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..:: The Origins of
Conflict ::..
By
Alan Schneider
Perhaps no area of
human experience is as difficult to come to terms with as the occurrence
of conflict, either among individuals or groups. The field of
communication studies has seen many volumes of material devoted to this
single theme – its origins, development, and (hopefully) constructive
resolution. This article in THE SEARCHLIGHT will be the
first of three devoted to the examination of the human conflict process
– the origins of conflict in human affairs.
Taken from one possible
perspective, conflict among individuals, groups, and nations can be seen
as the inevitable consequence of our biological condition in the flesh,
confronted with the frustrating combination of an eternally demanding
ego and physical sensory perception existing in concert with the
customarily limited base of environmental resources nonetheless
needed to appease the requirements of our biological condition. There is
always an imbalance of distribution in the resource network that is
bound to breed fear, resentment, and hostility on both sides of
the notably bimodal prosperity curve – the fortunate and
unfortunate alike are challenged with the same perception of this
inequality, albeit from very different perspectives. The very nature of
human perception is characterized by the temporary quality of
gratification – homeostasis does not persist as a condition, but
requires constant adjustment as the price of its maintenance. In its
absence, we tend to fall back into the significantly less pleasant
background conditions of basal consciousness. Anyone with the least
degree of wisdom can see that this is a recipe for HELL in human
affairs, and it is no wonder that this is what we so often experience!
The root causes of conflict
can be described as an interactive behavioral trinity: fear, resentment,
and desire. They all are directly related to human sensory isolation,
and all figure into the eventual development of conflict in specific
proportions. Fear is a background condition of consciousness that we
learn to disregard in all but the most strident cases, but is still
present subconsciously. Resentment may be felt openly or covertly,
occasionally manifesting as open or concealed hostility and anger, and
is linked to the condition of dislike of something or someone.
Desire may be as simple as the wish to be removed from the disliked
condition, or as demanding as the wish to possess what is perceived to
be another’s – property, partner, capacity, or achievement. We may
simultaneously fear another’s social power, resent that person for
wielding the power, and desire the power for ourselves. Under such
circumstances, conflict is inevitable. The trinity is driven by the
basest elements of consciousness, thus establishing the extremely
negative, primitive character of conflict as a social phenomenon.
Finally, the occurrence of conflict is directly related to, and
proportionate to, the absence of communication.
The only corrective measures
that are effective in dispelling the root conditions of human fear and
frustration are those that teach methods of de-emphasis and
detachment from sensory motivation – meditation, yoga, the practices
of austerity, and developing our focus on love and compassion. The
senses have evolved to be addictive to the organism and the ego,
and any attempt to restrain their action is bound to be met with a high
level of natural resistance until the positive effects of the detachment
process have been noticed, and this can take a substantial length of
time. Although some – a very few – people will attain the
level of perception required to note that the human organism is
itself responsible for human suffering by its very nature, most of
us will not successfully see beyond the dust of daily battle far enough
to achieve that insight. For the masses of humanity, some externally
experienced understanding of conflict resolution is necessary, beginning
with the recognition of the processes of fear, resentment, and desire as
the foundations of discord.
We have all heard the old
saying “The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence!”,
and a wise observation this is, for it strikes to the heart of human
conflict. We tend to become so involved in our personal struggles in
this life that it becomes a natural consequence of perception to
literally perceive others as having a substantially better lot in life
than we do. This perception is inevitably followed by resentment
of those “others” for their real or (more frequently) imagined
advantages that we suppose they have enjoyed. Because we are all
isolated in a vulnerable personal body of flesh, we cannot
directly know what another’s experience of their life and condition
might be, even in the case of otherwise close personal relationships
(where more insight is normally the case), and this condition of
isolated perception is exaggerated in the case of the strangers
who nonetheless constitute the bulk of our daily social encounters, even
if only momentarily. The ego is always at work in our perception,
constantly screening every experience for relative indications of
benevolence or malevolence, most of which goes on more or less
unconsciously as we progress through our day, leaving the psychological
doors open to a developing groundswell of fear, resentment, and avarice
that may never really dissipate. It is these underlying conditions that
form the motivational basis for all conflict. Even when the application
of another well-known saying – “Walk a mile in another’s shoes before
criticizing them” – is applied, they may well linger on.
