Conflict is disagreement of thoughts. When two conflicting thoughts emerge from the same source and the source is your own mind then the conflict may be called the 'conflict within'. Don't we often say, "My head is saying one thing and my heart, another?" We know that neither head nor heart generates thoughts. Differing thoughts emerge from the same space - the mind space. Though an invisible conflict, it could be more serious than physical conflict. A mind that battles conflicting thoughts is not peaceful. On the other hand, a mind unperturbed by conflicting thoughts is at peace even when engaged in a conflict in the physical space. The Dalai Lama lives in physical exile; yet he is at peace because his mind does not give in to conflicting thoughts. He is a spiritually settled person. Some of us are at the bottom of the scale of spiritual evolution, close to ignorance, and others are at the top, close to liberation. The one free of conflict within, the awakened soul, is at the top, at complete peace. He also suffers from toothache and hunger; he feels cold and heat; he has emotions, ego and passion and enjoys an ice cream. He is not a robot. He has not renounced his worldly duties but is engaged in life. When the ticket examiner told the young Gandhi that he was not entitled to travel first class, he disagreed. Where did the thought to disagree come from? Was it to satisfy his ego or was it intuitive, originating from Consciousness? With the benefit of hindsight we can say that the thought was intuitive because it did a lot of good. Did Gandhi know at that time that he would be a key player in India's freedom movement? Perhaps not; he protested because his ego was hurt. In this sense it was good that the young Gandhi had an ego. A scientist who does not feel frustrated can never research. A social activist who feels no anger can never provoke change. An entrepreneur without desire cannot create an empire. Yet we are told that we must detach ourselves from anger, ego and desire, as these are undesirable characteristics. Perhaps there is no contradiction here but misunderstanding. Anger, ego and desire help us perform worldly functions. They could be positive attributes of a spiritually settled soul but dangerous in an ignorant soul. Who is in control? If a mind is controlled by empirical thoughts that owe their existence to human characteristics of pain, pleasure, anger, ego and desire, then the soul is ignorant. When it is occupied by thoughts that originate from Consciousness (intuitive) and are used to implement intuitive thoughts then the soul is spiritually settled. For spiritually settled people 'empirical' and 'intuitive' thoughts converge and the result is positive. If engaging in justified conflicts is the purpose of our life then we cannot afford to be robotic. One must get angry and feel frustrated to engage. But how to know at the start of engagement whether the conflict is justified or is driven purely by the desire to satisfy your ego? Perhaps the anwer lies in the Gita as it says: "Men of settled understanding" connected with Brahmn or Consciousness cannot but engage in a righteous war; hence the need to focus within. Once settled, the decision to engage or not will be the right one.