"Resist not the evil one... Love your enemies." ~Master Jesus
Jesus did not speak these words for our enemy's sake, but for our
sake. He came to save us, not from our enemies, but from ourselves. Yet
his words of healing make us very uncomfortable.
Ironically, the
deepest comfort of the mind is having an enemy. The sensation of
resistance against an other makes our ego feel alive. The ego is most at
home when it has an enemy.
Each of us might ask, "To what extent is my identity formed by resistance against an other? Who would I be if I had no enemy?"
To encounter the other in a love that has no enemy, because it holds no
resistance, is the purest political action, more radical than any
ideology of the left or the right. For ideology does not inspire action,
but re-action, using the other as a stereotype to confirm our belief.
The most radical act is to be present. Presence is the revolutionary
breath of love. In this destroying fire, the other is no long judged as a
'white' or a 'black,' a Muslim or a Christian, an immigrant or a
native, a Republican or a Democrat. The other is a Person.
Painting: Face of Jesus by Rembrandt
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