What is the opposite of love? Hatred or indifference?

Love is one of the most important issues in a person’s life and it is the most intense form of affection for a person, full of benevolence, respect and appreciation.

Many poets, singers, and philosophers deal with the subject of love and many associate it with both positive and negative emotions.

The question often arises, what is the opposite of love? Are hatred or even indifference the opposite of love and what consequences can they have in a relationship?

What is the opposite of love?

When it comes to the opposite of love, in the case of relationships, both hatred and indifference can fill the role equally because they are related to one another.

We can show this connection using the example of an equilateral triangle, because love, hate and indifference each take one side and represent the opposite of the other. 

Accordingly, love and hate are in opposition to one another, as are love and indifference.

Most of the time, when you feel indifference to a person or to something, you act just as lovelessly as someone who acts out of hate.

Love and hate are two sides of the same coin, each requiring strong emotions and energy, while indifference is simply the absence of love and hate.

Often times love can turn into hate and vice versa, and this suggests that love and hate are too close to be opposites.

Indifference is actually seen as the opposite of love because it can lead to the end of a relationship more often than hate. 

You don’t immediately switch from love to indifference, as you do when you hate someone. It is typically much more gradual when one stops completely caring about oneself.

However, indifference differs from love and hate in that there is no caring involved.

When we are in love, we not only take care of ourselves and our spiritual growth but also that of our partner and we express our love in the form of positive, warm and mindful actions.

In contrast, when we are filled with hateful feelings, we only care about ourselves and react to others in the form of negative, cold, and in some cases even hideous acts.

Neurologically, there is no difference between love and hate

Love and hate sound like two opposing terms, but in the brain the two emotions are quite closely related.

Both activate the core areas of the cerebrum equally and influence similar brain regions so that we can love and hate at the same time.

The part of the cerebral cortex that has to do with thinking and judging is deactivated when we think of love. This means that feelings of love can flow freely and unencumbered.

On the other hand, hatred does not deactivate as much of the cerebral cortex, so we can freely judge and criticize, which in turn can lead to feelings of hatred and revenge.

Love can often turn into hate as they share the putamen cycle in the brain. The putamen is activated and stimulated when we want to love and protect someone and when we are preparing for an attack.

When our love is not returned, feelings of frustration and aggression arise that help protect us from the excruciating pain of feeling not loved.

They give and the feeling and the necessary energy that we need to free ourselves from the relationship, the person and our own feelings.

Is fear the opposite of love?

One of the innate feelings in humans is fear, which is a natural response to danger. It helps us to survive, but it also limits us because we sometimes feel unfounded fear even though there is no real danger.

There are many types of fear and when we fear rejection and change we do not dare to make a decision and we are neither creative nor happy.

Another common reason we develop feelings of hatred for someone we love is because we fear our feelings and are unable to express them directly.

We have learned that our words can hurt ourselves and other people, so we don’t always dare to reveal our true feelings.

Therefore, sometimes we have to deny our feelings and suppress them. But if you suppress feelings like anger and disappointment for too long, they will surely turn into resentment, bitterness, and anger over time.

And from there it is only a small step to hate, because these feelings trigger an unbearable pain inside us.

We are afraid of losing our partner or being hurt and therefore we believe that if we do not express our feelings clearly, we are acting out of love.

We believe that when we don’t confront a problem and when we protect others from our feelings, we act out of love.

If we don’t accept ourselves and our feelings out of fear, we don’t love each other. Love and fear cannot exist at the same time, because in love there is no room for fear.

Thus fear could be the opposite of love, because if you weren’t afraid to accept yourself, to recognize yourself or to be rejected, you would be free and enjoy the love you love for yourself but also for other people feels.

The indifference that partners struggle with at times can be attributed to this long-standing and deep-seated fear.

Because in love we always have to take a risk by living life and experiencing the passion of love. Our past experiences and beliefs limit us and drive our fear to love.

The opposite of love is not, as we often or almost always think, hate, but the fear of loving, and this fear prevents us from being free.

Our fear of love stems from our lack of love for ourselves or from a lack of self-respect. If we cannot love ourselves, how can we love another person?

In order to love ourselves and others, we need to grow in our self-esteem.

Otherwise one could go on living and be constantly accompanied by fear. The more we do it, the harder it becomes to make a different choice.

We get used to the feeling of fear and the accompanying false sense of security. The more secure we think we feel, the more security we want and thus nourish a different, self-sustaining way of being.

This makes it easy for us to miss opportunities to connect with others, to live with purpose, and to become our best selves.

