Once, two women claimed the same newborn. The sage told one woman to hold the infant’s hands, and the other, the feet.
The sage drew a line in the sand, and then said, “Whoever pulls the infant over this line is the mother.” “That is fair,” said one woman – like many people today willing to kill the innocent for their “truth.” “No,” cried the other, “spare the baby and give him to her,” sacrificing truth to save lives, like others today. The two women’s answers revealed the truth and resolved the conflict. Folktales like this one, better known from the biblical story of Solomon’s judgment, are crucial today in dealing with our seemingly intractable and deadly disputes.
This workshop will recount and discuss several folktales about judging truth and resolving conflicts. The key is storytelling: using several basic types of narratives, which reflect our fundamental ways of understanding the world, we can transform our fundamental convictions to settle bitter conflicts, both within and between individuals. The same storytelling process occurs in successful psychotherapy.
