Hate Will Ruin You

When people wanted to kill a bear in ancient times, they hung a heavy log over a bowl of honey. The bear would push the log away to eat the honey. The log would swing back and hit the bear. The bear would become irritated and push the log even harder, and it would swing back and hit him harder in return. This would continue until the log killed the bear.

Most people behave in the same way when they retaliate with evil for the evil they receive from others. Can’t we be wiser than bears?

Unless you are a soldier in the battlefield, where it is your duty to fight back, “you should respond with kindness toward evil done to you,” Leo Tolstoy wrote. “And you will destroy in an evil person that pleasure which he derives from evil.”

Retaliating, getting even, returning the aggression never works. It just escalates. You never come out of it with a more peaceful state of mind. You never look back and say “that felt good, I want to do it again.” No, hate consumes you from the inside. It’s like holding a hot rock in your hand and expecting someone else to be burned. The only one being burnt is you.

If you get involved in the game of hatred, you will inevitably attract thoughts of hate and circumstances in which more hate will manifest in your life. If you hold hate inside, you’ll suffer and bring mental torture upon yourself.

As Yogi Ramacharaka pointed out, “those who play the game of hate must not complain if they are hurt.” Do not become entangled in this net.

You gotta keep your cool. There’s nothing that shows more strength than a calm person, a kind person, a loving person. Someone who isn’t moved by adversity and insults. Someone who controls themselves and smiles back. That is true strength.