Nature’s Lessons for Conflict Avoidance

Animals face two big challenges: finding food, and defending themselves. Animals have enemies in the animal world, and so every animal has to arrange for its protection. The diverse methods that animals use to protect themselves hold great significance for human beings, because these methods are natural methods, bestowed by God. Nature directly teaches these methods to animals. It is as if animals are students who have received this training in the school of Nature. Their ways of acting and reacting are lessons that Nature has schooled them in. These methods testify to the Creator who made them.

Consider some examples in this regard:

1. Elephants and tigers are among the largest of animals. If an elephant and a tiger clash, it can cause the death of both. They are well aware of this, and so they always try to avoid each other. It is very rare that they allow themselves to enter into a conflict. A war in which the contending parties do not have the power to eliminate each other always ends in mutual destruction. Tigers and elephants know this, and thus they act accordingly.
2. The same thing holds true for bulls. If two bulls fight, it is very unlikely that one can finish off the other. And so, bulls have a fascinating way of avoiding such pointless confrontation—by establishing their respective territories. If two bulls enter the same locality and confront each other, they bang against each other’s horns to symbolize an agreement to divide the territory into two separate zones, one for each. After this symbolic confrontation, they draw back and carefully observe the line they have demarcated between themselves. And so, it is very rare that two bulls fight with each other.
3. There is a certain insect which, if you touch it, curls up and freezes. This is the method it uses to protect itself from its enemies. When it sees that its enemy is almost on top of it and that escape is impossible, it suddenly becomes completely motionless. Its enemy thinks it is dead and so ignores it. When its enemy leaves the scene, it runs away.
4. Animals that live in burrows constantly face the threat of enemies entering their homes. Because their homes are small, they cannot run away from their front door if an intruder enters. That is why such animals make another tunnel, at the rear of their homes, which they can use to escape in an emergency situation. When they see a predator entering their burrow, they run out through this rear door. In this way, they save themselves from their enemies.

These diverse methods of protection that Nature has schooled animals in hold important lessons for humans. For humans, too, the best policy to adopt vis-à-vis their opponents is to save themselves from directly clashing with them, and, instead, to try to move ahead by avoiding confrontation. Your opponent should not get the opportunity to feel that you are interfering in his domain. If you happen to confront your opponent, you should appear to be inactive, saving oneself from his aggression. Or, you should keep yourself carefully confined to your own domain, and, in this way, convince your opponent that you will not cause him any harm. Along with this, you should also adopt measures that will enable you to foil your opponent’s aggressive plans in a possible emergency situation.

Animals did not invent these above-cited methods of protection by themselves. It was God who taught these to them. These methods have divine sanction. They are not a form or expression of cowardice. Rather, they indicate a very necessary pragmatism. They teach us humans that we, too, should avoid unnecessary confrontation with others, and, instead, should focus on our own growth.

Some animals roam about in search of fodder; others in search of their mates. Some busily run around building their houses. Some hunt for food for their babies. While engaged in these and other such tasks, they may suddenly confront an enemy. If they enter into a fight with them, the work that they had set out to do would be completely disrupted. That is why all animals abstain from direct confrontation with their enemies, unless they find themselves in a situation where they feel absolutely compelled to do so. In order to continue their own constructive work, they simply avoid conflict and move ahead.

Animals use this approach to dealing with opponents on the basis of instinct. Humans must use the very same approach, but based on conscious choice and awareness.