Prepost learnings

So we spent a week in Tel Aviv, traveling back and forth to Jerusalem, Ramallah and Beit Jalla. We had countless meetings with inspiring people, inspiring projects but also people you bump into on the bus, at the market, and on tv. All of this with the purpose of finding a startingpoint for our 3 months stay in Israel / Palestine: the outpost.

So it's a week later now, and the trip is still very much on my mind. Before we left I had emptied myself from all judgment, cynicism and good old colonial "I know how to do this" attitude. It was the only approach I could think of; listen, listen, listen and participate. This created room for a week full of interaction. People with outspoken views on the conflict, but more common: people with not too much interest in the whole situation but many ideas about 'the other'. Every conversation was full of prejudices that I could only hear now that I was new, empty and eager to discover all aspects of the country.

As the week continued I learned much about the human soul. We grow up in certain belief systems. Much from what we think and say is based on a vague notion of the truth. Only rarely do we go out and check if those facts are really true. From all Israeli's that we met not even a handful had been to Ramallah. We like comfort, we like to stay with our ideas.

Our prejudices do however influence our thinking and speaking. And our thoughts as well as our words reach others and influence them and their thinking and speaking. Our actions are based on our thoughts and those of others. Without knowing our prejudices end up being reality. The consequences of this are very visible in any conflict area. One human being shoots another, believing it is a righteous thing to do. This result is out in the open. Others are more hidden. It plays out in organizational level, in families, friendships, between countries and continents. What you don't know is what you don't care about.

In peace workshops with Israeli's and Palestinians questions were asked such as: "do you have girlfriends?, do you have shops?, do you go out at night?, what do you eat?" People living in the tiniest country imaginable have no idea of each other's reality. But they are at war!

So it is a week later now, and the consequences of my discovery for myself are still evolving. How I perceive people is what shapes their being. Am I able to see every human being as an human being? Am I able to speak without prejudice? Can I be with an empty slate every time, having a fresh look upon the world always? What is my responsibility and what is that of others?

The process is like reprogramming your system. Old habits and thoughts are no longer good enough and need to be replaced. But I said it before, we like to be comfortable. And this reprogramming is everything but comfortable. Bear with me a little more...