The Alleged Conflict

"There is no conflict in the choice between Truth and illusion. Seen in these terms, no one would hesitate. But conflict enters the instant the choice seems to be one between illusions; but this choice does not matter. Where one choice is as dangerous as the other, the decision must be one of despair." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 16, Section IV, 5:6-9

"The suppositional warfare between Truth and error is only the mental conflict between the evidence of the spiritual senses and the testimony of the material senses, and this [alleged] warfare between the Spirit and flesh will settle all questions through faith in and the understanding of Divine Love." -- Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy; Page 288, Lines 3-8

"No one at one with himself can even conceive of conflict. Conflict is the inevitable result of self-deception, and self-deception is dishonesty." -- A Course in Miracles; Manual for Teachers 4:II, 2:3-4

"An unrecognized belief is a decision to war in secret, where the results of conflict are kept unknown and never brought to reason." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 24, Section I, 2:2

"Conflict must be resolved. It cannot be evaded, set aside, denied, disguised, seen somewhere else, called by another name, or hidden by deceit of any kind, if it would be escaped. It must be seen exactly as it is, where it is thought to be, in the reality which has been given it, and with the purpose that the mind accorded it. For only then are its defenses lifted, and the Truth can shine upon it as it disappears." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 333, 1:1-4

I know I am using a lot of quotes to begin, but this topic is so tricksy, as Tolkien would say. As long as we experience conflict in any form, including confusion, we are warring with phantoms in our own mind. As long as we experience conflict in any form, including confusion, we are avoiding and rebelling against God and therefore against our Self. As long as we experience conflict in any form, including confusion, we are deluding ourselves, and so we cannot know the Peace of God that is our Home. And since the Kingdom of Heaven, the Awareness of Perfect Oneness and Harmony, the state of Being in which we know our Self, is Peace, this is a very important topic.

Doubt, confusion, anxiety, judgment, fear, irritation, withdrawal, sadness, depression, exhaustion, ambition, determination, planning, organization, achievement, precision, perfectionism, pride, human love and attachment, lust, hunger, envy, hero worship, nationalism, ideology of every sort, the list goes on and on and one, as endless as the world of dreams. All human goals and emotions share the fact that they are all forms of conflict. Without exception. They all mentally separate out some aspect of the One and attempt to make it bad or good within a dream, a mental story. So although some forms are thinly veiled, all are forms of conflict; all are an attack upon the One, an attempt to fragment what is eternally Whole and Innocent. And all are impossible, and so untrue. Conflict is only possible in illusion, between illusions. There are no real conflicts.

The tricksy problem arises because we think there are conflicts and that the solutions to these problems are in us. But we look to another form of conflict, the fragmented self, for solutions, and so we are constantly in some stage of battle. Now it's a physical problem, now it's emotional, now it's financial, now it's a relationship, now it's a death, now it's a birth, now it's an opportunity, now it's a success, now it's a failure. As ACIM tells us, it takes great learning to realize that there is absolutely no difference in any human thought forms. There is no hierarchy of illusions. What we see as success and pleasure from a worldly point of view is still conflict and a constant striving to attain and maintain. There is no Peace in illusions, no matter how seemingly beautiful, no matter how seemingly (and temporarily) glorious.

ACIM says that Remembering Self "requires willingness to question every value that you hold. Not one can be kept hidden and obscure but it will jeopardize your learning. No belief is neutral. Every one has the power to dictate each decision you make. For a decision is a conclusion based on everything that you believe." (A Course in Miracles; Chapter 24, Intro, 2:1-5) As long as we believe our peace lies in illusions, we are lost. As long as we believe we are separate from God, from Good, we are lost. As long as we believe we can find safety in hiding our conflicts and our fears, in hiding from ourselves, we are lost. But as soon as we are willing to bring them all, as One, to the Light, the shadows of all our alleged conflict and striving and despair and confusion are simply not. And the Light is in YOU. The Light is in ME. We are the Light.

All alleged conflict seems to be only in the darkness of the unexamined life. As soon as you begin to question, to bring your illusions to Truth, the unreality of conflict is simply obvious. As Mary Baker Eddy writes, it is all resolved in the understanding of Divine Love, which is ever-present and available to all. And as long as we walk in this illusion of life, within this dream of a world, we can mirror Truth instead of illusion, Love instead of fear, Peace instead of conflict. The willingness to question every value of the fragmented mind and return it to Peace is the willingness to reflect Heaven on earth. And what alleged conflict could be worth the sacrifice of Heaven?

"Either here or hereafter, suffering or Science must destroy all illusions regarding life and mind, and regenerate material sense and self. The old man with his deeds must be put off. Nothing sensual or sinful is immortal. The death of a false material sense and of sin, not the death of organic matter, is what reveals man and Life, harmonious, real, and eternal." -- Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy; Page 296, Lines 6-13