Love and Hate, a study of basic human emotions

First off, this is inspired by multiple points. First, the I Love You thread, then followed by a rant about his star count and chased with a dose of I Hate You. It seems a gambit of emotions and mental gymnastics were in play throughout this social diversion from the rest of the threads about OBL.

In the first thread, the author very simply put his emotional hat on and stated a core human emotion and submitted it to whomever would like to receive it in cyberspace. It was simple, direct and to the point. Many accepted it with open hearts and minds. Some came in a little leary, but seemed to jokingly accept the gift. While still others could not help but dissect the post and inject their own brand of response.

In the second thread, the author's kneejerk reaction was to question the presence of such a thread in the environment around him. It was as if a slug had crawled into his mashed potatoes. It didnt seem to belong. However, reading through, it seems as if the author here came to see what others saw in the Love post, a distraction from the current events.

The third post is yet another way round with a more clinical approach by a veteran member. His detraction of the Love post has its basis in the yesteryear of ATS, when it was in fact one of the few harbingers of great conspiracy and well thought commentary. The author here refuses to see that which many of his replies would suggest, being that ATS has evolved with the times and broadened its scope.

Now, let me interject that I am not here to debate or peruse the merit or lack of any of the authors, replies or threads mentioned above. I merely read a dose of each thread to garner a clinical synopsis and psychological state overall. I will not attack of defend any of them, rather use them as examples since they are three different takes on a like subject.

So, lets start clinically.
Webster's Dictionary defines love (n) as a strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties; attraction based on sexual desires; affection based on admiration -- (v) to hold dear; cherish.
Webster's Dictionary

Aristotle said that "love is a single soul inhabiting two bodies" while Plato said that "love is a serious mental disease", but that could not have been his true feeling since he is also credited with saying "at the touch of love, everyone becomes a poet".

Chemically speaking, love is a rush of Dopemines and Epinephrines racing around your brain making your heart rate increase and your pleasure sensors signal. It basically tells your entire body that this is very pleasurable.

Parapsychology studies on mass consciousness lends much of the power to human emotional states, which is why so many people call for mass positive energy and feelings of love to turn a tide that they see as negative.

So, its safe to say that love is well studied. It is not unique to humans, it interacts with all 5 senses, it has been identified as far back as human recorded thought and it is one of the most powerful of all emotions. But what is it really? In all of my studies on the subject and conversations and thoughts, I still dont (and doubt anyone as far back as Plato) know what it really is in its essence.
Dopemine traveling through my brain tricking my neurological center into feelings of unexplainable ecstasy?
God's single greatest gift to his creations?
Cosmic interactions when two eternal souls collide?
The coming together of a single soul torn apart?

Too many questions. So, what do you do? How do you get into this weird emotional state and what does it do for and/or against you? How does this state of being affect those around you? How deeply is love intertwined into the self, the mass, and the whole?

I would venture to say that Love is the core single human emotion from which all other emotions spawn. Its manipulation creates ripples and those ripples, those disruptions in your love, are merely offshoots of love in a bent form. Exploring this theory, I have come to realize that love takes on many forms. Beyond the definitions, philosophy, medical or metaphysical, love is what we are when we are conceived.

I would like to quickly clarify that I do not consider instincts or behaviours to be intertwined with love. Both of these are completely seperate traits from emotions. They have common threads in that they enhance or detract and some are born while others are learned. For instance, a baby is born with the instinct for survival and will accept nourishment to that end, as well as certain core behaviours to signal needs and desires. They are also born with a single emotion...love. Another example is as far stepped out as cosmic bodies. They have an instinctual need for fuel, behaviours that set them apart and, by definition, express love.

So, here we have this core emotion, a Tier 1 positive emotion (if you will). At the point of conciousness, it begins its development without coersion or thought. A baby is born. It comes out screaming to the world "oh no, put me back in, its freezing out here". After being cleaned up and severed from the feeding tube, it is wrapped in warmth and handed to its mother. The bond is instant. This single emotion comes pouring out of the new mother and flushing the face of the new father. The infant gets back its feeling of security, settles down for its first nap in the loving arms of those that gave it life. There have been no lessons, no outside stimuli, no influence over this pattern, but all too often it just happens. This little soul, now flesh, expresses its first true emotion...love.
This is not unique to humans. It is the same in the animal kingdom. Youth come springing forth, taking their first breath and looking for that safe haven within the loving embrace of those that gave the life.

