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Interview with Phillip Hellmich of Search for Common Ground, an organization that facilitates peaceful handling of conflict in every sphere of life worldwide.
"Peace is a daily joyous battle," says Philip Hellmich of Search for Common Ground. "It's finding the presence of the Divine within."
Philip's experience with peace building extends throughout war-torn Africa, where he served both as a member of the Peace Corps for four years in Sierra Leone prior to its civil war and as a member of Search for Common Ground since 1997. The Washington, D.C.,-based organization, Search for Common Ground, works to transform the way the world deals with conflict, away from adversarial approaches and toward collaborative problem solving. Now Search's co-director of individual giving, Philip continues to spread the word about peace in talks and workshops.
"What is conflict?" Philip will ask in his talks. "Most people believe it is something negative. Search for Common Ground maintains that it's neither positive nor negative—it’s how we handle conflict that matters. Conflict is actually an engine of change and transformation." Conflict, in fact, is natural. When you have a world full of human beings all trying to be happy and avoid suffering, it's inevitable there will be some bumping into each other. When that "bump" is approached in a positive way, it can actually deepen relationships, help people move beyond anger or hurt, and ultimately, to see their connection and interdependence with each another. "By transforming how the world deals with conflict," Philip maintains, "we can create a more peaceful world."
However, when there's a wide range of opinions on a particular issue, often those on the extremes will use fear to keep control and drive the agenda. When this is the case, problems quickly devolve into dualism—us vs. them, win vs. lose. The "other" often becomes identified as the problem itself and the only way to solve the problem is for the other to be overcome or destroyed. This dehumanizing and demonizing of the other side makes it easier to strike out against or even kill the other.
Search for Common Ground encourages adversaries instead to recognize their common humanity. Search will strengthen and broaden the more moderate middle, and reduce the influence of the extreme edges. Rather than facing each other in battle, the two sides will stand together side by side to face the problem.
At a presentation last year at the International Spirit at Work Awards Conference, where Search for Common Ground was an award recipient, Philip gave an example of Search's work with pro-life and pro-choice groups in the 1990s. At first, the various participants were at each other's throats. One group member in particular vented viciously in a joint session about the other side. But then a member of the other side got up and spoke quietly about her convictions—about why she felt the way she did, and how important her work in this arena was to her. She really felt she'd helped some people with her work, and she gave compelling examples.
Her words got through. As Philip explained it, the other side was able to see her humanity. The one who had vented so strongly actually got up and hugged her, and they wept in each other’s arms. Once the sides had been un-demonized, the ability to listen to each other led to finding common ground. While none of them changed their positions on abortion itself, they agreed to disagree more respectfully. In essence, they drained the poison from the conflict. They also were able to find areas where they could work together 1) to reduce unwanted pregnancies, and 2) to improve adoption laws.
Philip has seen this kind of transformation happen in much graver situations. Historically male children in Sierra Leone were hired by politicians to be street thugs for elections. These children and young teens were tasked with disrupting the proceedings as much as possible, even through armed violence. But in 2002, Search for Common Ground asked if they could interview the boys for a local radio show, a show that had been developed for the express purpose of helping each side recognize the humanity of the other. Once the boys heard their own voices transmitted on the airwaves in the context of the larger story, they began to feel important. They felt listened to and respected, and they realized they had a voice. They didn't want to be part of the problem anymore, but part of the solution. They actually ended up serving as election monitors instead.
What can be seen in both these examples is a transformation of consciousness taking place that leads to more peaceful interactions. As Philip related in a recent phone interview, he is convinced that, as in one's own spiritual practice, inner transformation is the key to outward conflict resolution. He offers in his workshops tools for individuals to experience the work that Search does and learn the core concepts themselves. Each one explores his or her own relationship with conflict.
