Making Peace with Yourself-John Dear

A few years before his death in 1999, the great Latin American advocate for the poor, Brazil’s Archbishop Dom Helder Camara, was speaking at a crowded church in Berkeley, California. He was asked, "After facing death squads, would–be assassins, corporations oppressing the poor, violent government opposition, and even hostile forces within your own church, who is your most difficult opponent?"

Without saying a word, Dom Helder pointed his hand into the air, then slowly arched it around, until it turned on himself, his index finger pointing to his heart. "I am my own worst enemy," he said, "my most difficult adversary. Here I have the greatest struggle for peace."

Likewise, Mahatma Gandhi was once asked about his greatest enemy. He spoke of the British and his struggle against imperialism. Then he reflected on his own people, and his struggles against untouchability, bigotry, and violence in India. Finally, he spoke of himself, and his own inner violence, selfishness, and imperfection. The last, he confessed, was his greatest opponent. "There I have very little say."

© "Yoga International" (January, 2002) published by Himalayan International Institute, Rural Route 1, Box 1130, Honesdale, Pennsylvania 18431, USA. Website: www.yimag.org.
From Living Peace by John Dear, S.J., copyright © 2001 by John Dear.

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