Someone recently stated that the social problems we are currently facing are due to the “enemy from within.”   When we look back over our collective history, we discover several people have used this phrase.  What these individuals all have in common is that the “enemy from within” was referencing other human beings, specifically one’s own people.

To say that the “enemy from within” refers to other individuals in our society is to deny and deflect the power and responsibility of our humanity, for either enhancing or negating our existence. Regardless of which side of the aisle you make your living on, the fundamental problem is within each of us, not something about others.

As long as we continue to focus externally on finding a resolution to our social problems, we will not only continue to experience these problems but also risk destroying that which we claim to cherish.  Blaming others and continuing to play the victim does not resolve our problem but only escalates its existence and furthers the possibility of annihilation.

We must face the truth about what we are experiencing. We, as individuals, are the cause of the problem. We are responsible for what we are experiencing. The cause of the social problems that are literally destroying our society is coming from within each of us. Even though many are unable to perceive and understand the fundamental cause of our shared problem, it does not mean that it does not exist inside us.  The “enemy from within” was meant to be literal, referring not to another but to ourselves.

So, what exactly is the “enemy from within?”  I believe first that it is not another person and has absolutely nothing to do with another person or group of people. The enemy from within is within all of us, psychologically, not something external.  I believe that this enemy from within is a thought or belief I have about myself, a negative thought or belief that constantly tells me I am not good enough, not enough, broken, defective, inadequate, or some other negative belief that I have created about myself.

To understand that we have this negative belief about ourselves, one needs to recognize the fact that we think with two connected but distinct minds. We have a conscious mind that we conduct most of our daily life affairs with, and an unconscious mind whose operations are hidden from us. Both minds are essential for our very existence and are psychologically integrated.  It is in the unconscious mind that the enemy from within exists. The enemy from within is an unconscious negative belief that we are responsible for creating and have been nurturing for many years.

This negative belief that we have about ourselves affects everything in our lives.  It affects our physical health, our future, our career, and, most importantly, our relationships with others.  As the enemy from within is negative, it will have a detrimental impact on my relationships with others. If I think and believe negatively about myself, I will struggle to experience empathy or love towards others.  Such a situation will also cause me to be unable to accept affection and love from others. I will be unable to fully accept the love and affection from another due to my belief that me being unworthy of the love and affection.

The effect of the enemy from within on relationships with others is that it hinders, if not stops, me from creating a connection or bond with others. I will tend to perceive another person as separate from or different from me. With this lack of connection or sense of relatedness, I may even think that this other person harbors negative thoughts and feelings about me, dislikes me, or even hates me.  I may even believe that they are in some manner against me, wanting to cause me harm, even. This perceptual process is the result of projection, specifically projection from our unconscious mind and a wounded ego.

Believing that I am not good enough, I tend to avoid dealing with the negative thoughts I have about myself, repressing them from my conscious mind and into my unconscious mind, and then attempting to rid myself of such thinking by projecting it outwards, onto others.  Whatever I negatively think about myself, even hate about myself, I will project onto another person, and as a result, begin to take my projection personally, believing further that the other person does not like me and possibly is out to harm me. Such reasoning may trigger my tendency to defend myself, even in the absence of empirical proof that overt aggression has been directed towards me. This projection of a negative self-image is a powerful and potentially destructive process that needs exploration.