting. Instead some event just happening 'to' us, it becomes something we can experience and learn from. The paradigm we use to think about our lives and reality shifts - how could our creative abilities not begin to respond differently?

Because we have looked at our internal conflict, we may also find ourselves responding to conflict with others from a different place - a more generous and loving place. But it all starts with a willingness to look at our reactions to conflict directly and unflinchingly. To discover why we are so afraid of the potential for change, why we are so rigid in our expectation about how things should look.