We are infected by a parasite and that parasite feeds itself by eliciting hate for the parasite on the brain of the other. It is the same parasite with the same goal and the same outcomes - hate, decay, fragmentation of human decency, the rot of human connection, justified and explained as caused by the parasite on the other human's brain. The parasite leverages self-congratulatory, self-referencing, circular logic - they are hateful, so I hate. Our parasite recognizes our neighbor's parasite and they chemically signal one another by stimulating adrenaline, judgement and rigidity in each of us. Hate is a chemical high-five between two parasites, intimately bonding two human hosts. Hate is the parasite's tendril, its proboscis, accessing our nerves, our gut, our emotions, our "reason". It reaches deep into our nervous system until we think with it, we emote with it, we feed it, we suffer its wounds, we sell short term solutions, yet we refuse to simply reject it, to identify it honestly and rightly hate the one thing that deserves hatred.
Sometimes we pay lip service to the toxicity of this parasite. We make diplomatic noises. The parasite smirks. It knows we are simply soothing our mortal wound, we are temporarily consoling ourselves. We console ourselves by flirting with irritation, condescension and superiority. We pretend these are not acts of hate. Well-fed and safe inside our addiction, the parasite swells, sending passive aggression, minor provocations and pettiness towards “the other”. All hatred and division serve this parasite while we insist that my hatred serves me and protects me from the unjust unfounded hatred of the other.
We will never be free until we recognize that the parasite is infinitely more dangerous to us, in any form than differences. Cloaked in religion, politics, race, gender – in whatever space irreconcilable differences inhabit - the parasite waits patiently for the first hint of fear and defensiveness. The moment fear and defensiveness appear, the parasite whispers to us, we cannot be safe until we reconcile or eliminate the differences. This is such an intimate, personal human moment, so allowable that we do not recognize the logical conclusion – agree with me or die. This is a parasite-serving lie. This is how the parasite survives - by finding differences that cannot be reconciled and exploiting them to generate hate and rage. Human peace and goodwill exist only in an environment of perpetually irreconcilable differences because irreconcilable differences cannot be eradicated. Do not attempt to reconcile differences before you address hate. The differences cannot be reconciled. When faced with irreconcilable differences, merely focus on one life threatening truth - this is the hunting ground of the parasite. It is infinitely patient and waiting for the slightest lapse in awareness. If we refuse to admit that the parasite is more dangerous than the difference, we will die of the parasite while blaming the difference. That is the elegant devilish beauty of the parasite. It sickens us while directing our attention away from itself and to the infinite number of differences with which we have always lived. It tells us we can only defend ourselves by hating the difference when the hate, has been, is now and will always be the greatest threat to humankind.
People speak of radical acceptance, of kindness to those who hate us, as some ethereal, idealistic, woo-woo state to which we theoretically aspire. I tell you, the states of kindness, love, of radical acceptance are the only concrete chance we have to survive. Anything less than this feeds the parasite. Our survival as a species depends on unconditional kindness, radical acceptance and love of one another.