 Nobody ever wins a war. In a war between nations, both nations put forth their time and effort. Both expend their wealth, and their focus is shifted from performance to maintaining the conflict. The young men, the future of the nation, are called into service, and are killed on both sides. With war there is horrible cost, and nobody gets any real benefit. It takes a certain blindness for the side still standing to claim some victory when everyone takes damage and suffers losses. Conflicts kill performance. Bill and Terry, who used to be friends, have a falling out, and they go separately to their other shared friends for support. Bill tells each, if you are friends with Terry, you can't be my friend. Terry tells them, join me, or join him. I tell you that both Bill and Terry would lose their friends, who have no reason to enter into their conflict. Here, and understand, they both lose. Their friends also lose their friendship. There are no winners. Now make this personal. There is no intelligence in starting a war within you, a conflict where you lose on both sides. You are the unit of human civilization and not some battleground for warring factions. The person who turns against him or herself has made an enemy that he or she cannot overcome. What would it serve you if your right hand was busy keeping your left from doing what you asked of it? Or if your left hand tried to hold the right and check, what nonsense that would be? Yes, it is nonsense. How could you even turn one hand against the other? They both answer to the same mind and will. They do what you direct. They work together because you are just one person. You have them work together because it is effective to do so. The whole body works as a unit, and there is nobody who benefits by dividing it against itself. We even have a word for when the body turns against itself, and that word is cancer. It is a disease that first incapacitates its victims and then kills them. Yes, it is nonsense. You would never set your hands to defeat each other's efforts for both share in what you decide to do. You are not separated unless you divide yourself. There is no good side of you to war against the bad side unless you create and maintain that division. If the division is created and you are on both sides of their conflict, you will suffer loss on both sides. You will then be like a cancer upon yourself. You are not divided into spiritual, intellectual, and physical aspects that have to compete one against the others. You are a human being. You are the one and only decision maker for yourself. You do not need to enter into internal conflict but can decide what you will do to the best meet your needs and your wants. The performance tool is the black box. What is it that you might gain and what will it cost you to gain it? The rest is put into the black box where it is out of sight and no longer to be considered. There are no alternate sides. So where can we find conflict? It is in the black box. It is not what matters. It is a process, not an accomplishment. And it is a process that promises damages instead of accomplishment. Would demand your time and attention but only deliver discomfort and suffering. And one of those who Bill and Terry asked to take sides. Choosing sides against friends makes no sense at all. That is why their friends are likely to turn away, refusing to take part in their troubles. Choosing sides against yourself makes even less sense. When you were just kids, your parent made your decision for you, acting in accord with what they considered best. As you grow into adults, it is you who will be making decisions, acting in accord with what you consider best. When it comes to performance, you have the tools that work. Concentrate on what you can accomplish, not on the conflicts and trials of life. You are the unit of society. You are the unit of civilization. You are the only real party in interest. Entering into such competition distracts. When you are on both sides challenging yourself, then you are also setting yourself to lose on both sides. Each side will be working to assure that the other side does not succeed. When you are one, refusing to divide yourself, there is no distraction. The challenge is also refused. In education, when your purpose is single, your efforts are always to be rewarded. If you decide well, you will gain. If you decide poorly, you will learn.