{"id":3379,"date":"2011-04-07T14:59:50","date_gmt":"2011-04-07T18:59:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/peacebuilder\/?p=3379"},"modified":"2011-04-07T15:05:14","modified_gmt":"2011-04-07T19:05:14","slug":"potlucks-vs-papers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/peacebuilder\/2011\/04\/potlucks-vs-papers\/","title":{"rendered":"Potlucks vs. Papers: Reflections on the EMU Attachment Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Cole Parke, first year MA student and CJP community organizer<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

An increasing pile of evidence points to the biological imperative of attachment \u2013 not\u00a0only in our early formative years, but throughout our entire lives. For some, this is\u00a0revolutionary; for others, it\u2019s old news.<\/p>\n

Throughout the gospels, Jesus makes clear the necessity of attachment, both with God and\u00a0amongst ourselves \u2013 analogizing that he is the vine and his followers are the branches,\u00a0Jesus says, \u201cJust as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither\u00a0can you unless you abide in me\u201d (John 15:4, NRSV). Later, when he commissions his disciples, he doesn\u2019t\u00a0send them out alone \u2013 he sends them out in pairs.<\/p>\n

Other religious traditions also make clear the value and importance of attachment,\u00a0though perhaps with different words (and unique insights). Interbeing, for example, is\u00a0the Buddhist teaching that nothing can be by itself alone, that everything in the cosmos\u00a0must \u201cinter-be\u201d with everything else. Thich Nhat Hanh writes in Living Buddha, Living Christ<\/em>, \u201cWhen we see the nature\u00a0of interbeing, barriers between ourselves and others are dissolved, and peace, love, and\u00a0understanding are possible. Whenever there is understanding, compassion is born.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though it isn\u2019t technically considered a \u201creligion,\u201d Alcoholics Anonymous also exemplifies\u00a0this value of attachment as a core principle, embodied through the practice of sponsorship\u00a0\u2013 something that many describe as the backbone of AA.<\/p>\n

And yet here we are, over a decade deep into the 21st century, and we\u2019ve got\u00a0neuroscientists and Ph.D.\u2019s talking about connectedness in venue’s like EMU’s recent Attachment Conference<\/a> as if it\u2019s some sort of\u00a0groundbreaking idea. There is certainly something positive to be said for affixing solid,\u00a0scientific evidence to what many would call intuitive knowledge. In the Western world of\u00a0skepticism, if you want to give something legitimacy, you have to back it up with research\u00a0and quantifiable evidence (check out Brian Gumm\u2019s recent post on Game Theory<\/a> for more\u00a0on the history and impact of this). But for those who see these \u201cdiscoveries\u201d as nothing\u00a0more than new words affixed to old concepts, the trending enthusiasm may feel like\u00a0something of an insult.<\/p>\n

Western peacebuilders often speak of mutuality in their work \u2013 that they seek to both teach\u00a0and learn from the international communities that they\u2019re engaging with. Unfortunately,\u00a0there are too few examples of truly reciprocal relationships. Too often the question\u00a0is, \u201cHow do I make this tool\/strategy\/theory that I\u2019ve already established work in a\u00a0different context?\u201d We aren\u2019t so foolish as to suggest that peacebuilding is a one-size-fits-all sort of endeavor, but we do tend to stubbornly insist on adapting preconceived\u00a0methodologies.<\/p>\n

A famous Buddhist story tells of a young student visiting a famous Zen Master. When tea\u00a0is served, the teacher pours his guest\u2019s cup full and then continues to pour. The student\u00a0watches in shock as tea spills over the rim and all over the table. The master continues\u00a0though, seemingly oblivious to the expanding puddle until finally the student can stand it\u00a0no more \u2013 “Stop! The cup is overflowing! No more will go in!”<\/p>\n

“Like this cup,” the teacher explains, “you are full of your own opinions and speculations.\u00a0How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?”<\/p>\n

John Paul Lederach told a group of CJP folks after the conference that having an attitude of humility means \u201cpreparing yourself\u00a0every day to be surprised by something new.\u201d We as peacebuilders need to empty our\u00a0cups and prepare ourselves for surprise. Some of those surprises might be revealed to us\u00a0through charts and diagrams and books and lectures, but I\u2019d venture to say that most of\u00a0them are already available to us in the untapped wealth of relationships that surround us\u00a0every day; after all, our best opportunity for learning about connection is through actual\u00a0connectedness, right?<\/p>\n

Now we just need to convince the Academy that potlucks and tea parties are valid\u00a0replacements for papers and tests\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An increasing pile of evidence points to the biological imperative of attachment \u2013 not\u00a0only in our early formative years, but throughout our entire lives. For… Read more about Potlucks vs. Papers: Reflections on the EMU Attachment Conference<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[789],"tags":[899],"issues":[],"class_list":["post-3379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-attachment-theory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/peacebuilder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/peacebuilder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/peacebuilder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/peacebuilder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/peacebuilder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3379"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/peacebuilder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3379\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3386,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/peacebuilder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3379\/revisions\/3386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/peacebuilder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/peacebuilder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/peacebuilder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3379"},{"taxonomy":"issues","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/peacebuilder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issues?post=3379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}