Mediation – The Shapeless Art

How to cite this journal: Author, Date of the post, WMO Conflict Insight, Title of the post, ISSN:
2628-6998, https://worldmediation.org/journal/

When we talk about mediation nowadays, we may see that this topic turned into a global phenomenon. There are endless research articles published, instructive video lectures available, theoretical concepts and models developed, and far too many national associations to be found, trying to become the branch leaders in their corresponding countries.

This activity within the field of mediation could indicate that we talk about a topic that was recently born, that still remains unshaped, and that strongly needs our helping hand in order to find its way into life itself.

But maybe, by being too focused on putting mediation into a specific shape, we overlook and ignore its true nature, and thereby, we more likely might violate and minimize it instead of learning from its inner core, its source, and its social healing potential in general.

Being of such a caring nature, we may not see that mediation might have existed even before we created and used its current name, and maybe it did its purpose in a latent way, forming ever since part of our social interaction in a shapeless way – without a form, a concept, and a name.

Being practiced even without bearing a proper name may have occurred, not because the fact of finding a name was ignored and not taken care of, but maybe because this specific mindset of conflict management already had its real-life impact and served society from the very beginning of the human social coexistence.

If we analyze this content further, we may also discover that mediation most likely possessed and still possesses the ability to be transformative in a way that it found and finds its way to and was practiced in all regions of this planet by respecting the socio-cultural and religious practices of tribes, nations, and races. And by being of such a sensitive, descent, and transformative nature, it adjusted itself to the variety of cultures on our planet without rejecting any territorial customs.

So, what does all this mean to us living in a world of paragraphs, articles, restrictions, and strict routines? I believe that mediation offers us a lot to learn from. First of all, I believe that we need to understand that mediation is a social skill that is owned by everybody, simply because peacekeeping is a natural necessity that we find within the pool of our own very basic needs.

So, being owned by the general public also means that mankind per se can and hopefully does practice its related tools and fragments on a daily basis. And yes, I do not even specify what it actually means to realize a mediation, as it is, first of all, a mindset to work with, and second, a way of open dialog. 

Correspondingly, this means that the practice of this skill may differ due to the impact of a person’s silent educator, as well as the person’s level of awareness and specific improvement of this social art.

So where in all this, do the people fit who learn mediation in professional pieces of training, or who study conflict management on an academic level?

Well, this is actually very easy to understand. Such individuals are aware of the topic, its importance, and potential positive impact on society and look for further instruction.

And this instruction is a very crucial point to talk about. As previously said, we discovered mediation to be a shapeless skill of a transformative and very individual nature that was born in the mindset of mankind in the moment of experiencing consciousness for the first time. And to communicate teaching that enables an individual to practice such a shapeless skill seems to be very tricky, but it is actually what the WMO Online Training in Mindful Mediation is all about.

We do not teach what may be called mediation per se but we accompany the individual to rediscover and to reconnect to his or her own very personal understanding of shapeless and mindful mediation within.

So, mediation seems to be found and further developed more likely within the very core of a person’s character and only secondarily in external educational settings. The strong hint here, at this point, is that the most instructive tool to discover and to learn about mediation is the reflective and critical thinking skill a person may own.

Based on these findings, we all may wonder if we can still talk about a profession of a mediator, or if it is a proper individual’s call to serve mankind? 

Well, while this remains to be answered by yourself and based on your own reflections, I would like to share that to me, it means that mediation is, first of all, a gift by nature that actually all people have access to. And it is wonderful to see that it is practiced by such a broad diversity of professional branches, like teachers, social workers, psychologists, business managers, and of course by lawyers.

So what exciting finding or plea does mediation offers all professionals today?

Maybe it is the advice to leave mediation as what we found it to be today, namely a shapeless art that offers us the ability to serve mankind, by not putting it into any kind of form or structure but to discover the exciting adventure to practice an open and non-defined social skill that, based on its proper intelligence and dynamics, offers us an extremely strong social healing impact, actually of heights that are far beyond our capability of selecting or identifying a matching name for it.

Closing this presentation, we may still wonder why it needs to remain shapeless.

Well, being shapeless is the only possibility to adapt itself to the diversity of its practitioners, to the diversity of disputed parties, and to the diversity of conflict itself.

So, once we advance to understand the true nature of mediation, we may see that what we understand to be or call mediation adapts itself to the environmental setting of conflict and not vice versa. And thereby it teaches us important and infinitive lessons that we may integrate into our proper lives.

So, if you are thrilled by all these findings, I kindly invite you to join WMO, to learn more about this fascinating topic, and to dwell in a community of like-minded peers who followed their call and find themselves to be true adepts of this beautiful skill of social healing.

Thank you for your attention.