Positions

Finding common ground, even between the most divided Americans, according to the filmmaker Steven Spielberg, is not only possible, but necessary.

I have also learned this mediation skill from a good friend of mine. Spielberg mentioned recently that America hasn't been this divided since the Civil War. And yet, even before Abraham Lincoln's presidency and Civil War, Lincohn wrote, "Discourgage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. Point out to them how the nominal winner is often a real loser – in fees, expenses, and waste of time."   

If you've ever heard about what neuroscientists call dichotomous thinking, you'll know how human beings are wired to all-or-nothing or black-and-white thinking. We see this in our everyday lives, often in toxic ways: believing one training doctor is either a good guy or a villain. When pressed, we push toward the extremes and refuse to budge. Although we hate to admit it, the fear of nuance in opinion often pushes us to join one extreme camp or another. 

That is a trap we should keep telling ourselves not to fall into. Occasionally, there is the realm of reasonableness, somewhere between two extremes, as taught by Steven Collis.