conflict

Most of us have accepted psychological conflict as an unavoidable fact in our lives; that it cannot be understood and transcended. We all have our various escapes, whether it be pleasure, thoughtlessness, avoidance, or beliefs and concepts. In the constant search for security inwardly and outwardly, we fail to see that which is plain: the division we perceive is not outside but within. As long as we do not understand ourselves, the essence of our desires, ambition, striving, and the content of our consciousness, there will be pain and sorrow. Can you live with great care and attention to your own reactions, judgements, opinions, and labels? To see these for what they are and to remain in that open perception is the first link weakened in the fictitious chains we have built for ourselves.

-S.L