All Battles Are Inner Battles

If someone said to you, “Your feathers irritate me,” you’d probably look at them quizzically and then move on. Why? Because you know beyond the shadow of a penguin’s hat that you do not in fact have feathers. Whatever’s irritating them is entirely on them.

That’s how stable we can be in knowing who and what we are.

But when we’re unstable in ourselves, we might believe their assessment. We might question ourselves, defend ourselves, or worse—loathe ourselves for having those imaginary feathers.

We may believe we’re in a disagreement with someone else, but inevitably, it’s an internal conflict.

I’m reminded of Indra, the King of the Devas in Vedic literature—a Zeus-adjacent figure complete with thunderbolt weapon and scandalous reputation. After pretending to be friends with his enemy only to kill him when he least expected it, Indra becomes so consumed with self-loathing that he abandons his throne and disappears entirely.

Where does the mighty King hide?

He transforms himself into a teeny tiny sea snake, curled up in the stamen of a lotus in a pond on an island in the middle of the cosmic ocean.

Relatable! Who hasn’t wanted to do the same at one time or another?

The thing is, nobody banished Indra. No one condemned his actions. This was entirely an inner conflict—by betraying his frenemy, he had actually betrayed his own code of conduct, his own principles.

As I like to say in book club (so often we should print it on a t-shirt): “All battles are inner battles.”

If we think we’re in conflict with someone, it’s more likely that we’re in conflict with ourselves. The person or situation is just revealing where we’re unstable in our self-knowledge.

The beauty of this recognition? Once we become aware of what the inner conflict is, more than half our work is already done. Self-awareness is an open door. We walk through it and on the other side are better, more balanced choices.

Indra eventually gets over himself when a need greater than his inner battle presents itself. He lets go of his suffering and leaps into action as the next best version of himself.

So what about us? The next time we feel that familiar sting of conflict, we can pause and ask: Is this about them, or is this revealing something I’m wrestling with?

If it ruffles your feathers, you know what to do.

(Want to become more stable in knowing who and what you are? Consider learning Vedic Meditation. Learn more here. https://www.jameyhoodmeditation.com/)