Is Anger Working for You, or Against You?

It would be hard not to notice the collective anger right now. I think many, if not most of us, feel, see, experience the divisiveness in the world, whether the rationale is income bracket, skin color, gender/gender identity, political party, religious affiliation – there's a lot of "othering" happening, and anger – much of it, IMHO, manufactured – is potentially explosive.

That may be why fear and anger have permeated recent Sunday talks, with insights and actions to transform our feelings from reactive to responsive.

That held true this Sunday, too, when our esteemed member, practitioner, Core Council member and so much more, Rev. Dr. Pam Ninneman shared what it means to put that anger to work for us – to mobilize it – so it serves us rather than us serving it. (You can watch it here.)

We can't escape anger. It's one of many feelings we experience as humans. But how can we do it differently?

Protest songs seem particularly relevant now, and Juniper and team are doing a great job choosing music for each service. Sunday was no exception, with Bob Marley's 1973 "Get Up, Stand Up" – stand up for your right. There aren't many better anthems, this call to action against oppression; human rights, animal rights, and planetary rights don't wait for justice.

So, how can we make a difference when it can feel overwhelming? Sometimes I don't think we're mad enough - as long as we can use it productively.

Our August theme, The Fear and the Furious, is an interesting journey. And with five Sundays this month, we get one more opportunity to dive deeper.

As Rev. Pam recapped, two weeks ago Rev. Larry walked us through the biochemistry of fear - what happens in our bodies and brains when we let fear run the show. Last week, Rev. Marilyn reframed fear as a messenger, something that can point us back toward love if we let it.

First, Notice You're Angry

This week, Rev. Pam asked us to notice what or who we're angry at. It may be a person, a situation, or maybe even ourselves (because sometimes that has the biggest impact).

She asked us to feel it before trying to explain it. Feel the tension, notice our breathing, check in with our blood pressure as we allow ourselves to be in that moment.

She wisely noted that before we can do anything useful with anger, we must first notice it's there, which may be easier said than done. As Rev. John Halas described in his talk on the first August Sunday, we may have grown up where anger wasn't allowed. Some of us may not even recognize that what we feel is anger. It can run under the surface, disguised or just unacknowledged. And, anger will always find a way to express itself. Even if it's masked as something else.

Rev. Pam grounded this in Ernest Holmes: "Emotion uncontrolled produces chaos. Unexpressed, it produces confusion, conflict and complexes. For energy will have an outlet." In other words, anger doesn't evaporate. It comes out one way or another, constructively or destructively, and the work is learning which one we're choosing.

Rev. Pam's recent experience with her family gave her an up-close-and-personal reminder: Her 89-year-old mother was moved into assisted living, and the family home was put on the market; decisions were finalized before she knew about them. She felt blindsided. It took work, but she finally let herself be with it, and at one point, recognized that behind the anger was fear – fear of not belonging, of not having her family home, of the reality ahead. When she could name it, it was easier to get to and come from a place of love more readily.

Mobilizing Anger Beyond Ourselves

Her personal story set us up for a bigger question: What happens when anger isn't just individual? What happens when thousands, or millions, of people are angry about the same thing at the same time?

Rev. Pam was direct about how collective anger can turn into the same "us versus them" mentality – the othering I mentioned – how quickly we stop seeing people as people and instead see them as threats or problems.

From collective anger, mobilized, comes beauty.

But she also showed what collective anger can become when it's channeled with awareness. Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. are clear examples. They were both leaders fighting for justice, with every reason to be furious. They both turned that anger into organized, disciplined, nonviolent action that changed the trajectory of what looked more probable.

Her phrase for this was sacred activism: taking spiritual consciousness and putting it to work in the world. Not just thinking about peace, but being a presence for peace. Not just believing in oneness, but demonstrating it.

While those are just two historic and famous examples, big change happens through small actions. Margaret Mead is often quoted as saying that a small group of thoughtful, committed people is the only thing that ever changed the world. Small, collective, committed actions make a big difference over time.

Anger, Awareness, and What's Ours to Do

Rev. Pam tied this back to something familiar to anyone who's taken Foundations here - the five states of awareness: life happening to us, through us, by us, and as us. When we're in victim consciousness, life happens to us. We must shift to seeing life happening through us, by us, as us, taking responsibility for the energy we put into the world, individually and together.

Her closing challenge was a question for the week: What consciousness are we creating together? Not what's wrong with the world, but what can we create in response to it.

She also grounded that question in specific, local ways to answer it — the kind of small, collective acts she said actually build change over time:

• Get involved with a community garden

• Volunteer with We Evolve, which brings spiritual conversation into elder care facilities

• Register voters

• Join the Compassionate Care Team here at the center

I'll also add that supporting our local food bank is another way we can take a seemingly small action that has a big impact. Ballard Food Bank does the extraordinary all the time, and we have supported them through small actions over time. And, while we have a bin at our entrance for donations, it would be amazing to see someone take the lead on that relationship - in whatever way makes sense.

Once upon a time, I wrote a monthly column for a local newspaper, connecting global issues with local actions. When we do something locally, that energy amplifies out into the world, bringing us together. Come talk to me if exploring the food bank relationship sounds like something that's yours to do.

Individually, we have more power than we think we do; collectively, that power only grows.

With gratitude,

Laura