Episode Eleven - Anger & suspending judgment

In this episode I talk about anger – how we think about it, manage and make use of it, and how we can learn to let go of it. I then discuss how feelings of anger are often associated with making judgments – how the judgments we make can too easily give rise to feelings of injustice, resentment and anger. I then consider some of the reasons why suspending judgment is considered to be important by many Buddhist teachers and by many philosophers in the Western sceptical tradition.

Transcript

Given the anger that many of us feel in relation to the tragic events in Ukraine, the Middle East and other sites of conflict and injustice around the world, I thought it might be useful to reflect on this powerful emotion and how we might deal with it. So here are a few thoughts.

It seems to me there are two broad aspects to the question, how do we deal with anger: one, the emotion of anger itself; and, two, our relationship with this emotion.

Usually, anger arises in response to some external situation, event or action. Something happens to upset us, and we feel anger rise in us as a consequence of what has happened. We see someone being cruel to an animal or punching a person without due cause. We feel angry at what they are doing. The anger is a powerful response to something that we find upsetting and disagreeable. Can we channel the energy of the anger into doing something concrete to remedy the situation we are witnessing? Can we somehow stop the cruelty to the animal, or stop the person punching another? Can we channel the anger-energy to do good, rather than harm – to relieve the suffering of the animal or the person who is being punched? Can we use the power of anger to change the situation that is giving rise to the anger?

It may be that we can do this. The anger can be a force for change, relieving suffering and turning a potentially negative emotion into a positive action. Many social changes are brought about as a result of anger felt by many against an injustice of some kind. The campaign against slavery, for instance, harnessed the energy of the anger that many individuals felt against this cruel and inhumane practice, to change both public opinion and, eventually, to introduce legislation in parliament that outlawed such practices.

Sometimes we may be powerless to change the situation that sparks our anger. We may be frightened as well as angry, or we may not have the strength to stop the cruel actions of the other person. Sometimes we are angry at events witnessed via the media that are occurring in another part of the world. Can we channel our anger to try to persuade those who may have some influence over these events to act on our behalf? Or can we support organisations who are working to relieve the suffering caused by these events? In all these scenarios, our anger can be channelled towards doing good rather than harm - helping remove the causes of our anger in a way that benefits those who are being harmed. 

Of course, it is vital that our anger, either consciously or inadvertently, doesn’t ‘add fuel to the fire’ – doesn’t make matters worse, or lead to even greater suffering or injustice. We each have to make a judgment as to which actions will help and which won’t. Being mindful of our emotions, our actions, and the consequences of those actions, is always of vital importance.

This brings us to the second aspect of this matter: our relationship with anger. The insight meditation teacher, Joseph Goldstein, has written about this and I would like to paraphrase a passage from his book, Insight Meditation: The Practice of Freedom. Goldstein identifies three processes at work: one, the external event that prompts our anger; two, the angry reaction itself; and, three, the relationship of our mind to the anger. He points out that we often become lost in the first two: the external situation and our reaction to it. Often our reaction involves a cycle of feeling and thought that inflames the anger and keeps it burning. We add more and more fuel to the fire, as we pile up our angry thoughts and feelings, sometimes even remembering other events that can be added to our stockpile of anger.

Goldstein suggests that, if we are to free ourselves from this anger-cycle, we have to find a way to step outside it – see the fire of anger for what it is. He suggests that it can be helpful to ask ourselves questions: ‘How am I getting caught in this anger? How am I getting hooked by it? How am I identifying with it?’ Just asking ourselves, ‘what is happening here?’ - or saying to ourselves, ‘this is an angry thought or feeling,’ can be helpful. The very act of posing these questions, opens up a space between our mind, the angry reaction and the external event that triggered it. In asking these questions, we have changed our perspective and stepped outside the anger itself. It may be that this is enough to begin to dissolve the angry feelings and thoughts. We are not repressing the feelings or pushing them away, we are acknowledging them as feelings and thoughts, and, significantly, taking responsibility for how we deal with them. This is to be mindful – to be open to the presence of our angry thoughts and feelings, to see them more clearly, but no longer to be in their grip. To see the thought or feeling within the vast space of the mind.

