When you will go out to make war on (above) your enemies…(Deut. 20:1)
Who are your enemies?
Confusion. Depression. Mindless obsessions. And other wild beasts.
Where do they live?
Inside you.
Why are you fighting them?
Not to destroy them, but to tame them, to harness their energies and transform them into trustworthy domesticated creatures.
How will you engage them?
From above.
Because you must know that you are not them. You are not your confusion. You are not your depression. As madly as those wild beasts may drive you, they are not you.
You, at your very core, stand beyond them, in another realm altogether.
Believe in your own true self. From there you will be able to pull those beasts upward.
Likutei Sichot vol. 2, pg. 384.
Thanks, I like the “pull those beast upward” sometimes it’s easier to think the enemies are people with who we have shared trauma. There are deeper emotions and all come from a struggle that is leading you to your best self. Eventually we will notice the divine spark in all.