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Published on August 9, 2007

Humans are "an exhausted species", says Nuttarote Wangwinyoo, but what energy they have left they devote to competing with one another rather than cooperating.

The good news, according to the co-director of Chiang Rai's Kwanmuang Institute, is that there's hope in spiritual revitalisation.

Nuttarote, 35, gave representatives of the news media some coaching in "dialogue" at a recent workshop in Nakhon Pathom.

He frequently does the same for academics, businesspeople, healthcare workers and medical students, and has come to believe in what he calls "transformative learning".

"I see that everybody wants to survive, to cooperate, and to share with them the purpose of a meaningful life," he says.

Nuttarote earned a master's degree in environmental leadership at Naropa University in the western US city of Boulder before coming home in 2000 to join his uncle Wisit Wangwinyoo's efforts to understand different perceptions of reality through "deep listening".

Today's capitalist culture is to blame for many social problems, Nuttarote says, and spirituality is second priority.

"Humans want to cooperate but instead they compete with each other. Human development actually occurs through competition - people competing within themselves, against their ego.

"Personal change can come about through internal change," he says. "When people listen to each other more carefully, they can see the truth in alternative perspectives. Dialogue is a skill for living with diversity. We have to pay attention to how we talk as well as what we're talking about, and remember who we are to one another, not who we are."

People will choose to change, Nuttarote says, if there's a suitable opportunity, inspiration and friendship.

These days, however, we're too ready to label and judge each other, often severely. Those accused then move into defensive mode, and a cycle of guilt and recrimination begins.

But the more people compromise, Nuttarote stresses, the greater chance they have to express their own full potential.

Journalists at the workshop were keen to know how the approach might be applied to Thai politics today.

"Instead of making a quick decision on which side to take, we should consider how a person who does so is able to listen to the other side," Nuttarote said.

"If they receive a guarantee of security and respect, Thais can listen to each others' opinions, even on politics. But the violence and exaggerations only create more separation, and there is no mutual respect.

"Because no one tries to understand the other side - only compete - instead of building a bridge we actually destroy it. Trust should be the foundation of understanding."

The differences we perceive between ourselves and others fuel our decision making and choices, he said.

"A husband and wife are different people, but they can they see something of themselves in one another."

Nuttarote shares his views online at WongNamCha.com and at ChiangRai-Dialogue on Blogspot.com.

Kupluthai Pungkanon

The Nation