We can no longer ignore the other, but we can close our minds and spirits to them, looking at them with fear and misunderstanding, coming to resent them and even perhaps hate them. Today, nuclear, biological, chemical, ecological, or other catastrophic devastation lies just a little farther down the path of monologue. In brief, we must move from the age of monologue to the age of dialogue. Deep dialogue is not simply a series of conversations. It is a whole new way of thinking and of seeing and reflecting on the world and its meaning.
Deep dialogue is the encounter between two or more persons with differing views.
In the past, when we encountered those who differed from us, we did so usually to defeat them, as opponents, because we were convinced that we alone had the truth. But that is not what dialogue is. Dialogue is not debate. In dialogue, each partner must listen to the other as openly and sympathetically as possible in an attempt to understand the other s position as precisely and, as it were, from within, as possible. Of course, there are many external factors that have appeared in the past two centuries that have contributed to the creation of what we today call the global village.