Bridge over Jordan River Gesher, Israel Photo by David L. Baird Used with permission. |
by Noa Baum © 2012
Growing up in Israel I have been
surrounded by conflict and fear most of my life. Today I use storytelling as a
tool for building bridges across differences both in performance and in interfaith
workshops and other business and community settings. Here are some thoughts on
why storytelling, as an interactive, in-person, event in time, is a powerful
tool for change.
In her book Radical Acceptance,
Tara Brach, PhD, talks
about the challenges of seeing another person as real. The more different
someone seems from us, the more unreal they may feel to us, making it easy to
label them and shut them out.
She explains that this stems from our
own complex and largely unconscious system of classifying and labeling others,
with immediate responses of attraction or aversion, interest or inattention.
It’s part of our biological programming for survival that alerts us to whether
or not someone is from our tribe.
We seek the familiar and gravitate
towards those who tend to think like us and have our preferences and values.
Our cognitive constructs of the world help us navigate our life and feel secure,
so we become attached to our way of thinking.
However, in an increasingly polarized
and violent world, as our communities and workplaces become more diverse, our
"biological programming for survival" no longer serves us. New ways
are needed to deal with the challenges of working and living together.
There are visible and invisible ways in
which our diversity is manifested. There are our cultural traditions, family
values, personal preferences and the individual ways we think. When our way of
thinking is challenged, we often feel threatened. We react by either argument -
“I'm right and you're wrong,” or disengagement - “I can't deal with this
person!”
Is there a way to respond to differences
not as a threat but as an opportunity?
What if we invite people to listen to
experiences and not to opinions or concepts?
Storytelling is about sharing
experience. It’s a powerful tool to bridge differences, because using
Storytelling strategically, i.e. in workshops or training, creates a shift in:
1.
The emotional connection -
A sense of trust and intimacy are achieved in a very short time, not because of
the content of the story but due to the process of sharing the space, listening
and being listened to.
A participant in an interfaith workshop
I led wrote: “I can't believe how close I
felt to someone after listening to a 3-minute story. I feel like I know this
man and it's the first time in my life I got to sit and talk, heart to heart
with an Islamic person and it changed my life.”
2.
The cognitive connection -
Unlike debate, where accepting another opinion means giving up mine, listening
to a story uses the imagination - a virtual experience - temporarily adding the
experience of another person, so there is no need to become defensive.
A workshop participant in a Mormon
community, after listening to a story of someone who had an abortion, said:
“For the first time in my life I was able to consider something that contradicted everything I believe in because I was listening to her story. I found myself being able to accept that abortion could be a valid option and even essential for someone else.”
Storytelling allows us to suspend judgment and expand our ability to hold multiple or contradicting points of view.
“For the first time in my life I was able to consider something that contradicted everything I believe in because I was listening to her story. I found myself being able to accept that abortion could be a valid option and even essential for someone else.”
Storytelling allows us to suspend judgment and expand our ability to hold multiple or contradicting points of view.
This is not about changing someone's opinions
but about changing our response to
differences. By adding another way of looking at the world we get to expand
our ability to work with differences.
Author Maxine Hong Kingston
writes, “I learn to make my mind large,
as the universe is large, so that there is room for paradoxes.”*
When we make room for paradoxes we make
room for change.
Using Storytelling in workplaces and
communities can increase trust, change attitudes and make room for paradoxes so
we can move beyond labels to accept “the other” as real and work with our
differences.
*Kingston, Maxine Hong. The Woman
Warrior. New York: Random, 1989
Storytelling
is where Noa Baum’s work as a performance artist, educator, and diversity
specialist intersects. Born and raised in Jerusalem, trained in theatre and education, she offers a unique combination
of performances and practical workshops focusing on the power of narrative to
heal across the divides of identity.
Her story
A Land Twice Promised relives her
heartfelt dialogue with a Palestinian woman, illuminating the complex history
and emotions surrounding Jerusalem for Israelis and Palestinians. Noa’s
performance highlights include: The
World Bank; Mayo Clinic; US Defense
Department; Fabula Festival, Sweden; GWU Law School, DC; Hebrew University and
The Kennedy Center. She can
be reached at www.noabaum.com
PREVIOUS GUEST BLOGGER ARTICLES
If you missed any of the other terrific Guest Blogger articles this link will take you to a separate blog post where all of the links are listed.
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2012/09/a-rising-tideguest-bloggers-share-their.html
If you missed any of the other terrific Guest Blogger articles this link will take you to a separate blog post where all of the links are listed.
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2012/09/a-rising-tideguest-bloggers-share-their.html
Noa Baum is a guest
blogger for Karen
Chace and Catch the Storybug blog. All rights to this article belong
to Noa. Distribution, either electronically or on paper is prohibited without
her expressed, written permission. Of course, if you wish to link to the
article via Facebook or Twitter, please feel free to do so. I you would like to
be a Guest Blogger contact Karen at Storybug@aol.com
for the details.