The number of [passions] which are simple and primitive is not very large...There are but six which are such, i.e., wonder, love, hatred, desire, joy and sadness; and all others are composed of some of these six, or are species of them.
Article LXXIX
The Definition of Love and Hate
Love is an emotion of the soul caused by the movement of the spirits which incites it to join itself willingly to objects which appear to it to be agreeable. And hatred is an emotion caused by the spirits which incite the soul to desire to be separated from the objects which present themselves to it as hurtful....
Taken from: The Passions of the Soul
Rene Descartes
A very simple definition but an intriguing one. He attributes love to the spirits. He does the same with hate. Both can be of course a spiritually divine or a spiritually demonic attribution. Certainly God is love and yet He is also hate. Well, perhaps I dare not say that He is hate, but rather that He possesses the capacity to hate. He loves children, therefore He must hate abortion. The devil works in a similar fashion. He can hate and yet he can love, and he can employ both against us quite successfully. A love of self and a hatred of self are devilish things. A distorted love of others or of self can be equally devilish.
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