Anger: Is Anger Always a Bad Thing?

Anger. Where do I even begin? At the end of October, I lazily read a newsletter from a vedic astrologer that I follow in San Francisco, Sam Geppi. The email started with, “November. It’s Going to be an Intense Month.”
 
Oh. Well how bad could it be? As we’ve seen the last few days with the up rise of terrorism around the world, I guess Sam was accurate.
 
I think a big part of my soul’s mission is to rediscover things about health and humanity and share it with the world through my writing. The more I’ve seen the world, the more interesting my spiritual experiences have gotten. In graduate school, I wrote a paper about “east meets west” and how fusing the two concepts are healthy in leisure pursuits. Research indicated success, for example how a pitcher who focused on imagery and meditation was able to block out the chattering of the stadium noise to focus and perfect his pitch. I remember reading a research journal that indicated concept on anger.
 
Before I studied yoga in India, I had my fair share of anger disputes against the food, and pharmaceutical industry. Yoga and meditation taught me lessons in acceptance and how to make peace with certain situations.
 
Continuing my yoga path, I attended a workshop with Ana Forrest in Seattle several years ago. I stayed for her book signing presentation where she mentioned, “Anger is not always a bad thing.”  She talked about how anger can fuel change. In reality my yoga ears heard, “WHAT!?” I respect Ana Forrest because of her past overcoming many issues and she, unlike many mainstream yoga teachers, is very in-tune with nature and the Native American spirit.
 
Now, living in Europe, I have continued understanding humanity better by learning more about European and Roman history and culture. Holy shit. There was about 1,400 years of anger placed on people for the wrong reasons.

Anger is a poisonous drug. The more you get angry, the angrier you become. Eventually, anger snowballs into a horrific mess that can cause harm to everyone in the world. When consistently angry, your hormone levels change, spewing out hatred, blocking your chakras and becoming a bitter and cynical person. Anyone can be become angry at any time, its part of human nature. But, I do believe some people are naturally fueled with more anger based on their soul’s previous existence (warrior spirits), astrological influence and spiritual DNA.
 
But, is anger always a bad thing? Through my travel and reading historic literature, I have come to believe that anger is not always a bad thing when used in the right manner.
 
If you watch nature, a mother will always defend her babies against a predator. Also, the leaders of the pack or the alpha male will rival for dominance. I noticed this at 17 when I watched rams beat heads in Banff while hiking the Canadian Rockies. Whatever they were battling was something greater than my understanding, but they genetically were programmed for battle. We humans are a product of nature and are susceptible to anger.  
 
This made me continue to think about the subject. In human rights, anger can fuel change. Would women have the same rights today if the flower power hippies of the 60’s weren’t angry? Would Scotland have gotten its freedom from England if these warriors were not angry? Should the Scots have just taken every bit of torture from the English? Would animal rights not be what it is today if people weren’t mad at the inhumane policies? Would the Baltic States have its freedom today if they didn't get mad and protest with the Baltic Chain of Freedom? If people don't stand up to the right of our food, will Monsanto keep producing GMOS?
 
To understand, we must dive deep into the thoughts of Aristotle. In the "Nicomachean Ethics," he wrote, "The man who is angry at the right things and with the right people, and further, as he ought, when he ought, and as long as he ought, is praised."
 
Small or mindless anger against your spouse, kids, society or the telemarketer on the phone does nothing good to you or society. It fuels and increases more anger. Anger can spread like wildfire and cause a chain reaction. But, living without anger is unrealistic. It’s a part of our emotions and human nature. It’s learning how to control anger and how to use it appropriately. If you are a warrior spirit than you know your greatest challenge in life is to control your impulsive fire.
 
But, in defending rights, freedom, culture, morals, yourself and humanity, anger can be used to create a better outcome. When we bring ourselves back to our roots of our history’s greatest teachers, we can channel our negative energy into a more positive situation.  Everything now in this new age is learning how to balance and fuse the extreme sides of thinking.
 
To end I will leave you with the complete quote of Aristotle, “Anyone can become angry - that is easy, but to be angry with the right person at the right time, and for the right purpose and in the right way - that is not within everyone's power and that is not easy.”