Intuitive Healer Katarina Winslow reflects on the external and internal enemy
Why is it that we feed on the fear of each other and believe in the idea of an enemy? Maybe it is time to ask more questions about why the concept of the enemy has taken such a deep root in our societies. Evidently, the Brain's Negative Bias is a reason as our biological and psychological programming reacts more intensely to threats and dangers to protect our survival. We also learn more and faster from dangerous and threatening situations because these are the experiences that we need to remember for our sheer survival. Our life doesn’t depend on our happiness, so to ‘register’ all that is happy and beautiful is not crucial for our physical continuity, whereas threats and nightmares are. But are there other causes we have ignored? The many conflicts in the world are not new, but this doesn’t explain why people on top of it indulge in feeding on fear and violence.
It is, of course, logical that our existential fears and our instinctive brain must take some blame for people focusing and feeding on negative information. But there is perhaps another truth closer to us than we can imagine? Could it be that on a deeper level we are afraid of ourselves and our own inner enemies. Are we afraid of the one part of us that has difficulties in giving ourselves permission to live, the part that is fearful of a happy and peaceful life? Could the reason for sustaining an exterior enemy be an attempt to escape our interior enemy and our personal fears? To push it even further, the root cause could be that we are afraid of life. There would be no reason to buy into and feed on the concept of the enemy if we weren’t also scared of something inside of ourselves. There must be an internal psychological reason for our exterior behaviour beyond the Brain’s Negative Bias. Surely, what is within is without.
Let’s face the uncomfortable truth - separation, fear, and the concept of an enemy are about to destroy our sense of security. The idea of an enemy is both detrimental to the global climate and slowly killing our joy and happiness. We could regain our power and change the trends of society if we took a closer look inward and fought our internal enemy rather than focusing on the dragons in the fairytales and on our TV screens.
The psychological truth is that what we focus on also resides within. Maybe the focus on the external threats is to compensate for the part of us that is not sure we have the right to live. Are we prone to feed on conflict and separation as a compensation for not addressing our inner conflicts?
If we all stopped believing in the outer enemy and the idea that we must defeat each other, we would focus on overcoming ourselves, on conquering our inner conflicts and be at peace.
Before things escalate, it would be helpful to make a switch inward and make peace with ourselves and thereby contribute to world peace. Things would rapidly change if we aimed at making peace in our internal separation instead of feeding on it. We would help the world by becoming more conscious and making a firm decision to supply our mental, emotional and psychological selves with peaceful sustenance. You can’t feed on conflict and expect to be at peace.
It is true that it is not easy to be happy in a world that is getting more conflictual by the day. Still, you do much more for the world if you allow yourself to be happy instead of sustaining a glooming feeling of 'it is too late.' Even if it is difficult to ignore the many worried and sad-looking people that walk the streets, try to smile and ignite a little flame of hope. We can all agree that it is tough to live in a climate where there are significant threats to the survival of our planet. On top of the growing decline, society becomes more competitive. It is not strange that people panic about losing their jobs and that mistrust grows at work, leading people to burnouts and suicides.
When you take a step back and see the big picture, it is understandable. People spend an average of eight hours a day at work, with less and less credit or validation for their efforts. To have no recognition is draining. Another growing problem is the lack of essential human contact, trust, and friendly conversations. There is little time left for laughter, mutual encouragement, and inspiration. For many people, the time spent at work has become a long-drawn-out suffering filled with stress and anxiety. Many people worry about who will take the credit for their work and who is out to get them. As people are focusing more than ever before on conflicts and horror, the virus of an enemy grows everywhere. The old saying ‘separate to better rule’ is gaining ground as our morals decline. It is a timeless trick. The maxim ‘divide et impera’ was first attributed to Philip II of Macedon, and the maxim ‘divide ut regnes’ was used by the Roman ruler Caesar, and by Napoleon. Today this old tool of political power is infused with a contagious virus in most areas of our societies. And we keep feeding on its fuel, through TV series, movies, computer games and thriller novels. The separation virus has become increasingly ‘popular’ and marketable as people become exponentially more miserable.
To eradicate the virus, it would be good to make a U-turn and face our inner enemy. Imagine if by making friends with ourselves we could heal the world. In these turbulent times, we need to fight our internal enemies more than ever before and allow ourselves to be happy. We need to embrace positive perspectives that keep our energies high and inspirational. More than anything, we need essential human contact and trust. We need to pierce the veil of separation and enter the space of confidence towards one another and confidence in ourselves.
To pretend that we are not human is inhuman. We need to start creating our own rules of how it should be to go to work, and how we should feel towards our colleagues because the irony is that we are all in the same boat. The colleague that you are fearing is fearing you. A lack of trust, joy, inspiration, companionship, safety, and security is depressing for anybody. Nobody wants to be a number in a system that is approaching the edge of destruction. Nobody wants to hit the wall, and still, we are all slowly led towards it by pretending that everything is fine; it is not.
When things are at their worst, ‘hope’ is the one tool to hold on to fiercely. It holds true for personal healing, and it holds true for the healing of this world. Hope is the seed of healing, and we ignite that hope by igniting it in each other.
For that to happen, we need to address the inner enemy instead of escaping into the external sustenance of fear. If you let yourself shine in a dark world, you will see that the light will come on in many other places. Don't let the candle of hope burn out. Face your inner shadow, switch on your light and make it brighter. Let’s all become more conscious about our internal conflicts so that we can let the hope in this world grow.
Together.
