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Reply To: how to handle the fact that my enemies are alive?

HomeForumsEmotional Masteryhow to handle the fact that my enemies are alive?Reply To: how to handle the fact that my enemies are alive?

#72622
Will
Participant

So you’re 18, yes? Good. Your mind is still young and flexible and you can get out of this way of thinking before it spoils your life.

So here’s the deal.

They are not your enemies. They are your family.
Whatever they think and feel and say, I can assure you they don’t wake up in the morning rubbing their hands and going “Heh heh, I wonder what we can do today to make Parth miserable! Shall we make his mother cry? Shall we drive his grandmother to an early grave? Oh ho ho! What fun we are having!”
They are your fellow human beings, man. They are just as flawed and unsure and ridiculous and angry and unable to deal with the difficulties of life as anyone else (including you). Yes, they may be asshats. Asshats are generally asshats because they’re riddles with bitterness and pettiness and horrible feelings of inadequacy, or greed, or rage at the world, or something. When you look at the people who cause you pain and you hate them and call them your enemies and ask god to punish them you only bring more misery into the world. Your misery.
To be angry at someone is like picking up a burning coal with your bare hands to throw it at them. You may hit your target and you may not, but either way you’re going to end up with severe burns on your hands. That’s what the Buddha said, and he said some other good stuff about anger and enemies, too. Have a look for that.

If you’re not Buddhist and you want to stick with your own religion, I’m sure your religion will have teachings about forgiveness, and grace, and brotherhood among mankind, too. Read up on this stuff before it is too late, and you’re grown bitter for life.

Please not I’m not saying that the way they behave is OK. They don’t seem like nice people to be around, and you don’t have to be around them. When they come and visit, you can say “good to see you, I was just on my way out to have a nice long walk in the countryside”. But look after your heart. Don’t let hate poison it.