I recently learnt someone I truly despised had died. Many thoughts ran through my mind at this news, not least of which was how we should bear the deceased no ill-will.
Ill-will…
Hatred is an emotion that grasps us in a cruel, yet clever grip. It convinces us we are righteous, that it matters, and that we should embrace and sustain it. It twists us until we think that something so wrong as hatred, is somehow something right. Hatred breeds, with the foremost of its offspring being intolerance and spite. Hatred hides in plain sight, wearing its many guises well. Yet once we recognize it those clever concealments soon fall away. You’ll find hatred and its progeny everywhere, from sporting events to religious teachings to political rallies to virulent atheism and most places between.
Ill-will is everywhere, though it serves nobody well.
Back to the person who recently died…
How strange to bear another ill-will right up until the time of their demise, then feel our hatred morph into pity.
Pity strikes me as a far better emotion than its inverse, from which it sometimes springs. Indeed pity might be kin to compassion, an emotion I hold in high esteem.
Ill-will takes too much energy to hold as tight as we do. Compassion takes no energy at all, indeed it gives it back. Release ill-will, and embrace compassion. I think you’ll be relieved when you do. I know I am.
