Our War of Inner Conflict and Fear

Our war against life is expressed in every dimension of our experience, inner and outer. Our children see, on average, eighteen thousand murders and violent acts on TV before they finish high school. The leading cause of injury for American women is beatings by the men they live with. We carry on wars within ourselves, with our families and communities, among races and nations worldwide. The wars between peoples are a reflection of our own inner conflict and fear.

My teacher Achaan Chah described this ongoing battle:

We human beings are constantly in combat, at war to escape the fact of being so limited, limited by so many circumstances we cannot control. But instead of escaping, we continue to create suffering, waging war with what is too big, waging war with what is too short or too long, or right or wrong, courageously carrying on the battle.

Jack Kornfield
from A Path with Heart; A Guide Through the Perils and Promises of Spiritual Life