An Old German Proverb Says: “Many enemies, much honour.” (Viel Feind, viel Ehr.)

For centuries, this proverb has been understood as a celebration of conflict, as though the number of one’s enemies measured the greatness of a human being. Yet this is a profound misunderstanding.

From the perspective of the Dreamer, having many enemies is, at once, both an honour and a burden.

It is an honour because every enemy is an opportunity to return to yourself.

It is a burden because every enemy calls you to assume full responsibility for the only conflict that has ever existed: the inner war.

The ordinary man sees others and the world itself as realities separate from himself. He therefore condemns and fights his enemies, believing them to be the cause of his suffering. He never realizes that every war, revolution, crime, and genocide springs from that original fracture within.