A Ramble About Hatred

What is hatred itself? If love is the choice to positively or benevolently care about someone no matter what they do or how they make you feel, then hatred is the opposite. It is the choice to negatively or malevolently care about someone no matter what they do or how they make you feel. It is the choice to cause or will harm to that person actively or passively.

Have you ever considered that the act of hating someone, especially holding a grudge against them, has nothing to do with the person you are hating? Hatred is like trying to hit a moving target. As soon as you lock on to the person to hate, they change and are no longer the same person.

We hate the person who wronged us, usually, in some way. We hate what that person did. But consider that the image or perception of the person becomes imprinted in our mind. We cannot think of the person in question without bringing up that perception. The person himself or herself however never remains in the same place they were when they did the wrong. They change, they grow or get worse as the case may be, but the person whom you have locked on to hate is gone forever.

All too often, we don't actually feel a certain way towards the actual person, be it love or hatred, but rather we feel a certain way towards our perception of that person. This can be easily seen with fans of celebrities. They learn about the person, memorize details about a person, fantasize about the person, and love the person dearly all without actually having met the person in question; and often, when they do, are confronted with someone whom they don't know, and are thus often crushed.

For this reason, hatred is pointless when directed towards any human being, and only hurts the innocent, never the guilty party. If you consider that the perception of the person which we hate is really a projection of our own minds, then we are only actually hating that part of our minds and the memory of the event or emotion associated with the hatred and then misdirecting that hatred towards the actual person in question. The person in question often has nothing to do with the hatred he or she encounters from us. Hatred begins within the hater and it only within the hater that it can be fought. Directing more hate towards the person who hates us does not end the hatred, but only causes us to be caught hating that perception of the hater and thus that part of our own minds.

The Buddha taught that hatred cannot be appeased with hatred, but hatred can only be appeased with “not-hatred.” Jesus Christ taught “But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” (ESV) And St. Paul taught “Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (ESV)

We must in fact save our hatred for those things which truly deserve it. We must wish deliberate harm on the disorder which so easily causes us to harm ourselves and others. Hatred is well deserved for things like ignorance, violence, abusiveness of any kind, and malice inflicted on others, and all such things as this. Hatred can be a powerful tool for spiritual growth if I unleash it on my own disorder and let it wreak havoc with my own complacency, pride, greed, selfish ambitions, and lack of self-control as long as I do not misdirect it at the person who is afflicted with these things, and let it attack the things themselves.