Value of anger

Considering how to rid myself of feelings of ill will, some questions came up about the value of anger. I had already thought of it as providing energy and determination for efforts to remedy some problem. Now a new idea came to me, anger might help avoid and counteract some demoralizing effects of some of our experiences.

I won't try to find all the possible benefits of anger. I'll just imagine that there are others besides the ones I see, and that if I work on some examples of how to rid myself of enduring feelings of ill will against individuals, without losing the benefits of anger that I see, some part of me will do whatever else needs to be done.

I'll try to practice putting my anger to good use in those two ways that I've already thought of, and at the same time try to rid myself of feelings of ill will against any person. One way I see to rid myself of ill will against a person, is to seek rewarding experiences with that person, if possible, otherwise to fantasize rewarding experiences with that person.

Another thing that helps me is to remember times when I've been tempted to do what the other person did that angered me, and times when I've failed to resist temptations that I wanted to resist.

While I was considering all this, a thought came to me that I sometimes stoke my anger, by dwelling on whatever made me angry. That might be something I could do without quite safely, whatever the value of anger might be.

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Questions and answers

Fantasize rewarding experiences?
Maybe by thinking of someone in my life that the person reminds me of, and remembering rewarding experiences with that person.

Now I'm seeing a long and lonely road ahead, and it's bringing me down out of the clouds.

1. I want to practice finding things to love in some of the people whose ideology is most opposed to mine, and in some of the people who are hardest for me to love; and practice fellowship with them. I also want to practice speaking well of them to others.

2. I want to try to rid myself of all depreciating thoughts about people, and all enduring feelings of ill will.

3. I want to find ways to make all that appealing to other people, so they will want to do it too. Maybe, if I find treasures along the way, I can tell people about them.

4. I want to continue organizing my ideas; about practicing and promoting fellowship across ideological divides; and about freedom from backbiting, not to publish them but to make better use of them.