Polarity And The Inner Enemy

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I'm not sure when the concept of an enemy was first introduced. Legend has it that it is simply a part of the polarity of our world. Day and Night. Good and Evil. Hero and Villian. Friend and Enemy. What I'm sure of is that there are two enemies that we encounter as humans, the inner and the outer.

By definition, an enemy is anyone(or anything) that opposes or is against what we ought to achieve. The outer enemy can be easily recognizable since there's much objectivity to it. We can tell who's with or against us when we look beyond our emotions.

It's a different case with the inner enemy. It sometimes sounds a bit ludicrous to think that part of ourselves can be against us when it comes to what we ought to achieve.

And yet, every now and then, we experience this mechanism in which there's an inner friction that prevents us from doing what we ought to do.

For example, I've been trying to sleep around 12 am to have the needed 7 hours of rest. But I only end up having 4 to 5 hours of rest every night. It's the standard wants overriding the needs type of situation.

Now, the definition of enemy doesn't imply the inner enemy is 'someone' inside us that is against what we want to achieve. I view it as an aspect of us.

Human beings have many characters and each of these characters has its own wants and needs. It is akin to the different body parts/systems we have. It's just that this one happens to be on the mental/emotional sphere.

For example, everyone has a victim character. Some like to wear it and others hardly put it on.


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Why An Inner Enemy?

I think the answer lies on polarity of physical reality. There needs to be a constant friction that gets us to act in one way or another. Otherwise we would be like blobs, lacking a definitive shape or sense of individuality.

Let's entertain the thought that we're all in paradise, eternal peace, happiness and satisfaction. With no problems, issues or any challenges. A perfect place with perfect people. How will we feel after being there for a millennium, 10 millennium, or a 100 millennium?

Hypothetically, we will feel great. Perhaps a 100x wiser and happier because now we have understand the ups and downs, lefts and rights of this beautiful state.

But it could also be that we're bored out of our minds with perfectness. When something is perfect, there's nothing one can add or subtract to it. There's nothing to do essentially.

But this is just a human looking at it from the viewpoint of being on Earth. The reality might be very different. Paradise itself forms a polarity with hell.

The point is that the inner enemy is a core part that drives humans to take action and not merely stay in a neutral state like a blob. It's the fire that fuels us to act. Depending on the choice we take, we determine whether it is for good or bad.


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Going Rogue

Sometimes, the inner enemy can go rogue and cause more harm than good. This happens when we lose control over our characters and let them run wild. For example, when we let our anger character lash out at others without restraint, or when we let our greed character pushes us to taking excessive action.

This often feels like having a disorganized chaos in our minds, where there is no harmony or balance among the different aspects of ourselves.

Let's take the physical body as a prototype to make more sense of the situation.

The physical body is made up of different parts/systems that collaborate together to maintain our health and well-being. Each of the parts has its own function, but they also cooperate with each other to achieve a common objective.

When one part is overactive or underactive, the other parts try to regulate and balance it.

This same view more or less can be adopted on the mental and emotional sphere with our characters. We can recognize that each character has its own wants and needs. But they also have to respect and listen to the other characters.

Of course, this only sounds simple in theory. It's quite hard in practical terms. How would one even organize all these characters to act in unison towards a clearly defined direction?

We will have to change standpoints. Rather than trying to solve the problem on the level of the problem, we jump a level or two above the problem and solve it from standpoint.

What I mean is using our awareness or consciousness to observe and understand our characters. Rather than trying to judge or suppress them.

By doing this, we can go above the inner enemy and transform it into an ally. Using the inner fire as a tool of creativity and expression. And polarity stops being a barrier of conflict and division.


Thanks for reading!! Share your thoughts below on the comments.



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12 comments
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This reminds of a saying by priest at mass some years ago and it stuck with me. He said;

There exist both good and evil within us and it is our will to determine which one outweighs the othere

We have the power to control the enemy within and outside us to some extent, the external ones are ones we tend to pay attention to mostly and we react by avoiding them or control, the enemy within us sometimes enjoys its dominance I think because we rarely pay attention to it and some times can be linked to a habit.

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The saying by the priest is spot on! I've been pondering about the two enemies and our willpower. I've read somewhere that we can easily be fooled to think that the enemy is always outside and never inside. So we focus on the external factors trying to battle those but in reality these are just reflections of the inner enemy and it's ability to divert our attention on unimportant matters. I also find it a bit fascinating that our will power is neither good or evil, it doesn't recognize what's right or wrong.

Rightly said! We're so much unconscious of our inner landscape that many mechanism work in the background without us having any say in it. Over time, it could lead to forming unconscious habits that are often hard to break out of. Take the example of a certified victim character, it would take a lot of work for one to get out of that mindset of everything not being his/her fault.
Thanks for stopping by :)

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Reason why I keep knowing and accepting my tendencies is that I may win over my inner enemy, befriend it and it will fire up and give me so much more motivation.

All my negative traits somehow, slowly became my strength. For example is speaking my mind, I used to be so rude and now that I am able to neutralize it; it became my strength that I can lots of genuine folks.

Sobriety at its finest 🤍

💛Made my way here through #dreemport. #Dreemerforlife

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Exactly, it's interesting when we start putting a little bit of work and see that this inner enemy is transforming to become an inner ally that fires us up to get to our achievements.

That's good to know! Negative traits turning into strengths is a great win. For me, I only speak my mind occasionally and usually I try to put it in a good context that it would make sense and be easily understood. I've realised that often the problem is not in what we say but how or why we say it.

Yes, to more of it :)
Thanks for stopping by from #dreemport :)

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This was very informative and I have come to realize that most times our enemy is ourselves. That innate part of us that fights against the things we want to do. Not a spirit but I think our unrefined characters that may want to bend us to their will.

It's absolutely necessary to ensure that our inner enemy doesn't go rogue because while it being tamed affects only us, going rogue could leave a lasting damage on other people. Suffice to say that it's necessary to vanquish that inner enemy before it goes rogue.

Really wonderful entry dear.
#dreemport

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Indeed! It is those unrefined characters that run on the background of our consciousness doing their own thing while we become passive towards it all. I think it is the biggest obstacle we have when it comes to achieving the objectives or goals we set out for ourselves.

Right, it's those moments when we unintentionally become savages and later regret what the hell of a thing we've done. Looking back, it usually doesn't seem that we will do that but we somehow end up doing that. Going rogue should be avoided at all times.

Thanks for stopping by from #dreemport :)

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I agree to much extent that it is you who can be your biggest ally as well as i can only be yiu who is your biggest enemy
Shortly stating if you are letting negativity overcome yiu ,you are your biggest enemy
And if you are prevailed upon by positivity
You are your biggest ally
#dreemforlife

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Yes, that's a good way to look at it. The biggest enemy and the biggest ally are both within us. But I guess we have to first go through the enemy to get to the ally. Another way of putting it is that the enemy becomes the ally through transformation.
Thanks for stopping by from #dreemport :)

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This post was reflective, made me think a lot, I feel it would have fit in better in the #reflection community, check it out and see.

I especially liked the part about the inner enemies. At times I feel like my inner enemy is my overthinking brain, at times it overwhelms me with thoughts, especially when It sees I've been having a good time consistently.

#dreemerforlife #teamflash

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That one is very relatable, the overthinking brain can step out of line preventing us from having a good time. Those incessant thoughts that keep telling us what if this or what if that, we shouldn't or should be doing this instead. Sometimes, I feel that stepping out of that state can be achieved through mindfulness but it often proves difficult.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll check out the #reflection community right away. Thanks for the kind remarks and for stopping by from #dreemport :)

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