"Our enemy is by tradition our savior, in preventing us from superficiality"

Often in life, the presence of an adversary evokes discomfort, resistance, or even fear. Yet, a deeper understanding reveals the paradoxical benefits of confronting those who challenge us. Joyce Carol Oates proposes that our enemy, by testing our beliefs and boundaries, ultimately compels us to delve beneath the surface of our thoughts and values. Without external opposition, it's easy to drift into complacency. The friction produced by rivalry forces individuals to defend, reassess, or reconfigure their ideologies, thereby promoting intellectual and emotional depth.

Adversaries expose the limitations and flaws in our reasoning. In meeting criticism or direct conflict, we are pressed to defend our perspectives with greater rigor and reflection. There is no room for facile answers or half-hearted convictions when every position can be scrutinized or attacked. A friend may comfort us, but an enemy demands self-examination. The challenges posed by opposition disrupt the ease of conformity, provoking a necessary re-evaluation of our motivations and assumptions.

Even on a personal level, those who resist or antagonize us can clarify our aspirations and priorities. By encountering what we do not want to become, or wrestling with values contrary to our own, we refine a more authentic sense of self. Struggle is what distinguishes the shallow from the profound; only when unchallenged do we risk languishing in superficiality, never plumbing the depths of what we truly believe. Growth depends on friction. The very discomfort brought by adversaries pushes us to introspection, resilience, and complexity.

Paradoxically, then, it is not our supporters who drive our growth in the same measure. The enemy’s role as unwitting savior lies in forcing us toward substance. Through their skepticism, rivalry, or outright opposition, we are delivered from the wasteland of shallow thought. Thus, enmity is not merely something to be endured; it is a profound catalyst for meaningful self-discovery and the pursuit of truth.