They say that love and hate are two sides of the same coin. They’re the same emotion through a different lens. Those things you love most become the things you hate most when your love is betrayed. I loved my current job more than any other job I ever had. Now that they’ve betrayed my trust, I absolutely loathe the place.
When you are a child, you love everyone and everything, including yourself. Integral to that love is your ability to trust. When and if you learn not to trust something you loved. Then you are primed to hate it. The more you loved something and the more it betrayed you, the more you find it in yourself to hate it.
I’ve never hated myself. I’ve been disappointed with myself and hated my situation. (I still haven’t gotten over hating my species. We’re a sick, undeserving lot.) But I’ve never hated myself despite how people have tried to make me look at myself with disdain… through media or through insults.
Hate isn’t something you can just do without exerting a lot of energy. Something has to deserve your hate for it to be as effortless as love. So it’s impossible to truly hate yourself. Of everyone, you deserve it least. Right?
March 26th
This is the start of the growing season in Slavic countries. Until today, the earth was pregnant, and it was considered a grave sin to plow the pregnant earth with iron.
This is the birthday of Joseph Campbell, author and professor of mythology.
The rite of Cybele and Attis continues with the Requietio, a day of repose or recovery from the festivities.
Comments (5)
Right! I like this way of looking at it.
I always say that I don’t care to put out the energy required to hate anything – if I dislike it that much, then it doesn’t deserve to suck me clean of energy too. That would only hurt me and solve nothing.
I agree with you, but I do have to admit that there were times when I hated myself… or maybe like you, I just hated my situation, and I was angry at myself for putting up with it. Either way it’s not a good place to be in.
I love the mentality that you don’t hate yourself, you just have hated the situation you’re in….I really like that.
I’ve hated myself plenty. So are you saying that the only difference between love and hate is the addition of trust (to make love)? That is an interesting way to look at it. I don’t disagree with you though I haven’t thought it all out yet.
@Altered_Sight - I wouldn’t say that exactly. I think that in order to love someone though, trust is essential. If you love someone and they betray your trust, that makes it easier to hate. But if trust is a crucial element of love, then envy is a crucial element of hate. In order to hate someone, there must be something about them that you want or crave. Whether it’s their love or their esteem, if you want something they are not willing to give, any love you bear them is more easily turned to hate.