CONFLICT. Without it you can't make art— at least according to Russian filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein, who famously declared, "... the basis of every art is conflict" (Film Form: Essays in Film Theory, p. 38).
And sure enough, master artists from filmmakers and sculptors to poets and painters to musicians, storytellers, and architects unfailingly dip into the river of invention for their own unique set of "conflicts" to create original works of art. Up/Down./ Big/Small. Dark/light. Angle/Curve. Pretty/Gritty. Tension/calm.
But what about conflict in life? Conflict in art might be good. Conflict in life? Nobody wants that. Yet nobody can avoid it. Because in one form or another, and to one degree or another, we all face conflict at some point. But here's the thing: Most people believe that their greatest sources of conflict lie outside of themselves. Events, circumstances, other people. And we tell ourselves that if we can just escape these debilitating sources of antagonism and entanglement everything will be OK. We'll get the goodness and fairness and success we deserve. We'll gain equilibrium and peace of mind. We'll be happy.
