Love Your Enemies

Why Enemies, Evolution and Competition Cultivate Greatness

The moral posture on having enemies today is thought to be a relic of past times, but is it really? Taking just one glance at modern affairs, one notices how prevalent this psychological reality still is. Religions, political beliefs, world views and all forms of beliefs REQUIRE scapegoats, evil characters or opposition to contrast against. These mental entities reside in our unconscious mostly, since modern morality regards this feature of man as primitive. In this conscious rejection, the animating force of enemies operates in the dark, not being fully harnessed.

An enemy is any perceived opposing force in the world, be it other humans, beliefs or natural forces. While enemies are often thought of as a human-made idea, the competitive nature of striving for survival amid trillions of other lifeforms demands self-preservation, often at the expense of other forces competing for finite resources. Therefore, enemies exist beyond good and evil, and are rather a fundamental force of nature.

Psychologically, how do enemies appear? Constantly emerging in consciousness are individuals, political parties, world views and other mental entities that cultivate a strong emotional response of DISGUST. It's as if the billions of complex stimuli which enter our minds are strictly parsed and discriminated either for, against, or some place in between. There are millions of micro-decisions made under the hood of our awareness that leads to both low and high resolution nuances and perspectives on our environments. Rather than enemies surfacing as black or white, they lie somewhere on a spectrum in this dichotomy between love and hate.

Similar to the immune system fighting off intruders in the form of pathogens, the same phenomenon plays out in the mind through beliefs, behaviors and ideas that are either passionately loved, or brutally detested. Every healthy organism innately recognizes what originates from itself, versus from the outside. This is a discriminating force, which treats cells and pathogens differently based on how the organism perceives them. Large issues in the immune system can lead to a harmful reaction toward bodily agents that are actually beneficial, treating them as foreign invaders. This is seen in cases of allergies, asthma and autoimmune diseases. Clearly, enemies are not man-made, but natural.

Enemies can take many shapes in modern life. Overbearing bosses, backstabbing co-workers, wicked political opponents, revolting ideologies and deceiving spouses often come to occupy this emotionally charged space of the mind. In some extreme cases, hatred and de-humanization of enemies can lead to horrible attrocities, such as the mass shootings which have become commonplace in the West. Rather than treating enemies as sub-human, they should be thoroughly understood. The most hated adversary can be treated as a motivating force, conveying to an individual what they are truly passionate about, and all that they aspire NOT to be.

Throughout history, many lessons are laid out regarding fierce rivalries between political parties, countries and world leaders. One cannot help but think of the Holocaust as one of the most appalling events to face mankind. Around six million European Jews were brutally murdered, and approximately five million were prisoners of war. Hatred and love are the most emotionally charged behaviors in mankind, and they can be massively creative or destructive. An artistic quality lies in one's ability to channel volcanic emotional activity toward a sublime purpose - not only for themselves, but their loved ones and enemies alike.

Human nature provides no means for avoiding enemies, and as such, they should be accepted as a governing force which CAN BE constructive. Enemies are formed on the basis of conflicting interests, which are an unavoidable fact for ALL LIFE, not just humans. Nature provides an innate will which seeks to discharge itself onto the world, which creates a complex web of overlapping desires. Therefore, adversaries are not a blunder of life, but a gift that indicates the importance of BOTH love and hate.

Through the lens of evolution of not only our species, but every other known lifeform, there's grave struggle and savage competition. Is the known history of life not a grand war over resources? In war, resilience, strategy, creativity, strength and cooperation prevail. Is it a mere coincidence that life rewards these traits? Inseparable from war, is the existence of enemies.

Evolution has emerged from the necessities of life, such as being able to convert light and chemical reactions into energy for organisms. Over time, organisms have become increasingly competitive in their solutions for energy production, consumption, reproduction and adaptation. Random mutations which happened to give adaptive benefits to life allowed an incredibly diverse range of species to populate the world, leading to a genetic arms race toward fitness. The genetic arms race implicitly originated from the prioritization of the SELF and GROUP over ANOTHER, which can be viewed as a friend and foe dichotomy.

