April: Week 3
“I am a seeker of truth… I claim to have found the way to it, but I admit that I have not yet found it.” ~Gandhi
Even puffins disagree at times. And that’s natural.
We can make space for disagreement but not at the expense of one another’s humanity.
This week, we turn toward something many of us are taught to avoid: disagreement. Not as something to win or resolve, but as a space that can deepen our understanding—of ourselves, of one another, and of the world we’re shaping together.
In nonviolence, we hold to a simple but powerful principle: everyone has a piece of the truth. No single perspective can contain the whole. When we encounter views that differ from our own, we’re not just facing opposition—we’re meeting another part of a larger reality. (Gandhi was deeply influenced, for example, by Jainism, and the concept of anekāntavāda. Read this short explanation of this philosophy here.)
Disagreement can activate something immediate in us—tension, defensiveness, even fear. Rather than pushing that away, this week invites us to notice it. What is being stirred within us? What assumptions or stories are we holding onto?
Here, the two hands of nonviolence return to us: the ability to hold firmly to what we believe, while at the same time staying open to the humanity and perspective of another—and letting ourselves be changed in the process. Through this week’s resources, we’ll explore how to stay grounded and curious in the face of difference, and how to create space for disagreement while still hearing one another and holding onto one another’s humanity.
As you move through the week, notice where disagreement shows up in your life—and what it looks like to meet it with openness.
Experiment this week (from Daily Good)
Today, find someone whose opinion genuinely irritates you on a topic you care about. Ask one real question about how they arrived at their view. Listen past your first impulse to counter-argue, and notice if understanding their reasoning, even slightly, shifts not necessarily what you believe, but how certain you feel about the complexity of the issue.
Are politics ever free from disagreements? Not likely. So what can we do?
The Power of Calm When Dealing with Conflict: University of Utah
Conflict will often activate our nervous system, bringing up familiar patterns of “fight or flight.” When we recognize this and have tools to care for ourselves in those moments, we can move through conflict with less stress and more creativity.