I have frequently heard the
process of living expressed as an ongoing choice between fear and
love. There is certainly much to fear in this life of
instability, confusion, and sudden transition, with the question mark of
death waiting at the end of the experience of life. It frequently
appears that fear is the constant companion of the flesh, subject to
dissipation, but never really absent. Yet, we cannot simply live in
fear. To do so is to embrace a life of psychological implosion – always
on the defensive against an endless array of real and imagined threats.
Love is the obverse condition of both fear and resentment. To love is to
overcome the barriers of mistrust and embrace the life that may be
problematic, but is still ultimately the gift of conscious
awareness that has miraculously manifested out of primordial chaos. We
must love in order to live life as fully as possible – to
experience the full extent of the gift of conscious expression that we
have been given. That we are challenged by love to overcome fear seems
to be the basic human equation of our existence amid life’s turbulent
flow of experience.
When fear, resentment, and
desire do linger on in our consciousness, the probable next
outcome will be the most pernicious phenomenon of gossip,
the unsubstantiated, customarily malicious, commentary regarding another
when they are not present to speak on their own behalf. Even when there
is some basis in fact for the gossiped remarks, the malicious intent
is still the driving force at work, again compelled by underlying, and
more or less irrational, fear, resentment, and covetousness. The covert
quality of gossip provides a fertile ground for the development of rumor
campaigns that may have little or no basis in fact, and rapidly spread
like wildfires through social groups and organizations, reeking about as
much damage in the process. It would seem that we are predisposed to
believe the worst about each other, imprisoned as we are for life in the
lonely solitary confinement of the flesh! We have nothing but the senses
to connect us to the outside world – this connection is defined by a
personal perspective that cannot easily be altered, and mediated by an
ego that stubbornly resists even constructive change. What a dreadful
state of affairs! It’s no wonder that we inflict so many atrocities upon
each other. The wonder is that we ever do anything else...
Like the dark trinity of
fear, resentment, and desire, gossip seems to be inevitable in human
affairs. We must express our feelings in some way, whether they
are positive or not – this is the most human of all behaviors –
communication. And we shrink from confrontation because, in the final
analysis, it requires us to confront ourselves in the process of
being confronted by, or confronting, another. If self-knowledge is the
most liberating knowledge possible, it is also the most personally
painful and difficult to come by. Oh, woe is the little human
consciousness trapped in the body of flesh!
At a certain point, gossip
matures into malicious public opinion and open prejudice directed
against target persons or groups, up to and including opposing nations,
races, and religions. Presumably, there is at least some reasoned
justification for the process by this point, but the reality is that it
is still being driven by successively more organized versions of the
same basic personal fears and resentments of those “others” presumed to
have an unfair advantage in the battle of life, and these are no more
rational or justified than they ever were! They simply have become
socially acceptable as politicians and authorities take up the hue and
cry. Laws may be passed, invasions launched, prisons filled, lives
lost, and lost generations created, as this process
reaches its logical conclusion in full scale social conflict. It is a
testament to the persistence of our instinct-driven, fear-ridden animal
nature that we are still every bit as predisposed to react with
violence and condemnation as we were in prehistoric times. When we are
confronted with even as slight a provocation as the unfamiliar
along the way in life, our first response tends to be one of mistrust
and hostility.
The unpleasant is
another generator of fear, resentment, and desire. It may take the form
of the merely unfamiliar as noted above, or may literally be
significantly painful emotionally or physically, but it leaves a
psychological mark on the mind in its wake, in any case. As I have tried
to describe thus far, life itself is fundamentally uncomfortable
and unstable – we simply have evolved the capacity to acclimate to the
background chaos of existence and subsequently disregard it. Anyone
wishing to resolve any kind of conflict successfully must come to terms
with this reality of our condition. This by itself can be a harsh
awakening to the naïve and unprepared. Yet, it must be
acknowledged as the essential condition of consciousness by the
competent negotiator. Once this understanding is in place, then the
peacemaking process can move forward with the identification of some
more or less neutral ground that will be at least somewhat acceptable to
the conflicted parties as a site of negotiation. We will continue this
discussion in the next SEARCHLIGHT article that will expand on
the development of conflict patterns in social contexts.
- With Love, Alan -
(Copyright 2009, by Alan Schneider)
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