THE ENEMY OUTSIDE IS LESS HARMFUL THAN THE ENEMY INSIDE






Pic.: Sonia Asrani



Love your enemies… Praise your enemies… Bless them.

Well, we are not Jesus Christs to do that. We are ordinary mortals…  So, we are not the ones to show our left cheeks when our enemies slap our right ones…

We will react, immediately… Tit for tat… Two swear words for one… Two eyes for one…

Loving, praising and blessing our enemies… yes, it is the remotest of our ideas…

But then, I am still a student of this old school of thoughts and ideals… At 57, I would like to believe, that I have seen my fair share of enemies and their harassment and torture… I have had enough of it in my life… I have been provoked to get even with them, abuse them, curse them… try all means – maybe except physical violence – to silence them….

Nothing has silenced my enemies… Nothing has changed their hearts, so for.

So, when I think of it, I ask, “By playing their own games, have I not only doubled my troubles, ruined my inner peace by twofold?" On the one side, they have tormented me… on the other side, I have tormented myself… They have taken half of my peace… and I have taken the other half!

So, no matter how outdated and naïve the old advice sounds, I think, it is the only sensible way to silence our enemies in the long run… and, yes, bring that inner silence in us.


I am writing about this today, because, I happened to read what two of my dear friends had posted in one of our groups. Apparently, they had been long tormented by the same enemies. One of my friends had posted this:

“Praising and blessing dissolves all negativity. So, praise and bless your enemies. If you curse your enemies, the curse will come back to harm you. If you praise and bless them, you will dissolve all negativity and discord, and the love of the praising and blessings will return to you. As you praise and bless, you will feel yourself shift into a new frequency with the feedback of good feelings.”

My other friend’s response was quick and familiar:

“It’s a joke!”

But, to me, what was more familiar was this: I have been on both the sides of this fence… More often – and more fortunately – on the side of my first friend. Yes, I have shown to my enemies more often my other cheek, too… And, less often, I have been on the side of my second friend… been provoked and angry, abusive… cursed.

Two of my friends live in me… I am my friends. And, therefore, I am my enemy, too!

The enemy outside is less harmful, less dangerous than the enemy inside…

I am telling this, today, to myself…

For, my peace is my responsibility!


GERALD D’CUNHA

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