Anger is an Energy

 

By Gerry Rickard

“Anger is an energy” sang John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten) in his song Rise, back in the day.

As a meditation teacher and sangha practitioner, I hear the word “anger” a lot these days. There seems to be a lot of this angry energy in the world right now, a lot of seeds that are being sown which generate the energy of anger. Anger over politics, anger over wars that are being waged, anger over the “other” who is different than us, anger that breeds polarisation.

A question that many ask is, “Can anger be justified?” There is, of course, the anger against social injustices, against imperialism, against unjust war and the taking of countless innocent lives. But can anger ever be justified?

Right now, I am preparing to take the precepts online with the Upaya Zen Centre in New Mexico, whose abbot is Roshi Joan Halifax. I’ve been recently studying the Ninth Precept which Upaya presents as follows:

“Transforming suffering into wisdom: this is the practice of Not Being Angry. I will not harbour resentment, rage, or revenge, and I will let anger teach me.”

Interesting, this “transforming suffering into wisdom.” It takes me right into the energy of anger itself.

What is it? What causes anger to arise in me as an energy, as an emotion? I just read Stephan Bodian’s excellent book, Beyond Mindfulness where he wrote the following: “Reactive emotions tend to be intense, painful, disruptive, targeted at others and defensive, as if you’re trying to protect an inner fortress or vulnerable place that feels like it’s besieged.”

This reads like anger, or at least my anger. We must sit and ask ourselves these questions: What is my inner fortress? What is it I am trying to protect?

The answers all revolve around, as Shunryu Suzuki called it, our “Small Mind,” the mind of the ego as opposed to the “Big Mind” of our awareness. This small mind is the sense of “me” that generates the pride that makes me react in certain situations, that makes me feel important, independent and apart from the world around me—separate and aloof. The separateness that generates anger towards something or someone else, deflecting it away from myself.

But what if we take away the small self, the ego? When there is no “I” or “me,” then how can “I” be angry? If there is no more inner fortress to protect then anger, if it arises, can dissipate back from where it arose.  In the same sense, if there is no “I” then there is also no “other” towards whom I can project my anger.

By asking myself, “who is it that is getting angry?,” then I can begin to let go of all the fixed ideas I have about “me” and approach anger from a different direction.

Here we are entering into Suzuki’s Big Mind. Can I rest in this awareness, the awareness that “anger is here” and allow the emotion, feeling and sensation of anger to just arise and pass away within this space? Here is the space where we transfer suffering into wisdom, as the Upaya precept states above. This is the skillful means, or upaya in Sanskrit.

Big Mind is also the not knowing mind. This is the mind that is open to every possibility that presents itself in this moment, and which isn’t affected by opinions, stories,] and past memories.

In this place of not knowing, a space is created to listen to others. From here I can sense my interconnection with others and the world around me, my reactivity can dissolve and a wiser, more compassionate response can arise. As Lydon sang:

I could be wrong, I could be right
I could be black, I could be white
I could be right, I could be wrong
I could be white, I could be black

I am neither this, nor that. I am both this and that. I am not my anger and my anger is not me. I am everything and everyone.

How, then can I be angry?

 

 

Gerry Rickard is an Irishman living in Mozambique. He has a Masters in Teaching Mindfulness from the University of Bangor in Wales, and now teaches, leads retreats and online sessions in Mozambique and beyond. A practicing Zen Buddhist he recently stitched his first ever stitch and has just completed his first rakusu in preparation for taking precepts next year with Upaya Zen Centre. 

 

 

Photo: Pixabay

Editor: Dana Gornall

 

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