It is Time to Call a Truce in the War Against Parts of Ourselves

One of the most irritating aspects of many religions and spiritual systems is their overuse of terms and concepts associated with war and warfighting in their philosophical musings about the self. It also happens to be highly hypocritical in many cases, since many of these same religions and systems of spirituality teach that war and fighting are evils to be avoided at all costs. Essentially they tell us that war is bad, unless it is a war against ourselves, or parts of ourselves. In that case, war is noble and a thing to be valued. Eastern religions overdo this tendency in spades with Buddhism leading the way.

The Buddha had many wise things to say about war and warfighting and in general I believe Buddhism has it basically correct by rejecting the concept of the “just war” and emphasizing that violence, even in self-defense, can, and almost always does, perpetuate a cycle of suffering. It is also smartly places high emphasis on peacebuilding and encouraging all people to seek peaceful resolutions to conflict through dialogue, understanding, and compassion. Finally, Buddhist’s recognition of the importance of individual responsibility hits the nail on the head in my view. Basically it teaches that each person has a responsibility to cultivate peace within themselves and to act with kindness and compassion towards others. A few choice quotes from the Buddha on war and violence below.

"Victory breeds enmity; the defeated sleep badly. The peaceful sleep at ease, having left victory and defeat behind."

"All tremble at violence; all fear death. Comparing others with oneself, one should not kill or cause to kill."

"The slayer gets a slayer in his turn; the conqueror gets one who conquers him; a man who despoils is despoiled in his turn."

The Buddha taught that hatred cannot be overcome by hatred, and that war cannot be ended by war. I can get behind that, and I totally agree. So why is it that war with others is always bad and can never lead to good outcomes, but war with ourselves is good and can lead to good outcomes? What exactly is the difference between war with others and war with ourselves? The Buddha did not say war with others is bad, he said war is bad. All war is bad. Yes Buddhism says we should look inside to find compassion and forgiveness, and I agree with that, but do we really need to go to war with ourselves to find these things. Do we need to “conquer” ourselves as the Buddha says? This is better than winning a thousand battles according to the Buddha. Wouldn’t it be even better if we didn’t need to battle at all, with others, or with ourselves? Why is conquering parts of ourselves OK, but conquering others is not? Saying that we must fight against ourselves but we can’t and shouldn’t fight against others or that we should make peace with others, but conquer ourselves, feels hypocritical in the extreme to me. What exactly is the difference?

War is war. Battle is battle. Hate is hate. It does not matter to whom that hate is directed, it is still evil, hatred of self can be as or more destructive than hatred of others. You may say the Buddha and no religion or system of spirituality says we should hate ourselves. I totally and absolutely disagree. In fact baked into most major religions both western and eastern is a core of self hatred. It is buried under a veneer of “fighting” against evil or “battling” our desires or a thousand other analogies or allusions, but it is there. The concept of original sin is a great example from most major Christian religious traditions. Stripping it of all the niceties original sin basically says we humans, everyone of us, you and me included are bad. We are evil at the core. Since they also teach that we should hate that which is evil they indirectly teach that we should hate ourselves. Eastern religions, including Buddhism, teach that we humans have desires and lusts which must be constantly fought against and ultimately defeated if we are to reach Nirvana. Essentially that we are born bad and must constantly “fight” against that badness to become good. They do not go so far as to say we should hate that which is bad, but they definitely imply it. Therefore, exactly as in Christianity in Buddhism we have every reason to or even should hate ourselves as we are.

In all major and minor religions and spiritual traditions of both the western and eastern variety you will see over and over again words like “fighting”, “fight”, “battle”, “conquer”, “defeat”, “enemy”, “vanquish” and many, many other similar words used when it comes to the self and our relationship with ourselves. These words are also highly associated with war, violence, and hatred which are the very things most of these religions preach we should avoid at all costs. How about instead of constantly fighting against ourselves and the parts of ourselves we do not like, we call a truce? We end all wars. This includes wars against others and wars against parts of ourselves. That is not the same as saying we should accept evil or not strive to be good people. It is simply saying that we do not need to fight a war with ourselves to do those things. We do not need to fight all the time. In fact we don’t need to fight at all. Exactly like fear and suffering, fighting is not necessary to be a good person. I am so freaking tired of fighting all the time. What about you?