#truth

@wolfwoman One of my favorite quotes from Orwell, but I'd like to ask him, aren't those the same thing?

If you truly understand someone can you hate them?

@NiveusLepus @wolfwoman

Yes, sadly.

@AskTheDevil @NiveusLepus @wolfwoman A loved one who has made extremely destructive decisions.

@poemblaze @AskTheDevil @NiveusLepus My little brother committed suicide when he was 38 and that is the single worst thing in my life. I was beyond furious and cussed him out for months. But hate? No.
My MAGA family members? No. I cut some of them from my life but no hate.

@wolfwoman @poemblaze @NiveusLepus To be fair, I've probably known a lot more people than most people have, and I've also deliberately put myself close to some of the worst ones, because of the nature of what I do.

I've only ever really hated a handful of times, and only when I really did get to understand the person deeply.

@AskTheDevil Interesting. I don't really hate anyone, at present. @wolfwoman @NiveusLepus

@poemblaze @wolfwoman @NiveusLepus When I finally realize that what I am feeling is hate, it really catches me off guard. It's not something I seek out, and I don't like it. I don't like being a person who feels or expresses hatred, and I don't like being exposed to things for which my body can find no other emotion with which to interpret it.

@AskTheDevil @poemblaze @NiveusLepus That is fascinating to me (BA in Psych, want fries with that?) I wonder if I have felt hatred in the past but didn't recognize it. I can't recall anything. I had a *very* quick and hot temper which often resulted in a violent action on my part. I had to, and did, learn to control that - perhaps in a furious moment, I felt hate. No idea! Then again, from a fairly young age I was taught something very similar to the maxim "hate the sinner, not the sin".

@wolfwoman @AskTheDevil @poemblaze Hatred, I think, is a complicated emotion. Once it is recognized it can be decided upon.

Feelings are, but so is will. The question is, what to do about it?

Hatred is a natural response I think, to certain kinds of experience, but ultimately its a consuming force. I've heard it said its like drinking poison and expecting ones enemy to die.

I think its because it roots us back to a toxic event.

Pardon me while I ramble and wander through this. ^_^

@NiveusLepus @wolfwoman @AskTheDevil @poemblaze

No rambling here. I have same experiences. Hatred is truly a choice. No one can impose it upon us.

@LnzyHou @wolfwoman @AskTheDevil @poemblaze

I've encountered many teachings lately about store consciousness. How there are seeds of all mental states and emotions within us. Mindfulness, hatred, anger, compassion, etc.

Attention/engagement is like fertilizer for them, but even without that, they will still arise for a variety of reasons.

The "trick" is to respond to each state with an attitude of love and healing for oneself.

@LnzyHou @wolfwoman @AskTheDevil @poemblaze

"Hello my hatred. I see you there, Im going to sit with you mindfully to understand you and heal you."

No judgement, no shame, just awareness, and then action and choice.

Feelings are, but so our are decisions about those feelings.

@NiveusLepus @LnzyHou @wolfwoman @AskTheDevil @poemblaze

I occurred to me recently that the opposite of love is not hatred, but fear.

Of course, fear in denial can mask itself as hatred.

I could be wrong, but it was an interesting way to think about it :)

@ceorl @NiveusLepus @wolfwoman @AskTheDevil @poemblaze

Absolutely true for me. My behavior, often over the top, was based in fear.

Therapy helped me see that.