All of my posts are thought experiments usually conducted early in the morning when my brain is racing. Blogging is really about "The Morning Pages" that Julie Cameron talks about in her book "The Artists Way." So, bear with me...
Christian Bremer wrote a book in German, "Free from Anger" that I attempted to translate. Upon reflection, it may one of the best books or concepts I have ever read about the topic. In it he says that "It is normal to be angry, but do you want to be normal?"
Do you really want to be like everyone else? Do you really want to jump off of a bridge just because everyone else is doing it?
Anger is addictive. It gives us energy. It pulls up passion in us. It makes us feel important, righteous, and self-confident. It is a drug so addictive that it can become your way of coping with the world. When I consider the state of humanity right now it seems to me that so many people are living in a constant state of anger.
This is not a good situation for anyone. Being emotional blocks the ability to reason. You say things you wouldn't normally say. You do what you wouldn't normally do. Decision making and finding solutions becomes cloudy and confusing and mistakes are made all because our base impulses override our ability to think objectively.
I am human. I am normal. I am angry. But, I do know anger is a drug and a mechanism for 'standing your ground.' I'll be the first to admit that the simmer below the surface is quite hot, but I am such a fan of "being peaceful" like a Buddhist monk that I wished I could maintain that state in me. The Laughing Buddha is my favorite character. The wisdom of laughing at the games we play in our minds is possibly the healthiest practice of any spiritual practice.
My mother was angry a lot. Most people would never have known that about her. She was a small, demure woman who was the mother bear if ever there was one. I remember so many times in my life when I would see her "put her foot down" to make someone "do their job" if she felt she or someone in the family was not being attended to. Later, after I had studied Buddhism quite a bit, I asked her why she thought she had to do that? Wouldn't it be better just to talk to people in a normal tone projecting the same message but doing it with a lot less stress?
She didn't think people took her seriously. I told her that people don't really think about others that much in general. Everyone is thinking only about themselves and how they feel. The ticket isn't to create bad feelings but to create positive feelings. That is what people react to. People react positively when you make them feel good. She thought that when people 'got busy' doing what she wanted them to do because she got mad was effective because it seemed effective to her. All it did was make them want her to "go away and never come back."
Later in life when she would get worked up like that I told her to just let me handle it. After I had gotten done what we were needing and the people who helped us were laughing and having a good time my Mom looked at me and asked, "Tim, how do you do that?" I told her that it isn't a secret. all you do is help them do their job and enjoy it. Every public place of service has a process and those processes take time and are done by a certain procedure that has been decided upon after years of trial and error to save everyone time. Just help them do their job.
In attempt to do this I visited the offices of a property management firm and wanted to let them know that there was a huge pile of clippings, and branches that had been on the front lawn for over 6 months. The manager got bent all out of shape about it. He was saying stuff like "Oh, you're complaining about it?" "The city is supposed to pick that up." and so on. I said, "No, I just wanted to let you know of the situation, that you may not know that it hasn't been taken care of."
I think he probably gets a lot of "angry complaints" from tenants and neighbors. I wasn't angry, I was just trying to help because it wasn't getting done. I'm sure he had a lot of people like my mother who used anger to communicate so he was already conditioned to defend himself, when no defense was necessary.
America is in a state of anger. Politicians use anger as a way to move people because it is the single most powerful emotion we have in common. Express anger and you'll find people saying "You're right, damn it!" So, the mob grows and grows and the more confusion and conspiracy theories you throw at them just fuels the fire. Now, it is a movement intoxicated by anger and they are addicted. All the while, no problems are being solved. The only thing left is to blame others for their woes. It is 'them' or 'us'. Most of the time the "them" is unaware that they have done anything, and most of the time they haven't. They are just chosen and propped up as the thing to be mad at so that you can feel good about attacking 'them'. Heaven forbid you actually disagreed with them. Then it is all out war.
But, one thing I learned years ago is that it is difficult to stay angry for an entire day. What would that actually look like? Imagine, being angry and mad for an entire day. It would be exhausting. I think the nation is finally getting tired of being angry. I hope so. Nothing is more destructive than anger. It is high time we ditched anger for optimism and creating dreams for the future and to free the mind from the burden of anger which distracts and destroys.
Hang it up America. Rid yourself of anger and lets start forging a new day!