Selfish Mind Conflicts

When the selfish mind is in control you may think you have real conflicts, but the truth is the only thing there's a conflict with is the selfish mind wanting what it wants when it wants it...

There's so much conflict in our world and although it's all pointed outward, it’s the selfish mind that causes a conflict when it wants what is happening or has happened to not only be different, but to also want it to be in the way it thinks things should be. You cannot have a true conflict with anything but yourself regardless of what happens. I often sit to develop discipline. The other day I was sitting in quiet when the thought arose, how would I react if I was going to die? What benefit would fearing death have? Would it change what was happening? The only reason this would be considered a problem is because the selfish mind would want what was happening to be different and preferably the way it thinks things should be. I know this is pretty drastic, but this is the way it is with everything in life.

Someone made a remark to me that not being conflicted about something means I don't care, but the lack of conflict is because the selfish mind isn’t in control; the selfish mind is where all conflicts arise from. In the case with death, the cause of the conflict would be the selfish mind dying. Death is going to happen anyway at some point so the conflict is caused by not wanting it to happen; that will not stop it from occurring. The death analogy can be substituted with anything, if you’re honest with yourself this will be seen. When the truth of this is revealed it can have a deep impact on letting go of the selfish mind because it will be seen that it does nothing but cause conflict with itself; unfortunately because of ignorance many actually believe they need to be this way. Whether it's facing death, needing Now to be different or just about anything else you can think of, when the selfish mind is in control you may think you have real conflicts, but the truth is the only reason there's a conflict is because the selfish mind wants what it wants when it wants it...