“Without dialogue, we will have to walk in the darkness of self-righteousness.”
- Majid Tehranian, Iranian scholar of peace studies, Global Civilization: A Buddhist–Islamic Dialogue, p. 9
Dialogue is the most powerful tool in creating mutual understanding and trust. Connecting with someone who disagrees with you can be difficult and exhausting. Our first instinct may be to avoid or ignore them. But the best way to bridge that gap is through dialogue.
Daisaku Ikeda says, “Dialogue is the painstaking and persistent effort to remove all obstacles that obscure our common humanity” (Message to Peace Forum Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of Josei Toda’s Declaration Calling for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons, New York, USA, Sept. 8, 2007). When we engage others with an understanding that all people are worthy of respect and dignity, we start on the path to finding common ground and appreciating others.We can be the ones to initiate such conversations.
