Remember the 60s Peaceniks? Some of you are too young. Peace"Nik" (Niki) in my story, A Kindred Spirit, tried to recreate the feeling traveling around in her funky Westfalia van, searching for Peace, only to discover it's an inner journey. Pema Chodron, my Guru and favorite author, says ONLY a change of heart can provide ourselves and the world with peace.Here's my "final answer" to the Million Dollar Question: What is the difference between passion and anger?
First, I have to make the case ;) I said on my Facebook note "No Help" that yelling for peace is not the answer. Even a Peacenik can't clobber someone with her peace sign to change the world situation.
And this fab story, about Angry Faces, told by Pema has stuck with me since I heard it years ago. A guy in prison has TV but no sound. He sees an angry white guy in KKK garb pointing his finger. Later he sees teenagers on a ship, red-faced, leaning over the ship rail screaming and waving Greenpeace signs. Finally, he sees scenes of Washington DC, the domed Capitol building, and inside men in suits with angry red faces, pounding their tables. The prison guard comes by and asks why he doesn't turn on the sound. The prisoner says no need -- doesn't matter if they're wearing KKK hats, peace signs or business suits, they all have the same angry faces.
So, we establish that passion and anger CAN be the same. Now, how are they different? Because anger starts when we harden our hearts. As long as everyone is outraged at everyone ELSE's beliefs or actions, there will always be war. Anger leads to red-faced fighting over our self-righteous points of view. But, it is possible to be Passionate about a change of heart... to opening our heart in a calm, rational way where we learn to LISTEN! And, I say the key is LISTENING not screaming. When I can stop and actually hear what you are saying, and just sit with it awhile, there is a chance we can find common ground. And I can get really passionate about that idea, without an iota of anger, my friend. Let's smoke the Peace Pipe! (yikes -- another case of how our real forefathers had a better idea than the angry red-faced pilgrims who came carrying guns.) And, with that, I'm off to Losar. Today is the Tibetan New Year, a good day to listen, learn and open my heart to new ideas. PEACE! better yet, Namaste!
3 comments:
You do a good job of saying why "peace" is desirable. But you're still making ...an awful lot of negative assumptions about anger.
My retort: "Isn't love passion-for and anger passion-against? Can anger inspire passion?"
Let me give you all a good picture for distinction: Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Angry or passionate? Both? (Also, for Christians in the audience: Did Jesus ever get angry?)
By the way, that should be "Novel-prize winner" above. Desmond Tutu is the only guy I've ever gotten a good answer from. And he directly referenced the two men I mention above (not to mention Steve Biko, who we were honoring at the time), and he noted several instances in the Bible where Jesus showed "righteous anger." I think you'd be very surprised by his answer - I was.
yr pal, Cal
I posted Cal's comment from Facebook over here, for those who won't and don't use FB.
Here's a quote from Cal's source:
"To forgive is indeed the best form of self-interest since anger, resentment, and revenge are corrosive of that "summum bonum," the greatest good." - Bishop Desmond Tutu
Anger is a negative, corrosive emotion. Just because Jesus got pissed at the money changers, or took some other form of righteous indignation at times, does not change the quality of that emotion.
Just today, our Buddhist celebration concluded with a call for the "open hand of generosity and compassion rather than the closed fist of greed, animosity and anger."
I was talking about the benefits of Peace and non-violence in my original note, before Cal hi-jacked it with his challenge. Perhaps time once more for the Peace Page .
For the benefit of those only reading here and not on FB, here is Cal's final comment.
Cal wrote: "Jesus also got angry at a fig tree that wouldn't bear fruit even though it was out of season. He withered that tree. Jesus got angry at people often in fact. "O generation of vipers" is one of my favorites. The money-changers incident is the clear act of an enraged man. Tutu's answer was pretty much, "It's the person who makes the difference between anger and passion." My argument was that it was the object."
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