I made this distinction a while ago and I think it's important. Recently came across another interestingly similar distinction.https://twitter.com/GeniesLoki/status/1309243425376669707 …
Show this thread
-
There is a very strong visceral felt sense of "AAAH KILL IT WITH FIRE" you get when you encounter a target of loathing. The desire to annihilate.
Show this thread
What's interesting with both of these transitions is that in some sense the stronger emotion is just the weaker emotion but more so. Rage is just more anger, loathing is just more hatred. But it crosses a threshold where the response changes and this in turn changes the feeling.
-
-
You get this with positive emotions too I think. Love is "just" liking but you do it lots, but at some point the quality of the emotion changes in a way that saying "I love you" is more than "I like you a lot" because you've crossed that threshold.
Show this thread -
I often think of emotions as dispositional: They are (or include) a felt sense that you are predisposed towards a particular class of actions or attitude towards the world. e.g. liking something means you are inclined towards more of it in your life.
Show this thread -
(That's not literally true, it's possible to like something and not want to do it again, but it gestures vaguely in the direction of truth)
Show this thread -
I think often this kind of threshold arises as a kind of felt sense of inevitability to that disposition. At normal levels you feel like "I would prefer something to be done" but at some point you cross over to "the natural order demands that something be done".
Show this thread -
Josef Pieper defines love as a felt sense that it is wonderful that something or someone exists. To me this feels like the universe is made better for the object of love, in a way that feels like it extends beyond my mere personal preferences.
Show this thread -
Liking feels like "It is good that this is in my presence". It's not that love *isn't* relational, but it feels like it has transcended that someone. Liking is more about me, and my relation to that which I like, while love is more about that which is loved.
Show this thread -
The hatred/loathing line is similar. "It is bad that this is in my presence" vs "It is bad that this exists".
Show this thread -
I was reading
@Meaningness's work on hunting the shadow earlier and this bit struck me.pic.twitter.com/9QbtIGGx5w
Show this thread -
One of the interesting things about experiencing loathing towards someone like this is that there's no feeling that there's a shadow there. There are people that rub you wrong, these are people who you will probably learn something about yourself by understanding that reaction.
Show this thread -
And then there are people who your reaction is just a profound sense of "It is bad that this world has you in it" and... it's not that they definitely don't contain any elements of your shadow, but that feeling is probably not pointing towards it.
Show this thread -
I think this distinction is quite tricky to navigate. It's tempting and easy to fan the flames of hatred and allow yourself to loathe people who are probably basically fine by focusing on their worst traits.
Show this thread -
But as with all emotions, repudiating the emotion in its entirety cuts you off from important and useful ways of being, and sometimes when you encounter someone or something truly loathsome, it's worth acknowledging to yourself that it is genuinely bad that they exist.
Show this thread -
(You probably shouldn't act on that feeling too thoroughly though. The police frown on that)
Show this thread
End of conversation
New conversation -
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.