Originally Posted by cardboard adolescent

There are no legitimate reasons to hate. It's believing that hate can have legitimacy that keeps hate alive. Nobody starts the hate, and the hate keeps flowing because everyone thinks, "If I stop it they'll just do it anyway!" Well, even if they do, so it goes. The only wise choice possible is to let the hate stop with you. Then at least you're not feeding the fire. You don't have to just stand by and let the fire burn, but you do need to realize you're only adding gasoline.

The world would not be a better place if someone came along and murdered these people. I'm sure that's exactly the logic that led to the 9-11 attacks. But it's so hard to see things from the other side.

Hate is hate is hate. Someone comes to you with hate and you respond in kind, feeling that it's justified. The only reason that person came to you with hate is because someone came to them with hate, and they responded in kind. And the only reason that person came with hate... you get the picture. It begins, the person came with a lot of hate and you responded with a bit of hate. They came with evil sadism and you got angry. But hate builds on itself. It's a negative feedback loop.

The first step is to realize that this is what's going on. Recognize that it's not the outside that's causing the hate, you're letting the hate arise in yourself. The second step is to not act on the hate, to watch it, recognize it for what it is, and let it pass. The third step is to find something else. To go look for the river to get water to put out the fire. The water isn't more killing, more yelling, more arguing. The water is understanding and wisdom. The water is peace and compassion.

The fire is burning and we all feel that we need to respond immediately. We need to do something about the fire. It takes a lot to accept that our response isn't helping. It takes even more to accept that our response is only fueling the fire. When we stop responding, it feels like we're just sitting idly by and letting it burn. But we have to stop responding before we can go look for water.

Then we're looking for water, and it seems so hard to find. The fire is still burning. "Look faster, you stupid idiot!" But we have to be calm to find the water. We can't keep running back to the fire and back to the water. We have to be single-minded in our determination to find the water. So that means, in some sense, letting go of the fire. Realizing that there's nothing we can do about the fire until we find the water.

It's hard to just recognize hate as hate, fire as fire. We always want to find a scapegoat. It's not just hate, it's their hate. And this hate I feel, it's not my hate it's also their hate. If they were gone, all the hate would be gone. But it's not. It's only gotten stronger. Hard to just watch the hate, accepting: right now, there's nothing I can do. Hard to see the possibility of redemption in every person. Hard to see the virtues of those consumed by hate. Hard to see because all their virtues have become the vehicles of hate. Hard to see where this hate has come from, or how to help it lose its grip. Often we try, and the hate only seems to intensify. Sometimes our good intentions are misguided. Sometimes what's needed is for the fire to just burn itself out.

We live in a mysterious world. It's easy to respond to joy with joy and hate with hate, hard to find a peace which will give us the wisdom we need to see through hate, see through ignorance, and do our part in untangling these webs. But that's what we're here to do. Past all the bullshit, that is our mission and our purpose. Whether or not anyone agrees with this, the seed is there. The wisdom is in many places, wherever you feel comfortable looking for it, living with it, helping it grow. Nothing else really matters.