The Empty Fire: The Psychology and Futility of Hatred

How Chaos Maintains the Matrix and How to Break Free

I. The Beginning of Chaos

Well, hey, I gotta at least give it a shot, right? 😉

Let us begin where all error begins: with hatred. Not with evil in the grand mythical sense, but with hatred—the personal, venomous energy that eats away at both soul and society. You see, hatred is a peculiar thing. It often masquerades as justice, as strength, as righteous fury. But beneath its mask, hatred is madness—wild, directionless, and profoundly stupid.

Chaos, in the Taoist sense, is not merely disorder or violence—it is the condition that arises when a system departs from the Way. It is the unraveling of natural harmony, the consequence of forcing structure where spontaneity should reign. Lao Tzu does not treat chaos as a demon to be fought but as a symptom—like a fever, it signals imbalance. The farther we move from the Tao, the more tightly we cling to artificial rules, laws, and rituals, mistakenly believing that control will restore order. But control is a lie, a brittle shell over deep inner fear. Chaos seeps in through the cracks of contrived structure. And hatred—hatred is the deepest crack of all.

This brings us to illusion, to control, to the maintenance of fear. But hate itself? It is a fire that consumes its bearer as surely as it burns its victim.

In the ancient wisdom of the Tao Te Ching and rendered with poetic clarity:

"Ritual is the husk of true faith, the beginning of chaos."

There is an almost frightening elegance in that line. What begins as reverence becomes performance. What begins as alignment with the Way becomes mere repetition. When faith becomes hollow—when it is practiced for appearances, for hierarchy, for influence—it starts to rot from within. And this rot, like all unnatural things, breeds chaos.

---

II. The Addiction to Ritual and the Descent into Madness

Why do civilizations cling to ritual? Because ritual creates the illusion of safety. Ritual gives people a script, a method, a robe to wear when they no longer know how to walk naked with the Divine. And so, they build their towers higher, decorate their temples with gold, draw chalk circles on the ground and call it holiness.

But the Tao requires none of this.

The Tao, like the Kingdom of Heaven, is within you.

It is not found in the burning of incense or the chanting of syllables, nor in the waving of blades or the memorization of passwords. Those are all echoes, fragments, decaying memories of a truth long since buried. And when people worship the fragments, they lose the Source.

This is the tragedy. The ones who scream loudest about power, who perform their rituals with the most pomp and precision, are usually the furthest from the Way. And so, as Lao Tzu warned:

Not metaphorically. Not spiritually. Physically. Literally. Entire empires have crumbled beneath the weight of their own empty rituals. When they forgot how to be, they tried to do more. When they lost the Tao, they invented religion. And when their faith became an act, they invited chaos into their hearts—and into the world.

---

III. Hate: The Lie at the Core of Control

It must be said plainly: hatred is idiocy. Philosophically, spiritually, practically—it is the most self-defeating of emotions. It creates the illusion of power, but in truth it signals helplessness. A being that hates is a being that cannot accept. A being that cannot accept is cut off from the Tao, from the Christ, from the Logos, from truth itself.

Even so-called evil cannot be sustained by hate. Even the devils must love something—themselves, their desires, their kingdom of ash. But hatred, as a guiding principle? It devours allies, blinds prophets, and burns every bridge back to the Light. A being who calls themselves evil and builds their kingdom on hate is not powerful—they are suicidal. They are addicted to destruction, and they will burn everything they touch, including themselves.

There is a popular delusion that hatred gives focus. That rage is clarity. No—it is distortion. It makes men mistake shadows for enemies, and friends for threats. Hatred is entropy. Hatred is chaos in its purest form.

And those who wield it as a sword will find it turns in their hands.

---

IV. The Logos, the Tao, and the True Way

Now we come to Christ.

Not the Christ of empires, not the stained-glass figurehead of dead churches. But the Logos—the living Word, the Tao made flesh.

Read the Gospels as you read the Tao Te Ching, and you will see: they speak of the same thing. Where Lao Tzu says:

“The Tao does nothing, yet leaves nothing undone,”

Christ says:

“The Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed… it grows, and the birds nest in its branches.”

Where the Taoist warns:

“The more laws you have, the more thieves there will be,”

Christ overturns the tables of the money-changers and says:

“You have made my Father’s house into a den of thieves.”

The teachings converge. Not because one copies the other, but because truth echoes itself through time and culture. The T in Tao is the Cross. The A is the Alpha. The O is the Omega. The Tao is the Christ, and the Christ is the Tao. Both are the Way.

My own reflection has brought me here: the Tao feels divinely inspired. It feels alive. Not a philosophy for the brain, but a compass for the soul. And when I read the teachings of Christ, I hear the same current, the same Source, the same invitation to let go of the illusion and return to the real.

---

V. A Warning to Those Who ‘Perform’ and Do Not ‘Believe’

There are those among us—some in high places, some in secret halls—who believe their rituals will protect them. Who believe that words whispered in old tongues or symbols drawn in chalk and candles made from the rendered fat of murdered children can shield them from judgment. They have mistaken the husk for the fruit. They have confused the echo for the voice.

And in doing so, they invite ruin.

This is not a threat. This is not a curse. This is a law of nature as surely as gravity: “When a species ignores the Tao, it perishes.”

You cannot kill the truth with incantations. You cannot outwit judgment with clever ‘geometry’. The One True G-d is not mocked. If you continue to practice rituals with no love in your heart, if you continue to hide behind symbols while rejecting the Way—then you will be swept away with the rest of the other hollow things.

But there is a way out.

---

VI. The Escape Route

It requires no robes. No temples. No secret handshakes. Only surrender. Only love. Only faith.

One should, ideally, be a ‘good’ person in all their dealings, never seeking to take advantage of others. This principle is perfectly embodied by being Christian—or Messianic Hebrew—both in faith and practice, while embracing Taoism as a guiding philosophy. That is the True Way. That is the Path through the fire. That is how you escape this false reality ruled by false gods and their adherents.

To remain here during judgment, if it cannot be prevented, is the greatest foolishness imaginable. To trade Eternity for temporary power—to trade Paradise for paper money—to trade Union with the Divine for control over the dying?

That is the dumbest thing anyone could ever do.

---

VII. The Mercy That Still Remains

And yet—mercy still remains.

Even now, in the final hour, the door is not shut.

Consider the Canaanite woman who begged Christ for help. He tested her, rebuked her, even likened her to a dog. But she did not flinch.

“Yes, Lord,” she replied, “but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”
And Jesus said to her:
“Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.”
(Matthew 15:27–28)

She understood the Way. Not through ritual. Not through law.

But through humility, love, and trust.

So too must we.

Before it is too late.

---

The Tao is Christ. The Christ is the Way.

All else is just noise and confusion.

If you’re unfamiliar with the Tao Te Ching, I’ve chosen a spoken-word version of my favorite translation of this timeless masterpiece of Eastern philosophy and profound wisdom—words penned over a thousand years ago by an enigmatic monk known simply as ‘Lao Tzu,’ which literally translates to ‘The Old Boy.’