Beware of Lurking 'Near Enemies

In Buddhist teachings, the four Brahmaviharas, translated as the Immeasurable, Divine Abodes, or Divine Abidings are: metta or loving-kindness, karuna or compassion, mudita or sympathetic joy, and upeksha or equanimity. These are not just emotions we may or may not feel; they are states that we cultivate on our journey to being truly awakened.

The Buddha taught his son: Rahula, practise loving-kindness to overcome anger. Loving kindness has the capacity to bring happiness to others without demanding anything in return. Practise compassion to overcome cruelty. Compassion has the capacity to remove the suffering of others without expecting anything in return. Practise sympathetic joy to overcome hatred. Sympathetic joy arises when one rejoices over the happiness of others and wishes others well-being in success.

Practise equanimity to over come prejudice. Equanimity is looking at all things openly and equally... Do not reject one thing only to chase after another. I call these the Four Immeasurable. Practise them and you will become a refreshing source of vitality and happiness for others.

Although each of these states is a mark of wakefulness and evolving, each can be confused with a condition that mimics the true state, but actually arises out of fear, and is aptly referred to as a near enemy.

When westrive to follow a path like the Brahmaviharas, we may not find it too difficult to identify and perhaps steer away from their absolute opposites – sometimes referred to as 'far enemies' – which are anger, cruelty, envy and bias.

Much less easy to notice are the near enemies, as they cunningly masquerade as a spiritual quality being subtle, disguised versions of what we might ordinarily see as pure and wholesome. One thing that makes these distinct from The Four Divine Abodes is that this path is essentially about connecting – to the deepest parts of our selves as well as to other beings. The near enemies end up being about compartmentalization or separation, and moral arrogance.

The near enemy of loving kindness is attachment. Attachment may feel like love, but as it grows is revealed as insecure clinging, fear and the desire to control.

The near enemy of compassion is pity; a superior attitude, seeting up above or apart from suffering around us, turning it to a kind of unhealthy spectator sport.

The near enemy of sympathetic joy is comparison, checking whether we have or are more, the same, or less than another. Manifestations range from hypocritical humility to even over identifying with success of others, especially those near to us.

The near enemy of equanimity is indifference. True equanimity is about balance and acceptance in any situation; indifference is withdrawal and not caring, often numbing us to the need to stand and act for justice.

Without examining these near enemies that create separations, our spiritual life stagnates and our awareness cannot continue to grow.

Wise teachers suggest that we need to work on near enemies not as something to ignore, or roughly discard, but to first know as intimates – after all they are termed near ones – by drawing on out inherent gifts of self – reflection and self-awareness. This we do mainly by applying loving – kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and then to others, enabling us to become those refreshing sources of vitality and happiness for others that the Buddha taught of.