"It's not just going to happen in Africa or on Capitol Hill," Philip maintains. "It's going to happen with each of us becoming aware of how am I in conflict? Do I demonize, do I stereotype? When in conflict, do I attack the other? Or can I be present with someone and listen?" Philip believes it's basic to a spiritual practice to bring mindfulness to every situation. "It becomes a beautiful continuum of inner transformation to global transformation. People can be disheartened by the news, and think, what can I do? But each of us can do something, by becoming aware of how to deal with conflict ourselves, and by financially investing in the world you want to see."
Philip's own spiritual journey has led him to the study of Paramahansa Yogananda. In his many travels throughout Africa, he's seen and heard his own share of atrocities. The most moving examples for him have been in Sierra Leone, where he knew and loved many people who either died or suffered through the war in the 1990s and 2000. Yet, when you hear him tell the stories of horrors he's seen with his own eyes, you can detect no outrage in his voice. "Well, no outrage now," he clarifies. He has had to do in-depth spiritual work to get to the place where he can be present with pain and suffering and not be overwhelmed by it. "I knew that my reactions of anger and outrage were the spur for the very things I was outraged about. I knew that I would have to do the inner work so that I would have something valuable to contribute. It's a continuing process."
Philip turns to a personal relationship with Spirit, which he finds through a regular kriya yoga meditation and prayer practice. In his meditation, he dives into silence and goes to a place of inner stillness, which many traditions would describe as a passage to the Divine: “Be still and know that I am God.” He continues this practice whenever he makes a trip overseas. "I've had wonderful experiences of peace and love during meditation in these war zones. Over time, I came to find having that daily practice of going inward and attuning with Spirit as essential. It's provided me the capacity to trust. Even though I could not understand why all the suffering was happening, still, I could trust. The daily communion with Spirit also helped me be more compassionate with people in pain. That's the love affair that makes it possible to keep on going."
How we approach conflict is indicative of where we are on the spiritual journey. "Believe me," Philip says, "conflict is going to shake each one of us to our core. Because it's when I have to deal with conflict that I'm being pushed on a personal level. People will push my buttons, they will challenge me, they will push me to grow. Conflict is an engine of inner growth and transformation, in this sense, it is an integral part of a spiritual practice. This is true in a family dynamic, in a community dynamic, and on the national and international stage.
"The work of Search is to encourage people to expand their consciousness, to include all in that spiritual oneness. It can sound 'pie in the sky' in a conflict zone, but it's proven very effective. Search is fiercely practical in finding ways to help re-humanize one another, so people can see their common humanity. Recognizing common humanity helps bring about a shift in mindset, a shift in consciousness, which allows the possibility of seeing solutions that cannot be seen in an adversarial, polarized situation."
Philip understands that this might seem too simplistic in our complex world. And he's not naïve about the difficulties. "There are real serious global challenges going on. The world is more interconnected and interdependent today than ever before. As a result the problems are much more complex. We are all part of one whole, and we need to start behaving that way. What happens in one part of the world affects the rest. I'm very concerned. At the same time I'm seeing people rising from the ashes. I know through evolving methodologies such as the Common Ground Approach that it's possible to facilitate looking at problems and conflicts in constructive ways. We can find solutions. It's going to require an incremental shift in consciousness at all levels, but it can happen."
For Philip, the peace he'd like to see for the world starts within himself. His meditation practice allows him to see more clearly that the stress and conflict he experiences on a day-to-day level are not really his genuine identity. "It's possible then to remember that my identity is more of what I experience in meditation as the essence of my own soul," he says. "The soul is bliss and peace. And love. It's a personal gateway to God."
This perspective helps him be present for someone else's pain, and compassionate when someone acts out from a place of pain, be it a colleague at the office or a war victim in Africa. "Being open to the different aspects of being human is not easy, and that's where the profound gifts come from. Their pain may be the nightmare they're in right now, but it's not necessarily who they really are."
That is the joyous battle for peace Philip Hellmich fights every day. For more information on Search for Common Ground, visit www.sfcg.org.
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