On Anger

1.

Embrace anger as pure sensation in the forehead. Embrace grief as the awakening of the gut, which is also the root of laughter. Embrace fear as a sense of contraction in the chest, throbbing with energy.

When we embrace these emotions as energy, without attaching them to images of the past, without naming them in the mind, we give that energy a chance, an opportunity to transform itself. We give it freedom to blossom into fresh electricity in the cells, the atoms of our flesh. Because this is what anger is: creative energy contracted and solidified.

 

Use the gift of this body to let anger settle and dissolve into its deeper primordial condition: fear. But don't stop there. Feel the taste of the fear, and it too will dissolve into something even more primal: our weariness, our weariness with trying to be in control.

 

In the safe space of our own body, which is our temple, its OK to be out of control. It's OK to explore the sensations of in-tense emotion as sensation, not thought. We don't have to name these sensations. For they are roots and hollows that lead down into the Groundless at the heart of creation. Then fountains of living water gush out of the well in our humanity.

My anger, my fear, my weariness, are not to be denied. For they are pathways that lead to a blossoming that is deeper within me than I. They are portals that lead from 'I' to Am. To my mind, this may seem like the dark night. But to my body, it is the mystery of Spring in a tender furrow between my bones.

A bee falls into the ocean of nectar at the center of the rose. But it does not die. It comes forth laden with gifts.

 

 

2.

The smokeless blue flame of anger flashes up and vanishes. No need to make a cult of grief and anger. These are feeling states, not signs of more authentic spirituality.

Anger is an ardent and intensified form of bliss, and quite addictive. Sometimes we prefer honey, and sometimes we like to crack our teeth on rock candy.

In the wisdom of Tibetan art, the Goddess of Wrath holds a golden dorje, or lightning bolt. What is the nature of lightning? Overwhelmingly intense, yet lasting but a fraction of a second.

Use the golden dorje of your fury to energize, cauterize, and heal. But let the lightning bolt pass all the way through you, from heaven to earth, from the sky in your crown to the dust on your soles. Finish your anger. Let it vanish.

When you let your anger flash completely through you like a blue flame, it leaves you lighter, ready to soar in the breeze. It doesn't leave you more angry. The right use of the dorje-sword of anger is to free you from anger. Anger is not your true home.

 

If I linger in the lightning, and try to grasp the bolt, then I do not understand the alchemy of rage. If I mistake my anger for a permanent and more authentic 'state' of spirituality, it becomes heavier than lead, and I cannot fly. The dorje of the Goddess is a consuming fire, instantly transmuting, then liberating. Our goal is not to be furious, but to be free.