Why It's (Not) Ok To Hate People

 "Man, I hate people".

You whisper to yourself underneath your breath after a stranger said something rude to you.

We can all relate to that feeling. That feeling of disdain for the whole of humanity. All the bad bits and pieces. All the turmoil, trauma and conflict. Although we may think we hate actual people, we really only hate the IDEA of people. People as concept is amorphous and abstract. There is so much diversity within the idea and actual "people" that it would be a grave error to actually hate every single person. Ah! Do you see? People and persons(individuals) are two different things... 

People is a collectivist term. It focuses on the idea of more than one person. It is designed to immediately distract you from the uniqueness and creativity of a particular individual. You are a person. People as an actual unit of measurement doesn't necessarily exist. Only in theory. Only symbolically. 

When we think collectively, we tend to look over the importance and integral nature of the individual.

Think of the forest. What makes up the forest? Well, mostly trees and other things. The forest is just a collective idea that takes in account a multitude of trees, but isn't designed to focus on one tree. Each tree performs a vital role in the totality of the forest. If one tree falls however, it is still a forest. 

So hating the concept of "People" is a lot like hating the concept of the forest. It's a projection of frustration and ignorance upon a large concept that we cannot necessarily nail down. Hating a person has a different connotation. That focuses more on hating the totality of an individual which can produce equally detestable actions and outcomes. A person might have done something to hurt us and we can hate them because we are unconscious. "We" hate "them" because we don't understand. This doesn't make it right. Hating an individual is more focused, but equally unconscious. Hating a group of "people" can group individuals into one collective idea. This is why hate groups and people who focus on a certain type of people can wreak so much unconscious havoc. Group hate is a distraction and escape from the individual and the person doing the hating. Acting out on the hate of "People" is where the immorality comes into play. Simply doing it in your head is just a projection of ignorance. 

Its rather interesting and absurd how we can express so much negative emotion towards concepts. Towards things that exist as ideas in our heads. Ideas that we collectively agree on. Ideas made to distract us from our own suffering. Distractions from Personal Responsibility. 

The root of hate is trauma. We tend to act out our trauma in the most inopportune times. It creeps up on us like a mosquito. We could be perfectly peachy at one moment and then BAM, we are thrusted into a new uncomfortable realm of unconsciousness. When we don't take responsibility for our trauma then we project it onto the world around us. We cast blame spells towards "people" and things around us. It's a way of coping with the discomfort and hurt feelings within us. 

If we hate people then we can go back and nail down what we actually hate. People are a mirror. It is a construct for us to reflect on and internalize. We can imagine a mirror and see the whole of humanity in it. What makes your image different from any other person? What makes you think that you can even hate another person? You can only hate the image of a person and not the actual person and when you are hating a person you are merely projecting the hate you have of the image of yourself.

Hate is also an alluring construct. It is an amorphous concept that we have agreed is wrong or bad. It is a label for a feeling. Hate doesn't exist in nature, only symbolically in the concept of humanity. Does it do any good to label something as hate when deep down its more about ignorance and unconsciousness? If we allow ourselves to discover why we feel as sense of hate then we can get to the root of the problem. The root of trauma. The root of the self. A product of the past. A product of time. 

How do you see? A group before and individual or the other way around? The idea of a group can never exist without the idea of the individual. 

Let's break it down. 

The statement, " I Hate People" has so many illusions in it.

The "I" of course deals with the self. The self is a product of the past that is encapsulated with thoughts and memories. Since the self is "of the past", we can understand that it has its limits and will always be tied to an image conditioned by the past. This is important to know. This is crucial to observe.

The "Hate" like we talked about above is merely a verb and noun used to describe a feeling and emotion. Emotions are made of stories. Those stories are also a product of the past. Trauma is tied to the past. Since hate is a labeled construct of trauma, we can see how it is intrinsically tied to the self. 

Finally, People, like mentioned above, is a collectivist term. It is not individualized persons, but an abstract term to describe the general idea of a group of persons. It is designed to reduce the mind to understand the general idea on what people can and can't be at the same time. When we see ourselves as different from "people" then we are building a wall. We create conflict by separating ourselves from the humanity of others. It can work in abstract, but we can never really have a truly accurate measurement of people. 

Individuals make up people. Not the other way around. 

Ask yourself. What is the intention?

What is the intention of hating people? Do people really hate other people? Rather, do individuals hate other individuals or do they just project their own ignorance onto others? Blaming this. Blaming that. It is misplaced energy and insecurity. 

Take that metaphorical mirror and turn it toward yourself. 

Take a look. 

Can more hate get rid of the hate that we have in the world? It only creates more. Most of the time in an exponential manner. An explosion of suffering. 

Hating people is a myth. A myth that we must learn to look over in order to overcome the collectivist conditioning that has been beaten into our heads. Treating people as individuals rather than parts of groups will bring about a new understanding of how amazingly creative, fallible, unique and full of potential "we" really are. Then we can work together as cooperative persons. As individuals offering new ideas, skills and compassion to the table. You are you as I am me. Once we can acknowledge that, it's more constructive for us to "collectively" see. 

~DG