I Don't Have Enemies and Neither Should You: How To Win The Moral War & Secure The Future
The world is full of enemies these days. Sometimes, it’s hard to find our friends. Scroll through the photos on your phone. Go back several years and see if at least one person has grown distant from you for whatever reason. Humanity seems to be experiencing a significant stretching of our affections. Many have snapped and will likely never be repaired.
What happens when most or all of these relationships break? What’s left of Humanity?
What actions can we each take to repair and strengthen the relationships we still have, and to stretch them further every day?
To answer these questions, we must first understand what an enemy is.
We perceive an enemy as threatening our values, beliefs, or physical safety. This perception can be rooted in ideological or personal differences. Sometimes we don’t like somebody because of the way they look, the way they act, or the way they carry themselves. Sometimes, it has nothing to do with the person’s race, gender, or identity. We find them insufferable assholes, and life is too short to deal with those kinds of motherfuckers who didn’t listen in Sunday School or whatever passed for young moral education in their childhood.
Whatever the reason, having an enemy can harm individuals and society, especially if that enemy is someone we don’t know. It’s someone we’ve been told about. That kind of emotional negativity can lead to a breakdown in communication, increased aggression, violence, and worse. In other words, living as enemies has delivered us to this modern age of miracles and madness.
However, it takes two people to be enemies. There was once an old Preacher who taught his worshippers to turn the other cheek, to respond with love instead of hate, and to see one’s enemies as individuals struggling with their own challenges. Unfortunately, that point of view doesn’t make money by peddling fear. Instead, that point of view resolves conflict at the source, which is universal and deep inside each of us. In other words, our true enemy can’t be pointed at with a human finger. Our enemy can only be pursued and subdued in our fallible, frail, and failing human hearts.
Having enemies can also benefit other people, organizations, and governments. In autocratic societies, enemies are often created to justify repression and maintain power. This is why sensible people consider autocracy the lowest form of government, as it is a collective extension of individuals' moral corruption. If it weren't for the masses of people making bad choices together at the same time, there would be no such thing as autocracy, and maybe it could be the beginning of the end of suffering as a common human experience.
There are multiple fronts in the war for the soul of our species, including physical war, information war, and moral war. The moral war is a time when every person can act by turning inward. By meditating and watching the movement of our inner emotional landscape every day, we can conquer the forces of darkness inside us. It doesn't matter how old, sick, or poor we are. It’s never too late to start this journey.
Having enemies harms individuals and society. Instead, if we seek to win this moral war and secure a future of prosperity for as many human beings as possible, we must view people as individuals deserving of respect and a little space. We must build respectful connections with those we may disagree with and turn the other cheek rather than respond with hatred or escalation. Meditating daily and turning inward, we can conquer the forces of darkness inside us and contribute positively to this moral war. So let's take action today and start meditating to strengthen our relationships and create a more peaceful world.
