Daily Times

“Anger is one letter short of danger.”

A well-articulated description of anger but is that what we think amid rage? The recent incident wherein a teenage boy studying at a private school in Lahore was beaten to death by his teacher has sparked a whole new conversation on mental health concerns in Pakistan. Anger is condemned categorically by religion, law and societal co-habitation norms, yet justified for hunger or honour. However, connecting a behavioural disorder with mental health is a mutation beyond words. When a behavioural disorder is justified as a mental disorder, it becomes an affirmative defence in law and is often used by criminals for covering up inhuman criminal acts.

So, it is important to look at anger and the deeds it propels. Anger is a universal emotion shared by human beings. It is a primordial response empowering us with an invincible force. However, this force is limited to the physical body. Anger is called toxic because it hijacks all mental and emotional responses. This is a voluntary behaviour, based on subjective likes and dislikes, which can be brought under control. Neel Burton MD described it as a “hardwired” basic emotion corresponding to a distinct and dedicated neurological circuit.

There is no doubt that anger causes more harm to one’s own body and bodily systems. Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, MA, suggested anger outbursts could raise the risk of heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular events. Another study showed that episodes of anger and anxiety may increase heart attack risks by more than nine-fold. Research also showed that even one five-minute episode of anger is so stressful that it could impair your immune system for more than six hours; making the body susceptible to diseases.

Suppressing anger can cause psychological issues. It is said that anger is like a child in the car. You don’t want to let it drive the car and you certainly don’t want to stuff it in the trunk.

We rarely look into the basis of anger. Dr Tigunait, a scholar of Eastern Tantric sciences, wrote in his article, “Anger and Violence,” “We are blind to what this indomitable force stands for and deaf to the message it brings.”

Anger is condemned categorically by religion, law and societal co-habitation norms, yet justified for hunger or honour

According to Eastern psychology, anger results from unfulfilled goals and desires. Mind enthusiastically plans out a life of comfort, joy, and bliss. Desires have no boundaries and lure us into a picture-perfect life of freedom, emotional, mental, spiritual and physical space. This blueprint is based on the mind’s collective images; shaped and constructed culturally. Toxic culture instils desires for material gain.

If the desires are unfulfilled and diminished, the self is exposed to vulnerabilities and dilemmas of economic and moral well-being. The panic button is more of a culmination of anger as a fundamentally invigorating force than an act of destruction.

Anger is that force which the Eastern philosophy calls as “Rajasic” energy. Too much rajasic energy triggers behaviour that is aggressive, impatient, violent, hostile and destructive. It fuels attachment. Everything owns you and you own nothing. You move and act on the whims of possibilities. Yogic science offers prescriptive therapies to counteract the rajasic energy. I have attempted a brief explanation on my YouTube channel.

Anger management is the favourite topic of western psychology. Osho, an eastern mystic wrote, “Western psychology insists on introspection, and the Eastern psychology insists on self-remembering (not thinking at all by becoming aware about yourself)…if you look at anger, it disappears.” He gave the example of an elephant, which had helped him develop an exercise with his son. The first stage is when anger has happened and gone, it’s like looking at the tail of the elephant. The second is when you are amid boiling anger, the elephant is there, you just become aware of it and it will disappear! The third stage is when anger is building up – not the tail but the head. At that point, stare at the elephant as it starts to back off – then the elephant never materialises.

The writer is a wellness and yoga expert