Reflection on Module 4 - Global Peace Practice

What is the one thing that concerns you the most when you think about global peace? 

- One thing that concerns me the most about global peace is the separative mindset which discriminates what is mine and what is yours in the names of religions, nations...

What is the one thing that makes you hopeful when you think about global peace? 

- One thing that makes me hopeful about global peace is the increasingly realization of Oneness.

REFLECTION ON MODULE 4 - GLOBAL PEACE PRACTICES

I’ve learned that, as an alternative to simple linear thinking, we have systems thinking which helps us to better understand the complexity, making effective decisions and find holistic solutions to problems. Systems thinking is network-thinking, ecosystem-thinking, process-thinking, causal-thinking, thinking in terms of relationships, spaces, environment, connections and platform that affect the whole. 

Systems thinking highlights the interconnectedness of all, recognizing the dynamic causality and feedback loops. Applied in peace building, this mindset helps us understand the relationship and dynamics of a system, view and understand complexity, mobilizing existing internal resources and promote social change. Interventions should start with “listening to the systems” through seeing patterns through observing and reflecting on behaviors over time. By identifying where change is already happening in the system, that change can be nurtured towards a more peaceful society.

Daily systems thinking practices involve a strong commitment to developing our awareness, mindfulness, asking different questions, noticing the systems around us, and experiencing time differently by extending our sense of “now”, by slowing down (therefore helping us grasp interconnections that we may not have seen before). As real insights come in the company of others, we can integrate collaborative learning  through forming learning communities, reading club…

As leverage for system change, network development relates to the concept of emergence, which is changes that begin as local actions, then spring up simultaneously in many different areas. That emergence only happens through connection and is used to scale-up social innovations. We have to find and build “social yeast”, who are a few strategically connected people that have greater potential for creating social growth of a process/idea than large numbers of people who think alike. 

I’ve learned about leadership as a collective process, where network leadership is collective, distributed, bottom-up, facilitative, emergent, role-based, versus the conventional, organisational leadership, which is position-based, authority, individual, directive, top-down… With the rise of the web and the greater capacity for people, resources and ideas to self-organize, new forms of organizing are becoming possible. This web-approach offers greater openness, transparency, decentralized decision-making, and distributed action, thus entails better adaptability to changing environments and responses to crises.