As I read Facebook status up-dates one day last week, the words posted by a friend struck a deep cord. The question he posed was simple, frank, and stark. It read: Will the hate ever stop?
As best as I could tell, the question was not connected to a specific hate-filled event, like a shooting at a Sheik temple, the brutal murder of a young gay man, a Neo-Nazi attack in a Black community, or even a protest organized by the Westboro Baptist Church. Instead, the question appeared to be existential in nature: will the hate that seems to fill the world ever come to an end?
Reading the question, I paused and pondered. I was aware that I wanted to respond by saying, “Yes, of course, hatred will end! The day will come when people will be enlightened. We will all recognize that we are sisters and brothers who form the human family. Each person will be valued as the unique individual that she or he is. Peace will come on earth!” While I hope that one day this will be true, and while I am part of a religious tradition that affirms that a lamb will lie down with a lion and a little child will lead them, I couldn’t find the conviction within to make the statement of faith that hatred would cease. The truth is that I just don’t know if it will happen.
I honestly believe that it is possible for people to leave hatred behind and grow in respect for each person. Achieving this very different way of living as a human family requires both a shared vision of hope as well as a stark jolt of reality. In a way, these two things are something of a carrot and stick for human transformation.
Knowing the person who posed the question, a free-spirited professional photographer with an eye for capturing beauty, I posed a half answer on Facebook: the carrot. Moving beyond hatred requires that people be inspired to embrace a new way of living together. Such a harmonious life is something that art in all its form can draw us toward. Art, music, dance, and all expressions of creativity provide us with opportunities to consider how to live in new ways. Perhaps it’s for that reason that as civilizations develop, they also develop art. Because of this, I encouraged my photographer-friend to use his art to inspire people to move beyond hate and to live a more grace-filled life.
The other half of the answer is much more challenging and requires a great deal of insight and responsibility. It’s easy to point to the behavior of others as hate-filled. Many of my friends view those who actively work to limit gay rights as haters. At the same time, many conservative Christian people label gay and lesbian people as haters because they view gay people as attacking their religious freedom. The list of haters goes on and on, depending on your perspective: Jews, Palestinians, Muslims, Republicans, Liberals, Tea Party members, participants in Occupy, and so forth. We fuel hate in the world when we label others as haters. However, hatred begins to lose its power when we can recognize that each of us has the potential for being a hater. Further, when we recognize that because of our actions, opinions, or beliefs other people experience us as hate-filled, we may gain particularly valuable insight into ourselves.
The root of hatred is this tendency to divide people into those with me and those against. Such categorizations of people diminishes them. Instead, when we each begin to recognize that we are all capable of love, hatred, and indifference, then we have come to the threshold of the possibility for something different. Yes, it is precisely when we can acknowledge that the negativity we see in another is also in us, then a deep connection is created with the other. That other moves from being an enemy to someone we understand. This is a movement toward deep compassion.
We need to be inspired to consider the possibility of living with others in a harmonious way. Artists can inspire us toward that vision for humanity. At the same, we each need to take stock of our own lives and see that, we too, carry within us the stuff that causes hatred. Only by recognizing that aspect of self can we transcend it to create a way to live in peace and harmony with others in the midst of our differences.
Thanks Lou. A passage in the Upanishads came to mind as I was reading this. To paraphrase: “When people see all things in themslves and themselves in all things, they have no fear.” I guess the source of hatred is fear. As a Quaker, I hear the voice of George Fox echoing down the centuries: “Find that of God in every man.”