Near Enemies

… one of the most insightful bits of Buddhist psychology has yet to reach a widespread modern audience: the notion of the "near enemy". According to this way of thinking, for every desirable habit or state of mind, there's a "far enemy", which is its obvious antithesis. Thus hatred, it won't surprise you to learn, is the far enemy of love. Near enemies, on the other hand, are much sneakier and harder to spot, because they so closely resemble the thing they're the enemy of. Needy, possessive co-dependency can look and feel a lot like love, when really it corrodes it.

                                                                                      Oliver Burkeman

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We love to point at the “far enemy”

At those things that create a

“clear and present danger”

We lavish our attention

And our energy on them

Hatred

That we can see

The hatred of others, and at the best of times

Our own hatred, which distorts and poisons

Well we can sometimes see

Although sometimes we are profoundly blind

To the impact of hate on our lives

(look at America today, and the hate of so many for those who are not like them)

To the way hate destroys compassion, and generosity

But attachment, the near enemy of love

Ah

It is so sneaky

We do not see

How our need to hold close the things we value

Instead of protecting them

Destroys them

We hold so close to our values

Our Bibles

Our children

Our expectations

We think we are loving God

And loving our children

And loving the pathway of decency, justice, and morality

But really

We are just smothering,

Twisting and destroying

Love

All this while seeing ourselves as loving

Proclaiming ourselves loving

(it’s really loving to take away essential health care services)

Ah Sacred One

Deliver us

Not just from those far enemies

Those ones we can see so clearly

But from our near enemies

The ones that live

Most likely

Within our own skin