Getting Beneath the Narrative Takes Time

First of all, I want to start with a big thank you. Wow, and wow. I feel such gratitude for every person who has given money or brought attention to our work.

While there are many groups doing beautiful work around the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, I believe we are doing something unique.

We offer a space where nothing is off-limits, no feeling, no idea, no expression. We intentionally make room for intensity, realness and conflict. We are not telling people how to feel. We aren’t forcing empathy or acceptance, because we trust and know that will come through this process. We see that over and over.

To train leaders how to hold a space like this– where everything is welcome– there needs to be a lot of awareness. Each person has to slowly grow their tolerance for their own feelings and for the feelings and beliefs of others. Crucially, each participant undertakes a kind of “education of self”– an exploration of their history, lineage, and values. In other words, they embark on an investigation of their perceptual filter.

To train people in these skills is a slow process. It takes time. There is no way this training could be faster. But once a person has a sense of their perceptual filter, conversations move from debating who is right to exploring diverse perspectives. This is the goal. As one of the participants said, and I'll paraphrase, once you get beneath the level of story or debate there is a much deeper level on which to connect.

Thank you for your continued generosity, thank you for believing in us. Ann