by Ross Bishop
A lot has been said about humanity’s challenges. Our biggest problem is that we are not in harmony with the universe. Let me clarify. The universe encourages us to live peacefully with life and each other. But when we feel unworthy or unloved, those beliefs cause conflicts and stop us from living in peace.
Surrendering what we believe is difficult. Because our lives are driven by fear, surrendering feels like losing control; it’s almost like a form of death. We try to stay in control, but that’s pointless. Still, given our mindset, it’s about the only option we have.
LIFE is designed as a learning environment to guide us from conflict to harmony. It uses the frustration and pain caused by our beliefs to eventually lead us to the truth. As long as someone holds onto beliefs, the only result will be despair. This is part of the process’s design. Ultimately, through our struggles, we realize we’re at a dead end, and we turn toward the light. However, it’s not an easy journey because, in the end, we must hold onto the truth with unwavering certainty. All of this prepares us for the next stage of our growth.
The analogy I pre fer to use compares LIFE to the challenge of sailing. Sailing, whether on a boat, a windsurfing board, or a paraglider, calls for moving smoothly in harmony with the forces of nature. If you learn to do that, you move with relative ease. But if you don’t—if you retreat out of fear and try to fight or overpower nature—the result will inevitably be negative. The same applies to life.
And we have a whole culture dedicated to the masculine, overpowering mentality of conquest. It is not considered valid unless you conquer it, unless you win. We do this with nature and with one another. Our politics, business, and military mindsets are built on the foundation of conquest and domination. We do not understand the concept of harmony.
For many years, teachers have tried to help us learn how to live in harmony. When we act based on feelings of unworthiness or unlovability, we create conflicts either within ourselves or with others. That is why, when the Buddha was asked about the meaning of life, reflecting on the inherent struggle, he replied, “Life is pain.”
We rarely learn from our conflicts. Instead of examining what we contributed, we focus on the chaos and the other person’s faults. We tend to ignore our role because accepting it would mean changing our beliefs, especially about ourselves, and we’re hesitant to do that.
But that’s what life is about, and we have many opportunities to examine the conflicts we create. The point is, there’s nowhere else for us to go! Eventually, you will have to face what you believe about yourself because what you believe is simply not true. But because of that, you’re out of harmony with the universe. You are not the person you think you are. You are so much more than that. And, you will come back, lifetime after lifetime, until you accept that truth.
So, what is the best way to uncover the truth? Pay attention to your conflicts, whether they are internal or with others. These serve as gateways to understanding. Simply put, if you have a conflict, part of your belief system isn’t aligned with the truth. It’s a sign that you need to look inward and make changes. If you were already operating from the truth, you could listen to the other person and work toward resolution—there would be no conflict. The same applies to internal conflicts. If your inner child didn’t hold a fear-based belief, there would be no conflict.
It can be more complicated than that, so I’ve created a workshop that explains these concepts in more detail and includes exercises to support you. You can find it in the workshop section of the website :
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