Why NVC?

When I was a child, the world was simple.

Not that I understood everything. Far from it. But adults seemed to know how the world worked. Every question had an answer — I just had to grow up and it would all become clear.

I grew up, but I was disappointed. Adults didn’t have a clue about anything. They mostly fought, made war, and behaved like children.

I tried to find clarity through political theory, philosophy of science, post-structuralism and so on. I learned a lot, but the obvious, unshakable truths were nowhere to be seen. Not even devoting myself to some -ism helped. Everything could be questioned. The world stubbornly insisted on holding many perspectives and viewpoints. On the one hand, on the other hand.

It was only when I learned NVC that I rediscovered something of the quality I had experienced as a child.

Not that it became a new -ism to believe in blindly. Rather, it was the embracing of the world’s complexity that I liked. The acknowledgement of a multiplicity of perspectives we can learn from, and find new, creative ways to live.

I got back the simplicity and optimism of my childhood, but no longer based on the idea that there was one truth. More because I had tools that helped me deal more easily with the complexity the world offers.

That is, at the very least, one of the things I like about NVC.