Is spirituality important in the process of Nonviolent Communication?
By mrijaz
@mrijaz (408)
India
December 2, 2006 12:28pm CST
I think it is important that people see that spirituality is at the base of Nonviolent Communication, and that they learn the mechanics of the process with that in mind. It’s really a spiritual practice that I am trying to show as a way of life. Even though we don’t mention this, people get seduced by the practice. Even if they practice this as a mechanical technique, they start to experience things between themselves and other people they weren’t able to experience before. So eventually they come to the spirituality of the process. They begin to see that it’s more than a communication process and realize it’s really an attempt to manifest a certain spirituality. So I have tried to integrate the spirituality into the training in a way that meets my need not to destroy the beauty of it through abstract philosophizing.
2 responses
@trichoses (2)
• Canada
6 Feb 07
Wow. I didn't think I'd find anything about NVC here!
I think that NVC is all about what you call spirituality, and what I call consciousness. In fact, in one of his books, Marshall talks about not getting attached to the tool, and like a raft, being willing to leave it on the shore once you've used it to cross the river.
However, I've been feeling quite disappointed these days as I've met several people who've been into NVC for years, and (I don't want to take the time to write out the observations), but when I see certain behaviours and hear certain things said, I feel sad (and some jackal things) because of my unmet needs for consideration, wisdom, empathy etc. (and then my interpretations of the other person's actions/words). So then I think, "well, I can see I'm feeling triggered, and I can work on seeing and empathizing with my feelings and needs, and then with their feelings and needs, but right now - ARGH!!!!!":-)
Anyway, that's what I love about NVC is it's like CBT, but more profound, and with the heart, soul, wisdom, and humanity put back in.
How do you integrate the spirituality into the training without engaging in abstract philosophizing? It seems to me that some of the stuff just needs to be talked about sometimes.
Trichoses
