Mercy Beyond Enmity

Neville's Inner Vision

Between the lines, Job is not boasting of a righteous victory over an enemy, but declaring the victory of inner sovereignty. The destruction spoken of is not the ruin of another in the outer world, but the collapse of a hostile belief within you that you may one day justify a curse or a rejoicing over another’s misfortune. In Neville’s terms, to rejoice at hardship in another is to assume a state that denies the I AM as mercy; a forthright act of imagination must be used to hold the consciousness that the other is integral to your own renewal. The verse asks you to observe your speech and your heart: you are asked to maintain purity, to refrain from speaking curses, since every spoken word is a creative act forming your inner territory. Therefore, your reality is a mirror of your inner disposition. If you want peace with enemies, you must imagine peace in yourself first, and you must stop feeding the thought that harm to another could bring you momentary satisfaction. Mercy dissolves enmity by aligning you with the I AM who loves all.