Know Your Enemy
08/20/08
What is it that influences your enemy
the most? Why do your enemies act the way they do and why are they shooting at
you; trying to kill you? Your enemy was born innocent, but something happened
and he has been turned against you. He is a person just like you; but he is now
being motivated to kill you – why?
For the moment lets look
at the two sides in the holy war that is going on now between the Muslims and
the Christians. For the purpose of this article the issues between them are of
minor consequence. Disagreement between people will always be a part of life and
it is a good thing. Differences bring up new possibilities for both sides and
it’s usually better than what the original differences were about.
What makes a Muslim,
Christian, Jew or anything else? When a person is born, they are innocent and
neutral. Sometime between birth and thirty years of age, their religious and
political views are indelibly burned into their character. Most of us will use
what we have learned in the first thirty years of life to carry us through the
next thirty years. Our truth will have been engrained into our personality and
we will make very few changes. We will depend on what has become familiar for us
in the time to carry us to death. Researchers tell us that we basically stop
learning after thirty. The greatest influences come to us in that short period
of time. Major change to a person’s beliefs will not happen unless there is a
trauma in their lives, a death or after death experience or major loss.
So from birth who is
teaching the enemy, and how have they been influenced over their lifetime and
how are their influences taught to them? What makes a person believe what they
believe and why can’t your enemy see your side of the story? Why is the Muslim
standing behind you with a knife at your throat? Why does he hate you so much,
he doesn’t even know you or your family or friends, but he’s going to kill you
with impunity? He is going to be celebrated as a hero for it, and you will be
dead. Surely he must be some kind of animal, a creature without feelings and
someone who cannot love or be loved. He will take great pleasure in slitting
your throat and he will brag about it to his comrades, friends and family.
He is cruel, heartless
and subhuman and doesn’t deserve to live. What has turned him against you? What
information was he given about you and by whom, that would make him want to
destroy you? You are not that bad of a person. You have people who love you. You
may be married with children, a model citizen in your community. People may look
up to you and want to be like you and point their fingers at you as a roll model
for your children. So why are you here and why is this nameless person poised to
kill you?
To understand why, you
must understand the influences put upon him from birth. After all, at birth he
would have bonded to you just like anyone else. Had this baby been born in your
country or any other one he probably would not be in the position of being your
executor now.
In the time before
religion, community was influenced by its environment and the need to survive.
Right and wrong didn’t exist and people did what they had to do to protect
themselves. The before life or after life may have been considered but probably
contributed very little as to how people lived or conducted themselves in the
physical life.
So what changed, what
could man have done to start treating other people as inferior, less deserving
and unworthy. What did he create that has influenced his behavior to this day?
What is the thinking and influence behind your Muslim enemy? What makes him so
different from you; so unenlightened, so undeserving and so worthless? Why must
you destroy him and why must he destroy you. Who is teaching them and creating
this picture of you as the disease, the infidel that must be exterminated?
When you are born into a
Muslim country you become Muslim and you are influenced by Muslim philosophy. It
is the Muslim religion that impels the Muslim society to act the way it does.
This is your enemy; or is it? Is it the people or is it what influences them
that is your enemy – their religion? Are you really fighting people or a
philosophy that has taught them to be your enemy?
Now in truth it is not
the people whom you are killing that is your enemy. You are the enemy as well.
And it is your religion that has taught you to kill. Living in a Christian
country you will be influenced by Christian ideas, and the church over time has
taught you that anyone outside the church is less worthy than you. This has been
the basis for the exploitation of the worlds peoples by a fanatic religious
group; not Muslim, not Jewish or Hindu, but white Christians.
Christianity was
spread around the world through Holy Wars. The faith was forced on people
through violence, and though that may not be happening today on the same scale,
the principles of Christian faith is the greatest influence on any country or
people who have declared themselves as Christian.
