Tools for Unity

Yeah, right. Tools, alone, can keep us from going at each other’s throats over politics?

Tools, yes. There are specific skills that help bridge divide and build unity.

But not on their own. We must also use the tools of logic and the will. Even if we have great interpersonal skills, they do little for us if we don’t think through which tool to pick up and choose to put to work.

So why doesn’t everybody already focus this way, rather than lash out at one another? It’s not as if people like constant hostility. And what’s happening in the world right now certainly isn’t getting us anywhere–not in politics, our personal lives, or the general status of common humanity.

The culprit strutting around behind it all: the gut brain. Fears activate ancient chemistry that, if allowed to have its way, physically stands in the way of reaching for tools that could bring us together.

Fortunately, the battle is far from lost. It so happens that we also have tools that can rein in this pesky relic. But first we must have a good understanding of these tools, and how to best use them to pull us out of the mire. More to come–or, read ahead in either of my nonfiction works, The Cogjam Effect and Beyond Divide.