It seems to me that Goldstein is articulating a useful way of stepping outside the magnetic pull of angry thoughts and feelings. In Zen this shift of perspective is sometimes described as a shift from the viewpoint of Small Mind or Ego, to the vantage point of Big Mind or Zen Mind. We change our perspective and, in doing so, break the ties that bind us to the anger. We no longer cling to the anger and no longer identify with it. Instead, we free ourselves from the power that the thoughts and feelings have over us. We can now see the thoughts and feelings as what Shunryu Suzuki calls ‘mind waves’ – ripples that happen in the mind but that need not disturb the mind itself. Like ripples happening on the surface of the sea, or dark clouds blowing across the vast expanse of the sky, or angry thought-fish darting here and there in the big wide ocean. Goldstein refers to the shift of perspective as a move from ‘emotional bondage’ to ‘emotional freedom.’

Of course, this shift of perspective is not always easy to achieve. The magnetism of anger can be very strong. We may have to try asking the questions a few times. Stepping in and out of the cycle of angry thoughts and feelings, until we break free. This is an art that requires cultivation, practice and determination. But we can all learn how to do it and get better at it each time we encounter the angry thoughts and feelings as they are spark and catch alight.

It is worth keeping in mind that not acknowledging and learning how to deal with anger – identifying too much with angry thoughts and feelings, maybe even enjoying these feelings, becoming over-attached to them – can lead to hatred. Anger and other negative feelings can feed each other and grow in power until they consume us. We find ourselves unable to step outside them, to shift our perspective. Instead, we burn with hatred - a deep-rooted tangle of powerful emotions and thoughts that are much harder to understand, and very difficult to let go of and to free ourselves from.

So, be mindful of anger as it flickers into being, try to see it for what it is, channel it and transform it into a force for good, and practice the art of changing perspective – seeing the angry thoughts and feelings as the mind-ripples they are. In this way, we can become freer and calmer, and be at peace once more with ourselves and with others.

* 

Feelings of anger are often associated with making judgments. We make a judgment about something - this person is behaving badly, this behaviour is wrong – and this gives rise to a feeling of injustice, resentment and anger. So, perhaps we need to think about this process of making judgments and ponder on the reasons why suspending judgment is considered to be important by many Buddhist teachers and by many philosophers in the Western sceptical tradition. This is what I would now like to discuss.

In his book, What the Buddha Taught, Walpola Rahula writes:

In mindful meditation there ‘is no attitude of criticising or judging, [no] right or wrong, or good or bad. It is simply observing, watching, examining. You are not a judge, but a scientist. When you observe [the] mind, and see its true nature clearly, you become dispassionate with regard to its emotions, sentiments and states. Thus, you become detached and free, so that you may see things as they are.’ 

In observing one’s own mind dispassionately the meditator is practicing non-attachment to judgments and beliefs – suspending judgment. In Buddhism there are many reasons why suspending judgment is considered to be important. Here are two:

First of all, Anicca – that is, impermanence. If everything is in flux, in process, then judgments must always be being revised to keep pace with a changing world. Therefore, it is important to be non-dogmatic and non-absolutist – being open to changing one’s mind and being always ready to listen to, and take account of, alternative opinions. When we are truly mindful of impermanence and change, we are less likely to believe in, and hang on to, fixed, unchanging judgments.

A second reason for suspending judgment is Pratityasamutpada – that is, conditionality or interdependence. If everything is interwoven with, and dependent on, everything else, then we would require knowledge of every side of an argument, and all aspects of an issue or subject, to arrive at a definitive judgement. But, as we can’t be aware of all aspects, or all the conditions that give rise to a phenomenon, (and because they are always changing) then it is best to suspend judgment. Also, judgments themselves are relative: ‘good’ only makes sense in relation to ‘bad’; ‘right’ to ‘wrong’; ‘pleasant’ to ‘nasty’; ‘like’ to ‘dislike’.

