93. Hatred
93. HATRED
Hate seems stronger than love. Is it?
Love must needs precede hatred, (for) nothing is hated save through being contrary to a suitable thing which is loved.
And hence it is that every hatred is caused by love. . . (I-II,29,2) (In fact,) . . . all emotions are caused by love. Therefore hatred also, since it is an emotion of the soul, is caused by love. . .
It is impossible for an effect to be stronger than its causes.
Now (since) every hatred arises from some love as its cause, as above stated, therefore it is impossible for hatred to be stronger than love absolutely.
Furthermore, love must needs be, absolutely speaking, stronger than hatred because a thing is moved to the end more strongly than to the means. . . (and) turning away from evil is directed as a means to the gaining of good (as the end).
Nevertheless hatred sometimes seems to be stronger than love . . . because hatred is more keenly felt than love . . . (I-II,29,3).
The sum total of all the above teaches us a number of lessons.
Lesson One: St. Thomas is very logical even about the most illogical things, like hate.
Lesson Two: Appearances do not equal reality.
Lesson Three: Feelings are not the touchstone of truth. We often feel hate more keenly than love because we feel more keenly the things that touch our ego more keenly. But our ego is not God. In fact, it is often wrong, because it is fallen, foolish, and faithless. To the two-year-old whose ice cream cone just fell into the mud, nothing in the universe could ever be more important than this tragedy. To the man consumed by hate, the object of hate is the very center of reality, bigger than God or Satan.
Lesson Four: Love is stronger than anything, because God is love.
Lesson Five: We can see this even if we confine ourselves to the perspective of human psychology.
Lesson Six: Psychology never contradicts theology.
Lesson Seven: Theology explains psychology. For theology gives us the ultimate reason for the data of psychology (e.g., the relation between means and ends in human motivation).
Lesson Eight: There are always more lessons—everywhere—than we think.