Is Hate Really the Opposite of Love?

(Written December 29, 2008)

A little over a year ago, I wrote a note on here. I think it was called, "Allowing Emotions to Communicate Truth." In the note, I offered the idea that there are no emotions that are actually negative. This includes hate, anger, sadness, etc.: emotions we often consider to be negative, with good reason. I haven't changed my mind about this, but I wanted to expand a little bit on the idea.

Most of the time, when we think of hate, we think of it as being directed toward a person or group of people. I will say that in these cases, it is ALWAYS a negative thing, and it is always very wrong. For us to hate and look down on any person for any reason is invariably hypocritical because none of us are perfect. But hate directed toward an injustice or an idea that goes against everything we know to be good and right, I think can be a very powerful and positive thing. However, it can only be positive if the hate is channeled through love. Does that make sense?

I think it's actually possible for hate to stem from love. As an example, I hate the idea of anyone that I care about being treated with cruelty. Cruelty in any fashion doesn't make any sense to me, and it makes me feel sick whenever I am unfortunate enough to witness it. But the hate I feel toward this cruelty comes from the love I feel for these people that I care about.

Hate can very easily turn into the most abrasive and destructive emotion, if misdirected, and allowed to take over. But it doesn't have to be that way. Hate is obviously an undesirable emotion to have. Whether we like it or not though, it will come to us on occasion. What if we were able to get to the point where we could master ourselves enough to where we can use this emotion (or passion) to change our lives, and then ultimately, the world for the better?

If we hate hunger, we can make steps to fight against world hunger. If we hate poverty, we can fight against that too. Child abuse, bigotry in every disgusting form, racism, sexism, homophobia, Internet filth, pornography of any kind, discrimination...all these and more dark streaks contaminating this beautiful world can and ought to be fought against. The ONLY effective way to fight against these things is through love.

If all emotions are indeed given to us by God, then I can't believe that any of them are inherently bad. Maybe there exists no opposites within all the emotions we are capable of feeling. Perhaps the opposite of emotion is simply to be emotionless. To be emotionless is essentially to be dead. Let's try to take advantage of the great opportunities our emotions can afford us before that happens.