Reality Ocean

lazyyogi Answer:

When anger arises, let it. Even if it turns into an eruption of anger, that’s okay. There is something more important that you need to do. 

Stay aware. 

If you suddenly notice you are angry but you don’t remember the moment in which you transitioned into anger, then awareness was lacking. That is your first assignment: maintain awareness during emotional transitions. 

When you aren’t aware of the transition from one emotion to another, you will unconsciously identify with the emotion. This has an intoxicating effect that potentiates confusion and suffering. 

When you are aware of the transition from one emotional state to another, that state may still feel the same–or it may feel worse! But you will notice a key difference: no intoxication. 

How/why do emotions with which we unconsciously identify intoxicate us? Your thoughts and perceptions tune into the frequency of your identifications, in this case your emotion. Then you start thinking and perceiving in terms of that frequency. This deludes your sense of self and world. 

By maintaining awareness and therefore reclaiming some consciousness from misidentification, the emotion may still be there but the intoxicating and frequency-altering effect wont take hold. And if it does, it will be weaker than it would otherwise.

Your second assignment is to watch the anger like you would a thief. Regardless of whether or not you were aware of the transition, once you notice anger within, place your attention on it. Not the thoughts about anger, the memories attached to it, or the circumstances to which it is connected, but rather the feeling and sensation of anger in your body. 

Like watching a thief, you watch the anger so that you don’t lose anything to it. Not only that but when you get the knack for this, it becomes a way to start digesting the anger itself. The way I experience it is that the anger or emotion digests itself–or rather burns itself out like a flame deprived of oxygen. You aren’t “doing” the digestion but rather depriving the emotion of fuel. Thinking about anger, dwelling on the things we attach to the anger, all of that simply fuels the emotion and keeps it alive. Feeling emotion with rooted awareness but refraining from indulging it will restore natural harmony. You will be more like a child, who can swiftly feel intense emotion but release it and move on just as quickly.

Many people commonly mistake this sort of spiritual technology as one of suppression but it is not so. In doing the above, one actually experiences an emotion more fully and clearly. While many people indulge self-destructive emotions because there is some sense of satisfaction found therein, like picking a scab, that satisfaction is only found when there is a degree of unconsciousness involved. Once you are fully conscious of an unpleasant or downright destructive emotion, you drop any vested interest in its continuation. You will realize that to keep perpetuating it is insanity. 

For anyone else reading this, all of the above works for every emotion, not just anger. Fear, insecurity, anxiety, sadness, depression, and more. 

It sounds like the current practices you are doing are very effective for what you need right now. Trust your classmates to be as understanding as you are. But if any seem rattled or hurt by your episodes, absolutely apologize. If needed, it may help to explain that there are old impressions/holding patterns within you that are releasing, of which anger seems to play a part. 

My personal approach to morality in spirituality is that we should let nothing hold us back, no cultural norms, no societal conformities, no rules and regulations. Our compass must be our hearts and our sincerity, rather than rote and rule. But the major exception and caveat is to refrain from hurting less developed/evolved beings. We need never hesitate to offer love, gratitude, and apologies. 

Namaste sis :) Much love.