posted by admin on Sep 2
We learned antonyms at an early age. Hot versus cold, light versus dark and friend versus enemy. Friends and enemies, as concepts in language, are binary opposites. Our knowledge of one helps us define the other. This does not necessarily mean that someone who is not a friend is an enemy or vice versa (that’s just myopia). Just as we have “warm” straddling the divide between “hot” and “cold”, there are many neutral folks between friends and enemies.
The line between friends and enemies is not always very thick either. Someone can easily morph from a trusted friend into a sworn enemy. In fewer cases, it is possible that some friends are actually erstwhile enemies. There are myriad reasons for this. However, it demonstrates that the social realm is fluid and based on connections and bonds that can be forged, broken and repaired. Few things are cast in stone. Your group of friends and enemies can change several times over a lifetime.
We looked at the concept of binary opposition earlier. Friendship and enmity are often closely associated with love and hate. We love our friends and hate our enemies. This seems almost natural to us. This is precisely why religious texts generally have to inform us to love our enemies as well. It just seems incorrect to care about people who wish us harm or seek to bring us down a few notches. It would make sense to discontinue hating our enemies though. Hate is a powerful negative emotion that arrests our development. It’s much more beneficial to love everyone.
Most of us are familiar with the adage “Keep your friends close and enemies closer”. This would (or at least should) depend on why a person is your enemy. Again, it is logical to keep a close eye on the activity of your enemy. When your enemy is close, you tend to gather useful information that you could use to protect yourself or your character. Keeping your enemy close does not necessarily suggest duplicity. You really should not be a hater while acting normal. It’s just not good for you or your reputation.
Friends and enemies are everywhere. The challenges for us include discerning which friends are really enemies, increasing our ratio of friends to enemies and developing effective strategies to deal with those who appear to be against us. Before taking a look at your own friends and enemies, it is helpful to determine how many people that you may be either a friend or an enemy to. Do a bit of introspection. The bottom line is that if you have too few friends or too many enemies, sadness will defeat happiness in your realm.
Article by SAM
