Everyone on the planet was born into a world at war. Each one of us started this life in a world that had some kind of conflict happening in one place or another. Did we think that this was a normal state of things? No, because all of us long for peace, which means we must all believe that peace is our true state of being. So why is conflict so prevalent? It is because it is a reflection of the inner turmoil and inner civil war that we are all experiencing. We may think that we are living fairly harmoniously or spending some days in a certain amount of peace, but we are all dealing with small discontents or even outright inner hostility.
What are those inner conflicts based on?
1. Past issues – unresolved resentments or anger and hatred for parents, individuals, things that upset us, things we cannot forgive. These memories are constantly being triggered and flare up from time to time.
2. Present situations – we may reject parts of the self. Perhaps we do not accept the body we have, the gender we were born with. We feel uneasy in the place we live or the culture we were born into.
3. Relationships – we may live in homes where there is discord, our place of work makes us uneasy or uncomfortable, the connections we make with others may make us angry or upset because they hold different opinions or attitudes.
4. Issues with society – we may seriously dislike how our society is organised; its rules and policies. This could range from indifference and dislike to active campaigns and violent terrorism.
5. Belief systems – we may feel like fish out of water in the belief systems that we are born into, and reject the ideas and ideologies.
6. Spiritual discontent – we may even be at war with God and blame Him for all that we are feeling and for all that is happening throughout the world.
When we look at all the rejection, unease, inner conflict and lack of peace within, it is not difficult to see the connection with all the outer conflict that is manifesting. But, why are we engaged in all this internal warfare? Because each soul knows at some deep level that they have a blueprint of their higher self and of their life purpose. When that purpose is not in harmony or alignment, then our minds become reactive and we find things repulsive and offensive.
Some of us, in the face of all this, just accept and comply. We say that it has always been this way, there is nothing we can do. This reflects the loss of spiritual hope. The battle for the blueprint is lost. In fact, this is an illusion because everyone is a spiritual being, and their inner truth will be aware that this is contrary to what and who they are.
Some have grown to believe that the world is one of suffering, to be expected and to just ‘grin and bear it’ holding on to the promise of a better life next time, or of a heaven to come.
Others remain in a state of constant warfare. They are constantly battling, reacting, and rejecting everything. And yet others try to resolve the situation. They try to see the positive, not engage on a confrontational level, try to change perspectives, work on a cessation of hostilities. All these are just temporary measures. It is impossible for these warring influences, based on materialism and exploitation, to just stop. They are constantly there.
The world of materialism is totally opposed to a world of spirituality. We deceive ourselves if we think all is well. So how do we confront it all?
We can completely conquer these inner states, and thereby eradicate the outer manifestations, through meditation. We can reach a state where we can overcome them. We can win the inner war.
To do this, we can:
Go into silence. Go into our inner world where we automatically let go of the physical dimension of form and all the baggage we carry. The moment we let go, the issues cannot confront us. Almost immediately all the external circumstances begin to lose their hold and dissipate. With spiritual understanding and its powerful vibrational effects, we can win the war, and illusions are banished.
We will enter a peaceful state of being. What is happening within us will be reflected outside. This state has to be maintained though. Along with meditation and spiritual understanding we can also use the powerful weapon of affirmations of awareness.
The affirmations need to be personal ones based on understanding, but ones that resonate with us. Some basic ones are given below, but each of us can make them just for ourselves.
For example, in terms of inner conflict over the past, we can affirm:
“I send forgiveness”, “I forgive…”
For the present issues: “I am a spiritual being of light”
For imposed belief systems: “My true religion is peace”
For conflict in relationships: “Each one is a spiritual actor, doing the best they can to interpret their part”
For the state of society: “These are just scenes in life’s great play”, “I live in harmony, but I don’t accept their falsehoods”
For anguish of a spiritual nature: “Each religion met the needs of that particular time”, “what’s needed now?”, “What do I really believe, and how do I manifest that?”
Whatever is going on inside us, whatever battle, big or small, with awareness we realise we must find a way to deal with it. Meditation is a sanctuary, and the fortress of safety is to be absorbed in the energy field of God consciousness, and carry that with us as a form of protective shield.
Jim Ryan has a background in education. He is an author and a Brahma Kumaris Rajyoga teacher, based at the Global Retreat Centre, Oxford, UK.