Meeting the Shadow: Beyond Dualism and Armed Conflict

If you know, you know. Watch the presentation and watch out for dolphins. :-)

Over 2,700 years ago, Lao Tzu observed that “the warrior thinks of his enemy as the shadow he himself casts,” foreshadowing Carl Jung’s insight that we often project our inner shadows onto external enemies. What might it mean to meet the shadow—personally and politically—and move beyond the limits of dualistic thinking and armed conflict?

In this session, Dr. Afra Jalabi invites us into an intellectual and spiritual exploration of duality—not to deny difference, nor to erase tension, but to engage it consciously and creatively. In the spirit of Rumi’s words, “If you draw a circle to exclude me, I’ll draw a bigger circle to include you,” we will reflect on how inclusion can become a strategy rather than a sentiment.

Together, we will engage in a collective inquiry into how to shift from oppositional fighting toward wiser forms of political maneuvering. We will explore ways of embracing conflict as a source of insight and transformation rather than something to suppress or dominate. Drawing on key schools of thought and influential thinkers, we will examine critical philosophical perspectives on war—whether it is an inevitability of human nature or a choice—and consider the possibilities for conscious transformation.