Conflict Resolution

"Without illusions, conflict is impossible." -- A Course in Miracles

It is so easy to watch other people's conflicts and see that their struggles are always between differing ideas. People go to war over ideology. Even in spiritual circles, perhaps especially there, these struggles show up. This is what Rumi referred to when he said, "Out beyond ideas of right and wrong there is a Field. I will meet you there."

Seeing the conflict within myself is more challenging, because we always have a vested interest in our own ideas. To really see that the slightest twinge of dis-ease within myself is the conflict of ideas... this is huge. All of our most cherished ideas, our illusions, usually remain hidden in a cloud of judgment and self-righteousness, or sometimes a cloud of guilt and martyrdom. These are the illusions that give rise to the world we see.

To remember that whatever needs defense is simply an idea brings peace. Even my home and my animals, much as I love them, are included in this. My home is wherever I am. My companions are whoever I'm with. To have an idea that only one physical place will do or that only certain animals or people are my companions is to set up conflict when they are not there. It is never the things or people themselves that cause conflict. It is our illusory, possessive, obsessive ideas about them.

Where is the Field that Rumi speaks of? Where can we meet ourselves without conflict? Try this. Identify a thought that brings an uneasy feeling. Then identify another related thought, and another, and any and all conflicting thoughts. Relax and look at each one as if it is simply a cloud floating nearby, neither true nor false. Welcome them all to this Field of Awareness. Simply allow them all to exist together within this quiet space. When you emerge from this Field, you will still have certain ideas and certain places that you choose to live and work. But you will know that they are all simply ideas, and there will be no more conflict in that. After all, you can always change your mind.