Is Anger Justified?

There is a controversy about anger. Is it justified or not? If we go to spirituality, A Course in Miracles claims that anger isn't justified. However, everyone believes the answer obvious: of course it's justified! People use the example of Jesus at the temple, where he starts flipping over tables and exclaiming his people to be in a "den of thieves." So, people think, "Hey, if Jesus justifies anger, then we should be able to as well!" What I can say is that Jesus never said that anger was justified; people assumed it was.

How I see it is that its okay to be angry, as long as you like it. Anger is a very common thing, and it seems inhuman to not be angry when someone hurts you, insults you, steals from you, etc. So that's why we justify it. However, we must ask ourselves this: do we like being angry? Does it feel good? If the answer is yes, then go ahead. Be as angry as you like for as long as you like. The problem is that it eventually makes a long chain of people angry. Our justified anger leads to wars and conflicts. But, come on, no one likes to be angry.

Many spiritual masters have never said that anger is justified. I have only heard them say the opposite. The only sense of "anger" I have found is more of an assertion or taking responsibilties for someone. For example, there is this story by Sri Ramakrishna about a poisonous snake who was taught how to be peaceful and to not harm anyone. After its master has taught it this discipline, a couple of kids knew that it was now okay to approach it. So, they picked the snake up by its end and slammed it several times against the ground. The snake was barely alive, and eventually became very thin. It rarely ever came out of its hole, and had only enough strength to eat fallen fruits. About a year later, its master returned to see how it was doing. He asked, "Why have you become so frail?" Because of its teachings of harmlessness, it forgot about the kids attempting to kill it. So, the master asked it to try to remember. Once the snake told him what happened, the master said, "Yes, it's true I told you not to harm anyone, but did I not tell you to hiss?" So, we can tell that we can still think and be peaceful and still assert ourselves.

Sri Yukteswar (above)

The other example is an example from Paramahansa Yogananda's guru, Sri Yukteswar. When Yogananda became his disciple, he accepted that Yukteswar was now responsible for taking care of his situation. This granted Yukteswar to be able to monitor Yogananda's thoughts. So, when he started daydreaming, Yukteswar had to do whatever it took to correct him. He said, "Do you want to seek guidance from me or not? If you do, you must do what I say." Yukteswar was, however, a very peaceful man. He would not act this way with everyday people; only with his disciples.

This now shows the event with Jesus in a different light. Jesus was just asserting himself, since he was now responsible for his followers and disciples. To be a disciple, you must be disciplined. Masters like Jesus have to make sure that their disciples will do what they require them to do. As for the other people that Jesus was in contact with, he was absolutely peaceful! We all know that he loved his "enemies." He cared deeply for the "scum" of the world. That is how to act around everyday people. The people close to you, like your families or disciples, must be disciplined to "grow up." So you must assert your self.

Anger is not for the spiritual people, since it says nowhere in their writings that anger is justified. Justified anger is an assumption made by the everyday people, since people get angry everyday. Anger is justified only if you want it to be. Anger never helps, though; you are only hurting yourself. The more you are angry the less that you are happy, since your anger takes up a slot of time that could be dedicated to joy. Don't worry: it's your free will. Just know anger isn't really freedom - it is enslavement to yourself and others.