A Culture of Peace, is living with a set of values, attitudes, modes of behavior and ways of life that reject violence and prevent conflicts by tackling their root causes to solve problems through dialogue and negotiation among individuals, groups and nations. To abolish violent conflicts we need to transcend and overcome differences with understanding, tolerance and solidarity among all people and all cultures. Learning from our diversity, through dialogue and the exchange of information, is an enriching process.

Yet, the concept of dialogue remains elusive and our ability to conduct it with skill can be challenging. To provide some insight into this necessary component of 'our' personalities, I want to offer a bit of perspective to think on while also sharing with you my views of some of the elements that comprise dialogue. 

Dialogue is a conversation in which people think together in relationship. Thinking together implies that you no longer take your own position as final. You relax your grip on certainty and listen to the possibilities that result simply from being in a relationship with others – possibilities that might not otherwise have occurred.

Most of us believe at some level that we must fix things or change people in order to penetrate their level of conciousness. Dialogue does not call for such behavior. Rather, it asks us to listen for an already existing wholeness, and to create a new kind of association in which we listen deeply to all the views that people may express. It asks that we create a quality of listening and attention that can include — but is larger than — any single view. The primary purpose of dialogue is to change and grow in the perception and understanding of each other's reality and then to act accordingly.

Terrance Bell, EMPOWERING YOU