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The_Compassionate_Heretic's avatar

Do you love more intensely than you hate?

Asked by The_Compassionate_Heretic (14634points) August 10th, 2009

Which emotion is stronger with you?

Observing members: 0 Composing members: 0

41 Answers

marinelife's avatar

Definitely. Hate redounds on the hater not the hated. To me, it is not worth it.

Tink's avatar

I’ve never hated someone so deeply but I’ve disliked someone. Love is more intense with me I guess.

Facade's avatar

I don’t hate anyone, so yes.

AstroChuck's avatar

Love, definitely. Hate is certainly a strong emotion but I don’t think it could drive me to do something the way that the love for my family could. Great question.

Simone_De_Beauvoir's avatar

don’t know, try me :)
depends on the person

Ivan's avatar

Yes, my love is more intense, but my hate is more broadly applied and dilute. That is, I hate a lot of things a little bit, and I love a few things a lot.

jbfletcherfan's avatar

I don’t hate anyone. There’s some people I like less than others, but hate? No. I love many, many people very strongly.

InspecterJones's avatar

The two emotions are too tightly bound, I don’t think you can pick which one is stronger. Its all a matter of how you swing it. If there’s no love in your life then all that energy will swing into hate.

Its why all we need is love.

:)

Dog's avatar

I am going to assume you are talking of the emotion not the emotion directed at another person.

Hate is an all consuming fire for me. It burns hot and wild but then extinguishes quickly leaving a scar in its wake.

Love is a slow and steady fire- it is consistent, warm and does not jump boundries and cause damage. It nurtures the soul where hate burns it hollow.

In other words Hate is more intense but short- lived. Love is slightly less intense but is constant so in the long run Love is more intense overall.

cyn's avatar

I’ve never truly hated someone…
I have loved someone intensely…
So… Love intensely.

aprilsimnel's avatar

Love. At least what I consider to be love. I’ve been reading recently that one is supposed to be unattached about these things, but I don’t think I quite understand what that means.

lefteh's avatar

I can love both people and ideas. I can only really hate ideas. Is love more intense? I don’t think so, but it certainly has a wider scope.

rooeytoo's avatar

When I read this question it intrigued me but I didn’t know how to answer it, but I think @Dog says it pretty true for me too, especially the “Hate is more intense but short-lived.”

Lurve for the GQ & GA!

irocktheworld's avatar

Love!! Love!! Love!! I don’t hate people,but i dont like a few.
love,peace,happiness :)

dannyc's avatar

Not sure..I really can’t believe in hate as it is usually a fleeting and poorly understood cerebral reaction to usually illogical circumstances. Love I know, children, family, friends, and associates, plus the whole world, a lovely place to avoid hateful people.

le_inferno's avatar

Reminds me of The Scarlet Letter…
“It is a curious subject of observation and inquiry, whether hatred and love be not the same thing at bottom. Each, in its utmost development, supposes a high degree of intimacy and heart-knowledge; each renders one individual dependent for the food of his affections and spiritual life upon another; each leaves the passionate lover, or the no less passionate hater, forlorn and desolate by the withdrawal of his object. Philosophically considered, therefore, the two passions seem essentially the same, except that one happens to be seen in a celestial radiance, and the other in a dusky and lurid glow.”

Love and hate are both profoundly intense by nature. So really the question is, do you love more than you hate, do you see more things in a “celestial radiance”, or in the “dusky and lurid glow.” Personally, I see myself as passionate in general. My hatred and anger are just as powerful as my love and affection. Anything I feel, I feel it hard. I can be disparaging, but I am praiseful in equal measure. I can’t answer the question in the way you ask. Both my love and hate run strong and deep. I choose to purely love and hate very selectively. They are not sentiments that can easily be thrown around. I’m easily annoyed, impatient with others, but that’s not the same as hate. I have an (often unwarranted) inner bitterness towards many strangers at the outset, but this is not hate. However, I do admit that I have more of a tendency towards that end of the spectrum. Feelings closer to hate are stirred more readily within me than love. I feel that love is something rare and beautiful that cannot be shared freely.

hungryhungryhortence's avatar

I think I hate only one person in comparison to many I love so my answer is, NO.

Bluefreedom's avatar

I’m always an intense lover and that includes wherever, whenever, and however. Hate is a word, and an emotion, that I try hard not to use and it holds no significance for me.

ShanEnri's avatar

It would have to be love since I don’t think I really hate anyone!

