You and I

Frederick Neitzsche said that you are your own worst enemy. Words that became popular because of how profoundly they resonated with anyone who heard them. "You" and "Enemy" stand out here. You meaning the ego and enemy being an entity that would bring you harm.

Thors said that you don't have any enemies. There is no one in existence whom it's okay to cause harm. There is no justification for brutality. There is no redemption in destruction. Whatever is, grows further. These words have never left me ever since I had heard them. 

I must admit that I am inclined to lean toward Thors statements, although the two aren't contradictory. The ego is not a solid recognizable enitity, nor is it a multi layered mental construct. The onion analogy is useful for describing the nature of the ego, but there is a little more to it.

The way I see it, ego is a phenomenon. It's an experience that happens to some living creatures. It's like a spell cast by the environment. Like feeling sleepy in a room lacking oxygen, or suffocating in sulphur gas. Except it's a spell "we" cast on our"selves". So ego is a self perpetuating closed loop. The spell that casts itself to further its own existence. It exists simply to exist longer. Yet we will not find metaphysical judgements or existential conclusions by studying this phenomenon. Those things can only come out from the ego.

Tl;dr? That separation is an illusion. The ego is an illusion. You don't really exist. Harm can only be done to you in the real world. Illusions have the power to affect reality, yet by definition, reality is that which cannot go away. So while illusions can shape reality, ultimately reality will remain long after the illusion has ended. So you are your worst enemy. You harm yourself more than anyone or anything else possibly can. Yet in reality, you might or might not be totally free from any danger.

When danger becomes more fictional than real, shit starts to get real whacky out here. I hurt myself. I push myself to newer horizons, I drag myself through pain and suffering, I beat myself up to become better. That is an oddly perfect word there. Be come. To be is simply to exist. To come is to move closer. Moving closer to existence. How can something that already exist, move closer to existing? How can something that doesn't exist, do anything at all? Most importantly, how can something that doesn't already know how to exist, come closer to existing?

Are humans born just to exist? Yea, pretty much. Things just happen for no real reason. Always have, always will. Then the answer must be to die. That is the only logical conclusion! Man cannot exist without ego, ego causes unnecessary suffering, everything is pointless anyway, so death is all that remains!

W-Wait a second, hold on right there for a minute. That doesn't sound sane at all! In fact that's the most well reasoned nonsensical bullshit I have ever heard! How can something feel so right, yet look so wrong? Well the truth is there isn't a reason for anything, but that bothers us because the ego needs a story to exist, and stories need to make sense, have a beginning, middle, and end, and most importantly, they have some meaning behind them. So we need an ego to live, and this ego makes us miserable. Are we doomed then? Why are we still here? Just to suffer? 

I've found that the ego self implodes in this way and collapses in on utself sometimes. A longing for death without physical pain is also ego's fallacy. The answer for me is to exist with awareness of the situation. This brings me back to the quote in question. You are your own worst enemy. You do not have any enemies.

Both the lines combine to form a perfect balance. If it's just the first one, then by most interpretations you end up splitting yourself in many parts and pitting them against each other. If it's just the second one, you risk remaining woefully ignorant to your own self tyranny. With both of those lines together, you can become aware of how you have been to yourself recently and then you can more easily let it go. The purpose of existence isn't just to exist btw. The real reason is to play. Why do we play? Because it's fun. Why is it fun? Because it has no reason. Such is the paradox of the human experience.