“You may have enemies whom you hate, but not enemies whom you despise. You must be proud of your enemy: then the success of your enemy shall be your success too.” - Friedrich Nietzsche

Nietzsche is a famous proponent of enemies, spouting from his view of conflict as a necessary force in the war of life. This quote calls into question our relationship with our enemies, and how we regard them. The wise man may hate his enemies, but should not regard them as inferior. Treating enemies as worthy opponents, as a necessary contrasting force which helps animate and define your life's purpose resembles a deep understanding of human nature. The very act of confirming enemies in this way, leads one to appreciate those that are hated - to embrace the intellectual and physical toil demanded by their prescence. Through this very turmoil of battling enemies, the heights of greatness may be reached.

Rather than enemies being strictly external, Nietzsche emphasizes that often we are our own biggest enemies. This aspect of human nature, which sometimes feels as if multiple opposing forces in our own bodies are competing for control, resembles the same war of going on in nature. This is not a phenomenon to avoid, but to embrace fully, for it is through these competing forces which the soil of humanity is watered, leading to the growth of beauty, overcoming, and the willingness to despise oneself. The very act of treating parts of oneself as adversaries can lead to fundamental shifts toward our higher, but difficult to harness traits.

Capitalism itself represents this war of conflicting desires. A truly free market closely resembles what we see in nature, where species creatively compete in order to occupy niches, or become resilient global forces such as we humans. Rather than treating all life as equal, as modern liberal policy seeks to do, capitalism rewards distinction. It rewards expressions of value which fill a VOID, or an area of the market that is weak or underserved. Species reflect this same enterprising force which seeks to differentiate itself, and in the competitive war-like process, the cream of the crop is pushed to the top. Competition between enemies, or opposing forces, rather than being suffocating, cultivates and rewards REFINEMENT.

In observing the Amazonian Rainforest, one can see an absoute abundance of life despite cut-throat competition. Due to an abundance of natural resources such as water and other conditions conducive to life, there are around 390 billion trees, divided into around 16,000 different species. 10% of all known species of life reside in the Rainforest. As a result of this grand competition, some of the most unique species known to man have evolved there. Many medical advancements have emerged by studying this diverse ecosystem, such as solutions for malaria, muscle relaxers, cancer, glaucoma, pain relief, inflammation and antibiotics. Hence, the antagonistic stance between enemies produces creativity and abundance.

Emerging from this grand competition of interests, is an environment which is not only hostility, but cooperation as well. Cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, played the critical role of oxygenating the Earth's atmosphere. Bacteria paved the way for aerobic life, which helped lead to the diverse ecology of the world today. Many species today rely on mutualistic relationships with other species for their very survival, including we humans. In the human gut lies a microbiome consisting of microorganisms which help us digest food, defend against harmful pathogens, and produce essential vitamins. Nature has emphasized not only the importance of enemies, but of friends.

Equipped with all of this information, what is one to do with it? It's about perspective. Opponents are not really opponents, but friends. Although it's unavoidable to hate adversaries, the very turmoil of engaging with opposition is a call to STRENGTH. As seen in capitalism, the Rainforest, and evolution, nature produces her greatest achievements as a result of this WAR between opposing forces. Therefore, it is a form of LOVE that one should have for their enemies.

In accepting enemies, and even being proud of them, we affirm their innate value. We form an appreciative stance toward the growth they demand in us, rather than viewing them with contempt. In treating our foes as worthy forces, we take them seriously, and purposely begin to cultivate ourselves in their prescence, rather than descending into our weaker traits.

The emotionally charged areas of love and hate in our minds are the greatest sources of energy. It is not always friends who motivate, but our foes as well. What motivates a conservative, or a liberal? What motivates a country to prevail over others? The opposing forces who would like to wipe us off of the map, either physically or intellectually, are the prime motivating, creative forces.

Enemies are not nasty stains on our consciousness. Rather, adversaries are a FUNDAMENTAL animating aspect of ALL LIFE. Through robbing the mind the benefit of holding conscious enemies, we rob ourselves of our best accomplishments, of growth, of the greatest life force available to us, that of WAR. In modern life, war is not always physical, it is also intellectual, and a grave mistake lies in treating it as PERILOUS. The natural war of opposing forces is the CULTIVATION of life, rather than its destruction. In embracing, and even LOVING our enemies, we pursue the greatest fate possible in both ourselves, and our society.