In part 1, we looked at two interpretations of the command to love one's enemies. In the end, both approaches transform the command into its opposite: "do not love your enemy." The first interpretation -- "love your enemy, because that's a way to really get 'em good" -- denies the first term of the command, suggesting that you are not really to love them. The second interpretation -- "love your enemy, because (or so that) they be not your enemy" -- denies the second term of the command, suggesting you are not to love one who is really your enemy.
I am interested in exploring a third interpretation:
- 3. Love your enemies, for every great strength desires a great opponent against which to test itself and over which to prevail.
Unlike the other two interpretations, this one is able to do justice to both "love" and the "enemy." Every power wishes to assert itself, and to the measure that we possess a power of life and of spirit, that strength wishes to test and express itself against that which resists. When two lives are complementary, there is friendship; when two lives have no bearing upon each other, there is indifference. It is precisely when two lives contradict and resist each other that enmity arises.
<extended example> If I am a miserable basketball player, Michael Jordan and I would not even qualify as opponents; he is simply my superior, and there can be no real struggle between us. Any serious athlete desires not only a real opponent, but furthermore the best possible opponent, for it is only in such a circumstance that winning is meaningful. Imagine a religious basketball player who prays for his opponents before the game. Only the most pathetic athlete could pray that his enemy be defeated, become badly injured, etc. Likewise, it would be absurd for a player to pray that the members of the opposing team join his side and begin shooting baskets for his team. Rather, a serious athlete prays for his opponents, that they will perform at their maximal level and offer to him the greatest challenge. </extended example>
The one who opposes and challenges us with the greatest strength -- the one who is most truly our enemy -- is therefore the object of a profound gratitude, respect, and love. The love that one harbors for one's enemies is thus not merely wishful thinking; rather, it has a firm basis in the reality of one's relation to the enemy. Under this interpretation, unlike the other two, "love your enemies" means something like it says: having a deep and authentic love for those with whom one is truly at enmity.
<extended example> If I am a miserable basketball player, Michael Jordan and I would not even qualify as opponents; he is simply my superior, and there can be no real struggle between us. Any serious athlete desires not only a real opponent, but furthermore the best possible opponent, for it is only in such a circumstance that winning is meaningful. Imagine a religious basketball player who prays for his opponents before the game. Only the most pathetic athlete could pray that his enemy be defeated, become badly injured, etc. Likewise, it would be absurd for a player to pray that the members of the opposing team join his side and begin shooting baskets for his team. Rather, a serious athlete prays for his opponents, that they will perform at their maximal level and offer to him the greatest challenge. </extended example>
The one who opposes and challenges us with the greatest strength -- the one who is most truly our enemy -- is therefore the object of a profound gratitude, respect, and love. The love that one harbors for one's enemies is thus not merely wishful thinking; rather, it has a firm basis in the reality of one's relation to the enemy. Under this interpretation, unlike the other two, "love your enemies" means something like it says: having a deep and authentic love for those with whom one is truly at enmity.
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