Talking Stick: Peacemaking as a Spiritual Path
By
Stephen V. Beyer
Perhaps I am the reincarnation of Paul Revere. Maybe it
explains why I’m always riding my horse, hollering to all who have ears to hear:
“The boundaries are evaporating. The boundaries are
dissolving. The rational sensory ego mind can not relate, and becomes fearful
and angry. It is “heart awareness,” the soul’s imagination, that can embrace the
yin/yang of boundaries, transcend them, and experience the miracle of oneness.
Get ready!”
It’s what I’ve been exploring and sharing in many ways
through the living metaphor of “the intuitive heart.” Here’s a book that is a
wonderful demonstration of that evolutionary process, which, surprisingly
enough, originates in the mentality of indigenous peoples. It is
Talking Stick: Peacemaking as a Spiritual Path, by Stephen V. Beyer.
The author has plenty experience as “a community
builder, peacemaker, and carrier of council. He has been trained and certified
in many areas of circle processes, mediation, and nonviolence…” according to the
back book cover. The talking stick method has been around for a long time among
us gringos. I can recall, decades ago, when Eric Utne, the publisher of
The Utne Reader introduced the
process at a large conference. Little did we know back then how important and
vital such a reconciliation process was going to become.
What caught my attention about this book was his mention
that when King Solomon had his dream where God offered to grant him any wish,
his actual reply, when translated correctly from the Hebrew, was not “wisdom,”
or “understanding,” but actually “a listening heart.” Given my research on “the
intuitive heart,” I couldn’t help but recognize the connection and additional
support this book would provide to what I’ve been building and sharing.
One of the interesting “boundary breaking” aspects of the
sacred circle is the elimination of hierarchies. In a circle, all are equal.
When a person holds the talking stick while sharing honestly, and others respond
with a “listening heart,” an important archetypal need is met: to be seen,
heard, and recognized, with no judgment. A “listening heart” responds not to the
literal words, but to the underlying humanity. I can reach out with my heart,
connect to your heart, and I begin to discover that your speaking is bringing up
within me a mirror of your perspective. The boundary between speaker and
listener is dissolved, and in its place is a shared reverence for our humanness.
Stephan’s book contains not only instructions on how to
create a circle, hold council and listen with heart, but he also describes
various applications of the process when folks are wounded and in need of
healing, where there has been harm to experience empathy and forgiveness. Many
parents would profit from studying what he has to say about how to use an
“invisible talking stick” with one’s children. The approach recognizes the
dignity and worth of the teenager.
I can hear the echoes of Carl Rogers when Steven writes
that humans have a need to be in harmonious relations with one another, have the
ability for autonomous self-healing and problem solving, and are their own best
experts concerning their needs. If we could transcend what he calls our
“transactional” approach to relationships, which is more of an economic,
capitalist model than a human spiritual one, we’d find we have the abilities to
work and create together in ways assumed not possible.
I predict we are going to see more on processes of
reconciliation that involve “council,” “circle,” and “heart felt dialogue.” The
Talking Stick is a great introduction, and a good place to begin, if you wish to
be conversant and comfortable with what new ideas the wind is blowing our way.
From the
Publisher:
Practices for openhearted speaking and devout listening to restore harmony in
families, relationships, schools, workplaces, and communities
• Details how to approach life with a listening heart and create a sacred space
for communication
• Offers exercises for new peacemaking circles, ceremonial ways to begin each
circle, and peacemaker tools to unmask the needs and feelings behind conflict
• Explains how to apply this practice in multiple ways, with groups large and
small
People are afraid of conflict: it is something “bad” that must be managed and
resolved. In the face of conflict we focus only on facts--who’s at fault and who
should be punished--rather than seeking to restore harmony. But conflict is
inevitable and presents an opportunity to establish deeper connections with
others. By learning to speak honestly and listen devoutly, we can overcome our
culture’s hierarchical and punitive approach to conflict. We can learn to relate
to each other in a sacred manner and create relationships and communities that
are egalitarian, liberating, and transformational.
Revealing that we are all peacemakers at heart, Steve Beyer details how to
approach life with a listening heart and create a safe and sacred space for
communication: the peacemaking circle, centered on the talking stick. Whoever
holds the talking stick gets to speak. There are no interruptions, no questions,
no challenges, no comments. People speak one at a time, honestly from their
hearts, and they listen devoutly with their hearts to each person who speaks.
And, as Beyer shows, the effect can be miraculous.
The author explains how to apply this practice with groups large and small to
deepen relationships, heal old wounds, and restore harmony among families,
spouses, classmates, coworkers, and communities. Sharing stories from his work
as a peacemaker, he offers exercises for new talking stick circles, ceremonial
ways to begin each circle, and tools to ensure the telling of complete stories
in cases of conflict. He addresses the nature of apology, forgiveness, and the
urge for revenge, and he explores the spiritual challenges faced by those who
walk the peace path.
