Mystery, Attachment, and Conflict Transformation
By Carl Stauffer, PhD. Academic Director, Caux Scholars Program (CSP)
We love to talk about the “magic” of transformation that seems to inevitably occur at
the Caux Scholars Program (CSP) as scholars from across the world come together
to form a learning community. However, our explanative language of this change
process often seems to morph into an ethereal narrative about spiritual
connections, intuitive emotions, or visceral feelings that only seem to make sense at
a subconscious level.
So what makes CSP a transformative space? Is it the breath‐taking views from the
elegant location of the Palace Hotel perched on precipices of the Swiss Alps
overlooking Lake Geneva? Is it the community synergy that happens when 20
scholars from different cultures come to live and learn together in one place? Or is it
the networking and connections that occur when world leaders come together to
dialogue, serve and inspire each other?
It is all of this, and more. The descriptors above are merely the conduits through
which our brains are able to shift into a transformative mode. Thanks to a host of
recent publications in neuroscience research (often placed under the broad category
of “Attachment Theory”) we are learning how to apply a biological language to
describe these experiences of metamorphosis. Building off of the original research
of John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth (1951) on the attachment bonds between
mother and child we now know that this bond is not only reserved for the parent‐
child relationship but in fact, we as human beings are biologically hard‐wired to
make connections with other human beings. In other words, we instinctively seek
out community. This primal drive against isolation and for intimate human
relationship becomes a critical element in transforming conflict.
Coupled with attachment theory is the understanding that our brains are always
evolving and changing – what is now referred to as the “brain plasticity”. Gone is
the modernist notion that our brains are like computers ‐ mechanical, predictable
and deterministic in nature. What we now know is that with the appropriate stimuli
our brains are able to adapt by forging new neuron pathways of thinking and feeling
on an ongoing basis throughout the duration of our lifetimes. This knowledge gives
plausible explanation for why negative, violent energy seems to be rechanneled in
well‐facilitated processes of forgiveness and reconciliation.
We also know that our brains store both explicit and implicit memory. Implicit
memory is connected to the phenomena of psychosocial trauma. Implicit memory
could be understood as “trapped energy” in the body. Transformation cannot occur
if implicit memory is not surfaced and dealt with. This helps us to comprehend the
importance of dealing with trauma and to appreciate the power of ritual, symbol
and the arts (non‐verbal) forms of transformative healing to occur.
Finally, we have discovered these curious elements in our brains called “mirror
neurons”. Essentially, the research on mirror neurons reveals that our brains are
incredible mimesis. We are quick to mimic both the good and bad around us. As one
author puts it, “When you pick up something, so does my brain.” This discovery is
assisting us to explain why an empathic response is often heightened (not hindered
as commonly believed) when former “enemies” are brought together to dialogue in
to a safe space like Caux.
May the mystery of transformation continue to energize us as we look forward to
CSP 2013!
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