How to Remove the Roots of Conflict

We have become good at managing conflict. There are mediators, courts, peace talks, workshops on difficult conversations. All of them help. But almost all of them start once the conflict has already begun. Far less attention goes to where conflicts come from.

Madhyasth Darshan is unusually precise about this. It names the roots, and there are only five.

This may sound like saying every conflict is just a matter of attitude, and that real injustice doesn’t matter. It doesn’t. Injustice is often how hoarding, hatred or pride shows itself. Naming the root is a way of addressing injustice at its source, not of explaining it away.

Five roots

In Manav Vyavahar Darshan (मानव व्यवहार दर्शन), Shri A. Nagraj says that strife, quarrel and terror, in a person’s life, a family, a society, a nation or between nations, have only five causes:

• Hoarding (संग्रह), which gives rise to greed. The book describes it as trying to free income from spending: gathering more than is needed and keeping it back.
• Hatred (द्वेष), which gives rise to opposition. The book defines it sharply: imagining one’s own happiness in another’s destruction.
• Ignorance (अविद्या), which gives rise to wrong understanding: overvaluing, undervaluing or not valuing at all.
• Pride (अभिमान), which gives rise to arrogance. The book describes it as a life of show, overvaluing oneself.
• Fear (भय), which gives rise to terror.

And it adds a simple rule about how conflict spreads: whoever is troubled will trouble others, because each of us shares what we have. We read it as a strong tendency rather than a law: troubled people often pass trouble on, though not always, and not because they are bad.

“Whoever is troubled will trouble others, because each of us shares what we have.”

Five counterparts

The book doesn’t stop at the problem. For each of the five, it names a settled tendency that takes its place:

• In place of hoarding, prosperity (असंग्रह, समृद्धि): having enough, and earning in order to spend well. From it comes generosity.
• In place of hatred, affection (स्नेह): no opposition to others. From it comes freedom from opposition.
• In place of ignorance, knowledge (विद्या): understanding free of doubt and distortion. From it comes seeing things as they are.
• In place of pride, simplicity (सरलता): clarity without show, and valuing others fully. From it comes coexistence.
• In place of fear, fearlessness (अभय): which the book links to discernment and resolution. From it comes patience.

Together, it says, these bring a continuity of joy, enthusiasm, contentment and delight: the thing every human being is waiting for.

Step 1: Name the root

When a conflict comes up, at home, at work or between groups, ask which of the five is underneath it. A quarrel between siblings over a parent’s land is often hoarding. A rivalry between two shops that turns ugly is often hatred, each picturing its success in the other’s failure. A feud that began with an insult is often pride. A dispute between neighbours who have never really spoken is often ignorance: each has the other wrong. Tension between communities is very often fear.

Many conflicts have more than one root. Name them all, and notice which came first.

Step 2: Look for it in yourself first

This is the hardest step, and the most useful. (If the conflict involves danger, or one side has far more power, start with safety and outside help instead.) The book’s rule, that whoever is troubled troubles others, applies to us as much as to anyone. Before asking what the other side is hoarding, fearing or proud of, ask the same of yourself. It is often easier to change your own part of a conflict than to wait for the other side to change theirs, and it changes the whole conflict.

Step 3: Grow the counterpart

Removing a root on its own rarely works. Telling yourself not to be afraid doesn’t remove fear. Growing the counterpart does. If the root is hoarding, work out what is enough, and what you could give. If it is hatred, find one way the other side’s good is also yours. If it is ignorance, find out what you don’t know about them. If it is pride, drop one piece of show. If it is fear, look for what would make both sides safe, as in How to Make a Community Safe.

Step 4: Help the other side do the same

Then, without accusing, help the other side see their part. Not “you are greedy” but “are we both worried there won’t be enough?” Not “you are proud” but “neither of us wants to look small here.” Naming a shared root makes it something you can work on together. When a dispute needs settling, the steps in How to Settle a Dispute So Both Sides Are Satisfied take it from here.

An example

Two families share a boundary wall, and it has fallen down. One wants to rebuild it a foot further out. The other refuses. Within a month, the families are not speaking.

Naming the roots: the extra foot of land is hoarding. Each family’s belief that the other is trying to cheat them is ignorance, since neither has asked why. And neither wants to be the one to back down: pride. Looking inward, one family realises it wanted the extra foot only because it feared the other would take it first. Its counterpart is fearlessness, so it proposes rebuilding the wall exactly where it stood, and sharing the cost. The other family, relieved, agrees, and offers the labour.

And the planet?

Much of what is taken from the earth is taken because of these five. Hoarding takes more than is needed. Hatred and fear arm nations against each other. Pride drives consumption for show. Each of them, multiplied across a society, appears as cleared forests, emptied mines and warming air. Their counterparts need far less: prosperity is having enough, and simplicity has nothing to show off. We look at what that means in How Much Should We Take from the Earth?

And our happiness?

Each root is uncomfortable to carry, even before it becomes a conflict. Hoarding comes with the worry of losing. Hatred keeps another person on our mind all day. Pride needs constant defending. Fear never rests. The book’s claim is that their counterparts bring the opposite: a continuity of joy, enthusiasm and contentment. We look at how happiness can last in How to Make Happiness Last.

A protocol to try

Think of one ongoing tension in your life. If it involves danger or a large imbalance of power, start with safety and outside help, not with yourself. Otherwise, write down the five roots the essay names, hoarding, hatred, ignorance, pride and fear, and add a sixth line, “something else”, in case none fits. Next to each, write one honest sentence about whether it is present in you.

If one stands out, do one thing this week that grows its counterpart: prosperity for hoarding, affection for hatred, knowledge for ignorance, simplicity for pride, fearlessness for fear.

Limitations

• The book says these five are the only causes of strife. That is a strong claim. We present it as the book’s view, and readers may find conflicts that seem to fit none of the five.
• Some conflicts involve violence or danger. Looking for the root in yourself first is not advice to stay in a harmful situation. Safety comes first.
• Our English words for the five roots and their counterparts are approximations. Ignorance (अविद्या), for instance, means something more specific in Madhyasth Darshan: not understanding how things coexist.
• The four steps are our own arrangement, and we haven’t yet tested them.

References

1. Shri A. Nagraj, Manav Vyavahar Darshan (मानव व्यवहार दर्शन), p. 96 (what each of the five roots gives rise to; hatred defined; whoever is troubled troubles others; the five settled tendencies and what they bring), p. 113 (the only causes of strife, quarrel and terror; opportunist and justice-based thinking), pp. 145–146 (each root and its counterpart, as signs of confused and awakened living)