Is HATE a bad thing to feel?

It's really an interesting discussion, LightninStrike! I'll try to present both negative and positive side of this mostly misused and exploited human emotion. Hate can probably be singled out as the most dangerous emotion and destructive factor in all human history. Millions of lives have been lost on the basis of this single emotion, be it personal, cultural, racial, religious, political or even regional. Humans have seen the worst crimes in the name of this underlying cause behind atrocities. On all levels, psychologically, it leads the beholder to adopt certain actions which are unhealthy, inhumane and destructive. A person living his/her life in hate will do actions that s/he him/herself won't like to happen to them. It drives the person whom one hates further away so much so that any reconciliation becomes impossible to realize and the whole cycle repeating itself, leads to most heinous crimes. A person filled with hate can't live a normal life, let alone enjoy it's blessings. Hate is a strong word, however, and should be used with caution. Many people use this word to describe their emotion without realizing that they are still far away from this stage. On the other side, I do believe that every human emotion which is given in nature, is not bad in itself at it's core. Like all other human emotions, hate can be a very beautiful and adorable emotion, when used in limits. Now, I know that you may not agree with me here, so I'll try to explain. Hate, basically, is responsible to generate strong emotions of repulsion for something or some one. I do not support hating a person at all but hating something deplorable is really adorable. Hating a person is deplorable and hating inhumane, base, immoral and unethical actions is adorable. This hate will make us more human and when used this way, it's really a beautiful human emotion. Like hating rape means that a person has such strong negative emotion for this deplorable act that he will not go close to any such thing. Hating killing innocent people will deter us doing such things ourselves. Hating hating a person will make us still be friends with that person while correcting his faults. Hating our own negative traits will cause us improve them so that we can love ourselves. I believe that when hate is used for deplorable human actions and not persons, it generates very fruitful and positive results. I have tried my best to explain my point but I know that I am not good at expressing ideas. I just hope that I am understandable. If you are not clear about something, I would like you to ask so that I could explain. I really enjoyed replying to this post of yours LightninStrike:-)

I agree with you completely when you say it is really consuming and unhealthy feeling and especially when you say it is not really worthwhile. Rechannelling rage is a very important lesson to be learned in life.

The haltred is a kind of aggression- active or passive-what was supressed and nourished a lot of time.And yes, it`s harmfull because it destroys our mental condition, makes us poisoned because of all this negative energy inside us. We must work about this and to take the problem seriously. There are many bad people arround, i agree.But we are nobody to judge.

there's nothing wrong with that...everybody feels that and that's normal. It's part of human emotion..what we can do is learn how to control and manage this feeling so, it won't turn into something really bad that will harm somebody else.

one can certainly become consumed by their hatreds and prejudices. I think hate can be a good thing - when the object of the hatred is inherent evils, but not individuals who are made in the likeness and image of God...good in their creation.

I completely agree with your views. Whenever we get a feeling of hatred creeping into our mind the calmness of our mind is vanished. Just the thought of hatred alters the rhythm of our heart beats. The heart beats vary is an unusual manner and our blood pressure also shoots up. We know what happens when the blood pressure goes above average. There are so many hazards related to hatred. One thing about hatred which everyone forgets is the person who is being hated has no effect on him. The whole thing goes on with the person who is hating others. When nothing is happening to the person whom we are hating what is the use of hating him and keeping him in mind all the time? We are causing harm to our own life by hating others. So, its better to everyone to keep away from hatred and learn to forgive. Forgiveness boosts up our self-esteem and healthy living.

yup. it's just natural for us to feel hate. humans as we are, no matter how kind we can be, we still get to a point when we hate a certain person, a certain thing or a certain circumstance. i don't get much hate in my heart. but there are times in my life when i feel really angry at someone. especially when i feel abused in any way. but i let it out as quickly as possible. i want to have a happy day, a happy heart and a happy life. i hate letting hate stay inside my heart! better to stay happy than be full of hate. i don't want to get wrinkles!... anne

Well I belive is ...!! Hate is something you cannot control..."in some cases"..!! and I prefer not to control it either. Sometimes my hate rsults in good result it keeps me away from many mean people. Yes it true that hate gives us negative feelings and it is not healthy at all..!! But I can't help it. No can be perfect.

I could not really say that I have ever hated someone in my life. I have experienced having disliked or being mad or angry at somebody but not hate. I think hate is too strong for me and too consuming. If ever I get to feel it, I am afraid of drowning in it.

