The Absurdity of Hate

When Leonardo da Vinci was working on his wonderful painting The Last Supper, he painted the face of a real man whom he hated in place of Judas’ face. But when he came to paint the face of Jesus, Leonardo tried again and again and failed. It was only when he painted out the face of the man he hated and put another in its place that he had a clear picture of how to paint the Lord Jesus' countenance.

Leonardo da Vinci's hatred created a "dead spot" between him and his work. His hatred of the man had to be corrected and resolved before even Leonardo's marvelous ability would produce one of the greatest works of all time.

Today, let's address an issue that's all around us. It's thick in the atmosphere. It's called hate. If we don't recognize this current 'hate climate change,' we will end up looking and speaking at everything through the lens of hate. The worst thing is we don't even know it's happening to us.

Honestly, I'm going to hate writing this article on hate. I like my articles to be positive and hopeful. But this one is helpful. You would think no one would always want a steady media and culture diet of negative, divisive stuff. But media ratings show us a different picture. These days, hate, conflict, strife, and war sell more than love, truth, unity, and peace. Why? “If it doesn't bleed, it doesn't read.” People get addicted to the "red meat" of hate. The problem is people who fight dragons long enough become dragons themselves.

As hate increases, love decreases. Jesus revealed a future time when people's love grows cold and hate grows hot. "At that time, many will fall away, betray and hate one another. Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. Because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold." That's a scary thought: A distorted version of selfish freedom called lawlessness creates hate.

Notice the progression of what Jesus warned us about. People with different viewpoints got along by finding a balance between them. There was intelligent discussion and negotiation. But when intelligent discussion deteriorates into negative, emotions-based living, people start separating and betraying one another. That produces hate.

Then come false voices who mislead, pouring fuel on the fire of hate, making good things bad things and vice versa. Then comes lawlessness, where the end justifies the means, and you hate anyone or anything that is not for you or your cause. Then, authentic love for most begins to disappear. In other words, when you start hating, you stop thinking.

Did you know physical changes in our brain occur when hate is activated? Here's an article written by Esther Inglis-Arkell of The Daily Explainer on November 10, 2014. It's entitled, Here's What Your Brain Is Doing When You Really, Really Hate Someone.

"Scientists have spotted the parts of the brain that light up when we actively hate someone. In 2008, two scientists decided to launch a study to investigate whether the emotion of hatred was rooted in some consistent biology. They asked subjects to stare at the picture of a person they had neutral feelings toward and then at the picture of someone they hated. The subjects did this while hooked up to an MRI, allowing the researchers to see which parts of the brain were activated and deactivated. Doctors Zeki and Romaya were gratified to find that everyone in the study hated individuals the same way.

The parts of the brain activated, the medial frontal gyrus, the right putamen, the medial insula, and the premotor cortex, have come to be known as the "hate circuit." The premotor cortex is one part of the brain that springs into action when people have feelings of aggression. When we hate, at least part of us prepares for a physical attack. The frontal gyrus deals with self-awareness and is involved in go/no-go decisions. The putamen gets engaged when people are in love, but it also activates when people feel contempt or disgust. The putamen also lights up when a person is planning aggressive acts.

Hate is characterized not just by areas of brain activity but by areas of brain inactivity. The superior frontal gyrus correlates with self-awareness and laughter, so it's not surprising that it's repressed when someone hates something or someone. The section that is deactivated is near a section of the brain that, when repressed, seems to increase obsessive-compulsive behavior. When we hate, we fail to laugh and may get a bit obsessive."

Here are some dark rewards of hate. If you hate, you will be like Leonardo da Vinci, painting the person's face you hate on everything and everyone you see. You'll become obsessive. You'll lose perspective. Your insight will disappear. No amount of logic or truth will change you. Hating is like burning your own house down to kill a rat. Hating is the tail wagging the dog. You become what you focus on, i.e., hate. When you start hating emotionally, you stop thinking logically, and your life becomes hate-driven.

Author C.S. Lewis enlightens us further. "I remember Christian teachers telling me I must hate a bad man's actions but not the man. I used to think this a silly, straw-splitting distinction: How could you hate what a man did and not hate the man? But years later, it occurred to me that there was one man to whom I had been doing this all my life – namely, myself."

Hating is self-punishment in disguise. Be wise. Build a bridge over the troubled, emotionally draining, self-deprecating waters of hate, and get over it!

What's the real solution? All you need is God's love. So, get back to where you once belonged.