Start each day with the thought, 'I may die today', for that is a fact. Far from being a morbid thought, it's quite empowering and uplifting. To face the reality of our mortality is to face life fully, wherever it may lead us.
It only "explodes in a murderous£ rampage" because the accumulated anger and the causes of it have not been dealt with. A "good blow out" (if any angry blow out could be termed as good,) is possibly the least best option to deal with the emotional disturbance we call anger. It's handing over full control to the bruised ego, and that's never a good thing.
Anger is not like a balloon which deflates when the air is let out, more often than not an expansion of the disturbed emotion takes place when anger is displayed. Taking steps to release inward tensions is always good and should be practiced often, as anger cannot survive in the face of calm, and calmness helps direct us towards the best course of action.
It's fear, (which most anger manifests from) that triggers fight or flight Pedro, Lives are saved by staying in control and acting accordingly, something that's less likely to happen when a person displays anger.
Anger is really an accumulation of emotional turbulence, and whilst it seems that getting it out is better than holding it in, in fact releasing it can do more harm than good. Getting really angry just makes us more angry. Better not to fuel your anger by simply venting it, anger is like gasoline, once it's ignited the worst thing you can do is add more of it. Angry feelings need to be dealt with as soon as they arise, but expressing your thoughts in the form of anger will just lead to more anger...this is the "optional" part.
I'm viewing anger from a spiritual perspective, and in particular from my Buddhist teachings Rohaan. It isn't a matter of right or wrong, just a matter of awareness.
We all have a pool of anger inside us, some more than others, but except for very few people on this earth, we all feel the negative emotion of anger from time to time.
I asked, "Why GET angry?" That is to say, why do we allow anger to take control of us at times? Once you realise, or become aware, that anger never makes a situation better, never gives you more control, and is in fact a form of weakness, you may take steps to look within and explore why you have anger. There are many ways to transmute anger, even the simple act of clenching your fists for thirty seconds or so, then releasing them can dispel anger. But ultimately it's acceptance of the fact that you 'have' anger in any given situation, and the realisation that no one can make you angry but yourself. It then becomes quite easy to control anger, stay calm and deal with the situation in a rational and controlled manner.
Anger and Buddhism
What Makes You Angry?
It’s important to understand that anger is something created by yourself.
It didn’t come swooping out of the ether to infect you. We tend to think that anger is caused by something outside ourselves, such as other people or frustrating events. But my first Zen teacher used to say, “No one makes you angry. You make yourself angry.”
Buddhism teaches us that anger is created by mind. However, when you are dealing with your own anger, you should be more specific. Anger challenges us to look deeply into ourselves. Most of the time, anger is self-defensive. It arises from unresolved fears or when our ego-buttons are pushed.
As Cicero observed, "It it foolish to tear one's hair out in grief, as though sorrow would be made less by baldness."
Grief comes after loss, but loss is an unavoidable part of life, change is inevitable, the word we have for that which is unchanging is death. Change, or loss has to lead to growth if it's not to consume a person, not to change is contrary to the life force, suffering is bound to follow if this is not acknowledged and accepted.
The word "grief" derives from the Latin gravis, "to bear," and from which we get our word "gravity." To experience grief is not only to bear the heaviness of the condition but, again, to testify to depth as well. We only grieve what has value. Surely one of the deepest pains of grief is the sense of impotence, the reminder of how little we are in control of life.
Twenty-five hundred years ago Guatama became the Buddha (one who sees through). What he saw was that life is the permanent experience of suffering. This suffering is primarily occasioned by the ego's desire to control- to control the environment, to control others, to control even mortality. Since we are unable to successfully control life, we suffer in proportion to our losses.
The only path through and beyond this suffering, according to the Buddha, is the relinquishment of the desire to control, to let be, to go with the wisdom implicit in the transience of nature.
This release is the proper cure for neurosis, for then one is not split off from nature, including ourselves, who are a part of nature.
OBE's, or astral projections are quite common, and for some easily attained. When the consciousness is detached from the physical body it is released from the bounds of that body, astral projection can then take you anywhere. You just have to make sure you can find your way back...
I'm at a Kadampa Buddhist meditation retreat centre in the hills near Malaga, Spain. It's really quite beautiful here. Not quite as beautiful as the English Lake District though.
I have done quite a bit of business with Fairground people over the years, they were great to deal with, lots of laughs and as honest as the day is long...
It's true, some people don't respect their environment, some people do. But from my experience, at close quarters, no travelers respect the area they are staying in.
As for those who are settled in the community, by definition, they are no longer 'travelers', so I'm not sure how that is relevant.
Yes they descend, park their caravans for a couple of weeks before they can be moved on, (to another part of town, or a country park,) then make a terrible mess of that area.
Now I'm not talking about a few piles of rubbish, a few refuse sacks here and there, I'm talking about tonnage. They seem to think it's ok to dump all the industrial waste from the various businesses they are involved with right on mine and plenty of other peoples doorsteps. All other respectful traders have to dispose of their industrial waste at the local refuse tips, and pay the relevant charges for doing so.
And while we are talking about tax, my refuse is collected because I pay council tax, but having said that, even though I pay for my refuse to be taken away, that wouldn't allow me to avoid paying for any industrial waste I might want rid of. The travelers do not pay any council tax, nor do they pay to dispose of the waste products of their businesses, they just dump it wherever they ''descend' upon, leaving the local community to foot the bill.
Anyone who lives in an area that is blighted by visiting travelers will tell you exactly the same.
bodleing2 Forum Posts (6,132)
RE: where you ever crippled emotionally?
I think Tolle acknowledges the positive benefit in that meditation, I'm sure he mentions it in New Earth.