The Greatest Battle of Mankind

By Acharya Tadany
Pune, 11 July 2025

Human beings are capable of almost anything to protect their idea or perception of themselves. This impulse, the need to preserve one’s image, status, beliefs, or constructed self runs deeper than most are willing to admit.

In the name of self-preservation, people will lie, manipulate, cheat, torture, deceive, and scheme. They will defend illusions over truth, choose comfort over conscience, and uphold the known, however dysfunctional, over the unknown. All of this is done, not always maliciously, but often unconsciously, in an attempt to keep their status quo intact.

This observation, though uncomfortable, reveals a fundamental truth: the main obstacle to evolution, social justice, equality, and freedom is not some abstract external force, it is human beings themselves. More precisely, it is the unwillingness of individuals to challenge their own assumptions and dismantle the illusions they cling to.

One may still ask, why is this so?

It is because people are the ones who create the laws and regulations, and often, these are deliberately vague, crafted with enough ambiguity to allow interpretation in countless ways. This flexibility in language is not always a flaw of the system; sometimes, it is the design itself, enabling manipulation to suit different agendas.

People are also the ones who design the systems – legal, economic, political – which contain within them the seeds of favoritism and unacknowledged bias. Systems do not operate independently of their creators; they are reflections of the minds that built them. And when those minds carry fear, prejudice, ego, or insecurity, the systems too will mirror those qualities.

Further, people are the ones who interpret and execute these systems. Even the most just law, in the hands of a person bound by personal ideology, fear, or ambition, becomes a tool of exclusion or oppression. Thus, the application of justice depends not merely on legislation, but on the consciousness of the person wielding power.

Moreover, people are the ones who shape narratives—stories that justify inequality, oppression, or violence in the name of order, culture, religion, or tradition. These narratives, repeated often enough, become normalized, even glorified, and then defended with great intensity, especially when questioned.

People are also the ones who defend traditions, even when they are visibly harmful. Why? Because change is unsettling. Even if a tradition causes suffering, it provides a familiar sense of identity. Letting go of it would require not only social restructuring, but also deep internal work, something most avoid.

Even those who possess knowledge and power often choose silence over action. The reasons vary – from fear of backlash, to preservation of privilege, to sheer inertia. Yet silence is never neutral. In the face of injustice, it becomes complicity.

So, what then is the greatest battle of mankind?

It is not against governments, ideologies, economic systems, or even oppressive regimes. It is far more subtle and more dangerous. It is the battle against the deceptive comfort of our own self-image, the idea we have of who we are, how the world should be, and what we are entitled to.

This inner image is rarely accurate. It is curated, filtered, and protected at all costs. And because we identify so strongly with it, we fear anything that threatens it. As a result, we resist growth, truth, and transformation.

To evolve as a civilization, humanity must first confront the deep-seated psychological and emotional resistance to change. It must face the fear of being wrong, the pain of letting go, and the vulnerability of not knowing. True transformation begins only when individuals dare to examine the falsehoods they carry within, rather than projecting blame outward.

The greatest battle of humanity is not against systems or institutions. It is against the illusions that dwell in the hearts of people, the illusion of superiority, of permanence, of control, of righteousness. And this battle must be fought not once, but continuously, within the silence of one’s own conscience.

Until then, even the noblest movements for justice and reform will fall short. For no outer revolution can succeed without an inner one.

Acharya Tadany
Pune, 11 July 2025

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