The Buddha seems to have been very careful not to make dogmatic assertions, and to question and show to be invalid, dogmatic assertions made by others. He kept an open dispassionate enquiring mind – encouraging us to avoid making dogmatic assertions. Holding on to notions that, ‘this, or that, is the absolute truth’; or, ‘I am right and you are wrong’ - is about closing the mind, fixing things, terminating enquiry – the opposite of dispassionate enquiry. 

One key aspect of the teachings about zazen or mindful meditation of the 13th Century Japanese Zen teacher Dogen, is that when we sit and attend to what is going on within and around us, we are aspiring to see clearly and precisely - with no secondary acts of discrimination and attachment clouding our perceptions. When we are mindful in this way, we pay equal attention to the whole field of awareness and thus gain an insight into the harmony of the whole. The danger here is not that we can focus on details or parts of the whole, for it is necessary that we discriminate between things in order to negotiate our way in the world and to communicate with each other. The danger is rather that we come to believe that the world is actually fragmented and compartmentalised. Dogen argues that to believe this is to be deluded - and Buddhism is, above all, a path to awakening from delusion.

Dogen goes on to say, “think of neither good nor evil and judge not right or wrong”. Here he advises us to suspend judgement - to step sideways from the act of coming down on one side or the other of an argument or proposition; or, if we need to make a judgment, to ensure that it is always provisional and open to change in the light of changing circumstances. Dogen, like the Buddha, argues that as entities, including ideas and propositions, are all interdependent, and cannot be separated from their context, it is therefore unwise to act as if they can. And this is precisely what we do when we cling to one proposition or definition as if it was the only truth. If the universe, as a whole, is a manifestation of interdependence and interrelatedness, then no part of it, be it a tree, a person or a proposition, can exist independent of any other part. Thus, any proposition, belief or judgment must inevitably be partial and relative – rather than absolute or comprehensive. 

Of course, there are times when we need to determine whether we consider something to be right or wrong, good or bad, helpful or harmful. At these moments, we need to be direct and clear in our decisions and opinions. But it is important always to keep in mind that our judgments are provisional and conditional – always open to revision in the light of changing circumstances. What we might consider to be right or wrong at one time in one place, may not be correct at another time in another place. Always these are matters of opinion, determined by our ethical values and our perspective on a particular situation. This is why we should try to keep an open, ‘don’t know’ mind, for as long as possible. Always looking to take a buzzard’s eye view, seeing the bigger picture – trying always to understand and be compassionate – rather than being dogmatic and closing ourselves to changes of opinion.

In the light of what I have been suggesting, it is important that we recognise the dangers of attachment even to ideas of non-attachment, or to the idea that suspension of judgment will produce enlightenment and equanimity.  Dogen points out that to practice mindful meditation in order to achieve peace of mind or enlightenment is itself evidence of a dogmatic attachment to an idea or a belief – a ‘gaining idea’ - an approach that will often hinder rather than aid our aspirations for freedom and awakening. Hence, Dogen’s advice to sit just to sit, to be mindful just to be mindful – in this way practice is awakening.

By suspending judgment and belief - by not taking up dogmatic positions in arguments - we can develop an attitude of continuing enquiry and openness to all possibilities – free to change our mind as the world changes around us. The equanimity that is said to accompany this open-ended enquiry is dynamic and intellectually playful, characterised by a suppleness and openness of mind. Tolerance and even-handed acknowledgement of diversity and difference seem to be consequences of this mindful suspension of judgment – a striking alternative to the closed intolerance that arises when we maintain dogmatic attachment to particular beliefs and values.

When I find myself being drawn into arguments, or disagreements, I try to keep in mind these two sayings:

Hold lightly to your beliefs, for someone, somewhere, thinks the opposite

and

Always aim to be mindful, balanced, open and kind

- needless to say, there are many occasions when I forget my own good advice – but such is life.

Bibliography

Goldstein, Joseph. 1993. Insight Meditation: The Practice of Freedom. Dublin: Gill & Macmillan.

Kim, Hee-Jin. 1987. Dōgen Kigen: Mystical Realist, Tucson: University of Arizona Press.

Rahula, Walpola. 1974. What the Buddha Taught. New York: Grove Press.