Fear, if not recognized in time, will spread to your body and take over all your thoughts. It often manifests as superficial anger, even towards people we love.

When you are afraid of loving someone, this long-term unrecognized fear can close your heart and even turn into hate.

People can sometimes feel both love and hate for the same person. For example, they can sometimes have attacks of hate when they get on their nerves with the habits and behaviors of the loved one, and such feelings can coexist with their love for them.

Love and hate go hand in hand, because we hate the people we love most, because hate is rooted in the nature of love.

The opposite of love is not hate, but indifference. The opposite of a feeling can only be the absence of this feeling.

Since hate is based on fear, people think that hate is the opposite of love, but neither hate nor fear is the opposite of love. There is no love without hate and there is no hate without love.

What can destroy a relationship?

To be human means to love and hate at the same time. Often times, our feelings of love and hate can lead us to act or act in a way that we are not completely in control of.

We can sometimes hate someone we love even when we are in a fulfilling partnership. The most common reason we suddenly feel hatred in our relationships is disappointment.

This can be a simple problem, such as the disappointment we feel when our partner lets us down or when we cannot rely on them.

If we do not speak openly about our feelings and if we do not address problems in a relationship, if we remain fearful and build up passive hatred, we destroy our love and relationship by becoming indifferent.

Relationships are not destroyed by hatred but by silence, which in most cases turns into indifference.

Sometimes we can also be disappointed when a loved one does not meet all of our needs, fill the emptiness in our hearts, and help us live happily ever after.

The opposite of love is indifference, as it represents a lack of interest in a person or thing, an absence of concern or sympathy that can even lead to apathy and emotional emptiness.

How to build and work on a loving relationship

Indifference can be viewed as the opposite of love, since hate requires passion and energy – just like love. Indifference, on the other hand, does not require anything.

In order to determine why we hate someone and how feelings of hate are reflected in our relationship, we need to ask ourselves questions about self-reflection to find out why we have such feelings and thoughts.

When we choose to love, we can ask ourselves the difficult questions that will lead us to the source, from which we flee, from which we are afraid, which we ignore or suppress.

Hatred is triggered when we are unwilling to face someone who has hurt us and our anger comes to the fore as a form of self-protection.

We hide behind the fear of being hurt and hurting others and therefore prefer to remain silent. We hide from our feelings, which leads to anger and frustration building up.

We struggle with ourselves, trying to find the hope and courage to face the reaction when we talk about our feelings.

If we don’t nurture and take care of our love and our relationship, it will die and can even turn into hate at times.

If we want love to last, we have to nourish it and nurture it every day. The same goes for feelings of hatred, because if we ignore them, they cannot survive.

To keep love going in a relationship, you must not ignore or run away from your problems; you must be willing to have awkward conversations when arguments or disagreements arise.

When faced with a challenge, show courage and be brave about it, as this is the only way to deepen your bond and grow closer.

You should never take your loved one for granted, but use every day as an opportunity to show and express your love for them.

Some people even claim that you can’t actually hate a person, but that we hate a person’s actions and beliefs.

If we look carefully enough, we can always find something we like in another person, even if we disapprove of individual actions.

Only then can we be open and ready for loving emotions such as sympathy, tolerance, patience and acceptance.

When indifference threatens to rob us of our humanity or to shut down our soul, we should remember to act and fight indifference with love.

We need to develop a strong and unwavering sense of acceptance in our lives. We need to accept the situation we find ourselves in and the choices available to us, and let go of the desire for things to be different.

We must also accept the consequences, whatever they may be, of making decisions that are rooted in love. That often means making the harder decision of risking an unpleasant outcome or being exposed to ridicule.

Every decision we make is rooted in either love or fear. Choosing to love is not an easy one, but it will change your life.

Knowing the opposite of love allows you to get to know love better and to know better how important love is in our lives.

Quotes about love and hate

• “Love without measure, without limits, without complications, without permission, without courage, without advice, without doubt, without price, without healing, without anything. Do not be afraid of love, you will shed tears with or without love ”. – Chavela Varga.
• “Not to love out of fear is like not to live in fear of dying” –  Ernesto Mallo.
• “The opposite of love is not hate. The opposite of love is indifference. ” – Elie Wiesel.
• “At the end of a love all that remains is indifference. If you only feel hatred, then it’s not over yet. ” – Robert Brault.
• “Hate is not the absolute opposite of love, but indifference. You can love and hate someone at the same time, but you cannot love and be indifferent at the same time. ” – Matilda B.
• “Hate is love that has failed.” – Søren Kierkegaard.