Can hate be healthy?

[kayay]

I believe just about any emotion can be bad when it controls your life. But self help gurus and religion often tell us to forgive and hatred is destructive, hurtful, and all around bad. Yet is it? We're told forgiveness is the path to healing, but is it absolutely necessary? Must we let go all our hate to find peace? If it's not consuming us,

Comments

[ayvah]

I don't believe that hate is healthy, and neither is misguided love. Patriotism, love for one's country, is closely tied to hate for others.

There are times when anger and rage can be healthy (better than standing around and doing nothing), but hate just destroys everything.

[kayay]

I think it all depends on how you define hate and the degrees of it. To me, rage is even more intense than hatred, so if one says rage is healthy, then I say hate is too. Hate is more focused, in my opinion, and can be a great motivator where as rage makes me think of blind, unfocused anger.

You're more wubby than me! (I'm not sure what a wubby is... but it sounded good. ^^)

[ayvah]

Well, when I think of hate, I do think of it as focused, but I see it as so focused on the goal that it's blind to the innocent victims in its path.

...Wubby? XD

[theorah]

interesting post! After thinking about it, I think I agree that hate is just another emotion, and as such, in moderation and when controlled, it is a helpful emotion to have...without hate, maybe people wouldnt be able to understand wether something is bad for them or not? hmm...its hard to really decide wether it is something good or bad. In my personal veiw point, everything has a delicate balance of negative and positive, and so without the bad or 'hate' we would not be able to understand or appreciate the good. So to me hate is a healthy thing,in a way, although of course as you said, like any emotion, when it gets out of control and starts doing harm to your or someone elses life, it becomes a bad thing.

[kayay]

That's similar to what a friend asked, "If you can't hate, can you love?" That's comparable to saying, "There is no light without darkness." Or maybe it's also that by being able to feel hate we can feel love and joy all the stronger, thus it can motivate positive emotions, like a desire for justice or to "right a wrong", which makes for really fun video game protagonists. XD

[zephranthes]

Heh, I've never met someone without any hate at all. I don't think its something that we're capable of abandoning just yet...people will always find something to despise.

[kayay]

People who claim to have never harbored hatred are weird and suspicious!

[zephranthes]

Or on a loooot of druuuugs maaaan