Intuitive Healer Katarina Winslow reflects on the conflicts in our psyche
What is peace? Could you say that peace is consciousness? To be conscious of yourself, others and life? Could we say that conflict and war are rooted in a lack of consciousness? Are the conflicts we see in the world a reflection of the inner wars we fight with ourselves?
The conflicts in our psyche are the result of division and separation. There is something that is hidden from our consciousness and not understood. There is a part of you that you have failed to listen to, a part that is not being heard. There is something vague, misunderstood or even delusional. A forgotten trauma suppressed by the self and by others. Just as outer peace cannot exist in conflict and separation, inner peace cannot exist in an inner division. To be at peace with yourself is to embrace all parts of you, so that you can feel whole.
The conflicts we experience within are most often due to subconscious opposing forces that we are unaware of, discordant beliefs and ideas. It might be an inner combat between your mind and your heart. We are often conflicted about what we have been taught by our parents and caregivers. The inner battle might also be a separation between who we want to be and what the group we belong to, or society, tells us to be. What is certain, is that there is a kind of separation. Many people find it hard to attain peace because the truth has been kept hidden from them. The wrong you felt might be legitimate. Maybe your father is not your father? Maybe your mother wanted you to be a boy? Maybe there is family trauma or personal trauma that has been buried and silenced.
If you accessed the ‘all-knowing’ part of yourself, you would become conscious of that which is hidden. Lies and unconsciousness bring separation, while truth and consciousness bring wholeness. Inner conflicts are sustained by the fact that there is something we do not understand. In the same way, worldly conflicts are sustained by not understanding each other. In truth, you come to understand yourself better. You reach a higher level of consciousness. That which was fragmented becomes whole.
Peace is unity. It is the blessing you receive when you have worked through your inner conflicts. A conflict is, by definition, two opposing forces that refuse to unite. If you choose to embark on a search for truth within yourself, you will eventually end up being conscious about yourself. What divided you before will eventually be able to coexist and unite. Peace is not only the non-existence of conflict, it is also the presence of a union. To feel united is natural when you are conscious of yourself, your thoughts, your feelings and your actions. However, to be at peace with yourself you need more than an awareness of your individual self, your ego. You also need the awareness of your soul, your higher self. To be yourself, but also to be able to observe yourself. Consciousness is an awareness that you are more than your body, and your ego — you are also your soul. Consciousness and soul is the part of you that is whole and indivisible, it is the part of you that never dies.
To keep us alive, the cells in our body live in peace with each other. If we were aware of our fellow man as being just another cell in the same body, we would be able to live in peace with each other. We would know that we all have a key role to play to maintain life. That we are living human beings with the aim to further life, to experience life from its greatest intention. The more conscious you are, the more at peace you are. The more at peace you are, the more humanity will be at peace. Peace is the consciousness of connectedness to one indivisible unit, above all the unit that is our own individualization but also the unit we call humanity.
When we are unaware of these profound truths, we make quick, spur-of-the-moment decisions without any thought of the long-term consequences. The world is full of unconsciousness, giving rise to decisions just to ‘fix’ the moment. To lie, to cover up, to compromise ethics and morals, to camouflage emotions, to pretend. We all succumb to unconsciousness at moments, both as individuals and as a society. Are you at peace with yourself when you are making unethical decisions? We as humans cannot sustain peace within ourselves when we lie to ourselves. In a lie, there is a conflict, a duality. Because even if you are not conscious about lying, one part of you knows. The divine part of you knows that there is one part that is true and another part that is false. It is really that simple. Peace involves wholeness. War involves separation.
Consciousness is to be the cell and the body at the same time. To be the ego and the soul at the same time. To be our individual selves and to be our higher selves. The peace you find when you are conscious of yourself, is the peace we would find in the physical world if we were truly conscious of each other as one humanity.
To be conscious of the fact that you are a soul in a body having a human experience. To be humble in that knowledge.
Consciousness involves curiosity. Peace involves curiosity. All people who have attained the blessing of inner peace have at some point been curious about themselves. To raise yourself to love yourself more is to consciously ask yourself questions about what prevents you, and why you don’t allow yourself to be at peace.
To be conscious is to be able to not react emotionally from an unaware place. In the moment of anger, it is as if the conscious part of us goes out the door. Consciousness is to be grateful for the gift of life.
Let us aim for peace, within ourselves and in the world.
Together.
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