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�I have learnt through bitter experience the one supreme
lesson: to conserve my anger, and as heat conserved is
transmuted into energy, even so our anger controlled can be
transmuted into a power which can move the world.�
~M.K. Gandhi
They say that genius is the ability to hold two diametrically opposed
thoughts in your mind at the same time. While this may be possible, it is not
always desirable. For example, one cannot hold onto negative or afflictive
emotions like anger, jealousy, lust, pride, hatred, while at the same time
developing an internal atmosphere of peace, harmony and love.
The presence of afflictive emotions undermines the peace upon which
happiness is based. In order to achieve genuine happiness and help oneself
and others avoid suffering, one must work to restrict the experience and
expression of one�s negative feelings.
Anger, in particular, frequently robs us of our ability to differentiate
between actions that lead to the fulfillment of our desire for happiness and
actions that destroy that hope, in us and in others. One learns through
observation and the trial and error of living what environments and individuals
are conducive only to affliction and avoids them. One becomes aware through
mindfulness of the rise of afflictive feelings before they become overpower the
mind and erupt into the phenomenal world.
Above, Gandhi is not suggesting the path of denial of negativity, but
neither is he advocating clinging to anger or any afflictive emotion. We all know
from our experience that one who holds onto his or her anger, fear, hatred, etc.
in incapable of experiencing lasting happiness, the main characteristic of which
is peace. Our psychologists and doctors have done studies that show that not
surrendering such negative feelings leads directly to illnesses physical and
mental.
On the contrary, Gandhi was aware of the constructive uses of anger.
One dispassionate way of managing anger in ourselves is to realize that what
we are actually experiencing is an energy moving in us, triggered, perhaps, by
some outside force or event, but fundamentally only energy. One can
acknowledge this energy and even be grateful for it; allow oneself to feel it, and
let the energy build, unfettered by recollection of cause, to vitalize one's own
body and spirit. There are also forms of meditation that focus on transforming the
afflictive emotion and releasing the energy into the world for the benefit of all
beings who experience the same afflictive emotion.
Gandhi was also aware of constructive anger, such as may motivate us to
stop a beating on the street. This anger, that motivates us to positive, right
action, is very good. However, this anger can turn quickly destructive if it
becomes tainted by vengefulness, spite or malice, especially during acts of
self-defense. Many of us experience constructive anger as it motivates our
activism, and is thus �transmuted into a power which can move the world.�
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