A woman once said: “There is a fine line between love and hate.” This struck me at the time but I wasn’t sure why. It seemed to be coming from a place of great wisdom. A chunk of time has passed since I heard this, and it has come up again in my thoughts – and I am trying to figure out why this could be. For me, right now – one potential meaning of this phrase could be explained by my reaction to others. I have heard people say ‘The connections we make with others are, in part, caused by something we see in them that we see in ourselves.’ Right now, I am defining love as caring deeply about others well being, and hate as inability to accept the way someone is naturally preventing this caring to occur. I myself struggle with extreme social anxiety, this can prevent me from seeing which side of the line I will fall. I have identified my frustration with other people to be really an insecurity I find in myself. Often times when I realize this it is a relief, and it helps me to grow and learn more about myself and my reactions to the world around me.
It seems to me that on a macro-scale this same repulsion and connection theory can be applied. When cultural values collide in a large scale, maybe it is a societies subconscious reaction to something present in their own culture that is harmful to their progress/well being.