Exploring the shamanic roots of the talking stick practice, the author extends
the lessons of the healing circle and the listening heart from our homes,
schools, and communities into our relationship to spirit and the Earth.
An
Excerpt*
Chapter 3
The Components of Council
CIRCLE
There are three simple things that make council special as a way of meeting
together, making decisions, solving problems, dealing with conflicts, and
building community.
Sitting in a circle
Beginning and ending with a ceremony
Using a talking stick
Sitting in a circle is the first of these. There are practical reasons for
sitting in a circle. Everyone can see everyone else. No one is in front, and no
one can hide in the back. But the circle is symbolic as well. The circle
indicates the equality of all who sit together. There is no head of the table.
Everyone’s voice carries as much weight as the voice of everyone else. Everyone
is out front, equally accountable for their words.
The world is filled with circles. The sun is a circle; the moon becomes a circle
over and over again--that is, in a cycle, a circle. For most of our history,
humans have lived, not in the square sharp-cornered containers in which we live
now, but rather in circular houses, often explicitly homologized to a circular
cosmos. The year and its seasons go in a circle. Our lives go in a circle. We
all follow in the footsteps of our elders and teachers who have gone before us;
I am getting old now, but I have grandchildren who are coming after me.
And the circle binds us to our ancestors. Whoever you are, wherever your people
came from, whatever the color of your skin, your ancestors sat in a circle to
meet together, make decisions, solve problems, deal with conflicts, and sing the
songs and tell the stories that sustained and nurtured their communities.
Most important, sitting in a circle creates a special space--a safe space, what
many indigenous people would call a sacred space. The council circle
takes place in a special space that differs from our ordinary space. In the
sacred space of council it is possible to speak honestly without embarrassment;
it is a place where confidences are kept; it is where decisions are made and
peacemaking takes place. This is the space inside the circle, within which
people listen to each other devoutly and give each other the courage to speak
honestly from their hearts. This space is very different from the space outside
the circle--a space where people interrupt each other, do not listen to each
other, are rude to each other.
The next time you attend a meeting--a business meeting for example--observe how
people behave. People arrive with their opinions already formed, and may carry
with them notes of their talking points, so that they do not forget to say
something they think is important. People interrupt each other. People shift
about impatiently while others are speaking.
People do not pause after someone has finished speaking, to show that they are
thinking about what that person has said. Instead, people start speaking
immediately after someone has finished--indeed, not just when someone has
finished, but even when someone simply pauses to take a breath or think about
what to say next. The loudest or most aggressive talkers dominate the meeting;
shy people may get no opportunity to speak at all.
That is how people act out there, outside the sacred circle. But
inside the council circle, where we can all see each other, where we take
turns speaking, we create a space that is filled with respect and receptivity
for what everyone has to say. Inside this circle, we create a sacred space--a
space that is safe for speaking, because it is a space for listening. Take a
deep breath. Inside the circle, we are home.
There are a number of ways to demarcate the separate and sacred nature of the
council space. The council may be held in a special place--a grove of trees, by
the bank of a river, on top of a large rock, in a cave. A number of classrooms
that use council have a peace table in one corner. This special place for
peacemaking might also have a way of marking the number of times that the place
has seen friendships renewed and breaches healed--marks on a stick, a pile of
stones--that makes the table into a place of power.
In a circle, too, the gaze of all the participants is naturally oriented not
only toward whoever is speaking but also toward the center of the circle. The
sacred nature of the circle can be enhanced by making an altar or council
table at the center. Making the altar can be a rotating responsibility among
the participants, or the altar can be made by those who are moved to do so on
any particular occasion. Again, there are numerous variations. The altar can
contain flowers, stones, fallen leaves, feathers, or branches that have been
gathered before the council. An altar of special significance can be made by
each participant placing in the center an object that has personal meaning or
that symbolizes the issues to be discussed at council.
Or, again, if council is held outdoors and especially for evening councils, the
center can be marked by a fire--not the cooking fire, but a special and separate
fire. There is something primal about sharing the warmth and light of a fire in
the darkness. The glowing fire, the sense of safety, the intimacy and privacy of
the darkness seem to lead people to share more of their secret selves than they
might do in the harsher daylight. The fire represents a deep and centered place,
the heart of everything, the unity for which the circle strives.
But most important is this. Any time you listen devoutly to another, you have
created a sacred space. The circle exists wherever people hold the intention
of sitting in council together. Two people can be in council; you can be in
council with yourself.
*Excerpt reprinted from publisher’s page, copyright c 2016 byStephan V. Beyer.
All Rights Reserved.