Inner And Outer Conflict

There is conflict everywhere and so, no inner peace. Inner peace comes from confidence in what is true, rather than what we think is true. We (consciousness) are in conflict with ourselves (our ideas) – or rather, others’ ideas that we have acquired.

If there is no conflict, however, there is no progress. To move forward, two surfaces have to strike together, as in walking, when there is conflict between feet and pavement. When we are in conflict with our self, we are in conflict with others. This is telling us something; we lack confidence in our true reality, and so we lack kindness towards others.

We may think that others have got it wrong,
and there’s the challenge.

What to do?
🙂

On every subject, there are alternative views, so how do we decide which is true? We don’t decide.
We wait and see what develops, and what the effect is. If we have to make a decision, then we do, but we recognise that it will be based on our bias.

Taking sides right away
leaves us in conflict with others.
It’s tricky…

This is dealing with the Buddha’s first precept – the acknowledgement of conflict/suffering. It may be that we are not in conflict or suffering right now, but others are, and there is a cause.

Realising this means we can be empathically kind; we have all had conflict with others which was never resolved.

The five regrets of the dying:

1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

2. I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.

3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

Regrets of the Dying