If I see an enemy, it’s because I’m partially blind.

Everything is like this box:

Whole. Everything and nothing. Both-And.

Though it may look like parts of it are sticking out from the others, no part of it is actually above or below, in front of or behind. Sometimes my thinking will just make something pop out. And when that happens, I’m always just seeing it the way I’m thinking it, and not as it actually IS.

It’s the same in life. 

If I see an enemy, I am not seeing the whole. Even though he looks into my eyes and tells me he’s going to rip my guts out because I’m not worthy of living. Even if he is engaged in the act. 

I am seeing “one face of the box coming forward.” If I really want to be a student of the truth, if I really want to live in reality, I look for the truth, the whole picture, what truly is, and is not, beyond my present narrow story.

I can acknowledge what he’s saying and doing and then ask myself, “Is it true? Is that the whole truth? What else is there? What is not there that seems to be?” 

Maybe there’s more to him than what I think he is. Maybe there’s less. Maybe there’s more to what he’s saying than I think he’s saying, or more to what he’s doing than I think he’s doing. Maybe there’s less. Maybe he is also something else entirely. Maybe he is nothing at all. Maybe, like the box, he is also the opposite of what I'm experiencing.

There’s more to the reality of it. How do I know? Because every time I drop my story and accept what is, everything stressful thing falls into balance and becomes peaceful.

So I go looking for that balancing reality, for the other side of the coin, for the truth that gets crowded out when I see a problem and an enemy. 

And it’s there. 

Every time. 

When I see an enemy, I am partially blind. 

Seeking peace - and the joyful life that follows - is a process of learning to look at what’s in front of me and remember the limited and illusory nature of experience, to understand that if I’m seeing anything at all, I am not seeing the whole. 

And to remember that the whole is timeless, peaceful, kind, and always in perfect balance.