Human beings get angry when their wishes clash with reality.
That's the simple idea I would like to share. I came up with it seemingly randomly and thought that others might appreciate it or even learn from it. So, here it is. I think it might be best to leave it this way.
What? No. Humans become angry when they feel wronged. Anger is a good, healthy emotion that helps define our identities. It allows us to judge what might be good for us and what we don't like to see or experience. Whatever you think about reality or clashing with some sort of metaphysical realm ... I think that is a really misguided, unhelpful view.Human beings get angry when their wishes clash with reality.
The two aren't necessarily mutually exclusive. Imagine the spoiled brat, who wants a pony for their birthday. Daddy isn't having it. Wishes have clashed with reality, and they feel wronged. People aren't always the most logical creatures. We're able to feel wronged at the slightest perceived indiscretion. If our reality isn't matching up with what other people are experiencing, I can see how someone could get angry. Perhaps that's what ThatFanficGuy means. I could be totally wrong, though.Human beings get angry when their wishes clash with reality.
Humans become angry when they feel wronged.
I feel like this is essentially a very Buddhist approach (I do not disagree with it by the way). If you aren't familiar the very very very basic premise or, hypothesis if you want to look at it that way, of Buddhism is set forth in a list (or maybe a proof! I like this angle!) called the 4 Noble Truths, which you have probably heard summed up even further as "Desire leads to suffering." (In more detail:
(then the religiousy part) 1. All life is inherently unsatisfying (or "suffering" - but that's a strong word and a translated one to boot)
2. We are dissatisfied with our lives because of our expectations for it ("desires") 3. To progress in life/the life cycle/transcend the worldly realm and cycle of reincarnation we must get remove this suffering/craving/expectation that everything will live up to some idea we have in our head (which of course, nothing ever will live up to that)
"Anger" is a strong word but I do believe that a lot of the issues people face, and a lot of the disappointments and perceived failures, is a result of us forming expectations of experiences and things, before we have ever actually maybe even come close to those experiences and things, and becoming attached to these fictional tableaus and results that of course will never materialize in facespace. 4. other stuff other stuff to learn how to do this go here, where "here" is a link to the 8fold path
It's a part of the point I was making. Human beings are biased from the very beginning of their lives and don't notice it. They think that being angry or irritated over something is their prerogative, while in reality it is nothing more than an extension of that childish tantrum we've been throwing earlier in our lives because we thought of life as unfair. It's not to say that it's not healthy: it can be an important emotional motivator to change things. Yet it's rare to see people use it effectively, with purpose rather than simply showing the world that they're angry, as if the world cares or should care. As for the Buddhist approach - they got it wrong in one very important part: it's not life that is unsatisfying - it's the human beings who are unsatisfied. Of course, not many strive towards knowing themselves so much to be able to learn and stomach effectively that they're full of flaws and biases and that it's fine, for they're human. Would be odd to see a popular religion tell its followers about how absolutely and helplessly sinned they are... Oh hold on, we already have Christianity!