SELF-CONTROL AND GOOD TEMPER (ANGER)

“Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.” —Buddha.

”People whofly into arage alwaysmake abadlanding.” —Will Rogers

“Consider how much more you often suffer from your anger and grief, than from those very things for which you are angry and grieved.” —Marcus Antonius

“Anger is the enemy of Ahimsa [nonviolence] and pride is a monster that swallows it [non violence] up.”

—Gandhi

“Nomancanthinkclearly whenhisfistsareclenched.” —George Jean Nathan “Anger,if not restrained, isfrequently morehurtful to usthantheinjurythatprovokesit.” —Seneca.

“Whenyou are offended at any man’sfault, turn to yourself and study yourown failings. Thenyou will forget your anger.” —Epictetus

Anyone can become angry - that is easy, but to be angry with the right person at the right time, and for the right purpose andinthe rightway - that isnot withineveryone’spowerandthat isnot easy.”—Aristotle

Plato mentions that display of anger reflects the vice of intemperance. Anger has to be rationally controlled since it overwhelms reason and self-control. Aristotle holds that “good temper” is the mean between the extremes of irascibility, an excess of anger, and inirascibility or total placidity. The good-tempered person “is not revengeful, but rather tends to forgive”. Further, in Aristotle’s view, morally appropriate anger is shown by the virtuous person. He is “angry at the right things and with the right people”. He gets angry when he should, in right measure and for the right duration. For Plato and Aristotle, anger controlled by reason reflects virtue, whereas anger ungoverned by reason is a vice.

In Christianity anger is subordinated to forgiveness. This view differs from the Greek ideas of self-control and good temper. Christianity is based on an ethic of love. It focuses on the need to respond to wrongdoing by accepting it, turning the other cheek, and re-embracing the offender in an act of love or compassion. It is also not clear whether such forgiveness is conditional on the wrongdoer’s remorse and acceptance of guilt. The Biblical injunction says: “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and slander be put away from you, with all malice, and be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you”.

We have noted two views on anger. One is that anger appropriately mediated by reason is a virtue. The other that is transcending anger in an act of love is a virtue. Uncontrolled anger is clearly a vice. One common instance nowadays is road rage in which motorists behave violently. Another example is of teachers who lose self-control and thrash children in a fit of rage. There are also instances in which bosses behave intemperately with their subordinates. Plutarch, a great Roman writer mentions that that anger is like a disease, and extreme or abiding anger such as rage or bitterness is an unnatural dispositional state. Such instances highlight the need for temperance or self-control.

We may note some more perspectives on anger. Anyone who is angrily obsessed by someone’s wrongdoing may be harming himself since pent up anger produces adverse biochemical effects on the body. According to psychologists, it may be desirable to release anger into harmless channels. Uninhibited expression of anger and rage is desirable since venting is cathartic. Catharsis is similar to the process of incising a wound filled with puss; it cleanses the system.

However, considering its consequences, it is better to control intense anger rather than give free rein to it. It is true that anger may sometimes be the initial trigger for seeking constructive solutions to personal or political problems. But its indiscriminate expression is more likely to be harmful to those expressing it and to those around them. According to the Stoic Seneca, all forms of anger are inconsistent with moral life since they dispose us to cruelty and vengeance. These passions encourage us to see other people as less than fully human. Hence, the person of virtue is one who strives to extirpateanger in allitsforms.Thisidealisticviewhasinfluencedmanygreat moralleadersincluding Gandhi.