Hate and Pain
I have been, like many others, observing the current sociological situation in the world today. As a human being and a psychotherapist, the current atmopshere concerns me greatly. There seems to be far more hate in the world today, than say 20 years ago. Hate is a powerful emotion which causes more problems than it solves.
I am minded to a quote by James Baldwin “I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.” This is a profound idea, especially for those of use in the psychological professions. If we view that most people endeavour to avoid pain, then we must look at the strategies which they emoploy to do this.
If hatred is an avoidance tactics, then it must be confronted head on and the pain that lies beneath it must be dragged out into the light. I suppose that the notion that hate conceals pain should not be a great surprise to any of us. As a society, we are obliged to confront hatred with knowledge and understanding. People are not born haters, they are nurtured to be so. If we are to be a compassionate society, we need to nurture understanding and love rather than hatred. Pain can be gotten over, but only when it is seen for what it is.
