Anger unexpressed causes inner turmoil. Anger released without restraint causes pain. Anger calmed and channeled brings great change. Emotions by themselves are neither good or bad - they are simply expressions of our inner state at any given moment. How we give voice to them - silently or aloud -is a matter of choice. Too often it seems (or we feel) that we are choiceless in these matters - anger hits us sudden and with such force that we have no choice but to vent. Wrong. We have a choice - we simply do not have the inner space in which to recognize the right path. Meditation helps with this - it does not eliminate emotions but clears the lingering clouds of their energy to allow us to tap into the blue sky nature of our mind - our Buddha nature. The more we mediate the more space we recognize and the greater our ability to respond instead of react. Gandhi mastered this art well and used it to topple (through non-violence) an empire. His anger at being thrown off a train in South Africa for being brown skinned was channeled and expressed through the space of wisdom, forgiveness and love - and such a force was unstoppable. Yes, there was anger - and yes there was a choice. We all have this ability.
It's time to practice.
No comments:
Post a Comment