Gather around children, and let me teach you how to hate.

Former prophets have led lessons on how to love, to have compassion, to be magnanimous and altruistic. These are, indeed, integral aspects of a human’s emotional needs during its life. They are part of the structure of our emotional nature.

But so too, is our human propensity for anger and hatred. Misdirected, these emotions can result in catastrophe. Yet ignored, these emotions don’t cease to exist, and it would be folly to expect them to. They continue to generate in response to the natural world we occupy. How, then, is the right and proper way to conceptualize the appropriate position for anger and hate in our wide-ranging emotional lexicon?

Love is for connection. Anger is for protection. And permanent threats to safety receive hatred. They are meant to be eliminated. There are things in this world you want to get close to, and other things that need to stay far away. Allow these emotions to guide you.

But unresolved trauma can distort your emotional reactions to situations. You must always maintain a reasonable mind. Never stop trying to make sense out of chaos. Sometimes this effort requires great stillness for your cognitive faculties to operate effectively.

Learn to discern the truth with your empathy. Understand the world as it is, first, without imposing how you wish it to be, yet. Eliminate your attachment to your self when you regard the world, to avoid distorting it with your own subjectivity. Project your mind into the minds of others; experience life as if you were them. Their truth feels as valid to them as yours does to you. You can learn their blind spots, and in the process, your own as well.

Ideologies are easier to hate than people, because usually, people are perpetually changing. But also, you can hate someone until they change. Don’t let them into your life until then. Pay attention to personality and morality, which is the wiring that controls the way a human relates and behaves.

Humans have a need for consistency. Stability and security is a human need. Don’t rely on other humans to provide that to you. That would be folly, because it is against their nature. Seek it in small, sustainable ways. This is your foundation to stand on.

Cast your eyes broadly to the causes of human suffering in this world. There are many valid things to hate, you need only choose. They are vast and wide. So many attacks, resulting in so many wounds. If you don’t heal your wounds, they multiply, like a virus. Either the disease will take over your body or it will spread to others. You must not allow this to happen. Because harm compounds.

Heal others, heal yourself. These simultaneous duties inform each other. When you pursue them both mindfully, the resultant synergy expedites your progress in each endeavor. Your power will grow, your impact will hit heavier. And the tilt of this planet’s axis will shift closer to that elusive concept of justice.