Outline – Coping Styles – by Robert E. Perrine

Introduction

List the nine coping styles

Explain that this is intended to be brief

List the nine helping styles

Topic 1 – Coping Styles

Introduce the topic

Tranquility

Who lived like this? – Viktor Frankl: and people you know

What is it like to be here? – Neither love nor hate, no immediate threats, at one

Why do we want to be here? – Desire peace

How do we get here? – Prayer, meditation or learn to live like this

How do we deal with conflict? – Smoothing: which can be a trap

Transformation

Who lived like this? – Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. – and people you know

What is it like to be here? – Neither love nor hate, yet a need to change

Why do we want to be here? – Recognize the need to change

How do we get here? – Neutral emotions while focusing on the gap

How do we deal with conflict? – Confront the problem

Why transit between here and Tranquility? – Recuperate

Conflict

Who lived like this? – Richard Nixon: and people you know

What is it like to be here? – Antagonism and deaf to others needs

Why do we want to be here? – Think we can change the other person

How do we get here? – Antagonism while ignoring the pain

How do we deal with conflict? – Coercion

Why transit between here and Tranquility? – Revenge: until we tire of it all

Chaos

Who lived like this? – Bill W.: and people you know

What is it like to be here? – Antagonism and aware of how bad it is

Why do we want to be here? – Trapped and think conflict is only way out

How do we get here? – Antagonism when we can no longer ignore the pain

How do we deal with conflict? – We don’t

Why transit between here and Tranquility? – Surrender, believe: steps 1,2,3

Subjugated

Who lived like this? – Paul the Apostle: and people you know

What is it like to be here? – Conflict and pain

Why do we want to be here? – Often become submissive to survive

How do we get here? – Imposed on us or something we learned when young

How do we deal with conflict? – Passive or passive-aggressive

Why transit between here and Tranquility? – Rise above it all like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Mahatma Gandhi, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Paul, Jeanne d’Arc and Nelson Mandela.

Obligated

Who lived like this? – Mother of a new born: and people you know

What is it like to be here? – Love and pain

Why do we want to be here? – To protect someone else

How do we get here? – Imposed on us or something we learned when young

How do we deal with conflict? – Passive or passive-aggressive

Why transit between here and Tranquility? – Detachment

Distracted

Who lived like this? – Passengers on the Titanic

What is it like to be here? – Whitehead anesthetized, Marx opium

Why do we want to be here? – Safe. Like people watching Jews taken away. Or like people aware of lynching. Like people watching gangs take over their neighborhood.

How do we get here? – Fear of getting involved, but not in love or hate

How do we deal with conflict? – Avoidance

Why transit between here and Tranquility? – To make things better

Pampered

Who lived like this? – Trophy wife

What is it like to be here? – Golden handcuffs

Why do we want to be here? – Exchange physical well being for emotional pain.

How do we get here? – Love that is empty

How do we deal with conflict? – Ignored

Why transit between here and Tranquility? – Tranquility then transformation

Aligned

Who lived like this? – Moses

What is it like to be here? – True peace

Why do we want to be here? – Unity, social creatures

How do we get here?

·         Moses – Conflict over golden calf, chaos, tranquility, transformation, aligned (TTA: Tranquil-Transformed-Aligned)

·         Buddha – Pampered, inner conflict, TTA

·         St. Francis – Distracted, TTA

·         Martin Luther King, Jr. – Subjugated, inner conflict, TTA

·         Religions – When viewed externally, seems obligated, but leads to TTA

·         Jesus -- TTA

How do we deal with conflict? – Discipleship: contrast with the other styles

Why transit between here and Tranquility – This is where we belong

Topic 2 – Why are there Nine?

Overview

Studied organizational psychology, team formation theory, conflict resolution styles and management styles.

Many opinions, many structures, difficult to explain the pattern.

Studied biographies of historical figures to see how they lived their lives. Found that most turned to their religious foundation to explain the purpose for life.

I used the Christian Bible and found a way to put the organizational psychology pattern into a graphical representation. But this presupposes you understand the religion that I follow.

Then I found that psychology has a way to explain this same pattern. Science is today a relatively neutral form of religion. Latin was used hundreds of years ago so that people in England could communicate with people in Germany. Today science is the language that allows Christians to talk with the people that follow other discipleships.

In this next section I will use my understanding of three schools of psychology to explain why there are nine coping styles.

Existential

Master – Viktor Frankl

Key concept – We interpret our experiences and create our response

Application – We can choose tranquility even in the most oppressive existence

Coping styles – Tranquility, leading to transformation, but lacking alignment

Grid – Start with tranquility in the center. We can get here from anywhere.

