This article presents an analysis of conflict in terms of past and future, wounds and desires, mind and matter.

Essence of Conflict

The essence of conflict is collision. The root of the word is fligere, strike + con, together. Although we tend to use the word dispute synonymously, its root is more benign: putare, consider or estimate + dis, two ways, differently. At a physical level, the nature of conflict is expressed in the rule that two objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time; if they violate the rule, they collide. One might say the forces released in the Big Bang are fleeing the consequences of colliding in micro-space; hence the expanding universe. This is conflict avoidance on a cosmic scale.

Living things are apt to collide in the competition for space and resources, but humans are more complicated. We have long memories, complex emotions, and nurture grudges, so we can fight about things that happened a long time ago; we can also fight about abstract ideas and beliefs.

The elements of conflict are past time, future time, wounds, desires, mind and matter. Wounds exist in the past; desires exist in the future. A conflict may be played out on the twin planes of mind and matter.

Time as an element of conflict

Conflicts always contain time. Continued conflict is a way to drag the past into the future. The idea of justice is in essence a belief that past events can be