As the mind develops, so do the emotions. Some are learned, some are dormant, but still there. All are rooted in love. I will explore a few common emotions and explain why I think this is so.
In the origin of this writeup, I linked a thread called I Hate You. Hate is defined (Websters, as above) as an intense hostility and aversion usually deriving from fear, anger, or sense of injury; extreme dislike or antipathy.
However, is not Hate the opposite of Love? Thereby meaning that Hate is the lacking of Love. When one uses the word hate, there is no room in that moment to express love. So, adding to the theory. Love is a core emotion, but in its fading, hate fills the void. Thereby Hate is a direct spawn from Love, or a Tier 2 negative emotion.
Anger is an emotion used to express displeasure. It is a learned reaction that typically is a subcomponent of Hate. Therefore Anger is a spawn of Hate, making it a Tier 3 negative emotion.
Envy is an emotion that expresses itself in the desire to possess that which you cannot have or that which is possessed by another. Envy is the absense of Appreciation. Appreciation is an expression of Admiration, or a Tier 3 Love based emotion, by its very definition. So, the absence of a Tier 3 positive emotion leaves room for its opposite, Envy, or a Tier 3 negative emotion.

I suppose if you have read and followed my ramblings this far, you must be able to continue them on throughout all of the emotions. The basic theory though is that Love is the top Tier 1 positive emotion given to every living organism at its birth and all positive emotions flow out of love. All positive emotions have a polar opposite, or negative emotion that spawns when there is a void of those positive emotions, thereby filling them with their negative counters. However, at the very top of it all still stands Love without equal and only when its components are lacking does a negative emotion spring forth to fill the void.

So, in closing, I find that the original thread that started this entire discussion and theory and rambling is sound in that it attempts in the most simplistic of ways to offer up a positive feeling for all that they may fill their voids with a Love based emotion to suppress the negative emotions, for however limited the time may be.

Thank you and I look forward to you all tearing this apart.

Love is where both people stand to lose by not helping each other. Hate is the recognition of forced dependence.

reply to post by wheresthetruth


I really enjoyed reading your breakdown on the concept of Love and Hate. You provided a way for others to hopefully realize that we are born with love....hate is simply the lack of love in one's heart at given moments throughout their existence. (Brilliant!)

I did in fact start the "I Love You" thread to try and raise some positive vibrations within people on ATS and the world as a whole. I've felt so much negative energy, in so many different forms that it was starting to effect my outlook on the world, my mood, and even my relationships with my family. It's just so easy to fall into the gloom and doom trap sometimes and I am no exception.

It reached a tipping point when I witnessed the celebration of a murder. Now, I'm not going to get too much into this other than to say: I can understand why people reacted the way they did but, It unsettled my soul and I will leave it at that. I do not judge anyone else's feelings or emotions on the subject because it's not my place to do so.

I wasn't surprised at all to see the "I Hate You" thread...not in all in fact. I read the op's issue with mine and you know what? I understood where he/she was coming from. This was a long time member that felt my thread didn't meet the criteria of the ATS of old and, perhaps they were right.

I have lurked on this site since 2005 but, never joined because I really just loved reading the content and didn't feel like I had any valuable input to share. So, I understand their point of view b/c I have also seen a drastic change in content. It's a lot harder now to wade through the threads and find one with great analytical discussion.

Having said that, I don't regret my thread by any stretch of means. It was made with pure and innocent intentions and I felt that it was quite successful based on the responses by many members. Most found it a nice refreshing change from the gloom and doom so, even if only ONE person truly felt my intentions - It makes me extremely happy!

In regards to the other thread...I understand that he put in a lot of hard work and research to post a thread and felt that as such, he was owed more stars and flags than was earned in mine. I can understand that someone would want an acknowledgement for their hard work (who wouldn't right?) and I'm truly sorry if my thread took anything from his. But, these were not my intentions.

I've never quite got the whole whoopla that exists around stars and flags and could honestly care less so, if there is anyway to transfer those earned in my thread to this other member's account, I am more than happy to get rid of them as they serve no true purpose in my life (Is this possible? b/c I really am willing to do it)


I'm glad you were able to appreciate my effort to bring a balance to all the negativity and understood what I was trying to do. I wasn't trying to change the dynamics of ATS by posting a non-conspiracy related thread and I certainly wasn't in it for the stars and flags. So thanks to you!

Again, I really enjoyed reading your thread and how you were able to simplify a concept that can't be seen or heard....It's something that can only be felt inside ourselves therefore, making it subjective to each individual.