The Opposite of Love

I've always assumed, like most people, that hate is the opposite of love. The feeling that you feel for someone at the opposite end of the love spectrum is naturally hate, and therefore logically deducing that hate is the natural opposite of love. 

Sometime in this last year, I've been hearing and reading that fear and not hate, is the opposite of love. There are days when this makes sense, and there are days when I'm left very confused. Today had some semblance of clarity... 

At the core of this rather unclear statement lie all the negative emotions - hate, anger, resentment - that you may feel toward a person, an incident, an experience or simply an idea; emotions that you ought to have let go off. The fact that you hold on to these emotions indicates that something prevents you for letting go. That underlying something is fear! 

Fear holds you back. Fear prevents you from seeking your true self and life; from letting go of those negative emotions and allowing yourself to be free from them. The idea of nothingness is scary... The hate, anger and resentment are easier to hold onto cause they make you still feel, or still feel connected. 

When you love something or someone, or truly want something, you pursue it with all your heart. When you don't, the thought form that stops you is fear - fear of failure, fear of heartbreak, fear of rejection, fear of feeling something new. The fear of change. The known hells are seemingly more comfortable than unknown territories. 

My last note on this is rather personal. I've always felt that when I hate or criticize someone, somewhere within there is a voice that asks if what really bothers me about the situation is the other person, or a nagging fear that somewhere what has angered me about someone actually may lie within me, and that causes great anxiety which then lashes out onto the other person. It's scary to know that what you like least in others could actually be inside you as well. The fear then is expressed as hate or anger or resentment - all of which are at the other end of love. At the opposite end though sitting atop the throne of negative feelings, is fear! 

Anxiety about the future causes me great stress. I'm constantly scared about what will be, what tomorrow will bring, what may happen. Instead of loving and living today, I spend my time scared of tomorrow. Fear takes out the love from everyday life! You don't even need to hate or be angry. 

Let go of fear, you'll be left with love!