In this day and age, it feels like our world is being consumed by the fires of conflict, either in our personal lives or in our surrounding environment. There are a few ways of putting out these metaphorical fires, or quelling tension or conflict between yourself and others. One is akin to letting a fire fizzle out by simply not feeding it anymore. If you are the source of the fire’s fuel, so to speak, then completely removing yourself from the situation would allow the conflict to dissolve on its own. Another way is to put the fire out with the opposite energy (water) – kindness, love, and gentleness. This will put the fire out immediately in many cases.
The method to be used will vary based on the size and nature of the conflict, so it’s important to use discernment to determine the best course of action in each situation. If too little water is used relative to the size of a fire, then there is a risk of inflaming the situation instead of remediating it – as too small of a gesture of kindness or a misguided attempt at diffusing the situation might come across as condescending or insulting to the other person. Likewise, if a fire is too large to fizzle out on its own in a timely manner, or there are other sources of fuel along the fire’s path, then there is a risk of the conflict growing out of control and causing irreversible damage before it fully goes out.
Of course, there are other ways of “putting out fires” besides the examples that I’ve given here. But under no circumstance should we attempt to “fight fire with fire”. This seems like common sense, but I feel that too often we try to fight back with the same energy that’s being directed at us and this only causes conflicts to escalate. That’s not to say that we should stay in the fire’s path and risk being burned, but it’s obvious that you cannot put out a fire by adding more fire to it. In times when we are not able to fully get out of the fire’s path, we must become like a brick (or develop very thick skin) in order to protect ourselves from the burning flames of conflict.
So let us create peace in our lives and the world around us by putting out the fires of conflict whenever and however we can.
