Seneca wrote in the middle of the first century AD, “Your anger is a kind of madness because you set a high price on worthless things.” What are the causes of anger? How does anger impact our lives?
The Perils (and Causes) of Anger
In his essay, On Anger, Seneca explained,
Anger is a short madness: for it is equally devoid of self-control, regardless of decorum, forgetful of kinship, obstinately engrossed in whatever it begins to do, deaf to reason and advice, excited by trifling causes, awkward at perceiving what is true and just, and like a falling rock which breaks itself to pieces upon the very thing which it crushes.
What are the causes of anger?
It is our judgments that cause this short madness, according to Seneca. As Epictetus put it, “It isn’t the events themselves that disturb people, but only their judgments about them.”
In The Practicing Stoic, author Ward Farnsworth explains that our pleasures, griefs, and desires include three stages. The event, then a judgment or opinion, and then a reaction (to the judgment or opinion). How we handle the judgment can be the difference between anger arising or vanishing.
Reflect on a time you lost your temper (or avoided losing your temper). Try to explore the event in three stages: Event, Judgment, and Reaction.
How did your judgment (positively or negatively) impact the situation?
How might changing your judgment influence your reaction?
The problem with anger is its power to separate and divide us. Seneca believed that anger is not only a vice, but a vice against human nature. “For it divides instead of joining…. One is born to help another; anger makes us destroy one another. The one unites, the other separates.”
How long does anger last?
The philosopher and neuroscientist Sam Harris posed this question to longtime meditation teacher Joseph Goldstein. Would you be surprised to hear they concluded anger only lasts a few seconds? Harris explained that without replaying the event (judgment), our anger vanishes rather quickly.
A well-known Buddhist parable, the second arrow, illustrates the point. It is said the Buddha once asked a student,
If a person is struck by an arrow, is it painful? If the person is struck by a second arrow, is it even more painful? He then went on to explain, In life, we can’t always control the first arrow. However, the second arrow is our reaction to the first. This second arrow is optional.
Working with Our Judgments
The event is outside our control, but our judgment (and reaction) is entirely within our control. My interview with William B. Irvine (author of The Stoic Challenge) revealed that life often offers no shortage of setbacks. These setbacks can come from nature through weather or random events. A storm could knock out your power, or a deer could jump in front of your car. Although in most cases, it isn’t nature that arouses anger—it is other people.
When you find yourself angry at someone, try remembering that these feelings allegedly caused by others may be the same feelings you evoke in others. A sign of maturity is realizing how intentionally or unintentionally, you can make life difficult for those around you.
Seneca stressed that we are people making mistakes living among other people making mistakes. “And only one thing can calm us — we must agree to go easy on one another.”
—
Thank you for reading; I hope you found something useful.
Until next time, be wise and be well,
Ancient truths for everyday lives.