ABSTRACT
This chapter builds on the previous exploration of existential and psychological thought and brings them into the practical space of the mediation. The author takes us through the necessary skills needed to listen to and understand the worldviews of the disputants. She draws on phenomenology to describe the need to listen, not just to facts, but also more importantly to emotions, and to bracket, or put to one side, our assumptions. She explains that the mediator must first ‘tune in’ to the broad worldview of the party before ‘tuning out’ and moving to focusing more on the dispute, whilst holding the knowledge of what is important in terms of meaning, values, and authenticity to the disputant. In this way the process is more meaningful and satisfying to the parties.
