I will end this series of posts that hopefully has paused the regularly scheduled programming in our minds to provide a brief moment of disruption with one last aspect of Mettā.
My suggestion on Wednesday was to offer yourself loving-kindness, goodwill and benevolence. On Friday my suggestion was to turn the focus toward someone who is close to you. Today my suggestion is that we step out and focus our offerings on an opponent.
We all have adversaries in our lives. They are people with whom we can easily get into a dust up with, those who we would classify as an arch-nemesis. Rarely do we pause to offer our antagonists a moment of reprieve. It is our natural reaction to think poorly of them and wish them unwell.
However, as is the teaching of many wise people it is at this moment that we can also offer our “enemies” food, shelter and clothing. With this in mind may I invite you to take a moment to offer Mettā: loving-kindness, benevolence and goodwill upon those who you may think of as a foe.
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We don’t do that very often. Modern society and culture creates so many divisions that this an important reminder to meditate on the well-being for even those that we many consider our opponent.
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