Honestly, I personally feel that hate is healthy to a certain degree. It's an emotion and we can't always control our emotions. Hate only becomes a problem when it becomes all consuming and drives said person to do something rash and stupid. I have felt hate, I can say that without thinking twice about it. Do I hold on to it? No. It's not worth it. For me, I wait for the initial anger to wear off, then I forgive and move on. I refuse to let it hold me back.

I have felt hate in my life sweets but it is a very destructive feeling! I always tell my kids off if they say they hate something and explain to them that hate is a very strong and consuming feeling and while they may intensly dislike something they should try not to hate as it damages the person who feels it more than it affects anyone else! I think it is a very much overused word nowadays! xxx

I think hate is a feeling that comes when you are closed to new kind of challenges or experiences and are closeted in your own view of the world.If you realise that there is so much diversity in this world and that it is this divesity that makes this world an exciting place to live then you would not feel hate.You are right,it is a consuming passion.One should know when to give it up instead of harbouring it in one's mind all the time.What many people donot realise is that this hate also fuels all kinds of physical illnesses in the body becasue of the negative vibes it creates in the body.I like to take out my anger or hate in the form or words(written down on a piece of paper) and then tear it to shreds immediately.This is the safest way as it is no moer inside my mind,eating me up from inside and it harms no one because I have not directed it towards any person.But also,this method helps me put my feelings in perspective and sometimes I realise that what I thought was anger or hate towards a particular person or incident is infact my feelings or reactions to a certain experience.

I think hate is a God given emotion! For instance we should hate evil! Yes true there seems to be a fine line sometimes when evil comes into ones home and attacks. How do we hate the evil without hating the person doing the evil. The person we should feel sorry and pity for and even forgiveness but evil we should hate! Evil is our enemy I don't think we should deny that it is there. If you try to make nice with evil it can swallow you and your loved ones up! Evil destroys! You must acknowledge that it is a part of this world in order to stand up against it. It is like going to war. War against evil with good! I know what I am trying to say but unfortunetly I am not saying it well. As I type I feel like I can hear the yah buts, and the oh yah but you gotta, and all I have to say is there are so many, so very many different senarios you can think of and they all have different answers. But hate is a part of this world it is a lagetamate God given emotion. So how can we deny it when maybe what we need to do is learn properly what to do with that emotion!

hate draws you down to the level of that,that you hate. It is stressfull and bad for you. If you spend your time hating you have no time to live.

I like your theory and during earlier years would have agreed with it. I am stating only my opinion and speaking only from personal experience here. For me Hatred was very hard to accept I was on the receiving end of and harder still when it did become mutual. Being a very Catholic person it was no easy task to accept I was being hated and it would become mutual because of what was being done to me by a jealous and hateful person. Life became very miserable, painful and full of suffering. The person who caused the hatred that did become mutual expected our lives to go on with this continuing on and the hateful person to reap what it was jealous of too. I finally was released from the life I was being forced into and still hate this person now. I expect I always will. I had a good life until someone else's jealousy and hatred ruined it for me. I wasn't able to control the hateful person. I was expected to live forever suffering it. I'd rather not live at all than ever have lived that. The hatred remains in me for what was caused and cost my life, even now that I've moved on to a better place to live a few years later. No, hatred is not good but when it's something forced on you as mutual it can save your life and force you into doing things you didn't have the confidence or strength to do before. That hatred made me move someplace new and start life over. Before then I was too afraid of doing what hatred forced me to do just to live life again.

who would EVER feel happy about being hated? sure you can be like "i dont care" and then forget about it, but how can they be happy about it? but i agree with you about it being really consuming and unhealthy. it can lead to great stress.

I try not to hold hate in my heart for anybody. There are a lot of people that have really hurt me or angered me, and at first I want to vent that I hate them, but hate heardens your heart. Eventually I just end up pittying them, because I can be your best friend or your worst enemy, but a friend of mine would never go without.

You won't know how to hate someone til you learn to love... So it's not a bad thing to feel.. cause it proves that you know how to love... it's part of growing up and it's part of life..

Though hate seems to be a very unhealthy feeling, I still think that in the process you have to acknowledge what you feel inside. You cannot lie about what you have inside you and yet the matter of truth is there is areason for its existence...there are no sure fireways to stop it,yet knowing that you hate something or someone means that,just like us,we are on the same ground....