Conflict Nourishes the Ego

The content of the ego varies from person to person, but in every ego the same structure operates. In other words: egos only differ on the surface. Deep down they are all the same.

In what way are they the same? They all live on identification and separation.

When you live through a mind-made self comprised of thought and emotion that is the ego, the basis for your identity is precarious because thought and emotion are by their very nature ephemeral, fleeting. So every ego is continuously struggling for survival, trying to protect and enlarge itself.

To uphold the I-thought, it needs the opposite thought of "the other". The conceptual "I" cannot survive without the conceptual "other". The others are most other when I see them as my enemies.

At one end of the scale of this unconscious egoic pattern lies the egoic compulsive habit of faultfinding and complaining about others. Jesus referred to it when he said, "Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?"

At the other end of the scale, there is physical violence between individuals and warfare between nations. In the Bible, Jesus' question remains unanswered, but the answer is, of course: Because when I criticize or condemn another, it makes me feel bigger, superior.

~~Eckhart Tolle~~

Search for the culprit within.
The ideas of 'me' and 'mine'
Are at the root of all conflict.
Be free of them
And you will be out of conflict.

~~Nisargadatta~~