“When there is no enemy within, there can be no enemy without”

~African Proverb~

How do we change our reaction to the way things transpire in our lives? How do we change habitual, unconscious responses to the things that irk us in our experiences? How can we learn to remain in a place and space that does not change, despite the events that are rolling around about us, and despite the criticism or the praise that’s coming our way?

The key to changing these reactions lies in the quote above — our habitual, static and nonconstructive reactions to external things will change as soon as we relieve ourselves of the battles we face within. We can change our reactions to the world, and interact in beautiful, effective ways simply by working through the obstacles within ourselves that stand in our way. When there is no enemy within, there can be no enemy without, the quote says. But what does this mean? Who and what is the enemy? And how do we change the way we respond to it?

The enemy can be anything that is causing you turmoil and unrest within, whether that’s a person, a circumstance, or an event. Getting rid of the enemies that lie within means facing what’s inside, and using what we learn in bettering ourselves to react to the world in more meaningful, wonderful ways. There are many forms the external “enemy” can take on. Here’s my idea of a few of them.

The enemy could be a goal that you feel can’t be reached, or a dream that seems to be slighted at every turn. This dream and the events that surround it — the work it takes to get where you want to go, the voices and opinions of other people, etc. — all become something you resist and fight your way through. These are the ways in which you choose to react to these things, and they essentially become “enemies”. Recognize what’s going on inside to attract such resistance. Are the opinions of other people echoes of what’s going on inside? Does your resistance arise out of a deep-rooted fear that you are not capable of achieving what you set out to accomplish? Face what’s inside, resolve what’s inside, cease condemning yourself for feeling such things, and forgive those internal enemies. Naturally, you’ll change the way you approach the situation externally. You move from a state of fear to a state of peace and trust, and your reactions will illustrate this. The enemy disappears.

We also establish many external enemies when we continue to take things that happen in our lives personally. Why take things personally? Why live in fear of other people’s judgments? Is it because, perhaps, we’re judging ourselves just as harshly? We’re causing whatever we choose to take personally- the “enemy”- to determine our emotional state of being. Why? Because it challenges and threatens the ground upon which we define ourselves — it threatens our sense of security about ourselves. But if we can turn inside and resolve that within, maybe figure out and resolve the reasons you feel you have to take what goes on around you personally, you can change this, and become capable of living a judgment-free, anxiety-free life. Thus again, the enemy disappears.

What’s more, if something offends you, use this mirror process and figure out why you’re having that strong reaction. When you get to the point where you don’t have to convince anybody outside of yourself of anything, simply because you no longer have to convince yourself of anything (that you’re smart, or that you can achieve what you set out to achieve, that you will find the right answer on your spiritual quest), then there’s nothing left, externally, to get offended about. Once again, the enemy disappears.

One may see a particular person as the “enemy”. In this case, know that everything that appears in our lives appear for a reason; they’re here to teach us lessons and to help us go. So it is with other individuals. If you find yourself reacting with harsh judgment to everything another person does or says, then perhaps deep inside you are judging yourself just as harshly. Or maybe you’re attempting to bury the “imperfections” you see inside of you that are being reflected in this “enemy”. When you can love that other individual regardless of what they do, say, or think, and when your judgments of them and the negative reactions to them disappear completely, then you’ve reached a point internally where you no longer have to react in the same, habitual ways. The enemy is gone.

The list of enemies can go on and on, and of course vary and change depending on your particular experiences and point of views in life. I encourage you, in your spiritual growth throughout the day, to recognize what you deem as an “enemy” externally and to find, within yourself, the origins of that. When we have no enemies to battle within, when there is no resistance to what is without because we’ve healed what’s on the inside. When we accept that we are God-like, and that we have all the love we need inside, when we have no need to find externally what we feel is missing on the inside; then only will our reactions change. Therefore, quite literally, “we must become the change we want to see in the world” (Mahatma Gandhi).

And lastly, a haiku to think about in relation to turning within and ridding self of internal enemies:

How can I love you
If I cannot love myself
Learn to turn within

Peace and Blessings

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So anyway, check out this poem, and be reminded how we all, in one manner or another, are dancing towards our own idea of “Nirvana”.

Through seas of dreams and seas of phantasies,
Through seas of solitudes and vacancies,
And through my Self, the deepest of the seas,
I strive to thee, Nirvana.

Oh long ago the billow-flow of sense,
Aroused by passion’s windy vehemence,
Upbore me out of depths to heights intense,
But not to thee, Nirvana.

By waves swept on, I learned to ride the waves.
I served my masters till I made them slaves.
I baffled Death by hiding in his graves,
His watery graves, Nirvana.

And once I clomb a mountain’s stony crown
And stood, and smiled no smile and frowned no frown,
Nor ate, nor drank, nor slept, nor faltered down,
Five days and nights, Nirvana.