Bri_L's avatar

@IvanThat was a good answer.

I was surprised to find myself thinking that way.

I like a lot of little things. But I only love a few with passion. I hate, a little, almost with humor, a lot of little things.

SeventhSense's avatar

The dualism implicit in the question points to its own non-existential nature. Within every concept is the seed of it’s intrinsic “opposite”. To truly love without hate is not possible. Likewise to truly live one must embrace death. They have a coarising existence and are inseparable. The “seed of one is in the other as flip sides of the same coin. The whole of which is inseparable and void of concept.

le_inferno's avatar

@SeventhSense
your reply reminds me of this poem:

Then a woman said, “Speak to us of Joy and Sorrow.”

And he answered:

Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.

And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.

And how else can it be?

The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.

Is not the cup that hold your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter’s oven?

And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives?

When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.

When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.

Some of you say, “Joy is greater than sorrow,” and others say, “Nay, sorrow is the greater.”

But I say unto you, they are inseparable.

Together they come, and when one sits alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.

Verily you are suspended like scales between your sorrow and your joy.

Only when you are empty are you at standstill and balanced.

When the treasure-keeper lifts you to weigh his gold and his silver, needs must your joy or your sorrow rise or fall.

AstroChuck's avatar

@SeventhSense- Nobody likes a wordsmith showoff. :p

SeventhSense's avatar

@mycaninecartoondrillbitholder
I don’t know what you mean. :)
@le_inferno
Gibran-a true master…

evelyns_pet_zebra's avatar

To plagiarize @Dog, Hate is more intense but short- lived. Love is slightly less intense but is constant so in the long run Love is more intense overall.

My anger and hatred eventually fades over time, but I have never stopped loving those people I’ve loved intensely. Those I’ve lusted after; well you didn’t ask that, did you? =)

mattbrowne's avatar

Because in most cases it’s not hate, but harmless anger. True hate should be a very rare feeling, ideally you should never hate anyone or anything.

CMaz's avatar

Oh yea! Love is so much better then hate.
But, it can also hurt more then hate can.

InspecterJones's avatar

@ChazMaz I don’t think hate has ever cause me pain, I mean, it can lead to things that inadvertently cause pain, but love can hurt all on its own.

jbfletcherfan's avatar

@ChazMaz This is so true. But what is life without love? Nothing.

CMaz's avatar

I agree, love is worth anything you might endure.

SeventhSense's avatar

What many call love is just chemical.
Drop some ecstasy and you can fall in love with a toaster. True love is rarely seen and has nothing to do with a rush of endorphins. Just take a look at all the mothers who after having postpartum depression fall out of love with their babies. Sometimes with horrific consequences.

CMaz's avatar

I do love my toaster.

Malcrony's avatar

Nope. I treat everything the same way. I hate you just as much as I love you.

My motto is “Smile at your enemies it confuses the sheets out of them.”

Sariperana's avatar

I always though it was the same concentrated emotion – just swinging between the polars of good and bad…

ItalianPrincess1217's avatar

As much as I hate to admit it (do you like how I worked that in there)...my feelings of hate seem to be stronger than my feelings of love. I wish it was the opposite.

Malcrony's avatar

@ItalianPrincess1217 I love how that fits right there (Yeah not badly done at all).

nebule's avatar

I think I probably do spend more time in the realm of dislike…and not enough in the realm of love. You have mirrored to me something which Evidently needs to change! Thank you x

SeventhSense's avatar

@le_inferno
Thanks. In a way you defined the nature of attachment which leads always to suffering. Which is what I was saying in my first post. Not being a wordsmith as much as being succinct

tiffyandthewall's avatar

i think love, but perhaps i think that because i love a lot more frequently than i hate.
and most of the hate that i do feel is generated because of love, if that makes sense. for instance, i am at my most angry and hateful when someone is being treated poorly.
it is rare that i am really truly hateful. when i am, it’s only a short burst. usually it is just a false alarm.

SheWasAll_'s avatar

That’s a difficult one. I have a very short temper so hate is pretty a common and intense thing in my life. However, it rarely takes control of me. Love is one of those things people allow to take control, unlike hatred. While I’m more likely to actively respond to the feelings of love, hatred is just normal to me and I’m capable of saying and even doing some pretty nasty things to people. It’s easier to push people away than to be open and vulnerable.

Jude's avatar

I’m not a hateful person. Takes up too much energy and gets you no where. I’m a lovin’ kinda gal.

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