The following very briefly captures the uniquness of the TfL approach in contrast with TO (contains excerpts from David´s book and other online sources of his writing):
Viewing of the world as a system and moving beyond dichotomy
The binary model of TO, in which characters are either oppressor or oppressed and spectactors are invited to ‘replace the oppressed character and do battle with the oppressor’ is often an impediment to transforming certain conflicts in our society. It is pertinent then to collaborate with communities through recognizing that they are living, complex, integrated organisms – entities that contain the polarity inside them, just like all individuals do, as an integrated whole.
Humanity itself breeds oppression - gives birth to the oppressors and the oppressed. Whether it is at the very personal and individual level or at the very large systemic level, we need to get beyond dealing with symptoms (the fact something is happening) and down into the root causes of why and how behaviour – that hurts humanity – occurs.
TfL thus attempts to not dichotomise oppression. It proposes to move beyond the binary notions of oppressor and oppressed, by approaching living communities as complex, living entities. The focus is then on the oppression and the larger meaning system that lies behind it. The work then becomes focused on how we can constructively transform this oppression.
A beautiful quote from Rumi becomes quite relevant here:
The methods
While many of the TfL games and exercises SEEM the same on the surface, they are all changed, because the heart of the work has shifted, opened up, away from the binary oppressor/oppressed model. This happens at a cellular level in every game and exercise. Some of the changes are very subtle, but profound. ALL characters in a story are presented in an honourable and compassionate way, not just in Forum, but in Images – even when they are doing things, with which we profoundly disagree – not to feel sorry for them or condone terrible actions, but to get beyond the symptoms of an issue and into root causes. This also affects the ‘processing’ of games, group building work, etc. Through objective dialogues, rather than subjective ones, we get into the heart of the matter, and then have a more balanced context to work with, in order to transform the conflict and thence the oppression.
One example: Rainbow of Desire
In TfL, Rainbow of Desire is a valuable tool in the investigation of the complexity of the feedback loops in which we all exist. We all have our own internalized struggles that manifest as detrimental behaviour to ourselves, the people around us, and the planet. During this exercise, we spend time looking at the fears and desires of both sides of the story.
This is where Paulo Freire’s writings become relevant. He observed that winning the revolution is not the challenge; the real challenge is having won the revolution – not becoming the very thing we were fighting against. This has happened throughout history, because we trick ourselves into believing we are prisoners of the structures we inhabit and therefore focus our activism only on structural change. Nature teaches us that it is patterns of behaviour that create structure – not the other way around. So, if we neglect changing our patterns of behaviour, we are doomed – regardless of our good intentions – to recreate the very structures we have been fighting against.
In order to change patterns of behaviour we need to embrace the truth that in an interconnected universe the boundaries between oppressor and oppressed are very fuzzy. Are children born to rape? Born to torture? Born to discriminate? Born to rob or pillage? Of course not. What happens to us? How and why does humanity grow people and groups of people and institutions that oppress others? The answers are not in the ‘big moments’. They are in the small, human moments, woven throughout individual stories of people.
Both over-protective fear and over-aggressive desire play an important role in our need to create ‘the other’. Both of these destructive forces emerge from a sense of not feeling safe. It is, however, such a ‘chicken and egg’ cycle. Our fear makes us aggressive and our aggression creates actions in others that reinforce our fear. Distrust grows. Walls are erected. ‘We’ have an addiction to creating ‘the other’. If we no longer define ourselves in relation to ‘them’ – how we are not ‘them’ – who are we? And also if we no longer have ‘them’ to blame and lash out against, what do we do? Investigate ourselves? Far too scary! And so, when this is the case, we remain in the addiction, as individuals and as a collective people, nation, race, gender, etc., in relation to ‘the other’. The Rainbow of Desire methods help us overcome these.
For visuals, check out this interview
Viewing of the world as a system and moving beyond dichotomy
The binary model of TO, in which characters are either oppressor or oppressed and spectactors are invited to ‘replace the oppressed character and do battle with the oppressor’ is often an impediment to transforming certain conflicts in our society. It is pertinent then to collaborate with communities through recognizing that they are living, complex, integrated organisms – entities that contain the polarity inside them, just like all individuals do, as an integrated whole.
Humanity itself breeds oppression - gives birth to the oppressors and the oppressed. Whether it is at the very personal and individual level or at the very large systemic level, we need to get beyond dealing with symptoms (the fact something is happening) and down into the root causes of why and how behaviour – that hurts humanity – occurs.
TfL thus attempts to not dichotomise oppression. It proposes to move beyond the binary notions of oppressor and oppressed, by approaching living communities as complex, living entities. The focus is then on the oppression and the larger meaning system that lies behind it. The work then becomes focused on how we can constructively transform this oppression.
A beautiful quote from Rumi becomes quite relevant here:
"Out beyond ideas of rightdoing and wrongdoing there is a field. I’ll meet you there."
The methods
While many of the TfL games and exercises SEEM the same on the surface, they are all changed, because the heart of the work has shifted, opened up, away from the binary oppressor/oppressed model. This happens at a cellular level in every game and exercise. Some of the changes are very subtle, but profound. ALL characters in a story are presented in an honourable and compassionate way, not just in Forum, but in Images – even when they are doing things, with which we profoundly disagree – not to feel sorry for them or condone terrible actions, but to get beyond the symptoms of an issue and into root causes. This also affects the ‘processing’ of games, group building work, etc. Through objective dialogues, rather than subjective ones, we get into the heart of the matter, and then have a more balanced context to work with, in order to transform the conflict and thence the oppression.
One example: Rainbow of Desire
In TfL, Rainbow of Desire is a valuable tool in the investigation of the complexity of the feedback loops in which we all exist. We all have our own internalized struggles that manifest as detrimental behaviour to ourselves, the people around us, and the planet. During this exercise, we spend time looking at the fears and desires of both sides of the story.
This is where Paulo Freire’s writings become relevant. He observed that winning the revolution is not the challenge; the real challenge is having won the revolution – not becoming the very thing we were fighting against. This has happened throughout history, because we trick ourselves into believing we are prisoners of the structures we inhabit and therefore focus our activism only on structural change. Nature teaches us that it is patterns of behaviour that create structure – not the other way around. So, if we neglect changing our patterns of behaviour, we are doomed – regardless of our good intentions – to recreate the very structures we have been fighting against.
In order to change patterns of behaviour we need to embrace the truth that in an interconnected universe the boundaries between oppressor and oppressed are very fuzzy. Are children born to rape? Born to torture? Born to discriminate? Born to rob or pillage? Of course not. What happens to us? How and why does humanity grow people and groups of people and institutions that oppress others? The answers are not in the ‘big moments’. They are in the small, human moments, woven throughout individual stories of people.
Both over-protective fear and over-aggressive desire play an important role in our need to create ‘the other’. Both of these destructive forces emerge from a sense of not feeling safe. It is, however, such a ‘chicken and egg’ cycle. Our fear makes us aggressive and our aggression creates actions in others that reinforce our fear. Distrust grows. Walls are erected. ‘We’ have an addiction to creating ‘the other’. If we no longer define ourselves in relation to ‘them’ – how we are not ‘them’ – who are we? And also if we no longer have ‘them’ to blame and lash out against, what do we do? Investigate ourselves? Far too scary! And so, when this is the case, we remain in the addiction, as individuals and as a collective people, nation, race, gender, etc., in relation to ‘the other’. The Rainbow of Desire methods help us overcome these.
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