Anger is a really intriguing emotion, I feel. And we would do very well to learn to control it, because if we don’t control it, it presents itself in the world, and slowly but surely, it will begin to damage us.
Because to be known as an angry person, this is not a compliment. I once worked for a man, and all he did was scream at his employees. And the parking lot, of course, was filled with expensive cars, Mercedes-Benz, BMW.
So they were making so much money that they couldn’t quit. They couldn’t. But he would berate them.
It was just horrible to watch, and he never screamed at me. I was quite fortunate, I felt. But other people, gosh, received so much abuse.
So anger itself is an uncontrolled emotion, because we can control anger. And usually all of us feel anger on a daily basis. We feel perhaps anger at the injustice of life.
We can feel angry at age, at our social circumstance, our color, our ethnicity, our sex. It goes on. There’s an awful lot to be angry about.
But what’s so strange about anger in my estimation is that it is extremely individual and we don’t quite understand. Because if I say, I love you, everyone understands immediately.
I love you like a father, a brother, a lover, a boyfriend, a girlfriend, a parent, goes on, right? Everyone understands love. It is, of course, universal, and this is what Jesus is known for from his Sermon on the Mount, right?
That we must be loving, peaceful people. And it was only St. Augustine, some 400 years later or so, that actually altered this.
And you get the just war concept, which was once again in the 13th century, was adopted by St. Thomas Aquinas. I mean, the just war.
How bizarre. A just war to kill you. Makes no sense to me for sure.
But this is how Jesus’ message of peace and love became twisted and convoluted. So I think we must control this anger. If I say, I’m angry at you, most people do not understand.
How are you angry at me? I’ve done something wrong, or you don’t like my moral stance, or whatever it is. We’re confused by anger, but we all understand love, which means that anger, unfortunately, is extremely unique to the individual.
Some feel it more than others, obviously, quite obviously. So what should I do when I become angry? Because usually it makes a person feel rather nauseated, right?
Well, the first thing you’ll have to do is you have to somehow mentally pause and breathe deeply. Ah, slow breaths, slow breaths, to tell your body to calm down and then remind yourself. Catch, because anger, I think, is like a wave.
It just comes over you and down into your mind, out through your mouth, right? Say to yourself, wait a moment, I can feel this great poison coursing through me at this moment.
So if possible, detach yourself, walk away, and then remind yourself that the other person who perhaps is provoking this anger, they might be one of the poor and unwashed, right?
Psychologically, figuratively speaking, they might really be having a difficult time, totally fearful. So it behooves us to train ourselves for these kinds of people, right? It behooves ourselves to do that.
And I just like to suggest, leave you with some philosophers, what they say about anger. Aristotle, he says, Anyone can become angry. That is easy.
But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way, this is not easy.
Seneca, the great Stoic philosopher, he says, Anger, an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored, than to anything on which it is poured. So in other words, anger only poisons me.
Emperor Marcus Aurelius, famous for The Meditations, his great book, How Much More Grievous Are The Consequences of Anger Than the Causes of It.
The Buddha, holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else. But you are the one, you are the one who gets burned. Another philosopher, Epictetus Stoic.
When you are offended at any man’s fault, tune to yourself and study your own failings, then you will forget your anger. Hard to do, for sure. St.
Thomas Aquinas, anger should align with charity and justice, never with cruelty. And then ultimately, Jesus tells us that we must go inside ourselves. You have heard that it was said to those of old, You shall not murder.
Whoever murders will be liable to judgment. But I say to you, that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment. Whoever insults his brother will be liable to the court.
And whoever says, You despicable fool, you will be liable to the hell of fire.
And finally, in Matthew, if you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. Because be angry and do not sin.
Do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil.
So, there we are. Some thoughts on anger. And I think it is very important in the world we occupy today, because we live in basically, according to the internet, we live in an angry world.
And it’s just not real, to be honest, because you know yourself, when you go into a park or take a walk, perhaps in nature, whatever that means, along the beach, it’s a wonderful life and a magnificent world.
And all of these emotions that swirl inside of me can be contained, because they are my own. The classic question, who makes you angry? I do.
I’m the only person who can make me angry, as strange as it sounds, right? So I guess this includes me, of course. We all must control our anger.
Find a way to find the joy in life, in all circumstances. And you know what they say, you know what they say, critical thinking is necessary, especially if we’re going to control our anger. And critical thinking is great, truly great.
You take care. God bless. Bye-bye.