Do you see other human beings as enemy?

Amanaki said:

Why do people see some people as their enemy?
I just dont get it.

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Definition of enemy:
A person who is actively opposed or hostile to someone or something.

If a person have the characteristic describes in the definition of "enemy", by definition they're an enemy to the people/things they're actively opposed or hostile to. Do you agree?

Amanaki said:

Why do people see some people as their enemy?
I just dont get it.

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The way I see it, sometimes in order to continue living, you must use force.
I don't think that fighting someone necessarily means that you hate them.

How do you define "enemy"?

Baladas said:

The way I see it, sometimes in order to continue living, you must use force.
I don't think that fighting someone necessarily means that you hate them.

How do you define "enemy"?

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Example in a war there is two side or more that fight each others that is called enemies, but you can have a person you see as a enemy.
Since i do not see anyone as my enemy it is kind of hard to describe

Amanaki said:

If you see staying calm as a form of defending my self then yes

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How is staying calm defending yourself, while people are beating on you.

How is that to work. Your standing staying calm while others are clubbing you.
How exactly is that defending yourself

Faithofchristian said:

How is staying calm defending yourself, while people are beating on you.

How is that to work. Your standing staying calm while others are clubbing you.
How exactly is that defending yourself

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I dont need to use force toward them. when i was in school and was beaten mostly every day i never hit back. because i see no need of doing the same as they do toward me, if i did tried to beat them back i would just be like them, and that is not how a buddhist do

Amanaki said:

Why do people see some people as their enemy?
I just dont get it.

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Ask them

Cassandra said:

Ask them

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The normal answer i have gotten when ask is, Because they hate the other people. But why they hate is something they can not answer clearly

Amanaki said:

Example in a war there is two side or more that fight each others that is called enemies, but you can have a person you see as a enemy.
Since i do not see anyone as my enemy it is kind of hard to describe

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Nonviolence is a position that I respect. I once considered it a guiding philosophy for my life based on the teachings of Jesus and inspiration from others such as Mahatma Gandhi. I no longer personally espouse this fully, but I can respect it.

To me, the enemy is not the human, it is the harmful action.
Sometimes, I believe, the action must be resisted. If this means fighting an attacker, then that is unfortunate.

It's not animosity. It's not hatred. It is cause and effect:
If you do this, then I will do this.

I would prefer not to fight someone, but I will in order to prevent a greater harm from happening to myself or those I love.
In my eyes, abstaining from defensive violence can sometimes lead to far more violence in the long run.
I seek to minimize the total amount of harm caused by those with harmful intent.

Baladas said:

Nonviolence is a position that I respect. I once considered it a guiding philosophy for my life based on the teachings of Jesus and inspiration from others such as Mahatma Gandhi. I no longer personally espouse this fully, but I can respect it.

To me, the enemy is not the human, it is the harmful action.
Sometimes, I believe, the action must be resisted. If this means fighting an attacker, then that is unfortunate.

It's not animosity. It's not hatred. It is cause and effect:
If you do this, then I will do this.

I would prefer not to fight someone, but I will in order to prevent a greater harm from happening to myself or those I love.
In my eyes, abstaining from defensive violence can sometimes lead to far more violence in the long run.
I seek to minimize the total amount of harm caused by those with harmful intent.

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I am not afraid of the attacker and if needed i will stand between his gun to save others. But i have taken a vow to never harm any sentient being. so even i might lose my own life i have no problem with that.

Amanaki said:

Why do people see some people as their enemy?
I just dont get it.

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I can't speak for others, but I believe the Creator is my enemy - in that he does not have my interests at heart and is actively out to get me - and therefore anyone who serves/worships the Creator is also my enemy.

The_Fisher_King said:

I can't speak for others, but I believe the Creator is my enemy - in that he does not have my interests at heart and is actively out to get me - and therefore anyone who serves/worships the Creator is also my enemy.

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Do you do as your Creator ask of you in your belief/Religion? or do you wish him to do for you?

Amanaki said:

Do you do as your Creator ask of you in your belief/Religion? or do you wish him to do for you?

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Insofar as I am the spirit within my current material bodily reincarnation, and insofar as the Creator is not the creator/source of my spirit, the Creator is not my creator. And I certainly don't do what the Creator asks of human beings.

The_Fisher_King said:

Insofar as I am the spirit within my current material bodily reincarnation, and insofar as the Creator is not the creator/source of my spirit, the Creator is not my creator. And I certainly don't do what the Creator asks of human beings.

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So maybe that is why you do not feel those things? if you do not have a good relationship with the Creator/God, why would he care of you? and maybe one must do a lot one self to gain any wisdom?

As a cultivator of buddha dhamma i cultivate mind and body every day, trying to become better as a human being, and study the teaching to gain deeper insight

Nowhere Man said:

Maybe that's a reason why you don't get it.

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Nowhere Man said:

When all is said and done, we are still animals at the end of the day. People express instincts and traits as with any other member of the animal kingdom.

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Amanaki said:

I dont see Human beings as Animals

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Nowhere Man said:

Maybe that's a reason why you don't get it.

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There's no question at all that we are indeed animals, that we evolved, as did every other species of animal (and plant) living today. However......

I think @Nowhere Man gets it just a bit wrong because he makes no distinction, and the fact of the matter is, we are a very, very distinct sort of animal. Evolution has weakened our bodies, neglected our teeth and claws, and turned so much effort toward building a creature that has capacities that nothing else on earth has: the ability to reason, to learn, to communicate, and thus to pass on what we learn so that our knowledge -- the stuff upon which we reason -- increases exponentially. Nothing else that we know of is capable of the kind of flexible responses to our own instincts as we can.

We see enemies through the biases of our prejudices and our ideologies. And yet we do not have to. As a Humanist, I can state that unequivocally -- I see no one as my "enemy," though I abhor the things many do. And as a Humanist, I'm always intrigued by the fact that I think individuals like Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King came closest to framing appropriate responses, responses that laid out at least a foundation for healing our hatreds, and recognizing our ideologies for what they are.

"Though I have all strength, so that I should remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing." (1 Cor. 13

And all it takes is effort.

Amanaki said:

So maybe that is why you do not feel those things? if you do not have a good relationship with the Creator/God, why would he care of you? and maybe one must do a lot one self to gain any wisdom?

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I am not looking for a good relationship with the Creator, and I certainly don't want him to care for me (not that the Creator cares for anyone but himself).

Amanaki said:

Why do people see some people as their enemy?
I just dont get it.

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Religion, politics, and nationality are the main reasons for treating others as your enemy.

Amanaki said:

Why do people see some people as their enemy?
I just dont get it.

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Sorry, I'm always skeptical of claims like this one. The "I just don't get it" part.

Timothy Spurlin said:

Religion, politics, and nationality are the main reasons for treating others as your enemy.

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Why? What religion someone has is no reason to hate them
Politics i can not talk of because i have no view of politics
And i see all people as same.

But yes i know a lot of people see this as a problem and ain enemies from it

Quagmire said:

Sorry, I'm always skeptical of claims like this one. The "I just don't get it" part.

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Why?

The_Fisher_King said:

I am not looking for a good relationship with the Creator, and I certainly don't want him to care for me (not that the Creator cares for anyone but himself).

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Do you know who created you?