The Attainment of Harmony Within Conflicting Interests

(This entry touches upon something big that came up for me during the series of tough life lessons this year, namely the importance of having a balanced whole self, mind body and spirit. It is something I will eventually teach and also write about in much greater depth in my book)

The Attainment of Harmony Within Conflicting Interests

I used to imagine that perfect harmony or peace would come from a single common desire or purpose that, once discovered, would end all conflict, but now I see that aside from a larger set of naturally common goals (such as to live a happy life, die painlessly, be loved, eat, sleep, have a roof over one’s head, etc) there is a limitless number of ever-changing, varied interests in the world and, as such, it might make peace and harmony seemingly unrealistic goals. But I now see that such a view is not correct and peace and harmony can exist side by side with sometimes conflicting goals and desires. How? By achieving a balance of interests on an ongoing basis, day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute. I saw that within me there are distinct parts (mind, body and spirit) and their sometimes less distinct subsets (e.g. my conscious and subconscious minds, ego, inner child, etc) that may blur and overlap and that these will usually have some differing interests and concerns.

As I experimented with what is possible through a fully balanced self, it became apparent that negotiation of these interests coupled with compromise lay at the source of harmony, not a mythical common interest. As it is within, so shall it be without: as we find inner peace and harmony within us, so then is it possible in the outer world. Indeed, I would go so far as to say that unless we master balance within, inner harmony, external balance or harmony is not possible, just as it is said we can only love others to the extent we truly love ourselves.

In a world dominated by control, fear, power and money, a world that is a reflective illusion of ego-dominated thinking rather than harmony, peace is not possible as conflicting interests vie to win. Only when we train ourselves to restore our own balance (bringing us inner peace and happiness) and in particular a fair reflection of the interests of all parts of us, can we begin to break away from the primitive dominance of an over-promoted ego. Only then can we begin to imagine a world where harmony will evolve from the balance of all interests, not just human but also including the multitude of conflicting national and international interests and the interests of our planet, a state of true world peace.

Perhaps one can equate nations to the mind and the earth/nature to the body. If that is so, at least to some extent, an ethereal body or ‘soul’ of the world would perhaps be born of the collective consciousness of the entire planet; all its forms, living or otherwise, a collective whole comparable to the entire brain as a collective of the individual component cells. Each of us is just one such cell in that scenario, each inextricably bound to the others, whether harmoniously or otherwise. If our brain were subject to such internal conflict, it would likely explode or develop cancers or other physical manifestations of disharmony. No wonder then that mankind has come so close to the proverbial abyss, to total annihilation. Now is the time for fresh perspective, a new paradigm for mankind and all component parts of the whole planet Earth. The source? A balanced ‘whole’, mind, body and spirit.

Ghandi put this so well: “Be the change you want to see in the world”.