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Pearls Uncovered by Reflecting on Anger

2/15/2017

4 Comments

 
Picture
One moment of anger can wipe out a lifetime of merit.
 - Shantideva
A Guide to Bodhisattva’s Way of Life

 
Looking in the rearview mirror, the events of past 6 months look surreal. We have become a civilization wounded by our own anger and actions. Our collective actions are infused with a naked dance of hatred, bigotry, and anger as never seen before, bleaching the moral standing of the whole country meticulously earned over centuries of dogged pursuit of virtues by our forefathers.

I was not an innocent bystander, but a loyal member of a self-righteous echo-chamber, loudly labeling the other side with choicest, negatively optimized, words. My world, like many others’, was completely trapped in consensual hallucination with likeminded persons.  Our anger was generated by the feeling that the country was heading in the wrong direction and we were powerless.           

Now, at least for me, the vision clogging dust is settling down, although it looks that the journey of acceptance is going to be arduous and will have some hiccups. I try take time and look underneath the burning amber of anger to find pearls of wisdom buried in my unconscious. These pearls tell me how to understand nature and embark on a path of peace, and hydrate the anger so it does not become an uncontrollable fire. The starting quote of Shantideva is an important reminder that the antidote of anger is the practice of patience.

Old wisdom accepted the fact that anger is part of our nature to varying degrees, never going away. We are beckoned to transform its energy into something positive. A twelfth century Sufi Saint, Baba Sheikh Fareed, talked about this idea in the following couplet:
Fareeda bure da bhala kar, gusa man na handaaye
Dehee rog na lagayee, pale sab kuch paayey
(Do not hold and process the anger within your mind and body but process it by doing good to the ones who have done bad deeds to you.
The benefit in it will accrue to you. Your body will remain healthy and you will have boon of peace and equanimity)


The unearthing of this pearl gives me some solace and peace. Then another incomprehensible tweet hits the airwaves and I again get shaken out of my wits. 
 
I try to understand the mindset of people who voted for him. I remember that during the peak of my restaurant business, I had 8 running units in Wilkes-Barre and Scranton area of Pennsylvania. I employed over a couple of hundred men and women and came in close contact with them. Most of them were hard working people, and they were not racists or bigots. This is an area that overwhelmingly voted for Trump. We from the opposing side do a great disservice by painting them with a broad negative brush. We who are intoxicated with libation of mutual superiority forget that our necks are joined with those  “Red Necks” we apparently despise so passionately. It is said that collective anger is born of hopelessness, homelessness, and isolation. All these factors were present in the lives of our ignored brethren.
​
Suppressed and ignored anger is like volcano. At its core, where the dragon of hot destructive lava rests, is the quietest place. The anger of masses is akin to lava, silently burning in their hearts.  We do not possess the powers to stop volcano from erupting but we have the wisdom to recognize the anger, understand it, and transform its energy for good deeds. The necessary pearl of wisdom to do so here is networking and community involvement.

Lord Buddha said that Sangha (community) is a powerful tool for transformation of negative impulses to positive. Reintegrating the alienated back into circle of networks is like tying a knot on two ends of a broken thread. The knot becomes the strongest part of the thread.

Such pearls of wisdom, while helpful, are not putting lid on my restlessness. I see a pandemic of anger and there seems to be no inoculation. Everybody is jubilantly participating in Pandemonium Orchestra singing Angry Euphoria. I wonder, why most of the people are wearing anger on their noses. That brings me to Thomas Merton. In my opinion, he understood the main cause of anger. He said, “the rush and pressure of modern life were a form, perhaps the most common form, of contemporary violence. To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone and everything is to succumb to violence.” Our modern life is stretching the fabric of life so much so that it is ripping apart creating loneliness, fear, loss of direction, loss of company of friends and family, and loss of self-worth. This in my opinion is the main cause behind creation of angry civilization and loss of direction.

