@lynnventura
I so appreciate what you wrote. It makes me think that people are in different places about hating and everyone needs to accept how he or she is feeling. It's okay if any of you feel hatred. I don't hate the man 24/7 but there is so much that he does gets me mad. Like yesterday when I listened to a young Kurdish woman on NPR tell of her family's suffering because of T's decision to cater to their perpetrators so he could please his mentor Putin. The Kurds are a beautiful egalitarian people who have been our friends for decades. They have suffered mistreatment wherever they live, because they don't have their own country. Now because of Donald Trump, they are running for their lives once again, millions of families
We feel hatred when we need to defend or push something away. It's natural and serves a purpose. Then when I regain my strength, my power, and my hope, my anger subsides.
I'm not going to feel guilty or ashamed about it. It is how I feel. And as Lynn wrote, those feelings are natural.
But I don't want to stew in those feelings. Hatred comes from feeling impotent. So when we take care of ourselves and feel strong, hatred has a way of melting away. When people hurt people we love, if we can find a silver lining in the suffering or if we can find hope in it, then again, the hatred for the perpetrator lessens. The stronger and more empowered we feel about life, the less hate we feel.
Today I was thinking about hatred when I looked at the trees outside my window. I look to trees to guide me. I know that climate change and pollution hurts them. I know they feel it and they suffer.
You'll think me crazy, but I wondered how they deal with these threats and feel about us. I immediately noticed in my wonder that they just stretch themselves to the light!
They also concern themselves, we now know, with helping other trees. Once I read about a tree that fell over on a man who was clear cutting a forest. He survived but was horribly wounded. I felt really bad for him. But I also wondered if that tree had had enough. I'm sure I sound a little crazy.
Hatred is a pushing away of something that threatens you. Buddha called it "aversion." He also named it as one of the three poisons that causes human suffering. So ultimately it is for our own happiness that we work towards equanimity, empowerment, and let go of hate.
But it is worse to feel shame when you hate just because someone taught you not to hate. That's just jamming your painful feelings deeper down inside you where they will eat you alive. You are entitled to those feelings! Instead of shame, think of the good reason you needed to have those feelings. Get to the bottom of it. By embracing your feelings, you are liberating yourself with greater self love and approval.
Then later if you notice that your hatred continues, you may see that it is reinforcing feelings of impotence and victimhood. And you don't need to feel impotent and a victim.
So you might try shifting to positive thoughts about that threat -- like The GOP is aging out and DT is definitely going down. Or better still, DT's destructiveness has helped us love and care for each other more. Dt's betrayal has helped us see what true public servants are out there, and it's helped us to appreciate the heroes who have stood up to him. Climate deniers have helped us love our world more. The light is coming up, up, up. Stretching like a tree to the light!
My husband had the following dream the night of 10/29-30. This is what he wrote:
I had a dream last night. It was like a wave of "streaming" images, and went by rapidly in my mind. The House of Reps had voted to impeach T. The Senate was having the trial. The Repub. senators were trying to vote "guilty" but not to remove him from office (I'm pretty sure this isn't Constitutionally possible). The issue went to the Supreme Court. They ruled that the guilty votes counted as guilty. I'm not sure if there were enough Repub. votes to remove T. from office. And the date was around Valentine's Day, 2020.
This is powerful. It is interesting about the Supreme Court because the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is the person who presides over the Senate trial.
Today I closed my eyes and asked to be shown how Trump will ultimately leave office. Immediately what popped into my head was an image of Trump riding alone on top of a Donkey.
That was unexpected! I believe it means the democrats will be the the reason he leaves. They are basically escorting him out.
"It's a sad day because nobody comes to Congress to impeach a president of the United States. No one," [Nancy Pelosi] told reporters. "We come here to do the work, make the future better for our children, for America's future. We take an oath to protect and defend the Constitution, and that's what we cannot ignore and will not ignore when the president's behavior indicates that that investigation, that inquiry, is necessary."
Reps. Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey and Collin Peterson of Minnesota were the two Democratic no votes. They are in districts where T. won (although those aren't the only districts with a strong T. win). It looks like no Repubs voted for it. Am I right about that? If so, I was hoping that 1 or 2 would surprise me. That's really sad, isn't it? It's just an inquiry.
Jeanne,
Thank you for writing this. It deeply touched my heart. I have similar feelings. I walk in the forest each day among the trees. Sometimes they make creeking noises which causes me to say hello and at times give them a hug. Imagine walking through the forest as the sunlight is filtering through the tall pines walking through a thin veil of glittering snow. Ahhh..I find myself putting the palm of my hand out giving a slight push since it seems as if the new creation is so close, just on the other side of the veil. Right now the world seems so dense, I rely on this time walking among my tree friends to remember, to have hope.
Thanks for talking about hatred. I feel so much hatred at times that I weep. It is closely linked to the suffering others are experiencing here and throughout the world. It seems as if those who support this administration are moving toward wanting a Theocracy. It appears to me that our Democracy is hanging by a thread. I experience so much anger and bitterness, yet beneath it all is grief..incredible sorrow and grief. So, I go to the forest, I walk and talk with the trees.
I am not surprised but very very saddened that not even ONE republican voted for the impeachment. They truly have put party before decency and honesty. I hope that they feel the BLUE wave in 2020 hit so hard that they all lose their jobs. BLUE TSUNAMI!!
Sorry but I'm pretty sad and angry about it. John McCain truly was the last of his kind.