And because it is a choice, it will never tolerate betrayal, but will always be generous with mistakes.
And because it is a choice, it withstands time and passing conflicts.
And one of the young men in the audience, seeing that the sun was almost below the horizon and that soon this encounter with the Copt would come to an end, asked:
“And what about enemies?”
And he answered:
The truly wise do not grieve over the living or the dead. Therefore, accept the battle that awaits you tomorrow because we are made of the Eternal Spirit, which often places us in situations that we need to confront.
At such moments, set aside all futile questions, because they merely slow down the warrior’s reflexes.
A warrior on the battlefield is fulfilling his destiny, and he must surrender himself to that. Pity those who think they must kill or die! The Divine Energy cannot be destroyed; it simply changes its form. The wise men of Antiquity said:
Accept this as part of some superior plan and go forward. Man is not defined by earthly battles, because just as the wind changes direction, so do luck and victory. Today’s loser will be tomorrow’s winner, but in order for that to happen, combat must be embraced with honor.
Just as someone puts on new clothes, discarding the old, so the soul accepts new material bodies, abandoning the old and the useless. Knowing this, you must not suffer because of the body.
That is the combat we will face tonight or tomorrow morning. History will record what happens.
But since we are reaching the end of our meeting, we cannot waste time on that.
I wish, therefore, to speak of other enemies: those we find beside us.
We will all have to face many adversaries in our lives, but the most difficult to defeat will be the ones we fear.
We will always meet rivals in everything we do, but the most dangerous are those we believe to be our friends.
We all suffer when our dignity is attacked or wounded, but the greatest pain will be caused by those we thought were examples to be followed.
None of us can avoid meeting those who will betray and slander us, but we can drive away the evil before it shows its true face. Because any excessively kind behavior could betray a knife hidden behind the back and ready to be used.
Loyal men and women do not bother to show what they are like, because other loyal spirits understand their qualities and defects.
Beware of anyone who tries to please you all the time.
And beware of the pain you can cause yourself by allowing a vile and cowardly heart to be part of your world. Once the evil has been done, there is no point in blaming anyone: the owner of the house was the one who opened the door.
The more fragile the slanderer, the more dangerous his actions. Do not make yourself vulnerable to those weak spirits who cannot bear to encounter a strong spirit.
If someone confronts you over ideas or ideals, step up and accept the fight, because conflict is present in every moment of our lives and sometimes it needs to show itself in the broad light of day.
But do not fight in order to prove that you are right, or to impose your ideas or ideals on someone else. Accept the fight only as a way of keeping your spirit clean and your will spotless. When the fight is over, both sides will emerge as winners because they tested their limitations and their abilities.
Even if, at first, one of them says, “I won,” and the other grows sad, thinking, “I lost.”
Since both respect the courage and determination of the other, the time will come when they will once again walk along hand in hand, even if they have to wait a thousand years for that to happen.
Meanwhile, if someone merely wishes to provoke you, shake the dust from your feet and carry on. Fight only with a worthy opponent, and not with someone who uses trickery to prolong a war that is already over, as does sometimes happen.
Such cruelty does not come from the warriors who meet on the battlefield and know why they are there, but from those who manipulate victory and defeat for their own ends.
The enemy is not the person standing before you, sword in hand. It is the person standing next to you with a dagger concealed behind his back.
The most important of wars is not waged with a lofty spirit or a soul accepting of its fate. It is the war that is going on now, as we speak, and whose battlefield is the Spirit, where Good and Evil, Courage and Cowardice, Love and Fear face one another.
Never repay hatred with hatred, but with justice.