Pondering on Thomas Merton’s insight on the source of anger tells me that part of the solution lies in dialing down and saying hello to life. Thinking about this reminds me of a beautiful song from a Indian movie, Guide, which goes like this:
What is the rush O fellow traveler, in this transient world nobody is waiting for you, so where are you heading? Sit down under the shade of this tree and rest (your soul). You may never again find comfort of this cool shade.

According to Zen Buddhists, we all have the potential to experience appreciation of the beauty of time. It requires cultivating Bodhi Chitta, a state of Awakened Heart. In this state, there is no anger, attachment or judgment, only acceptance and a state of joy. Attaining a state of joy is a goal-less goal, a pursuit with patience, whose beginning and end is within us. An awakened heart is a happy heart, happily spreading joy around. Like an alchemist an awakened heart’s touch transforms other hearts into Gold. I have Chitta which still gets angry but no bodhi to guide me out of this delusional darkness.

I need healing hands of an Awakened Heart, but I realize that I do not have the luxury of physical time to wait and even if that person came in front of me how would I recognize him? I cannot see through the fog of ignorance which is obstructing my vision. Therefore, I push myself to sit silently in meditation and reflect on the nature of anger. In silently gazing at my inner self, I see brokenness scattered everywhere and from it a saying of Persian Poet Hafiz floats up lifting my spirits:
I am
A hole in a flute  
That the Christ’s breath moves through
Listen to this
Music.

4 Comments
Girish
2/15/2017 04:18:22 pm

This post is a wonderful step back from the constant analyses we're all subjected to. I find the Thomas Merton quote particularly insightful. Thank you for sharing such a deep and thoughtful perspective.

Reply
Robbie
2/15/2017 04:35:16 pm

Uncle I love your blog posts. I also fell into a bit of a hole with frustration/confusion but I started to realize that we also live in a time when information can be so easily available and self selecting/easily manipulated. I also realized what you stated about the increased loneliness regardless of always being connected. It is amazing how words hold sway through the test of time. Your words are the same and I love it. It is really also easy to just view the world in the moment and not realize that our lifetime has similarities to those of just the past 100 years. Who is to say the anger we feel now is not the same extreme anger that others felt during the Great Depression, civil war, colonization, crusades etc. My hope is that we can just observe. Thank you again.

Reply
Prabhat
2/16/2017 04:32:05 pm

It was not until 1856 that property ownership clause for voting privilege was removed. James Madison was a strong proponent of this provision. Madison thought the government's first responsibility was to protect the land owners' property. Therefore, they should only be gives this right.

Translate that to 2016. This indiscriminate privilege has landed us with a thin skinned executive that has no understanding of the intricacies of diplomacy. No understanding of human psychology. Not receptive to experts.

It is a fact that better educated people make better decisions. I would prefer a voter that was better educated, and, a leader that was better educated.

Anyone can learn to count money. Also, to understand profit and loss. This does not qualify him or her as an educated person. People that voted for this intellectually challenged individual were the masses that were easily swayed by the emotions of the moment. Buyer's remorse anyone?

Reply
Simi Nischal
2/20/2017 11:02:17 pm

Paul, very eloquently put! Anger is bullish and patience is bearish in today’s high stress world. You have addressed a very sensitive topic with creative intellect. I love to read your blog and wait anxiously for your postings. There is so much to learn from your pearls of wisdom and thanks so much for sharing them. You enrich my life and add a dose of 'wise' to my being.

I am reminded by a beautiful and very fitting verse from Gita-

krodhad bhavati sammohah
sammohat smrti-vibhramah
smrti-bhramsad buddhi-naso
buddhi-nasat pranasyati

Anger leads to delusion
Delusion leads to confusion
Confusion kills logic
With lack of logic, Intelligence is lost

@ pharbaht. Appreciate your perspective here but.... Do educated people always make better decisions? While intelligence and wisdom are not mutually exclusive, intelligent/educated people are not always wise.

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    About Radiant Return

    I will be using this blog to share my thoughts on human nature, philosophy, and religion. 

    I hope you share your thoughts as well.

    Thanks,
    Paul
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