Relational

Master – Carl Rogers

Key concept – We need suitable relationships before we can change

Application – Change is possible when we are not experiencing hate or love

Coping styles – Avoid conflict, avoid pampered, seek tranquility. Then transformation can occur. But alignment is vague (humanistic).

Grid – Horizontal axis is relational-emotional. Love, neutral, antagonism.

Cognitive-Behavioral

Master – Albert Ellis and Leon Festinger

Key concept – We change when we sense a gap

Application – We filter what affects us and are reluctant to change

Coping styles – Leave distractions, go through tranquility and then transform. But we are simultaneously aligning with our master’s expectations.

Grid – Vertical axis is awareness. Distracted, neutral and motivated.

The Pattern

Summarize and get to the point about why there are nine.

Then explain all nine icons as memory aides.

Topic 3 – Helping

Overview

Define helping as relational.

Show the grid.

Teach

Definition – Create an environment where learning can occur

Example – Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address

Roles – Mentor demonstrates tranquility and transformation. Mentee follows.

Prerequisites – Tranquility in the relationship and a gap

Conflict resolution – Confronting

Sustainability – Perpetual cycle until student catches up with the teacher

Penitence

Definition – Realize our failings and realize our conflict

Example – Bill W.

Roles – We need to do this alone but we can help someone else by first reducing the conflict and then demonstrating acceptance of each other as wounded.

Prerequisites – Realize we are in conflict and realize we have done wrong

Conflict resolution – Acceptance or endless spiral into chaos

Sustainability – Chaos will devour. Penitence only needs to last long enough to return to tranquility, and then leads to transformation where we learn from our mistakes.

Intervene

Definition – Resolve the conflict

Example – Gandhi fasting to end intra-India disputes

Roles – Peacemaker using self-disclosure

Prerequisites – Desire to end the conflict

Conflict resolution – Forcing

Sustainability – Get discouraged if we do not see results

Liberate

Definition – End the suffering

Example – Martin Luther King, Jr.

Roles – Conqueror (real meaning)

Prerequisites – Desire to end the suffering

Conflict resolution – Domination

Sustainability – Often leads to conflict. Only peaceful means are sustainable.

Revive

Definition – Wake up

Example – Paul Revere, Billy Graham

Roles – Prophet: ancient and now global warming

Prerequisites – Accurate perception of the gap, neutral non-threatening

Conflict resolution – n/a

Sustainability – Usually kill the prophet

Detach

Definition – Love enough to set the obligations right (links to empower)

Example – Moses’ mother sending him down the river

Roles – Love enough to love less while increasing awareness

Prerequisites – Accurate perception of the gap: otherwise orphans

Conflict resolution – n/a

Sustainability – Difficult to let our loved ones suffer: see empower

Empower

Definition – Do for self

Example – Buddha could have been governor, self and others became beggars
Gandhi taught doctors, lawyers and princes to spin yarn and make salt
King taught preachers, teachers and bus drivers to sit in restaurants

Roles – Delegate and then facilitate

Prerequisites – Like a mother bird teaching young to fly – protect from crash

Conflict resolution – Real delegation

Sustainability – Democracy and Communism empowered average person but became dominated by the powerful

Disciple

Definition – Aligning with a master

Examples:

Real – Apostle Peter

Symbolic – Jeanne d’Arc 300+ years after her death

Patterns – Bill W. twelve-step programs

Virtual – Apostle Paul who only met Jesus in a vision

Roles – Master and apprentice or mentoring

Prerequisites – Greater knowledge and sufficient devotion

Conflict resolution – Introduce team formation theory. This is the performing team. Also elaborate on Buber’s concept of dialogue.

Sustainability – Lifetime commitment for a few moments of alignment

Center

Definition – Bringing our self into tranquility

Example – Quakers: William Penn to Richard Foster. Also Apostle Paul.

Roles – Gurus and teachers can lecture and demonstrate but we do our self

Prerequisites – Neutral awareness and neutral emotions

Conflict resolution – Smoothing: which is bad

Sustainability – Only briefly before we need to come back into the world

Opportunity

Make it relevant to the reader

Summarization – With charts for those who learn this way

State-transition diagram with each of the illustrations

Team Formation

The diagram is the outline.

Make it relevant to the reader.

Woman Caught in Adultery

The diagram is the outline.

Make it relevant to the reader.

Family Intervention

The diagram is the outline.

Make it relevant to the reader.

Liberation Degenerated

Gandhi’s and King’s followers needed ongoing discipleship.

The diagram is the outline.

Make it relevant to the reader

Discipleship

Liberation to alignment

Bill W program from chaos

Nar-Anon program from obligation

Business re-engineering from pampered

Religious revival into discipleship

Existential, relational and cognitivie-behavioral.

Remember this section is supposed to explain how to put the coping styles and helping methods to use. Did I succeed?

Bibliography