Search Mediators Near You:

Abstract Strokes: Mediator as an Artist

Reality, to us is expressed through Language.  

Language impacts how we see the world and how we process Experiences.  

We experience the world as far as we have the vocabulary for it – beyond that, it seems  unreal, awe-inspiring, even aggravating.  

Therefore, artists, when they imagine, create or write, they create new realities- something  beyond what is already accepted.  

When the poets compose, they will onto the universe a reality.  

They choreograph words to present to us a world beyond the mundane. 

People are often moved to tears by works of art because that invokes emotions they have  never been felt before, and the artist does that for them.  

The artist provides them with a lens to view past the confines of the ordinary.  Art is not only a vessel for novel realities but a testament to existing, untapped ones. It is in art that the subversive potential to imagine and reckon with the other world lies! 

To my senses, dispute resolution is also a form of art. 

A dispute arises when the contending parties feel like they have a monopoly over truth or that  their story is the “reality”. 

The insistence on the “I”, narrowed perspectives, and limited fluency in communication skills  is what aggravates a disagreement to a seemingly unresolvable dispute. 

Then, a mediator, as a facilitator of communication comes along, playing the role of an artist. (S)he conjures up a new reality for the parties, one characterized by collaboration not conflict.

The mediator listens to both the parties and helps them process and express their concerns.  

Mediation is communication literacy, where parties are equipped with a renewed vocabulary  that allows them to move past their positions and succinctly lay out their interests.  

The mediator brings the parties attention to new realities by asking them to explore a world  beyond the ‘I’ and collaborate as “We”.  

(S)he helps the parties conjure up various options, vocalize them, amend them upon feedback.  Collaboration is now an achievable reality even for the most hostile, antagonized parties.  Therefore, Mediation is an art and the mediator is an artist.

                        author

Vanshika Thakur

Vanshika Thakur is a 3rd-year law student from Himachal Pradesh National Law University, located in the beautiful hill station of Shimla in North India. She has interned at CAMP Mediation and has a sincere interest in Mediation. She is multi-talented with a knack for creative writing and poetry, art and… MORE >

Featured Mediators

ad
View all

Read these next

Category

2009 Developments In Mediation: Joint Commission Standard On Code Of Conduct

From the Disputing Blog of Karl Bayer, Victoria VanBuren, and Holly Hayes. by Holly Hayes Health care leaders have known for years that disruptive behaviors are a serious problem. Verbal...

By Holly Hayes
Category

In Memoriam: Joseph Markowitz

Authored by Floyd J. Siegal, Wendy Kramer, Robyn Weinstein, Jason Harper, and Jack Goetz. Today we lost an irreplaceable member of our community, Joe Markowitz, to cancer. As most of...

By Joe Markowitz
Category

Mediators, are your hourly rates keeping you afloat?

Mediators, are you charging what you should be? Are your fees paying your bills and leaving you with money for the piggybank? And are your fees representative of your skill...

By Tammy Lenski

Find a Mediator