I would like to write here a report from my point of view as one of   the initiators and co- chairs of the   workshop "KNOW Hard Feelings

For 15 months, me Suzi Shoshani together with Miriam Berger we were dreaming, thinking, speaking, working, preparing, organizing,  weaving, holding the wholeness of the  endless parts of  this "creature " that was being in the process of emerging into real life

Actually we were pregnant. We fed and developed our embryo till its birth on the 5th of March in the oasis of Ein Gedi Kibutz near the Dead Sea. We raised it and took care of this baby for three intensive days.  It was a labor of love.

It seems that we have plunged into the bottom of the earth. We are now slowly in the process of emerging from that depth back into sea level with a sense of   of connectedness and renewal   that was born out of the hard feelings we have touched upon together.  Ein Gedi has become a collective state of mind that can combine us and is part of our Matrix.

It was a unique experience in a unique place. All of us, Americans, Europeans, Palestinians , Israelis, Rifhtists ,Leftists, students, teachers, professionals  with  different perspectives , conductors, supervisors,  presenters  brought into that  space their innermost emotional pain, grievance,  longings and fights for dignity and hope. It was a real meeting of hearts and mind.

We opened a number of spaces and created various   frames in order that all the participants will be able to express a wide range of feelings that are relevant to them.

 We were invited to express our feelings and thoughts every morning on canvas, to wake up and express our  state of being in movement according to the waves of  "the 5 Rhythms" , used yoga and art therapy at  lunch time etc.

 We had every morning a panel with 3 excellent lectures. Many of the presentations were really fascinating: Morris Nitsun from the UK ("the anti group") talked about hunger and environment destruction. Robi Friedman (Israel) discussed Isaac binding as a scapegoat process. Dieter Nitzgen (Germany) analyzed the Baader-Meinhoff terrorism of the 70ies as related to German second generation after WWII. Nimer Said (Israel-Arab) talked about the difficulty of Arab group participants to express their emotions in words. Elizabeth Rohr (Germany) told us about her supervision work in blood-torn Guatemala. Ivan Urlic (Croatia) described shame and trauma in the Balkan war, Avi Berman (Israel) talked about victimhood, and Miriam Berger (Israel) about vengefulness. My (Suzi Shoshani) lecture was   about – Feeling Nature: the Flow towards the infinite.

The lectures dealt with feelings, thoughts, conflicts, and were source of inspiration to all of us during each day. The metaphors and ideas that were presented   accompanied us during the whole workshop.

As you can see, so many hard feelings from so many different angles

 Then we split into 14 small groups with very good conductors from all over the world: Dr. Ahlin Goren, Ms. Duek Ruth, Ms. Hadar Bracha, D. Karniel Lauer Enav, Dr. Kleinberg Jeffrey, Dr. Moss Eric, Ms. Galia Nativ, Ms Navaro Leyla, Dr. Ofer Gila, Mr. Sandahl CHrister, Prof Ivan Urlic, Ms. Winther Gerda, Dr. Yogev Hertzel. Dr. Zeisel Elliot.  The coordinators of the conductors were Ms. Nurit Goren and Dr. Robi Friedman. The processing in these groups was intense and authentic and emotional in a most relevant way. We touched each others pain and vulnerabilities with care and concern.

 From the small group we moved along into the stormy river of associations, feelings and conflicts of the  large group Haim and Wilke tried to hold and understand. We listen to each other, had hard talks with   our colleagues, felt for our friends and enemies. We realized   time and again how  complex life in general and specifically in this part of the world is for all of us.

We also have 16 paper presentations in 5 parallel panels dealing with a lot of hard feelings.

I would like to say some words about a special  innovative   frame we've developed as an additional space for  expression and containment of feelings: namely "FEELINGS ON LINE : THE EIN GEDI BULLETIN" .It was a daily news bulletin that invited all workshop participants to contribute whatever they whished and felt as relevant to our meetings. We tried to make place for everybody.

The editors were  Joshua  Lavie and Herzel Yogev. It was a pilot study that we are intending to develop it in our next conference

 For example: in the last day Joshua and Herzel members of our institute wrote some words about dealing with conflicts and a poem Love After Love by Derek Walcott, Tamar and Said students of our institute wrote about feeling alone and a poem Think Of Others by Mahmound Darwish, Juman and Tania arab participants from Israel  shared with us a very symbolic statute and ask  – which ethical society will develop from the people that use massive power? Tzipi an Hebrew participant from Israel shared with as a picture that represent the searching for seeds of life.

After each rich and heavy day we organized entertainments, singing and dancing all together with western and eastern music, performances by members who volunteered to get on stage and brought their very best.It was a great experience!!

It strengthened our faith that together we can do it. We can understand, feel for each other and open ourselves to relationships devoid of violent actions.

 We keep getting phone calls, e-mail, messages from all over the world telling us how meaningful these days were for participants. How special it turned out to be, how surprising to discover that it is possible to transform emotional suffering into human contact despite everything. We keep hearing about the desire of participant to stay in touch, to continue the relationships that started there and to deepen the dialogue that was initiated in the workshop.

We hope that it will be possible. On behalf of me, Suzi Shoshani and my co-chair of the workshop – Miriam Berger, we want to thank all the participants that made our dream come true.