Mediation and Christian Worldview - Essay Example

Mediation and Christian Worldview Name Tutor Unit Code Date Introduction Ahead of addressing the topic of discussion in this paper, I strongly feel that I should start by describing my personal background. First and foremost, I profess to the Christian religion. On a more personal level, I have worked for the USNR for eight years. Besides that I have a degree in paralegal. I also have worked as a paralegal. I look forward to completing my current degree in interdisciplinary science (social science and communication) soon. As a Christian young adult, I have a strong desire to help others. I do what I can to be of help to people given that I was brought up in a Christian home and attended church on a regular basis. Helping for me has been defined in many different ways, such as helping my grandmother with the garden work; helping the stranger on the street; helping missionaries through financial support. All these deeds were instilled in me at a young age based on the on the teachings of the Bible; to love others as Christ loved. However, a touching moment for me has been the desire to pursue this act of helping others and make it a lifelong career. I have had various opportunities through my academic life to choose whichever career path I wanted. I ended up choosing to work as a mediator. During the course of my studies and spiritual growth, I soon recognized there were many suppositions in mediation that were matching with my personal faith and Christian worldview. Still others caused me to struggle with balancing my faith and my profession. Despite the challenges, I have faced, there have been repeated opportunities for learning and growth as not only a mediator but also as a Christian. In this paper I attempt to communicate what I have come to understand through my own journey as an integration of Christian faith and mediation. Conflict, Mediation Career and Religion Every individual desires to have a career. Career defines a person. It is a major determinant of a person’s socio-economic standing in a given society. People take time to choose their career because it shapes their entire life and social outlook. By definition a career is a job or profession that somebody has been educated for and intends to do or pursue for a number of years in their life time (Duffy, 2005). Religion has been found to influence the choice of a career. Arbogast, (2008) studied the roles of religion and spirituality pertaining to the career development process of American college students. He found that religion and spirituality were intricately intertwined with human activities and that they to a large extent sway future job-related events and life outcomes. Besides, Mathis (2002) in his study of religion and career choice and success clarified that religion help out people to deal with life and make meaning of life situations. This enables the religious persons to make out their purpose of life or destiny, which swayed their beliefs about meaningful work experiences. Personally, my religion has greatly influenced my desire to be a mediator. Mediation has no universally accepted definition given that it is complex and dynamic. However, mediation largely denotes an approach to conflict management in which a third party, who is not a direct party to the dispute, helps disputants through negotiations in a non-binding fashion (Fisher, 2013). At all times, the end result of mediation is to stop violence and create peaceful relations between conflicting parties. Conflict refers to a loss of something and is voiced by the desire to recover it. Conflict is relational in nature and thus involves an action-reaction process. Conflict occurs when people stick to a ‘hold on’ position rather than a ‘let go’ position. It is usually a response mechanism of defending oneself from losing resources. It is a natural outcome of opposing views on the share of the scarce resources and demand for full satisfaction, among other reasons (Fisher, 2013). The present day world is characterised by violent conflicts associated with death and destruction. In all this, mediation stands out as a celebrated tool of conflict management in international relations. By and large, mediation is applied in peace building even though the core assumptions and values that inform the mediation process differ considerably (Duffy, 2005). Nonetheless, the religious and spiritual pedigree of mediation is quite widespread, besides, the practice of using spiritual aspects of mediation still continues. Church organisations such as the Christian Conciliation Service (C.C.S.) have reputable offices to train and provide church mediators for personal disputes. The church holds that the purpose of mediation is to exalt God through love of one's fellow citizen and to help wrangling parties learn how to change attitudes and behaviour so as to escape similar clashes in the future. On personal level, conflict emanates from losing harmony amongst people. This leads to a state of incompatibility with the Christian teachings. The church plays a key role in efficiently creating unity between the worshippers and the religious ceremony. Therefore, the church is able to keep or restore harmony. Pope John Paul II in Chrisifidelis Laici 55, “advocates for a further application of this … characteristic to the church. According to this image, Christ is the vine through which divine life and power of the Spirit flows, members of the body of Christ are the branches who, drawing upon this power, bear fruit for the benefit of the whole, the Kingdom of God. The individual members exist therefore in unity each other by virtue of their unity with Christ. The Church in its very construction as a mystery of unity, exhibits a real spiritual truth beyond the reach of observation or reason” (Duffy, 2005). Worship and scriptures always prompt the worshipping community members to live peacefully and in accord with other members of the same community and other people as an obligation, not an option. Luke 6:31 states that, “Treat others the same way you want them to treat you” and “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets” (Mathew 7:12). Having a dispute with another member of the community is more than just a dispute between equals; it embodies an upsetting action against the principle of that community and a factor for remoteness in the connection with God (Duffy, 2005). There are broad goals and strategies that mediators can use as a motivation to settle disputes. In a narrow perspective, mediation seeks to work out at a settlement based on the assertion as brought by the claimant, typically a dollar sum, which is more of a court criteria. Ina broader view, mediation speaks to more particular issues, such as the acrimony the parties may feel towards each other, or the probable loss of self-regard if one of the parties settles. In a more open spiritual way, the particular concerns to be addressed as objectives of mediation include the ability to forgive, moral growth, empathy, love of one's neighbour, and increasing the inter-connectedness of all of people (Assari, 2013). Successes of Spirituality in Mediation The use of spirituality as a mediation technique has shown major success in resolving conflicts, principally as it offers motivation for parties to settle. The Pope has proven to be an effective mediator in history. For instance Pope Gregory IX mediated between the Lombard League and the Holy Roman Emperor. The conflict resulted out of the encroaching power of the Roman Emperor who wanted the support of the Lombard League to pursue the Crusades and to promote higher studies in the league's academies. The situation angered the league, who ended up killing negotiators sent by the emperor who also reacted by banning and ordering the league’s schools to be demolished. The ensuing conflict necessitated the parties to call on the Pope to help settle the dispute. A key example of success in mediation under spirituality is the mediation by Pope John Paul II on a dispute between Argentina and Chile in 1984. The two countries were fighting for the sovereignty over oil-rich islands in a channel between the two countries. The International Court of Justice had constituted a panel of judges from among its members to settle the matter. Hearings were held in Geneva, Switzerland over a period spanning six years. They finally rendered a decision in favour of Argentina. Chile was not happy with the ruling and, therefore, refused to accept the decision. This prompted the intervention by John Paul II. He mediated on the issue and a decision was reached at to divide the islands between the two countries. The Pope’s visit to the area the generosity of spirit of the two countries’ leaders that helped to prevent war. This is a manifestation of the religious appeal that provides the motivation to settle a dispute. References Arbogast, R. (2008). The Influence of Religion and Social Support on Career Commitment. Unpublished undergraduate thesis, Ohio, Ohio State University Assari, S. (2013). Race and ethnicity, religion involvement, church-­‐based social support and subjective health in United States: A case of moderated mediation. International Journal of Preventive Medicine, 4(2). Duffy, R. (2005). Spirituality, religion and career development: Current status and future directions. Career Development Quarterly. Mathis, J. (2002). Religion and Spirituality in the meaning-making and coping experiences of African American women. Psychology of Women Quarterly Fisher, A. B. (2013). The church as symbolic mediation: Revelation ecclesiology in the theology of avery dulles, S. J. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, 313. Read More