One of my regular morning stops along the information superhighway is The Forty-Five blog hosted by a gentleman who calls himself Toirdhealbheach Beucail, “a wanderer, an exile, a warrior on his Musha Shugyo, lost in a modern world that more and more outdistances me — and am becoming quite comfortable with that fact.”
His Sunday musing was on the subject of anger, launching from a quote by the sixth- or seventh-century cleric known as St. John of the Ladder:
“If the Holy Spirit is peace of soul, as He is said to be, and as He is in reality, and if anger is disturbance of heart, as it actually is and is said to be, then nothing so prevents His presence in us as anger.”
Beucail wrote about his own struggles with a bad temper, to which I can relate. When I was a kid, I once threw a sneaker at one of my brothers with such force that, missing its target, it flew all across the living room and shattered the glass in a family portrait on the wall. More than 60 years later, I can still see it sailing through the air as if in slow motion to the inevitable catastrophe.
I have done my best to be as slow as I can to anger, but when I do lose my temper, I am ashamed at the intensity of my behavior. I don’t throw things anymore, but I can shout things that I regret seconds later. And needless to say, I’m not particularly persuasive under those conditions.
As Beaucail said, “Never in all my years have I been convinced of a thing by the anger of another. Likely never in my years have I convinced another by my anger.”
You will not find anger on the list of the fruits of the spirit. Nor does Paul mention anger when he lists the excellent things one should contemplate in living a holy life. As the saint rightly says, you’re not going to connect with the Holy Spirit with your rage.
When politicians blow smoke and shine mirrors to convince potential voters of their righteousness, one of the blunt-force instruments in their toolbox is to foment anger. Angry people do not think straight and can be more easily manipulated, almost more so than people who are afraid. If they can get you scared AND angry, more’s the better.
If it wasn’t so serious, I would be amused by members of the ruling class who say political violence has no place in civilized society. Politics IS violence, and often of late the rhetoric is of a nature that invites, if not incites, acts of violence.
I have a simple suggestion for when you feel yourself getting so angry you want to lash out: Don’t. Just don’t. You’ll regret it, if not instantaneously or in a few seconds, in the not too distant future.
You will not be surprised by my alternate suggestion for when anger begins to nip at your consciousness: Find a way to turn that energy into love, and love your neighbor, who in this case is someone who makes you mad. Nobody sane ever said that love is easy, but a little love and understanding goes a long way.
