Where Does the Anger Burn From?

ANGER, the unrighteous kind – when it emerges from out of the birth canal, unrepentantly, into existence before a primed recipient – seems the outermost manifestation of an inner problem, unrecognised and unreconciled. Innermost problems have their genesis way back when, and certainly the makings are made in our developmental years, but the key issue always seems to be how anger is expressed.

It always seems our prime concern is for negating that which has already been conceived; we want to repress the inevitable. Why is that?

It’s probably because we have to live with who we are and what we have become.

But most people – if they only know their lack – truly wish to come to a place of having transcended it. Though it requires work, most people are willing to put the work in for the prospect of a reward for their diligence. Perhaps the greatest motive is not simply about having the poise to resist strangling somebody (figuratively speaking), but having the ability to control our own behaviour to such an extent that we might never embarrass ourselves.

If we are to work on something that’s inculcated from our past long ago, however, we need to understand the limits to our recall of things. It may be more worthwhile exploring – in a truly honest sense – what we know about ourselves up until now, and what others can honestly share.

Being Super Honest

Unrighteous anger does us no good and it can even lead us to doing a major crime or committing an act of violence against someone. This is not to mention the inner damage it does to us in those unspoken areas of life.

Anger, if we wish to resolve it, requires a super honesty. Being super honest means we will no longer seek to shift the blame. We won’t seek any distraction from what God truly has for us to understand – for everybody has things to learn from their blindside.

Being super honest is about having the courage to face our vulnerabilities; to face them with real abandon as a pledge of trust in God to not leave us nor forsake us.

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Anger is the outermost manifestation of an inner problem, unrecognised and unreconciled. What has vast potential to hurt others and to leave them damaged may be rendered harmless by being super honest. Asking God to bring to light that which threatens is a wisdom prayer.

© 2013 S. J. Wickham.