What is Good about Cold Anger

Anger is a universally common experience. Hands up for anyone who has never felt anger? Oh, no one. By its nature, anger is the great destroyer. For this reason, and for the reason that it is arguably the most uncomfortable of all emotions, we avoid people and situations which elicit an anger response within us or who are angry themselves.

Question: If anger is so uncomfortable and opposed to the laws of creation, why does it exist at all? 

Answer: The very existence of anger indicates (though not obviously) that it has an important purpose in creation.

"For an enlightened man, even the destructive laws of Nature work in his favor." - Maharishi Mahesh Yogi  

In our culture, we have been exposed almost exclusively to Hot Anger. You know, the anger which explodes like a bomb and destroys everything in its path. The destructive nature of anger dominates when it is expressed in this way. The fight-or-flight response involves intense emotional impulses rising from the heart area and processed with least possible neural activity in the limbic system. When this happens, we react without really thinking through consequences. The low-road response is the path of hot anger.  

However, imagine how many lives are saved by the cut of the surgeon's knife. Destructive laws of nature can serve good purposes. Our universe would quickly become overcrowded if it were not for the power of destruction. 

So the real question is: How do we harness the power of our anger as a tool for evolution and healing? 

Introducing Cold Anger: Cold anger is the term used for that anger which moves with measured regularity, and finest discernment. Anger filtered through the prefrontal cortex in addition to the limbic system. The limbic system is still required to provide perspective on intense emotional experiences, but the additional processing power, provided by the prefrontal cortex adds moral reasoning, analysis, synthesis, consideration of consequences and more. Understanding that cold anger reaches our world like a laser which carefully removes that which does not serve evolution, leaving all that is valuable and good in tact, is a great place to start understanding its nature. 

Dealing with challenging situations from the perspective of hot anger is an old habit which has deep ancestral roots. Additionally, alcohol short circuits much of the prefrontal cortex. So for anyone who has alcohol use in their family history (if we go back enough generations, everyone), this adds physiological blocks to a system already unfamiliar with the use of cold anger. What to do? 

• Because anger is a potent emotion, a little goes a long way. Sometimes just a look can turn situations around with grace, without hurting anyone's feelings, but clearly indicating the area which requires change. 

• You are not your feelings. In our culture we use phrases such as "I am angry" or "I am mad." These phrases reflect the fact that most people identify with their feelings. When an emotion rises, the inner being is so gripped by that emotion, that the sense of eternal Self is lost. One believes that they are the feeling. The wisdom that you are not your feelings will loosen the grip of these feelings on the identity. Usually there is karma which grows from the loss connection with eternal Self. Recognizing then dissolving this karma through energy healing releases sense of identity from the grip of the emotions. A good place to start is to restructure the relationship with feelings through speech (thought is subtle speech). Try thinking of your self as the one who is having the feeling, and using phrases which don't identify you with the feeling, such as I am feeling angry, or I feel frustrated, rather than "I am....".

• Accept your potential for anger. Most people like to think of themselves as "nice people." Most people are not comfortable exploring their potential to create havoc. Personal power lies as much in the ability to destroy as to create. Complete mastery over the relative field requires facility with the destructive as well as the creative process. Until you have accepted the fire breathing dragon which is part of your nature, the ability to set healthy boundaries in your life will be compromised. One must understand the need for a boundary in detail, in order to set that boundary with wisdom. 

• Cold anger provides the context of dharma for the destructive laws of Nature. That which does not serve evolution will eventually have to be eliminated in order for the highest expression of Divine Being to find expression at our material level of reality. Using a small dose of anger with a large dose of your highest truth, and communicating simply, will turn the worst of situations around to serve everyone's evolution in the best way. 

Love and gratitude,
Dorothy