I like what my PR textbook says about 'The Zen Of Public Relations' :
" Sometimes a new paradigm - a different perspective - can enhance our understanding. And what could be farther from the practicality of public relations than spirituality? To better understand an important public relations concept, consider the principle of interconnectedness - the duality in which everything is related. What appears to be the opposite is not separate; it is only the other end of the pole, the other side of the lake.
When we think of public relations issue, our tendency often is to identify them as either obstacles or opportunities.But such words mask an important relationship. The spirituality associated with Zen values harmony. A problem is not necesarily something negative but rather something lacking harmony, a point of yet-unrealized potential. An obstacle puts us at a crossroads, allowing us to go this way or that, with consequences based on the choice we make.
The ultimate public relations problem is a crisis. Yet even that word gives us a philosophical pause. Interestingly, the Chinese term wei ji and the parallel Japanese word kiki, both of which translate as 'crisis', are made up of two characters - one meaning 'danger', the other meaning 'opportunity'. A crisis is a decision point where choices point to consequences.
The job of public relations, then, is to restore harmony, to re-establish equilibrium. "
