Anger and Compassion

Anger and compassion.

So, Uh, for today, the definition, the way, the term anger, I will be using it to talk about this thing.

Anger could mean a lot of things to different people.

So by anger, I mean today an emotional state.

emotional state um complicated i know but actually uh anger i'm talking about anger as an emotional state that is often associated with some other things which are not what i'm talking about um so those things are like maybe like a raised voice or even shouting or um A sense of argumentativeness or certain kinds of thoughts, like racing thoughts or persistent, repeated thoughts.

A sense of profound objectification.

That's usually part of anger.

Certain bodily sensations.

I will talk about those, but I'm actually talking about anger as something that is not those things, but is often related to them.

OK.

And by compassion today, I'm going to be talking about being intimately with an afflictive emotion without adding any affliction.

That's it.

Being intimately with an afflictive emotion without adding affliction.

So I was going to say, like, if I'm really angry, you're like, ah, there's anger there.

That was it.

I just did it.

As opposed to, oh, there's anger there.

God damn it, why am I so angry? That was not what I'm talking about.

Okay.

Sorry, I said a bad word.

Talking about anger is dangerous.

So, an interesting thing is, in my experience, talking about anger often creates the conditions for people to feel angry.

because anger is a very powerful force.

And in particular, people often think, oh, you're saying I shouldn't feel angry, or that people feel ashamed about anger, or they feel like it's some kind of moral thing, or all kinds of stuff.

But anyway, what I will say today is nothing that I'm going to talk about today has anything to do with morality.