Is NVC compatible with stereotypically conservative worldview?

Henry, a friend of mine in St. Louis, recently posed a question to me about NVC in an email exchange we were having.

I am inspired to share it in my blog, in the hopes that it will stimulate you in some positive way. As always, I welcome feedback about my musings.

> HENRY: Question: in your judgment, is a stereotypical, sociopolitically conservative worldview compatible with NVC?

JEFF: I like this question -- it challenges me and stimulates me to grow and explore this question myself.

Prior to Nonviolent Communication (NVC), I spent 5 years of my life as a progressive political activist, and gave that up because I became so hopeless and despondent that so many people appeared to be "locked into" the stereotypical, sociopolitically conservative worldview that you refer to.

My answer to your question is "Mostly." NVC enables us to focus our attention on our own needs and values, as well as onto others' needs and values, and see the divine life energy that is motivating us all to espouse whatever political views that we do.

In that way, NVC does not put forth any particular political stance or orientation -- it just seeks to illuminate the truth of us human beings, which I see as Love (Marshall Rosenberg, the creator of NVC, talks about this, too. I have heard him say that he created NVC to take the concept of love and make it real in our everyday lives.)

I find that any attitudes that seek to limit, constrict, compartmentalize or isolate the human experience of Love do not the stand the test of time when NVC consciousness is applied to them. For me, NVC shows me how to place my attention on those aspects of the human experience that are the most likely to put me in the flow of life. These aspects are often referred to as the mechanics of NVC: observations, feelings, needs and requests.

I also want to be abundantly clear that I do not believe that progressive political thinking is better than conservative thinking, even if those terms could be quantified and defined in the first place. In fact, when I was an environmental activist for those 5 years, I was absolutely fueled by "jackal thinking" that the "enemy" (i.e. anyone who held an opinion different than my own) was irresponsible, bad, or wrong-headed, and it was my job to convince them of their wrongness.

Needless to say, I was not only ineffective, I believe that I made things worse -- by irritating people, stimulating them to defend themselves and reinforce their position, and making little (if any) connection with them. I have since learned that my favorite way to gain political power -- or any kind of power with people -- is to use empathy to demonstrate that I see the divine reasons for a person holding political beliefs that are different from my own, even if I feel scared or angry about them.