Can I become free by destroying all of my enemies?

Question from the Internet:

“If I destroy all of my enemies, will I finally be free?”

No, unfortunately, you will not be free by destroying all of your enemies. We can be truly free only when we identify the “enemy within” and learn how to turn this internal enemy into our “reluctant” partners.

While obviously, we need to protect ourselves against “external enemies” when they try to actually harm us — as the Talmud says, ‘when someone comes to kill you, you have to get up and kill him first’ — our true enemy that turns people against each other and incites conflicts and wars is our inherently self-serving, self-justifying, egocentric and exploitative nature that drives each of us.

And as long as we do not learn how to subdue and harness the incredible force of our selfish and individualistic egos and start using its driving force and strength towards positive, mutually responsible and mutually complementing goals and purpose, the conflicts and wars will continue until we all destroy each other and ourselves.

Of course, this unique and unprecedented self-change and self-development cannot unfold in billions of people all at once. This is why, first, we have to start this willing and conscious self-upgrade in small, closed, mutually committed, and mutually supportive environments.

The people who participate in this unique “human experiment” — upgrading themselves methodically and purposefully — behave in the outside world as anybody else, trying to avoid conflicts and harming others as much as possible while protecting themselves. But at the same time, in the unique “human laboratory,” they learn and practice how to exist and behave only for the sake of others, using the power of the ego for that purpose.

These people can then completely free themselves from the ego’s original, totally negative, and destructive control, building a society that is based on love and mutually complementing cooperation — while constantly keeping the incessantly tense, exploding, and protesting ego in check.

And as the general society continues to decline and collapse under the inherent rulership of the human ego, these small, pioneering environments will become the healthy cells for rebuilding a healthy, positive, constructive, and sustainable human society that is free from the constant tyranny of the ego.