Philosophy Which force is more powerful? Love or Hate?

Robert Frost
contemplates this debate of the force of Love vs. Hate in his poem "Fire and
Ice":

Some say the world will end in
fire,

Some say in ice.

From what Ive tasted of
desire

I hold with those who favor fire.

But if it
had to perish twice,

I think I know enough of hate

To say that for destruction ice

Is also great

And would suffice.

 

While Frost finds the two facets of human emotion fairly equal, on a global scale, it
appears that throughout history Hate is a much more powerful force. For, the venom of hatred,
whether it be religious, civil, ideological,etc. usually produces the lasting effect of
countless deaths and destruction. Only a tremendous hatred of Juden could
have led the Nazis to unify the World War II Germans to do what they did.

Nowadays, hate seems a much more unifying force as witnessed by the terrorists'
willingness to die themselves in the cause of destroying their enemies. While there are those
who contend that love has united people to fight for their values and country, it often seems
that the fear of the enemy taking from one's country certain conditions and freedoms is more the
motivating force, and hatred is born of fear.

 

Nevertheless, on the individual level, love does, indeed, become a more powerful
force than hatred because it is a positive emotion, and it is those positives given to people
that have vaulted them to great deeds and successes. People are all better individuals because
of having been loved and encouraged by other persons or positive experiences which support their
love of self so that they have been able to develop to their potential.

From a Christian point of view, Christ's dying on the cross for love of human souls
was by far the greatest act of love ever, and it is one that has lasting effects throughout the
ages.

 

 

  href="https://godspacelight.com/2012/04/26/goodness-is-stronger-than-evil-by-desmond-tutu/">https://godspacelight.com/2012/04/26/goodness-is-stronger...
href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44263/fire-and-ice">https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44263/fire-and-ice

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

How is Joe McCarthy related to the play The Crucible?

When we read its important to know about Senator Joseph McCarthy. Even though he is not a character in the play, his role in histor...

• Can you interpret the poem "Festival" by Kenneth Wee?

  "Festival" addresses the age-old difficulty of generational gaps, in the setting of a traditional Chinese-style New Y...
• What is an analysis of the poem "Da Same, Da Same" by Sipho Sepamla?

  Sipho Sepamla is a South African poet born in 1932. He wrote during Apartheid and had some of his work banned by the Apartheid regi...
• Can you please give me some good kennings for an airplane? Can you please give me some good kennings for an airplane?

  This is a cool question. Kennings are a lot of fun to read and create. We don't see too many kennings in modern English. They ar...