The Self as the Source and Effect of Fragmentation, Conflict and Violence
Devesh Gupta, Naresh Singh
From Fragmentation to Wholeness August 11, 2026 DOI: 10.1108/978-1-80686-677-920261004 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that identity divides the perceiver from the perceived and that this division, rooted in fear, desire, and image, sustains conflict and violence from personal insecurity to collective ideology. Contends that no structural reform can end conflict because structure arises from the same fragmented consciousness, and proposes that observing the movement of the self without naming, condemning, or justifying dissolves its continuity, allowing intelligence to act without a centre. |
Abstract
Abstract Turning inward, this chapter explores how the self sustains conflict and violence across every domain of life. It shows how identity divides the perceiver from the perceived, creating opposites that feed comparison, competition and aggression. The inquiry traces this movement from personal insecurity to collective ideology, from family and classroom to nation and state. Fear, desire and image preserve psychological continuity and become the basis for systems of domination and exclusion. This chapter argues that no structural reform can end conflict because structure itself arises from the same fragmented consciousness. To see the movement of the self, without naming, condemning or justifying, is to dissolve its continuity. When the mind observes division without resistance, fear and comparison lose energy, and intelligence acts without a centre. This chapter thus bridges the outer analysis of crisis with the inner recognition that conflict is not solved but ended in seeing.