By Elizabeth Herman | Posted: July 19, 2019
Someone asked Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, “Is it possible that I never get angry?” He responded by asking about the questioner’s experiences, and describing universal instances of healthy, natural anger. “As a child, when a toy was snatched away from you, you got angry. You screamed when your food wasn’t provided… You’ve done it.”
You’ve experienced anger, but how soon have you come out of it? That’s the question, along with how and how often you have used it for compassionate and controlled purposes.
In this short talk by Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, the true meaning of anger and its nuances as a useful emotion are explored.
Aspects of anger: strength, vision, and attachment
The following three aspects of anger in your life are outlined in the video:
Your strength and your frequency of anger are inversely proportional. The stronger you are, the less you tend to get angry. The weaker you are, the more you’re prone to anger. Where is your strength? Why are you losing it?
Your vision and in-depth understanding of life, or of people around you, also plays a part in your anger. For instance, If you have a narcissistic self-image or a vision of how your life should be that’s inflexible, that will contribute to any problems with anger you may have. If you understand life as changing and not revolving around you, it will ease your tendency to get angry.
Your degree of attachment to what you want also affects the quality and usefulness of your anger. Behind anger is a desire. If it’s for your own comfort, pleasure or ego, that’s one reaction. But if your anger has a compassionate purpose, it’s different than destructive rage.
The skill of streamlining anger
As Gurudev advises in the video, all of us should use anger, but not let it use us. Streamline the anger in your life, without letting it take over and go everywhere. As he describes, sometimes strong emotion can be like a river that’s flooded its banks. For an example of healthy use of anger, he points toward capable women who are raising children and maintaining happy families. Moms are able to know when to show anger to children and when not to. Great teachers also know this. Keep it in your control.
Anger isn’t always bad; sometimes it’s good. If you use it everyday it’ll lose value, but if you use it very sparingly, it’ll serve you well and help you teach, communicate, and relate constructively with others.
By Elizabeth Herman - PhD in English, with concentrations in Rhetoric and Composition, and Literature, she offers writing support to clients, teaches locally, lives in Boone, NC, and volunteers for a better world.