For the record, there is
nothing inherently wrong with being religious, however, if what you see and
experience in your world is not what you want; then you must examine and
reevaluate the influence that is effecting your thinking. When you look at your
enemy you can only see yourself, because you are the enemy to them. But the
truth is that you are not the enemy, it is your thinking that is flawed and it
does not work.
If violence is any part
of your religions philosophy, then violence is what you will eventually
experience. Every thought is manifested at some level into a physical
experience.
If you have one of those
little stickers on your car supporting your troops, what is it that you are
supporting? Many proclaim that you must fight to protect peace. But peace does
not need protecting. If all you have is peace what is there to protect and from
whom do you protect yourself from. A solder has basically one function; to kill.
With a simply order they will kill anyone, including you and your family and
friends. Soldiers are killing machines and the respond to orders. I am not
making this up; it is self evident from the civil wars the world has
experienced.
Certainly you would want
to support the one who is protecting you from your enemy. But your support makes
the enemy more real and it encourages war. And you are sending out a very
powerful message to others. If war is desirable in your experience, then having
soldiers and armies makes good sense. But while you are supporting war, you
cannot support peace. In this world if peace was all that was supported, then
peace is what we would be experiencing. So it is your thoughts which create your
experience. People and governments are all influenced by the current religious
philosophy of the day.
If peace is what you say
you want to experience and what you are experiencing is war, then you basic
thought process is flawed. Change your thoughts and you will change the enemy –
you will change yourself and your perspective of how the world is and what you
experience. For positive change to occur, your thoughts must change. For your
thoughts to change you must question your current belief system. If you are
emotionally attached to it then you are a victim. You have given up your power
to your belief, and you have condemned yourself to live within the box and you
cannot expect anything to change.
You as a species have
lived on this planet for millennia, and it has been demonstrated time and time
again that what you now believe in brings you exactly what you are experiencing.
Can you really continue hitting yourself over the head with the same hammer and
expect to feel or experience something else? Well, we in fact have demonstrated
that remarkable aspect of human behavior; it can be done! When will you change
your mind and decide that it no longer works for you?
Is it possible for you to
see through the logic or philosophy of your parent who tells you to hit your
brother to make him do what you want? Is it possible to see that your parent’s
philosophy is flawed and it will not work for you? Is it possible for you to see
past your parents threatening behavior that you will be punished if you don’t do
what they tell you to do? Is it fear that is now keeping you within their
influence or do you actually believe what they are telling you. If what they are
telling you makes good sense to you, why do they have to use fear to keep you
and manipulate you? Don’t good ideas just naturally catch on? If what you
believe brings you all the abundance the world has to offer, would people not be
beating down your door to find out more? Why do you have to conquer them to make
them believe? Why do you have to stay influenced in a belief system out of fear?
Is the fear real or imagined? At one time you didn’t have to wait for death to
burn; they did it for you in real time for all to see. Religion’s past is filled
with violence and this is what you are supporting; it hasn’t gone away. Today it
is much more passive and it is economics which bring you back to the source of
your poverty; your flawed thinking.
We live in both economic
and mental poverty; we have stopped thinking and have empowered others to do it
for us. As everything in life is; it is a choice; it can be changed. Your enemy
is not in front or behind you; it lives within you. You are fighting self and
you are not winning. Your enemy is an illusion; he is made up in your mind so
that you do not have to take responsibility for your power to change your world.
You are the enemy, make peace with him and peace is what you will experience in
your physical world.
Test your enlightenment:
Two soldiers face off in the battlefield. They become four as two other nameless
figures are created from the first two; one is called Christian, and the other
Muslim. Who has his finger on the trigger; the man or his philosophy?
Know your enemy and you will know yourself.
Roy is a resident of British Columbia, Canada. An international published author, a student of NLP, spiritual philosopher, New Age Light Worker, Teacher and Phenomenologist. Roy's books and articles are thought provoking, and designed to empower your imagination.
Review Roy's new book at: http://www.yourlifewasnevermeanttobeastruggle.com
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