Our World Can Be Beautiful

Our outer world is a reflection of our inner world. Take care of our inner world and plant the seeds of goodness & love. All other things will fall into place.

Monday 14 January 2008

Our Mind is a Constant Battlefield

I recently came across a popular Japanese comic called Death Note. In the story, the character called “Light” happened to receive a black notebook from Death God. This notebook has the power to kill anyone whose name was written on it.

Light is sick of the world, he thinks the world is so unfair and he attempt to use this notebook to kill anyone he thinks is sinful. Having tasted of the power of this notebook, he is attached to the power of control and attempt to play God to build a ‘New World’ free of crimes and free of sins.

It seems like a noble mission at first but it turns out to be just an excuse to support his ambition and egocentric self. In this story, Light is not at peace with himself. He hates his world and his surroundings.

When we look at our world today, there are wars everywhere. There are wars between countries, wars between religions, wars between races, etc. There are constant struggles between human, animals and even Mother Nature, causing great harm and disharmony among the livings.

When we examine these disharmonies, it is often caused by egocentric thinking, supported by a series of excuses and reasoning for a particular action. Man are angry and dissatisfied at themselves, and they directed these anger to the world. We have these constant conflicts within ourselves such as greed, jealousy, hatred, anger, etc. Sometimes, we hated ourselves for behaving in a certain way, we are angry with ourselves for being angry. In attempt to build an ideal world, we cause destructions and use excuses in the name of God, countries, and races.

We might not even be aware of these internal conflicts but these internal struggles are constant. When our mind is not at peace, our world will reflect our conflicting state of mind like a mirror.

Our mind then becomes the biggest battlefield on earth and we can only win this war though peace and compassion. Only when we are at peace with ourselves that the conflicts in our world will cease, love can spread, ignorance dispelled.

From the words of Ven. Dr K Sri Dhammananda

The man who is not at peace with himself, cannot be at peace with the world. There can be no peace in the world until the conflicts of man within himself ended.

War is created by the human mind and the same human can create peace with justice if only man uses his unbiased mind.

6 comments:

Alexys Fairfield said...

Ivy,
The conflict between self and Soul is a never ending battle, but when we realize that it is all illusion, we can move forward into our destiny.

Anonymous said...

Well, calling anything a "battlefield" doesn't exactly inspire peace ... we can't possibly do battle for peace. Peace is not "won" by fighting for it.

I think the first thing we have to do to create peace is stop battling ourselves. Rather than the mind being a battlefield, how about a growth field? To create peace, we must drop this idea of battle entirely. Self and Soul are not battling. They are one, and everything else, as Alexys says, is illusion.

Blessings,
Andrea

Life Reflection said...

Hi Alexys and Andrea,
Yes, the conflict is constant and is an illusion. Not everyone can realise the illusion of self and soul but it is easier to recognise the constant conflicts we have.

Only by recognising these conflicts can we clear it up through peace and love. And yes we have to stop this battling.

Thanks for your comments :)

Mark said...

Very wise words! Thanks for sharing. True, the end of war starts with the peace of self.

Life Reflection said...

Thanks Mark , that is what I believe in.

CG Walters said...

Very good point. Thank you.

“Don't fight darkness - bring the light, and darkness will disappear.”
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

Many blessings and peace,
CG