Man Versus Other

This is an eternal struggle. Man against other men, women, beasts, and society. Conflict is an inevitable part of our lives. In many cases, conflicts are ultimately a healthy thing for people to experience. So in general it should not be avoided, but embraced. Conflict can enhance you as a person. It unleashes the passions from within you and can strengthen your character. Conflicts can come in many shapes and forms, but here I will discuss some aspects of conflicts with others in the sense of other people. Examples may include enemies, opponents, would be victimizers of you or your loved ones, those who you have to persuade in order to achieve a goal, those who you must out compete to win a resource, etc. Being individuals we all have our own desires, interests, and ambitions. We each can have our own views on various issues and are prone to disagreements. We can often find ourselves in conflict with other people.

In the conflict against other men you are facing a great challenge on the whole. Men have minds which are competitive, selfish, and sometimes aligned against your own interests and even your well-being. It can be quite the challenge to overcome these men with all of their talents and brains arrayed against you. It is a contest of wills, and there can emerge but one victor. Will that be you?

Fighting is not only physical or verbal. For anyone who understands the nature of conflict, what often occurs on the surface is merely the visible display of deeper and more profound forces at work. It depends on the participants. It depends upon the circumstances and the source of the conflict. But usually there is a higher and invisible mind game going on, battle plans worked out, weapons sharpened and defenses prepared well before the outbreak of actual hostile actions. That is the case with men who truly know conflict. Sometimes it is indeed rather mundane and simple. But with men who know conflict and how to win at it, the battle is waged with great finesse and cunning, tactics can be complex and intricate, with the winner taking the advantage by the smallest of errors committed by his opponent. Among those well versed in struggles against others, their actions tend to be fine and precise. Their goal is to outsmart, out convince, out hustle, or out maneuver their opponents and the surrounding relevant players into a state of affairs in their favor and to their liking. How dominant will be the man who faces off against another man that does not possess much skill in conflict? And in the modern world, most conflict is mental (because physical conflicts can potentially result in jail time). So social ability is a big advantage. Your social-emotional acumen is crucial.

I think that a key aspect of life is to be good at fighting others. Be comfortable with conflict and battles against others. Get good at it. I feel that one must embrace conflict, in a general sense. It enlivens the passions, and freshens the spirit. This does not mean that one should go looking for fights, or that you should go well out of your way to stir up troubles, but it is almost an axiom to me that you cannot shy away from conflict versus others when it inevitably arises. Sometimes you have to lay in wait and bide your time. But you must not allow anyone to dictate the terms of your own life or its circumstances in any way. You must be the one to dictate things, at least in your own sphere. Also, excessive fear of conflict is something to be overcome, if you happen to possess such an unhealthy trait. You should avoid lose-lose situations (that is just being smart), but there is undoubtedly a proper course of action to take when the need to get down and dirty with others arises. Heed the call. Rise to the challenge. Kick some ass when necessary. And oftentimes, it is also alright to kick some ass when it is simply just fun to do so.