People want to believe that their lives are going to get better, that they will overcome their trials and challenges or that someday they will no longer be faced with challenges. This believe/desire is absent of practicality or reason in the sense that it would highly improbable to eradicate any opposition in one's life. The reason they want to believe this, their hope that their lives will be better is because even though they'll most likely always be faced with challenges and trials, working to get through them using this hope makes overcoming their trials easier. They fool themselves into believing that by overcoming the trials they endure that it will give them a definitive end to hardship. We all know that you will always be faced with hardships, trials, challenges and problems. This isn't bad, it's actually a good thing, and very much worth it. Yes, hope isn't truth, it's actually an illusion we voluntarily submit to, but that illusion has a strong beneficial purpose. Enduring hardship is unpleasant to say the least but also serves a great purpose.
Conflict is what drives Existence. It defines our Existence. Definition is a word we use to reference understanding. So by defining something we show how it differs, how it conflicts with another thing. Our perspective, our view of the world, our view of ourselves is essentially a form of conflict - we substantiate qualities that are in contrast to qualities that we don't have or don't perceive. We only understand the words Good and Evil because the definitions we give them conflict with each other to provide us with difference that gives us our perception of what they are.
Troy, Chantelle and I had a rather excellent evening, and were discussing/debating a great many things, one of them is religion and government/democracy. Troy is anti-religion and pro-government/democracy. I don't really discriminate or put faith in either, but as the night progressed on topics indirectly related to those subjects Mr. Marlowe emphasized with fervor his anti-religious views, which made me smile and also added serious delays to the topics we were currently exploring. I found it interesting that he was quite vocal in his perceptions of Religion, which aren't uncommon or without merit. To my estimation Government/Democracy and Religion are quite similar in nature as they both are methods of social organization and both pursue the definition of people collected together through belief in the unseen or geographic location. His position on religion was that people were "nuts" to believe in that which is unseen, yet is a quite politically active individual.
I'm not disagreeing that in some, perhaps most cases, believing in that which has not been scientifically proven might be foolish, but took the abstract position that The unseen (God, Satan, etc) functions as a focal point of religion and also functions as a symbolic representation of a system of beliefs regarding personal conduct, what is socially acceptable, what is right and what is wrong. A nation's flag is largely the same thing - a symbolic representation. I respect Troy's opinion regarding this (His belief that religion is wrong and is a negative influence on the world) and am glad he has it. I also think that, while many would disagree with him, the reality that there are two sides to that perspective ensures the growth and progress of humankind. My reason for this is that if we didn't have conflicting opinions, we all thought and acted the same, there would be no progress (a byproduct of conflict) and our world would fail under a blanket of stagnancy.
Essentially I believe that conflict is the most essential factor in the continuance of existence (by existence I not only mean individual life, but the very fabric of time, space, our solar system, all of it). Many people may argue this as the word "conflict" can be uncomfortable - people don't like the word conflict because it's been "defined" as a hardship, and people relate it to unpleasant experiences, pain, heartache, etc. Truthfully conflict is a word representing diversity. I'm a white boy, and because the pigmentation of my skin is lighter than other races, the recognition of that difference creates diversity, or conflict. In other words, we create every aspect of our perception of life by qualifying all the things that aren't the same as to what is.
I really enjoy stating that I DON'T want world peace. I then usually follow it up by saying that I'm glad many do want and pursue world peace. The ideal of world peace is a great thing to motivate one to pursue positive changes in their lives and the lives of others in this civilization. The achievement of world peace would deny the world all the great things that come through the progress towards accomplishing it. I could say that I really WANT world peace, but by becoming the antagonist and stating that I do not, it helps motivate those who do to push harder for it. It creates a simple conflict system that allows for us to move forward and keep fighting to overcome our trials in life.
Ultimately, what my point is: Conflict is what defines our existence - without it we wouldn't exist. Difference is the foundation for every science, belief, political system, fashion line, computer program, and prepared dish.
The greatest trial I've overcame is acknowledging that conflict is a good thing and that everything I endure in life serves some beneficial purpose, even when it really stinks to have to go through it. Many define hope through God or Country or Love, I define hope through conflict - As long as my life has challenges I know I'm going somewhere, and I want to go somewhere. If I hadn't acknowledged difficulty as a good thing, you can bet I sure wouldn't be here right now. The 'hard to experience' things would have defeated me.
Having a great set of friends, family and more sure helps too! :)
Feel free to comment on this rambling if you like. Hope this finds you all well.
-Andy-
