like darkness is lack of light? Or is hate something completely different?
I was thinking about this and to me, saying that hate is just lack of love would mean that without love, everyone would hate just like if there wasn't light, it would be dark. But without love, I think people would be neutral not hateful. What do you think?
Is hate just lack of love or is hate and love two completely different things?
2007-03-24 08:32:45 · 15 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
Hate is not the opposite of love, fear is. Hate is just a byproduct of fear.
If you were not afraid then what reason would there be not to love.
A long time ago I thought that love was something that you reserved for some special set of people that you had judged worthy of it.
After a while I got to thinking about what Jesus had said about turning the other cheek and loving our neighbor I put the two together and realized that he had made no exceptions in these statements. It became obvious to me that he intended that we exclude no one from the love that we are supposed to be giving. I started thinking about my idea of love and suddenly realized that I had not been loving anyone at all. I had simply been judging everyone and every thing.
Judging someone worthy of love is not love, it is only judgment. I actually started to cry when I realized this. I saw just how much of my life I had wasted being judgmental, thinking of myself as a Christian, when I was actually doing just the opposite of what Jesus had asked us to do.
I thought about the verse judge not lest ye be judged, and I understood it for the first time.
I realized that I have a lot of catching up to do. So many opportunities were wasted. I now try to apply the love that I have for the world in a universal way like Jesus asks us to do.
If I start to feel afraid and think that I see someone that I should not love because of something I have thought or heard I try to catch my mistake as soon as possible. I tell myself that I have forgot the truth and have fallen for the same old trick that had cost me so many opportunities to be loving in the past. The horror of this realization is often all that is necessary to bring me back to my senses and make me drop the judgmental nonsense I was thinking.
I still have a lot to learn about love, but at least I’m making progress.
Love and blessings
Your brother
don
2007-03-24 10:33:46 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Hate and love are neither opposites, nor completely different things. One can only hate someone, or something that they've had very strong feelings for in the past.
So on one hand love and hate are very much the same thing. And as far as comparing hate to dark & light goes, I think it's an inadequate comparison since dark & light are neutral and have no emotions.
So maybe it's better to say that hate is an expression of pain.
2007-03-24 08:41:32 · answer #2 · answered by kickgirl001 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Hate and love are two opposites feelings but lack of love doesn't mean necessarily hate ! Personally , I try not to hate anyone because i consider hate as a very bad feeling . Of course , I don't ' love everyone , so If someone does something bad to me , I will try just to ignore him/her and persuade myself that he/she doesn't exist any more in my life . I wish him/her good luck but out of my life .
2007-03-24 08:47:38 · answer #3 · answered by maria_t 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No hate isn't the lack of love...cuz one can have hate and love in the heart at the same time... You're right....itz not like light and dark...
2007-03-24 09:26:41 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
There are a lot of people I have never meet, and I don't really love them because I don't know them. I don't hate them either. I have a lack of love and hate for them.
2007-03-24 09:58:02 · answer #5 · answered by Michael M 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Okay, this is just my opinion, but I look at it this way: emotions are a lot more complex than natural occurrences, as you've undoubtedly noticed. To me, love isn't the absence of hatred, it's the opposite. The absence of any emotion is, realistically, neutrality, as you have already noted. Just as it takes an effort of will to love, it also takes an effort of will to hate someone.
2007-03-24 09:44:06 · answer #6 · answered by knight2001us 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well some people i hate some people i love. i have both so i would say love and hate are two different people and can never be friends!
2007-03-24 09:42:55 · answer #7 · answered by Travis James 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No. Lack of love is indifference. Hate requires something of it's own.
2007-03-24 09:41:07 · answer #8 · answered by K 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hate is just lack of joy.
Enjoy!
2007-03-24 17:29:38 · answer #9 · answered by Alex 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hate is not a lack of love.
Hate comes from fear as do all low negative emotions.
The opposite of love is actually indifference.
2007-03-24 09:08:49 · answer #10 · answered by sapphire_velvet 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