Sunrise and noon and sunset and strange night
And shadow of large clouds and faint starlight
And lonesome Terror stalking round the height,
I minded not, Nirvana.

The silence ground my soul keen like a spear.
My bare thought, whetted as a sword, cut sheer
Through time and life and flesh and death, to clear
My way unto Nirvana.

I slew gross bodies of old ethnic hates
That stirred long race-wars betwixt States and States.
I stood and scorned these foolish dead debates,
Calmly, calmly, Nirvana.

I smote away the filmy base of Caste.
I thrust through antique blood and riches vast,
And all big claims of the pretentious Past
That hindered my Nirvana.

Then all fair types, of form and sound and hue,
Up-floated round my sense and charmed anew.
– I waved them back into the void blue:
I love them not, Nirvana.

And all outrageous ugliness of time,
Excess and Blasphemy and squinting Crime
Beset me, but I kept my calm sublime:
I hate them not, Nirvana.

High on the topmost thrilling of the surge
I saw, afar, two hosts to battle urge.
The widows of the victors sang a dirge,
But I wept not, Nirvana.

I saw two lovers sitting on a star.
He kissed her lip, she kissed his battle-scar.
They quarrelled soon, and went two ways, afar.
O Life! I laughed, Nirvana.

And never a king but had some king above,
And never a law to right the wrongs of Love,
And ever a fanged snake beneath a dove,
Saw I on earth, Nirvana.

But I, with kingship over kings, am free.
I love not, hate not: right and wrong agree:
And fangs of snakes and lures of doves to me
Are vain, are vain, Nirvana.

So by mine inner contemplation long,
By thoughts that need no speech nor oath nor song,
My spirit soars above the motley throng
Of days and nights, Nirvana.

O Suns, O Rains, O Day and Night, O Chance,
O Time besprent with seven-hued circumstance,
I float above ye all into the trance
That draws me nigh Nirvana.

Gods of small worlds, ye little Deities
Of humble Heavens under my large skies,
And Governor-Spirits, all, I rise, I rise,
I rise into Nirvana.

The storms of Self below me rage and die.
On the still bosom of mine ecstasy,
A lotus on a lake of balm, I lie
Forever in Nirvana.

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“Sat Chit Ananda.
Love Knowingness Bliss.
Imagine that you are centered and totally at peace.
Sat Chit Ananda.
Imagine that you’re not affected by flattery or criticism.
Sat Chit Ananda.
Imagine that a deeply profound ocean of calm exists in you that is not affected by any turbulence.
Sat Chit Ananda.
Imagine that the right answer comes to you spontaneously whenever you are confronted by any question.
Sat Chit Ananda.
Imagine that you know exactly what to do in every situation.
Sat Chit Ananda.”

-Deepak Chopra: The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire

Fearless living.

Such is what Chopra suggests through his meditations, mantras, and words of advice. Just imagine! Imagine living fearlessly, tapping into the powers of love, of “knowingness”, and of bliss that reside inside of you. Just imagine! Imagine being “centered and totally at peace”, indifferent to “flattery or criticism” and to the opinions of others, able to function and live life in an “ocean of calm”. Imagine trusting Divine Wisdom to the degree that you know the right answer will always be there for you in each moment, that you will always be guided towards the right situations and decisions, as long as your heart and mind are open, as long as you allow fear to dissolve. Just imagine! Living fearlessly.

If there is no reason to function in this life with fear, then what need do we have to allow our creative powers to remain restricted and limited because of fear of failure, fear of judgment, fear of making the wrong turns and the wrong moves. Is it not accurate that with the obstacles of fear, anxiety, concern, and stress removed, we can, in fact, accomplish even more than we set out to achieve? How much do we trust in the Intelligence of the Universe about us? In knowing that this wisdom is so close, that we have but to reach out to touch the beauty of Spirit, do we have any right to walk through this life acting, interacting, speaking, and functioning through fear?

Of course not.

Stretched out before us is a world of challenges, of excitement, of growth, and of choices that will fall into our hands to make. Everyday we are confronted with opportunities that knock on our doors, challenging us to step out into the mystery of life, nudging us into the playground of life whispering “relinquish your fears!” Are we listening and following these whispers? We have a choice, walking through this life: we can react to life with fear, or we can choose the other route.

Living fearlessly doesn’t mean living without fear. It means living above it- choosing to respond, to work in spite of fearful emotions that might arise within. Living fearlessly means walking through life, holding the hand of spirit every step of the way. It means diving into the uncertain and having faith in the divine, even when we things aren’t quite going our way. It’s trusting that, as Deepak Chopra says, “Spirit has a good outcome to each and every situation, you just have to open yourself up to it”.

