Minute Meditation: Hating Our “Brothers” and “Sisters”

The sacred author writes,

“Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them” (I John 2:9-11, NIV).

Hatred is a form of moral blindness, leading to all kinds of vices, such as religious and racial discrimination, terrorism and death. Hatred breeds intolerance, seeking to eliminate other people because they are different.

It is a form of evil to teach a person to hate, for not only does it corrupt his or her soul but it also corrupts others, as he or she spreads hatred to them. Hatred, then, destroys both internally and externally. In other words, after a person’s mind has been distorted by false beliefs about others, he or she goes out and kills them, believing, at the same time, that he or she is right in doing so. Thus, killing is the result of teaching and spreading hatred. It can only be overcome by repeatedly, even habitually, teaching its moral opposites, which are truth and love.