Addicted to hating Trump
It's one thing to oppose harmful actions. It's another to need to be right.
A few nights ago I dreamed about a man I love to hate—a man whose conservative, self-righteous Jesus talk drives me crazy. In my dream I publicly embarrassed this man. I called out all the ways he was wrong in a room full of people. He was humiliated. I even made him cry. I woke up from this dream feeling so satisfied.
Karen Armstrong, a British author known for her books on comparative religion, wrote 12 Steps to a Compassionate Life, which she based off of the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. In an interview on the TED Radio Hour, Armstrong explained, “We are addicted to our pet hatreds. We don’t know what we would do without the people we dislike. We meditate on their bad qualities. They become our alter egos. They are everything we are not. When we say something negative about these people we get a buzz of pleasure almost like the first drink of the evening.”
I immediately thought of the man in my dream as I listened to Armstrong speak. Her words rang so true. My dream reflected my ego’s desire to win, to be right, to defeat this man with whom I disagree. “People don’t want to be compassionate,” Armstrong said, “they want to be right.” Our egos drive us to these conflicts, even in our dreams.
