Sunflower

I think that we all have more than enough reason to be angry these days … and to let that part of passion _always_ be there as a fundamental motivation, I think is a key measure of our foundation in reality and of our love.

I certainly didn’t intend to support anger’s (undeserved) bad rap, and I honestly don’t think I did. My position is that passion isn’t dependent on having anger as a component, but can be fueled in other ways – IOW, that John doesn’t have to write off passion, just because he’s no longer angry.

I’m not quite sure if you’re actually disagreeing with that position (potentially an interesting debate), or if you just felt that I hadn’t chosen sufficiently neutral language.

(I would say, on rereading, that I think I was neutral enough in context of response to John’s post, but would not have been in many other contexts.)

Sunflower

I enjoy reading your thoughts, Thank you.

I wonder how similar my journey will be to yours. I have Big Plans to enter a religion program sometime in the next few years. I wonder if I’ll get it out of my system too after a couple years of studying it. Of course, I still have my righteous anger, so that might fuel me on.

Congratulations on finishing up that degree! I’m excited for you and your next phase of life.

But passion and anger aren’t the same thing.

Maybe that’s what you’re looking for, John, something that stirs your passion without being all tied up with anger? Something you love, perhaps, to be passionate for, instead of something you disdain to be passionate against?

Sunflower

I think we have an unrealistic view of what it means to be at peace and what the resulting power might be. It seems to me that this god-like equanimity is finds expression primarily in fictitious demi-gods and so-called sons of god. While all examples of human beings getting things done tend to be arising from some sense of anger.

Peace just makes me want to fall to sleep never to re-awake.

This isn’t to say that I’m not anti-war and other forms of physical and emotional violence … I am. But I don’t see these things coming to an end unless we get really angry about it … angry enough to stop waiting for god to do something.

Like you, however, my anger has run its course. It has now been 4 years or so since my encounters with bad religion occurred. It has been one year since I started my weblog. I have wrangled with those bad experiences and come out at peace. Even though I have not answered all the questions that come pounding at one’s door when life becomes painful, but I have been able to answer enough of them sufficiently to be in a place of peace.

Your thinking is intriguing – the energy and creativity that one’s anger generates is awesome. What happens when it is gone?

For me, something unique in my experience is happening. I have become pulled very strongly towards a greater cause that I don’t understand yet. It is a very strong feeling – one that is driving me even more strongly than my anger did (which I didn’t think possible): an unselfish desire to prepare my life for something very big – much bigger than myself. It was so profound a change in who I am that it drove me to redesign my weblog from scratch – images and recoding templates, pack up my family and move to another state, and enroll in a masters degree program at a seminary there. It is the greater motivator.

In the aftermath of anger, there is something with more energy and creativity. Anger, like other things in life, was meant to lead us to a greater thing. It’s energy wanes – it was designed to have a greater thing take its place. It is not unlike how romantic love leads a person to embrace love in its fullest sense – unconditional true love.

So what replaces anger? What is greater? Lol, I’ll leave that up to you to discover and write about, since I myself am just scratching the surface.

Parker

Inner peace is very nice and all, but it tends to lead to a complacent attitude. Complacency is not a good thing in these times.

Mel, is there an internet-version of blood-brotherhood?

Chris, to answer your question, I am currently knee-deep in my masters thesis.

Peace is for the dead.

Let’s make a pact right now to rabble-rouse until we drop. Burnin’ down the house.

Fascinating. I can relate to this, too. I’m always on a Quest. And it wasn’t until the past few years that I even realized that many people are at peace, and content to remain so.

I don’t know whether it’s best to tell you to learn to bask in the peace, or to go and search for a Journey! But I am confident the Universe will provide you what you need.