Quietism and Testing Convictions

Much of the writing on mediation focuses on techniques. As a mediator you may have learned the 4-stage method, or the 6-step method. You will have learned how to frame questions openly, to explore the importance of feelings and to winnow out the positions from the issues. You will be skilled in reading the conflict dynamics so as to know when to use shuttle mediation techniques and identifying the ripe point for bringing parties into the room, to find that win-win solution. All of these, and more, are of course essential to mediation praxis.

What is less explored amongst scholars of mediation is its philosophical roots. At its essence, whether in workplace mediation, family mediation or even international commercial arbitration, mediation seeks to bring opposing parties together to find mutually agreeable outcomes. This fundamental aim of mediation can also be seen in uniting two polarised philosophical traditions: Quietism and Testing.

Quieitism and its near cousin- ataraxia are the practices of withdrawing into contemplation, rather than engaging in the competition to assert a particular truth. Understandably it has deep spiritual roots, in contemplative traditions that favour calm acceptance and detachment.

The 'testing' tradition of philosophy however is the one with which most of are familiar. This involves engaging with disagreement, with diverse perspectives. We may call to mind the image of an Enlightenment salon, alive with vigorous debate, and witty discussion. Equally we may call to mind the image of the adversarial courtroom, where each side, offers up their competing visions of the Truth, to be weighed on the scales of justice. Or, less attractively, the vitriolic polemical debates that characterise much of our politics and debate today. In the 'testing' traditions of philosophy, convictions and assertions are discussed and exposed, in order to improve them, in the search for the noble Truth. The possibilities of contradiction and competing but equally valid truths are accepted as ideas are clarified and scrutinised.

We bring the traditions of quietude to mediation when we 'hold the space'. When participants are given the time and space to fully tell their story, they are often experience, for the first time the value in being truly and wholly heard. With acceptance, without judgement, without rebuttal, the mediator bears witness and this is a subtle yet profoundly powerful transformative tool.

Equally we bring the tradition of testing to mediation, with the structure of mediation, which provides that controlled, process to explore and discuss. Our open question prompts are the tools that will disentangle feelings, positions, values and needs. Here the mediator is sharply engaged in eliciting and balancing the multifaceted aspects of a conflict. In so doing, a path is cleared, so that parties move one step closer to enough understanding to forge some common ground for the future.

Mediation is fundamentally a practical endeavour; concerned with finding real, workable solutions. In this blog, we take the time to consider how the practice unites these two competing philosophical traditions. As mediators we balance both approaches, quietism and testing. A centre of quiet and acceptance is balanced by testing ideas and engaging with the potential of human beings. Each are essential to the process that will take a relationship (whether a business relationship, a workplace relationship, a neighbourhood relationship or that of families) that was once divided, and recreate it in wholeness again.