Living fearlessly requires the prerequisite of developing an unshakable relationship with the Self. Know who you are, be who you are, develop an impenetrable self-confidence.

Living fearlessly means being unafraid to express accomplishments, while at the same time, unabashed to wear our faults on our shoulders. It’s embracing change- for change is the only constant thing in the universe. Living fearlessly is submerging yourself in the very things that might allude you, knowing that nothing in this world can essentially destroy you.

Living fearlessly is taking chances.
Living fearlessly is living passionately.
Living fearlessly is functioning through gratitude.
Living fearlessly is being in a constant state of forgiveness.
Living fearlessly is releasing self from past happenings and future outcomes.
Living fearlessly is remaining undeterred from external factors.
Living fearlessly is living in oneness with the Divine.
So live fearlessly, and have fun doing it!

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But how to let go?

Last Friday, the idea was brought up about the ability to detach oneself from the positive things that happen in life (for which we become naturally excited) as well as from the “painful” and “negative” events that may occur. How do you let go of these things?

For one, we can practice “dying to the past each moment” (Eckhart Tolle – Power of Now). Give up thinking about, analyzing, and scraping up emotional baggage about what has already happened. Through this forgiveness, this letting go, we can enjoy things as they happen, delve fully into them, wide-open and fearless without them becoming a burden — a point of contemplation for us to bear later on. We can check in on ourselves with each situation, each event in our lives that occur throughout each day, and make sure that we’re not holding on to anything — good or bad — as we move forward to the next moment. Eckhart Tolle alludes to this when he states:

“You are not pretending anything [in the process of letting go]. You are allowing [each moment] to be as it is, that’s all. This allowing takes you beyond the mind with the resistance patterns that create the positive and negative polarities….If you forgive every moment, allow it to be as it is, then there will be no accumulation of resentment that needs to be forgiven at some later time. Through forgiveness, which essentially means recognizing the insubstantiality of the past and allowing the present moment to be as it is, the miracle of transformation happens, not only within, but also without.”

Another way of practicing releasing and letting go is to work on remaining in a state of meditation throughout our lives. A bit different from prayer — which I believe is our communication with the Divine on behalf of our own desires and our desires for the well-being of others, etc — meditation is our time to be still and to listen to the Divine’s inspiration. Again, Eckhart Tolle states, “to the extent that you feel the presence of the universe in your body (the physical indication of meditation), you are not afraid”. As fear disappears, we become more willing and able to let go.

Lastly, integrating yoga as a universal practice into life strongly aids in the process of learning to let go. What I mean by yoga is a close examination and practice of all branches, not merely Asana, throughout each day. This would help with being able to release oneself from the emotional pull of the world in either direction. For example, the integration of the concept of Ishwara Pranidhana (one of the five niyamas) — the surrender to the divine — would leave us no choice but to practice letting go. If our attitude is one that all of our actions belong to Spirit, or the god-force we identify with, there will be no need to hold onto anything.

So, can we strive towards letting each moment be as it is? Can we let go of past/present reality and live this moment?
You tell me.

In the end, for all of our unanswered questions, Mahatma Gandhi explains perfectly,

“In the attitude of silence the soul finds the path in a clearer light, and what is elusive and deceptive resolves itself into crystal clearness.”

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“Just as we cannot make a seed germinate faster by peeling the first green leaves out, or make a rose bloom sooner by unwrapping all the petals before they are ready, so too can we not FORCE our desire into existence by putting too much effort in, by being attached to the outcome, by becoming impatient or frustrated with the speed of creation.” -Marc de Bruin

Such is the description this man, Bruin, summed up about Deepak Chopra’s concept of letting go in his book, Power, Freedom, and Grace: Living From the Source of Lasting Happiness — and what a wonderful description it is.

What does it mean to let go, and how do we do so? I view the idea of letting go as surrendering to the present, allowing things to be without resistance. Many of us remain attached to things that transpire in our lives — by fretting and worrying over our mistakes, and by attempting to hold tightly to something “good” in our lives. Holding on to these things takes our faith out of our own integrity and hands us a skewed perspective in a world perpetuated by struggle. This ‘holding on’ sets us on a path of constant inner turmoil, struggling with the world and all of its material values, pondering whether we have enough, if we’re doing enough, if we’ll ever “get there,” if a relationship will last, and so on. And in this struggle, this fight with the good and bad, right and wrong, we’re never satisfied; we’re always under a constant pull of anxiety. But the question is, when you believe in Spirit, do you have any right to hold on and to be anxious about anything? When you let go of each moment as they occur, you’re telling the Universe, “I’m not afraid to surrender to your guidance”, and you’re allowing your resistance towards life to melt into the beauty of life. The Divine is here to guide us in the right direction- what need do we have to hold onto life, and to fight against its constant flow?

But how to let go?

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