Why There Is Hatred

Wherever you look there is hatred. It’s no longer a matter of international relations, but within countries, societies seem to be splintering into smaller and smaller pieces, and each piece thinks it’s got a monopoly on the truth, making it entitled to deride, mock, but mainly hate everyone who thinks otherwise. However, there is a reason for this alarming intensification of hatred: Without it, we will not want to change ourselves.

Hatred is our inherent nature, as it is written, “The inclination of a man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Gen. 8:21). At the same time, the rest of nature also consists of a good inclination, and the two are balanced everywhere except in humanity. The reason we are created “handicapped” is that this is the only way to compel us to want the good inclination consciously, of our own volition, and choose to balance our inclinations rather than remain in our inherent wickedness.

Hatred is our inherent nature, as it is written, “The inclination of a man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Gen. 8:21). At the same time, the rest of nature also consists of a good inclination, and the two are balanced everywhere except in humanity. The reason we are created “handicapped” is that this is the only way to compel us to want the good inclination consciously, of our own volition, and choose to balance our inclinations rather than remain in our inherent wickedness.

On the one hand, it’s true that had we had both inclinations to begin with, we wouldn’t do all the damage we are doing to each other, to animals and plants, and to Earth. On the other hand, understanding the workings of reality would be impossible since we would naturally behave correctly with each other and with nature, without giving it a second thought. That would create perfect human animals, but we would never become human beings, which is the goal of our existence.

Now that the hatred is evident among us, we can, and actually must begin to cultivate the opposite quality. We must, because if we don’t, we will destroy our species, and possibly everything else on the face of the Earth, and we must, because this is the only way we can learn how reality works, the balance that exists throughout the universe and all of reality. Only if we develop the quality of goodness and love, the opposite of hatred, we will be able to witness firsthand how all of nature operates, and we would learn how to manage our lives successfully.

And the way to build this opposite quality is with each other. Just as now we hate each other, we should start building the opposite feeling. Just as nature doesn’t suppress anything but lets everything be in perfect coexistence, we should build this love among us on top of the hatred without suppressing it. In other words, we should feel the hate, and then make love more important to us than the hatred we feel, and strive to act accordingly.

The hatred is not redundant; it is essential to the process. We can build the opposite feeling atop the initial hatred if we realize that without feeling the hatred, we will never need or want to love, and we will therefore never know what love is.

Once we overcome a certain level of hatred, another level will emerge, a deeper, more sinister one. But it will appear only so as to cover this one, too, with love. And because the level of hatred will be stronger than before, so will the level of love we will build atop it.

Gradually, we will become grateful for feeling the hatred, since its reward is the increase of love. We will realize that we cannot love unless we hate first, and if we use it as an incentive instead of succumbing to it, we will become more loving human beings.