conflict

Conflict does not imply hostility. Conflict is simply a word we use to describe an extreme response to various types of interaction between things. As with many other words, we have come to attach meanings to it that are skewed by the views of the culture in which we live. Because of this, it has become a common mistake to believe that conflict is something to be avoided. Conflict should be welcomed, because conflict means transformation, the most basic activity in living nature. The opportunity to resolve these transformations is an occasion for celebration, for it is an act of participation in the WAY of nature.

Yin is constantly transforming into Yang, and Yang is constantly becoming Yin. This is the essential phenomena of nature, and is consequently the source of all fundamental activity of the physical and subtle realms of existence. Most transformations occur so regularly and smoothly that we do not give voice to our sense of them, but when a transformation is strong enough to demand our attention, we usually interpret it as some form of conflict.

Musical dissonance is regarded as conflict – but sometimes the most beautiful music arises from what some might call melodic chaos. It's all about the ability to consciously sense subtle transformations taking form – one with a musical ear finds the variety and intricacy interesting, stimulating and beautiful. Many people shut the best parts of their senses out by creating rigid categories in which frequencies must fit so that they can be defined in terms of their level of supposed conflict with one another.

In the sociological realm, we recognize various groups of people either experiencing or resolving conflicts with one another. For ages, those who misunderstand transformation have set policies and run education services that condition citizens with rules convenient for governing, but unnatural as far as being truly human is concerned. They incite strong interactions within individuals and groups by trying to shut down necessary processes in individual and social maturation. The wars raging across the globe represent the result of simple transformations that should naturally occur but are resisted until they build to the point of dramatic and catastrophic change.

Humans are introducing substances into the Earth that are not part of the natural transformational cycles of the biosphere. These toxins interact with natural substances, such as DNA or inert gases, forcing the biosphere into drastic attempts to adjust. The results are mutated cells and molecular anomalies of the atmosphere, water and soil. Human activity, bent on resisting transformation, uses far more energy than the biosphere can process, disturbing the balance of energy even in the subtle realm. Humans most primitive fears are still maintained by socially-conditioned misperception even today, and many people accept the paradoxical idea that human progress must be in conflict with nature.

Economists are not willing to admit that so many of the problems we have today are the unjustifiable result of the quest for profit. The economy as we know it has become so out of control that any attempt to create something fair and healthful is regarded as a threat and no effort is spared to vanquish it. Catastrophic transformations are due: they've been building up for centuries. The only thing that really can be done is to know transformation is the essence of interaction.

We must accept transformation, not conflict, as the WAY of nature. Once opened to the many subtle levels of transformation, conflict no longer exists as such, and the undivided, empowering energy of the WAY can manifest. It starts with the individual decision to live in dignity, freedom and harmony and grows from there.