Thursday, August 7, 2025

How Elvis Presley 'destroyed' his enemy

What is stronger, expressing anger and irritation or forgiving and showing forbearance?

Q: What is the best way to destroy an enemy? A: Make that person a friend.
  • Most of us imagine that an "enemy" is someone we hate when, in fact, it more applies to anyone who hates us. Though they hate and attack, we need not give tit for tat. We can be like the sandalwood tree, which sprinkles perfume even on the axe that lays it low: Positive Response: How to Meet Evil with Good
The King as Fat Happy Budai
The act of metta ("lovingkindness") is what is best translated as "friendliness." Imagine the whole universe and every being in it as a friend on whom kindness is bestowed. There is no adversary. There are only friends and supporters. The Buddha said this is how some Gods (brahmas) abide, steeped in thoughts/feelings of boundless lovingkindness (agape, universal friendliness, unbounded love, and compassionate connection).

Who was the great entertainer Elvis Presley, the King of Rock 'n Roll, to commit such a public act of love and compassion? Would Johnny Cash, who had a great deal of love and acceptance of the most marginalized members of our society, approve? "Folsom Prison Blues" suggests he would.

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