What is confrontation? What are the types of conflicts?

What is confrontation? Before we get into the understanding, let us first examine the situations below:

• “Suppose you are walking along and you come across a light pole in your path, do you walk around it or do you collide with it?”
  Obviously, you will say, “If I walk into it, I might end up with a head injury. So I would walk around it.”
• “What if a bull is coming towards you, would you move out of its way, or would you purposely walk into it?”
  You would reply, “If I were to walk into it, I’d get hurt, so instinctively I would walk around it.”
• “And what if you came across a snake or a huge rock on the way?”
  You reply, “I would have to walk around them too.”

In all the situations above, “Why do you move out of the way?”

Of course, you will answer, “For my wellbeing; if I clash, I will get hurt!”

Therefore, when you say, do or think something you know is going to create a problem that is a clash. When you knowingly do not move out of the way, then that is called a clash.

Even if a king is walking along a narrow street, he will have to give way to a charging bull. Can he say to the bull, “Get out of the way, I am the king”? In such instances of inevitable injury, even a king of kings would move out of the way of a charging bull, because his aim is to avoid bashing into the bull and being injured.

There are some people in this world who are like the rock, like the bull, some are like the snake, some are like the pole, and others are just plain human beings. Do not get into conflicts with any one of them. Find a way out.

Our goal is to become like the light from a flashlight in the dark. The light goes over everything without getting into clashes, but a stick crashes into everything as it moves along.

Types of Conflict

There are three types of conflict/clashes:

• Physical
• Verbal
• Mental

Physical Clashes:

Physical clashes are those clashes where physical aggression is used to get your way. Whether it is wrestling, fist-fights, slapping, kicking, boxing etc…

Verbal Clashes:

When you use abusive words, argue, insult others, shout, use negative speech to hurt others, complain, point out someone’s mistakes, talking behind people’s back and when someone accuses you, are all types of verbal clashes.

Mental Clashes:

When there is any type of inner suffering; inner turmoil; restlessness; inner burning within you that is a mental clash. When you refuse to understand someone else’s viewpoint, when you think ill of others those are mental clashes. Mental clashes are the ones that no one can see on the outside, but they take place within us. They occur when we see someone and negative feelings arise within us for them. These negative feelings are a result of the negative opinions we have for that person. As a result negative vibrations arise for them.