Thanks for taking this journey with me through the seven veils of ego! We are at the final one!
Ready?
Here it is: Wisdom of the Wrathful Person
This one is about anger.
And just like all of the rest of the veils of the ego, there are ways anger (and lust, and gluttony and slothfulness…) can be useful, can be used to right wrongs, to fuel action, to face injustices.
That’s when we use anger in a pro-active, loving way.
When I hear those words, “the wisdom of the wrathful person” I think more of:
righteous indignation
holding grudges
vengeance/revenge
an eye for an eye
In other words, all the ways I can get clouded and not see the truth.
Watterson says, “[T]his seventh power is about the responsibility we need to take for the rage that can compel us to treat ourselves and others in ways we can hardly believe we’re capable of. I think it’s the seventh because it’s the hardest to come to terms with. How do we responsibly express our rage? How do we let anger motivate and mobilize us without burning the house down?
And anger is the seventh, I think, also because it’s often the reason we become more vulnerable to the other six powers of ego. We’re angry at the person who has harmed us and so we fall into a depression, or we cling obsessively to what could have been, or we harm ourselves physically by overeating or drinking or taking drugs in an effort to deal with that rage.”
This is another aspect of being a human, in all of its messiness and glory.
We are all human and divine.
We fall into old patterns, into self-harm or harming others, and hopefully we come back again to love.
I think this – the wisdom of the wrathful person- is seventh because it is absolutely the one that takes me away from love and forgiveness the fastest.
It hardens my heart, and rationalizes my meanness. It feeds my fantasies of revenge.
And yes, it also can be the catalyst for other behaviors of avoidance, depression, gluttony, lust.
Yet here’s the thing. We have to feel the feelings.
The question is, what do we do with them once we’ve felt them?
Sometimes journaling can really help.
Other times, listing them all.
Physical exercise is another great way to process.
And then what?
If we’re to follow in the footsteps of the Christ, the answer would be to forgive.
Yes, it can feel hard. Impossible even.
But what we’re forgiving is the aspect of ourselves and the other that’s forgotten who we are.
And as we remember someone else’s/our own wholeness, it helps us to forgive.
If it feels really too hard to do, ask for help. Ask the Angel of Forgiveness for help.
Why? Because being angry, although it can make you feel inflated sometimes (righteous indignation, remember) is ultimately harmful. It’s like that expression I know you’ve heard, that’s often attributed to the Buddha:
“Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.”
This is why we work on forgiving. Forgiving ourselves for falling into that vengeful place, and forgiving the other for… their ignorance.
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Image courtesy of David Sola on Unsplash