Gandhi's Way
A Handbook of Conflict Resolution
Chapter One
FIGHTING A GANDHIAN FIGHT
In my opinion, the beauty and efficacy of satyagraha are so great and
the doctrine so simple that it can be preached even to children.
The basic idea of Gandhi's approach to fighting is to redirect the focus
of a fight from persons to principles. Gandhi called it satyagraha,
"grasping onto principles," or "truth force."
He assumed that behind any struggle lies another clash, a deeper one: a
confrontation between two views that are each in some measure true. Every
fight, to Gandhi, was on some level a fight between differing "angles of
vision" illuminating the same truth.
This means that most of the ways that you and I fight simply miss the
point. We either grapple with the person who represents a position or else
try to accommodate that person, without struggling with the position
itself. That, to Gandhi's mind, leaves the real conflict unresolved. It
simmers in the background, ready to boil over on another occasion.
Let's take an example. Ms. A, let's say, is having a ... read full excerpt from Gandhi's Way: A Handbook of Conflict Resolution ebook
