It's a strong word.
Hate.
Most people don't want to freely admit, that we hate. It feels too wrong and too strong and in any case... most of us have been told since as far as we can remember, that hate, is wrong.
But maybe, hate is not wrong.
Maybe it's an opportunity to understand yourself better. Maybe, just maybe...facing your hate is a pathway to growth.
You scroll through your newsfeed and you spot graphic visuals of some atrocity that has taken place in the world. And you hate. You hate that people have been hurt. You hate that someone did something that awful to someone undeserving. You hate that there is nothing that you can do about it. That hate, stems from helplessness. From not understanding that specific behaviour and not being able to do a single thing, about it. It stems, from love and compassion for those who are suffering.
You cannot deny that at least once in your life, at some point, you have hated someone. Perhaps you hated someone for a reason, perhaps you hated an entire nation because of the deeds of one individual or perhaps you hated someone that hurt someone you loved. Not one of us is exempt from feeling hate. Perhaps, you were taught to hate? To hate someone or something just because of the impact it has had on other people and because of what you've been told. It's not necessarily an experience that you have personally had, but you hate along with your family and friends because hate makes us feel like we are part of a superior, special club of people who are better than those we hate? If we had to be honest, and we had to truthfully inspect our own actions and lives, each one of us has at some point, been the hated. Most of us know this hate game, from both sides of the fence.
I don't believe that hate is the opposite of love. Hate is still a "something". It takes root in what was once a positive emotion. It stems from love broken or feelings of disappointment or perhaps, your hate comes from a place where you just cannot understand behaviour or feel hopeless because of someone else's actions.
It was once something that was good but it went sour... like the milk forgotten out of the fridge.
I believe, that the opposite of love is not hate but rather indifference. A nothingness place where you really are not invested and do not care of the outcome. A place where you have removed hate and made extra room for love, forgiveness, peace, acceptance and spiritual growth.
If you are hating... you still care.
You still need the outcome or the person to be "a certain way". You still want to have some input, in how this plays out.
If you are hating on someone or something, try and understand what the root emotion is. Anything that elicits strong emotions and reactions must surely be worth the time and work it takes to figure it out? Where did that hate bloom? Where did your feelings of hate stem from? If they are valid, then work through them and find a way to re-define that situation.
We love to hate because it is easier than doing the work to understand our hate, to process life events and to become better because of what has taken place. Hate is only wrong, when we perpetuate it. See it as a signal for a new journey, for undiscovered deeper levels of understanding. See it for what it is, a time in space and not an everlasting part of who you are.
Hate is the lazy man's way of dealing with life. Working through hate takes time, practice, honesty and brutally facing who we are... it's easier, to just hate for the sake of hating.
Do yourself a favour and check your hate.
Hate is not about outside influences, it's about YOU. Figure out why you hate, where that hate bloomed and what positive emotions you can nurture and heal...and you may very well, open up a whole new level of understanding of yourself and of what your ethics are.
It is hard work, no-one can deny that but maybe, you deserve more than a life filled with hate.