Fred was a successful professional sportsman in his younger days. His life began to fall apart some years ago with his anger tantrums leading to an acrimonious divorce and financial disaster. Later his children and remaining friends refused to deal with him any longer. He lives today in a shelter for the homeless in melancholy sadness over the life that was and is no more.
I could go on and on about stories of people whose lives have been torn apart by anger issues.
Negative emotions such as anger have become pervasive.
We are all susceptible to an occasional outburst of anger but when you or a family member fall into a temper tantrum over seemingly small matters by throwing things and becoming physically abusive professional help should be sought for what is described as “intermittent explosive disorder. The root cause could be anything from childhood trauma to substance abuse.
The more common anger is an undercurrent of irritability and negativity that will rapidly reduce your vibrational energy, and inevitably turn you into a person people don’t like to be around with. You will lose friends, relationships and risk your job and business ventures.
Negative and compassionate anger
The Dalai Lama points out the difference between uncontrolled and compassionate anger which he describes as anger that “helps us repel forces that are detrimental to our survival and well-being.”
“In some situations, strong compassion may give rise to an equally strong sense of outrage—that is anger about injustice. Again, feeling angry can, in the short term, make our minds more focused and give us an extra burst of energy and determination.”
This is the “holy anger” that Jesus demonstrated in turning over the tables of the money-changers in the temple of Jerusalem with the words: “My house shall be called the house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves.” It is not relevant whether the incident happened historically.
The message Jesus communicated was the importance of standing guard at the doorway to your soul.
