Buddhism
(This is an excerpt from a University Of Metaphysical Sciences course at www.umsonline.org,
please feel free to visit the school website)
Buddhism is included here (at the exclusion of others) for several reasons. Buddhism offers spiritual lessons as a path to inner peace, but in a manner that is so casual to the Western/European sense of “religion” as to escape many preconceived misunderstandings. Especially as Buddhism is “a path to enlightenment” through pursuit of inner peace and contentment, it is almost an intrinsic “anger management religion.”
Buddhism essentially asks us to become conscious and aware of every movement, moment, thought and action. This is a practice that needs to be, well…practiced. Thich Nhat Hanh, in his book, Anger (2001) writes, “In order to be free from anger, we have to practice, whether we are Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, or Jewish. We cannot ask the Buddha, Jesus, God, or Mohammed to take anger out of our hearts for us. There are concrete instructions on how to transform the craving, anger, and confusion within us. If we follow these instructions and learn to take good care of our suffering, we can help others to do the same.”
The practical, consciousness-raising lessons are apparent in the following illustration. In the same book, Hanh speaks of “consuming anger.” This concept is not just about anger that consumes, but that we are also literally consuming anger through the food we eat. The given example is that of the chicken and eggs raised in modern, large-scale chicken farms. The chickens are continually captive inside, never allowed to walk or roam free. In order to produce more eggs, the artificial lighting creates a shorter day-night cycle so the chickens will believe twenty-four hours have passed. This situation creates so much frustration and anger among the chickens that they peck each other, and farmers have taken to cutting their beaks off. The end result is food produced in anger, and we then consume this anger.
Whatever your beliefs, there is no doubt that this information alone makes us conscious on some level of how anger is in the food we eat. Being conscious, and choosing our food at the very least then precipitates thoughtfulness about becoming a more benevolent and less harmful citizen of society. A nation struggling with obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cholesterol and much more that, which can aggravate emotions and physical chemistry, this alone can be seen as a very practical and helpful step with the side benefit of making us more aware of ourselves in the moment.
Another point made by Hanh is that we need to “eat mindfully.” A simple lesson, it means to take smaller bites, chew our food about fifty times before we swallow. In effect, the act of eating becomes a sort of meditation. The net physical effect is better nutrition and less food consumption. The net emotional effect is that of slowing down, cultivating gratitude for our food and true appreciation for flavors and textures. Again, these qualities have been cited elsewhere as beneficial and needful to overcoming anger addictions.
Hanh does not confine himself to food, but also reflects on the anger we blithely consume through our other senses, particularly through the media. As both the medical and mental health professions have pointed out the importance and effect of diet and sensory input on stress and anger, the Buddhist teachings seem eminently practical even if one attempts to divorce any spiritual import.
There are many “New Age” philosophies, mysticisms and metaphysical books that would similarly operate from the premise that we are innately “whole” and “one” or “at harmony” with the universe. They are too numerous to cover here. They are potentially helpful on an individual level, but they do not tend to have large organizations supporting counseling or social work for the benefit of healing. That being the case, they would be encountered on a case-by-case level, and individually assessed for their potential benefit in complementing any anger management counseling program.