This is a look at what drives hate. From a spiritual perspective it starts with the wrong idea that “I” am material, that the body that I am occupying and the mind I am using is who I am. Big mistake! Then the notion that I will become permanently happy by fulling the endless desires of my body and mind.
This sets me up to then conclude that I “love” the objects (including people) I intensely desire (thinking they will make me the happiest). Those things which I experience deliver unhappiness, I am not attracted to or even repulsed by, and if the feeling is strong enough, I hate.
According to the Vedas, it is desire and hate which are opposites. Similarly love (actual spiritual love) and lust are opposites. Lust is a self-centered and intense desire to “enjoy” someone or something. Love on the other hand, is selfless.
Being caught in these dualities causes the living being suffers and perpetuates their material entanglement. A couple of nice verses from the Bhagavad-gita speak to this:
There are principles to regulate attachment and aversion pertaining to the senses and their objects. One should not come under the control of such attachment and aversion, because they are stumbling blocks on the path of self-realization.Bg 3.34
O scion of Bharata, all living entities are born into delusion, bewildered by dualities arisen from desire and hate. Bg 7.27
