The Meaningful Trails (12)

Among many energies in the nature, the one that has the greatest destructive power is anger. For thousand of years, many has tried to wipe out the energy of anger thru the stories of hell and the existence of jail, as well as thru various religious norms, however, all that efforts are just making the energy of anger burn even more from day to day. Let alone a human being, for even a super powerful country is also beaten by the anger of terrorist. It then left a big question for mankind, how exactly to cure anger?. When someone got headache, there is no doctors who would suggest to throw the head off. Sadly, when anger comes, almost everyone want to throw it away. Though in the world of psychology there is a well-known old message that says: “What you resist persist”, which literally means that whatever you reject will resist back with a greater force.

In this connection, a beautiful book titled “Anger” that beautifully written by Thich Nhat Hanh is like presenting cool water that extinguished the fire of anger. In this path, anger is not being thrown away, but being beautifully embraced. The symbols used are full of compassion. Anger is being visualized as a crying baby within. The awareness comes in the form of a loving mother whom beautifully hug it with compassion. The logic is simple yet brilliant. Any plants that being held up by sunlight, undergoes a transformation. The same thing happens with anger, once it is embraced (read: its presence is being accepted within, being cherished as the love of a mother for her naughty children), anger will also be transformed. It is similar to the transformation of waste into a beautiful flower.

There are two groups of tools that available in this regard. The tools inside are breath, total awareness (whole) and the power to embrace. While the tools available outside are the capability to look at the person who stimulates anger as a suffering soul, the energy of compassion and oneness. The concrete steps are simple, whenever the energy of anger comes, quickly connect to the anchor of the breath, realize the natural nature of everything that is full and whole (read: there are shortages in every advantages), and always remember to embrace every energy that comes. Once the energy of anger begin to be under control, look at the one who stimulates anger as a soul whom suffer. That person needs your love, not your anger. At the same time, remember the law of oneness. In where you take pleasures, there you would have to pay with sadness. It would even be better to combine those steps with the practice of walking meditation that observes the natural nature of impermanence, exactly like the steps of the foot. As for the rest, practice makes perfect. Only the persistence in a daily practice that could bring you near to perfection.