“It’s better to feel pain, than nothing at all. The opposite of love’s indifference.” – The Lumineers
Yesterday I wrote “I didn’t know“, really asking fellow white people who do indeed care enough about anti-racism to question why they “didn’t know” up until recently about the true history and how it is the foundation of so many of the systems and institutions of western society.
In that post I asked people to consider that if, after all of this time, they “didn’t know, then a part of this is because, somehow, it was “doesn’t matter” to them up until recent weeks.
I guess I keep using the medium of my daily writing to keep hammering home ideas for awareness so that we don’t all drop back into comfort zones and behaviours.
So, today, some further thoughts linking to “I didn’t know” and doesn’t matter, a thought around love, hate and indifference.
There is no love without hate; and there is no hate without love. The opposite of love is not hate, but indifference; the opposite of feeling can only be the absence of feeling. Disinclination, which is coloured by feeling, often only serves the purpose of concealing and protecting oneself against an inclination. Love and hate must go hand in hand; and the people we love most we hate also, because hate is grounded in the nature of love.
“The Beloved Ego: Foundations of the New Study of the Psyche” by Wilhelm Stekel
A powerful passage, with a powerful thought, the opposite of love is indifference. It brings me to a thought and an awareness I will sit with. I am sure we all feel we are full of love for all of humanity, but when we are indifferent towards the suffering of others, that is the opposite of love.
Let us bring more love into our approach to the world and to leading ourselves and others.
“At the end of the day my friends, even if it is a long day, and this is a long day, love wins. Always. And it will win again, through this virus”
Andrew Cuomo, Governor of New York, Saturday March 28, 2020
featured in the blog post: “Love Wins”
In closing, while I’ve been writing this, a friend I feel so close to I call my sister challenged me to focus my writing even more towards: “What will make the reader feel better, more informed and more ready to tackle the issues they face?”. I agree with this and will focus even more on this, with one exception. When it comes to anti-racism, I don’t want people to feel better, I want them to feel more, even if, right now, it feels painful.
It’s better to feel pain, than nothing at all
“Stubborn Love” by The Lumineers
The opposite of love’s indifference