Anger / Part of a Development

Meditationtime Forum Post

Date:  Posted 3 years before Oct 07, 2016

MiBeloved 3 years ago

We get information in the Bhagavad Gita, that anger is part of a development of emotions and is not an outright expression in its own right. Why has Krishna not listed anger as something in its own right? Are his opinions valid or not. Let us read his information:

Bhagavad Gita English chapter 2

The act of considering sensual objects, creates in a person, an attachment to them. From attachment comes craving. From this craving, anger is derived. (2.62)

From anger, comes delusion. From this delusion, the conscience vanishes. When he loses judgment, his discerning power fades away. Once the discernment is affected, he is ruined. (2.63)

This explains that anger begins with the consideration of sensual objects in the mind. If this does not take place, anger cannot develop. If I do not first hold an image or imprint of a sensual image in the mind, I cannot develop anger in relation to the said object.

However once the consideration takes place, there is a sequence of developments which must occur before anger can develop. In some cases this development may happen so rapidly as to make one feel that the anger developed instantly but that is not the case.

After an angry outburst I may say that it happened suddenly, it was impulsive and I had no control over it. Still anger takes time to develop like anything else. In its development anything can suffer from stunted growth. Plants for instance when they find themselves in a drought situation, cease growing. Even anger for all it is, has to have supports and must be fed energy to continue as an impulsion.

Once any sense is exposed to its desired object there is a likelihood that anger could develop from the exposure. Jim heard a song which he loved to muse in his head. The sound came from a night club. He realized that the singer was in that night club doing a live performance.

Jim went want to the door and asked if he could go in to see the singer. He was willing to pay for entry, but a door man said that it was a special night and only certain select persons could gain entry.

Jim was disappointed. He pulled a gun and shot the doorman.

Why did he do it? Could he not inhibit the anger?

To stop the development of anger initially, Jim would have had to stop his mind from developing any responses or ideas in reference to the sound of the song as soon as he heard it. His failure to check his hearing mechanism from absorbing and dwelling on this sound meant that it would develop into the second stage which is attachment according to Krishna. Once the sense object is entertained in the mind, it automatically causes the development and an attachment to the said object. This attachment increases as one entertains it in the mind.

Even though the self is involved as the passive enjoyer of the entertainment, still this self is victimized. It is spell bound. It loses its sense of discrimination while it is engaged with the sense object.

The more Jim hears the sound which came from the night club, the more he developed attachment, even though he did not objectively understand that this was the case. Jim was involved in the enjoyment derived from the hearing sense and that brought out a need for a visual of the singer. This need increased the attachment even more but Jim was unaware of this psychological build-up in his psyche.

The next mutation which takes place is the status of craving which manifests when the attachment reaches a fullness. As attachment increases and increases, it reaches a state where it converts into craving. While attachment is a mild form of possession, carving it is acute most developed state. Craving is accelerated, over-the-top, attachment.

Craving is dangerous because if anyone gets in the way of the person concerned, then that person is likely to become violent. This is all due to the nature of craving where it does not take no for an answer. Craving is certain of itself. It is confident that it can do whatever is necessary to get the fulfillments.

If the craving is fulfilled then and there, the person does not become angry, but if the craving energy fails to acquire the sense object, it converts into delusion which are impractical concepts about how to acquire the sense object any which way. Delusion is such that the person cannot calculate the parameters of reality correctly. Hence the conclusions drawn which are the summation of the thinking process for acquiring the object, prove to be false. This accelerates the energy and converts it into a feeling of frustration with the under-energy which buoys up the thesis with various justifications.

After these delusions occur in the mind, then if this is not checked by the individual, he or she will develop a loss of conscience. This will happen if the individual has a conscience about the matter in the first place.

Some individuals will not have a conscience or a sense of right and wrong in this matter. Thus for them, there will be no guilt feeling, no uneasiness, no hesitation, doubt or inhibition. They will experience a feeling of neutrality in reference to the delusions which they think off.

Persons, who have a well-developed conscience in relation to the particular sense object, will be hampered in this by their sense of right and wrong which will either permit them to continue or deter their effort in acquiring the said object.

What motivates one person to kill to acquire a particular sense object may not move another person even to lift a finger to acquire it. Each person has unique subconscious compulsions which pursue and might viciously acquire particular allurements.

If it was another singer, Jim may have turned away when he was stopped by the doorman. Since it was a singer whose voice he craved, he killed the doorman. Particular sense objects invoke particular compulsions of lesser or greater magnitude in the psyche of the individual.

If there is no discernment as a counter measure to ride against the craving and its developed urges, the person will give in to the energy and will act as if there was no consideration for the right or wrong perspective.

After sometime the incidence will pass, the person may then forget it or may hash it over in the mind, to determine if it was justified or is to be regretted and compensated.

How best to deal with anger?

Train your mind to cease contemplating sense objects. Do not support the minds tendency for compulsive thinking.

If you were unable to stop the contemplation of a sense object, and if you realize this after you develop an attachment to the said object, then retract your interest in the object and let the attachment fizz out. If it is not supported by interest, the attachment energy will find that it cannot support itself. It will fizz out.

If you failed to stop a developed attachment for a sense object, then if you find yourself craving the item or person, downplay the importance of the said object in the mind, so as to encourage the mind not to forcefully build on the attachment. If you can do this, the attachment will subside, the energy will reverse into the attachment stage where you will have a chance to be neutral to it and thus reverse its development.

If you failed to do anything during the craving stage, if the craving develops into an uncontrollable urge where you feel that you must make contact with the said object, then your next posture should be to consider that if you cannot acquire the item you will feel disappointed. In such a state it is likely that you might harm some other person, something which is definitely anti-social and which may carry dire immediate or remote reactions.

If you can acquire the item, then your craving will be satisfied if the item yields sufficient enjoyment. Jim did kill the doorman and lucky for him no one was at the entrance to witness what happened. He dragged the wounded man into a back alley and then slipped into the club to enjoy the singer and songs.

However, as soon as he did that, the power went out in the club because its breaker panel was overloaded. The main input breaker burnt. Jim felt terrible. He resented the power company and thought they should have provided a more reliable service. He was embarrassed to be in the presence of the singer at first when he entered the club because he has a sexual attraction to the woman. After the power outage, she was quickly ushered into a limousine which whisked her away from that area. Jim was left with his unfulfilled desires for both the singer and her songs. He now began to think over what he did. He regretted it but he figured that it was time to leave that area before the dead doorman would be discovered and the police would begin an investigation. On his way home, he planned to throw the weapon into a river.

Anger then is not a lone emotion. It does not stand on its own two feet. To treat it effectively either in oneself or in others, one needs to study how it develops. Then one can tackle it and dismantle its components and supports.